Mince quantity question (stretching and portion sizes)?

jess1974

I cooked a 700g pack tonight as a cottage pie and got a meal for 5 out of it, for £4 i'm not bothered about stretching it further.....

HOWMUCH

I would be able to get chilli, lasagna, cottage pie each would give me 4 adult portions so thats 12 servings in total. Chilli with jacket potato, lasagna with salad and cottage pie with veg.

Kitchenbunny

I tend to split the 800g packs down into a 4 packs of 200g. There is just DH and I, and each time I make a dish from it I tend to get 3-4 portions. So working on the lower form of 3 portions from 200g, I get 3 x bolognese, 3 x lasagne, 3 x chilli and 3 x moussaka. 12 portions in all from an 800g pack, with vegetables added. The basic tomato mince sauce is the same for all of them, and if there's any left over after that it goes into another meal as a toasted sandwich. Yum!

Just to say that I sometimes add oats (for the health value) but rarely lentils as I can never get them to fully dissolve and adding lentils to something like a chilli could be windy!

KB xx

coldcazzie

I've never heard of putting oats in to bulk out. I personally wouldn't use lentils (dont like them) but oats I'd be willing to try.

I think sometimes you can be surprised at how little you really need. Since buying from the butcher I use 450g mince for a meal. I used to use one of those 700-900g packs for a meal. Some of it is that it's better quality meat, so I don't lose a bunch in fat. But I've not particularly reduced portion sizes or started adding different ingredients in addition to the mince, yet somehow we still get the same from less.

450g usually does main meal for 5 plus lunch for me a couple of days later.

becs

We get 12 adult portions out of that size. Spag bol I add the usual suspects of mushrooms, carrots, celery. With chilli I add 3-4 mixed peppers and a tin of kidney beans, I'd have more peppers than that if I could in it, chilli looks so much nicer with the bright red and yellow peppers in it. And cottage pie we jus have plain with onion in it. I would also say that my husband and I are both very overweight (although I have lost 4 1/2 stone in the last year I still have about 3 to go!) so these are good sized portions!

diddly74

I must admit I don't buy the best Minced Steak. I buy the £2.40(ish) packs from Aldi (aprox 900g). I split them in 2 and make 2 meals for 4 (2 adults and kids 13 & 9 - both good eaters). I pack all meals be is bolognaise, chilli, shephers pie or what ever with lots of veg and lentils.

Despite my hubby being a big eater and my DD2 loving pasta with a passion, after reading all previous posts I think I could actually split the pack into 3 and the family not really noticing the reduction in meat content to the meal.

Kittenkirst

We portion an 800g pack into four, each 200g we cook and use for dinner and lunch the next day (or dinner if we've already made soup for lunch). I've been experimenting with lentils & soya mince. The latest amount we used was 125g with soya added in; that did a lasagne for two and the spag bol the next night for 2 :-)

Queenbelbake

I would make one lot of chilli and mince pancakes and then make the rest into pasties - normally enough for 2 meals. That's to feed 5 of us. If i don't make mince pancakes then i make beany pie - a huge favourite in our house!

Volupturaptor

mrsmadmand wrote: »

Well I didnt add the lentils as I'm still not sure they would be ok. But I have managed to get - 4 portions of cottage pie, 2 portions of chilli (maybe 3 if I can bulk it out a bit more tomorrow), and 3 portions of spag bol out of my original pack of mince. These are all adult sized portions so can be divvied up again for my 2 DD's.

It may not be as much as others get but I'm very happy as its WAY more than I have done in the past! Thanks everyone for all your tips and hints.

Well done! For future reference, red lentils disappear, green ones keep their shape. So for hiding in mince, red. I like the green ones in a yummy lentil and spinach curry.:D

terra_ferma

rachbc wrote: »

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'

I agree, it's important to remember that you can't stretch meat forever if that's your only source of protein in that meal. Also there is a difference if you are feeding growing teenagers or overweight middle age people (:j hello here's one!)
Meat does not have to be the only source of protein, if you add soya mince or lentils in particular you are increasing proteins so it's fine.
Unless you need to decrease calorie intake to lose weight, or cooking for people who need fewer calories (e.g. more sedentary, older) I would not simply just use vegetables as you could be diluting proteins a bit too much.

(I know most people here probably know this already, but I think it's useful to explain it to newbies etc )