Mince quantity question (stretching and portion sizes)?

camNolliesMUMMY

possibly try mixing breadcrumbs or oats to spag and chilli, add carrots to spag and chilli and add any beans to chilli including baked beans, and for cottage pie id squeeze in some swede and diced potatoes to the mixture to thicken even futher lol

Im so tight lol

HannahIOW

I would probably get two meals for two people out of that, I normally do anyway. Most on here can probably get at least twice that, it amazes me really.

Volupturaptor

mrsmadmand wrote: »

I have taken out of the freezer an 800g pack of beef mince. Usually I'd cook it all, and transfer half to another pot to make chilli with and use the rest as a bolognaise. I'm now wondering whether I can squeeze 3 meals out of it and make some meatballs or a small cottage pie as well.

How many meals would YOU make out of a pack of mince like this? And how much would you allocate for each - equal amounts or more in one?

Any tips gratefully received!

It would help if you said how many you are feeding.

M0neysav3r

I would divide it into 4, and that would feel 2 Adults and 1 child with each 1/4.

I would bulk out with oats, lentils etc depending on what i'm cooking.

Its amazing how far it can stretch

mrsmadmand

Volupturaptor wrote: »

It would help if you said how many you are feeding.

Erm yes....sorry! 2 adults and 2 small (ish) children.

M0neysav3r

If you would normally use 400g in one meal then yes try what you suggested and split it into 3 and make an extra meals worth, try adding 2 handfuls of oats, you will honestly not notice

torbrex

Strangely, I just cooked that size of pack of mince last weekend, I got a total of 9 servings.
Day 1 - cooked all the mince with some chopped onion and had some with tatties and peas.
Day 2 - mince on a bread roll for lunch and with tattie and haggis for tea.
Day 3 - mince and haggis on toast for lunch, I then took half the mince that was left and made it into a chilli with some tinned toms and kidney beans and I added another (chunky chopped) onion, I had half for my tea with some pasta.
Day 4 - some of the remaining mince on a roll for lunch and the remaining chilli with chips for tea.
Day 5 - a spoon of mince mixed in with a tin of scotch broth soup for lunch and the remaining mince on tortillas with some leafy salad, cheese and mustard mayonaise.

ETA I should add, it was just me and I'm a guts, I like a big platefull

Volupturaptor

Well personally I like my bolognaise sauce to be nice and saucy anyway, so I don't use a lot of mince in mine. What I do do, is add a little flour at the frying the mince and onions stage, before adding the tomatoes. It acts as an emulsifier/thickener. Plus of course you can add mushrooms/peppers/whatever else you have or may fancy.

Chilli is always well bulked out with beans and peppers anyway.

Cottage pie takes quite well to a nice big handful of oats and two or three diced carrots.

Oh, and you can always double the onion in any mince recipe.

So, I'd use 200g in the bolognaise, and 300g each in the chilli and the cottage pie.

redlady_1

I had a 500 gm pack of mince at the weekend and made a huge cottage pie. I got 8 portions from that.

rachbc

I use 300g per meal for 2 adults, 1 teen boy and 1 small child. Used to do 250g before the teenager started growing! Sometimes there is enough spag bol for 1 child portion for the freezer too. If I do chilli I add kidney beans as well as the usual veg and again there maybe enough left for a lunch or an extra nachos/ chilli dog topping.

So for your family I would maybe get 3/4 meals depending on age/ appetites of the smalls

A recommended adult portion of meat is 100g. Do be aware to get enough protein - an adult males needs around 60g and children between 15-60 depending on age. 100g of mince contains about 20g, which assuming other meals are balanced should be fine through the day - cutting back to 50g or less per adult significantly reduces your chances of getting enough overall, especially if this is your 'main meal'