Mince quantity question (stretching and portion sizes)?

Moorhen

Hi CanDoThis,

I add 1 can of toms and lots of passata to the spag bol and 1 can of toms and a squirt of passata to the chilli, sometimes I put 2 tins of tomatoes in the chilli if they were on offer.

My family really like tomatoes!

Also, make sure that you let the spag bol and chilli simmer for at least 30 mins, it really makes it taste better.

HTH.

torbrex

You can add a couple of spoonfulls of cooked mince in with a family tin of ministrone soup to make it into a filling broth. I use one spoon with a single serving tin and have it with cream crackers in place of a full meal.

[Deleted User]

I agree with Moorhen a lb of mince can easily be streeetched to ten portions with a little thought I bung tomatoes (tinned )or slightly past their best ones that I have then put into boiling water to skin them off and then chop up.(by the way I never buy chopped tomatos as whole ones are cheaper and it takes 10 seconds to chop a tin of whole ones up) .I also stick a handful of lentils in and a handful of porrige oats ,or if I'm short of those and handful of sage and onion dry stuffing mix it makes no odds its just adding bulk. as many veg as I can get away with ,when my two were small and fussy about veg it was a great way to get veg inside them as they never noticed finely chopped carrot,peppers,celery onions or the like once it was in the mince mixture.Mince is a very forgiving mix and once its all mangled up with spaghetti or kindey beans for chilli no one notices that you have 'extended the meat as especially with the chilli a few herbs and spices and a dollop of lazy garlic just give you such a lovely plate ful of flavour sat on a bed of rice chilli is the bees knees:):)and cheap as chips .If you price out a portion say a lb of mince at £2.00 to get 10 portions for meals means you are getting a meal for around 20 +the cost of you veg and spices which is fairly minimal.You can easily say the whole meal including either basic spaghetti or rice will come in at under 50p per person .Not a bad meal to fill up the family with.I always try to use a couple of Oxo cubes or Bisto powder when cooking mince to bring out the flavour of the meat.My children used to say to me I should write a book called 'A Thousand and one winning ways with Mince' :):) its easily the most versatile of foods

mardatha

We don't like tomatoes in mince so I add grated carrot, loads of veg, some lentils (not too much or it tastes weird lol) and some porridge. Mushrooms, old bread crumbled in if I have any. My MIL used to serve mince with macaroni through it - no tomatoes -it was vile !

Raksha

'rusk' - dried breadcrumbs is useful for burgers of meatloaf. Soya is good in things with sauces (good protein source and low in fat)

[Deleted User]

Hi,

instead of adding lentils and porridge oats, you could bulk the mince out with soya mince, just mix the soya mince 1x1 with water first, or add oxo, bovril, or my favourite,

canidothis

i dont know why but Id forgotton about adding loads of veg (doh) I used to add grated carrot and courgette - time to get organised. Ive been reading about food shopping for £10 a week (food and groceries forum) but this forum is the best for good ideas - Ive also remembered my Fumble Pie. Couple of serving spoons of left over bolognaise sauce with a yorkshire batter mix poured over the top and cook in the oven - it is yum with gravy over the top.

CH27

I add from tinned tomatoes, kidney beans, butter beans, pearl barley, mushrooms, onions, mushrooms & peppers depending on what i'm making.

spike7451

I add Pearl Barley & puy lentils to a mince base,along with tomato's,mushrooms & a tin of cheap baked beans.I find that by adding the baked beans,you can turn it into a chili without adding kidney beans,all you have to do is add chili seasoning.

Pink.

Hi canidothis,

This thread has more suggestions that may help:

Mince quantity question (stretching and portion sizes)?

I'll merge your thread with that one later to keep the ideas together.

Pink