Mince quantity question (stretching and portion sizes)?

Owain_Moneysaver

3v3 wrote: »

So a portion of mince each is 200g? That's the equivalent of 8oz each per meal (or, a "half pounder" in burger terms).

In cookery books from around 1960's, the recommended "allowance" when buying meat for one meal was 4oz off the bone and 6oz on the bone (by that standard you are eating double the amount )

Wartime rations were 12 oz - 1 lb of meat a week and 4 oz bacon/ham a week.

Owain_Moneysaver

Jojo_the_Tightfisted wrote: »

She has now decided that she doesn't like it anymore, because she knows her father wouldn't stand for adding extra stuff to his meat (6'5" of I-must-have-12 to 16oz-of-pure-lean-meat-at-every-meal).

Have you not told her that oats in mince are the secret to a perfect complexion?

BitterAndTwisted

Eh, 50 grammes or 2 ounces of meat in one meal is probably ample. Especially when the other two meals (and snacks for most people) will most likely contain milk, eggs, butter, cheese, fish, pulses, beans, nuts, seeds and even peanut butter. Not one person in this country is likely to lack enough protein in their diets to risk ill-health.

When I were a growing nipper in a cash-poor home we only ever ate meat once a day and sometimes there was very little of it. We were always full of energy and healthy although thin and sleek as whippets. We still are.

Alison_Funnell

700g for us makes 8 adult sized portions without trying to stretch it. Just trying to get everyone back into eating well. Us because we were eating a lot of junk going to and fro London with mum, mum because she needs to eat post op - which is a struggle at the moment. Once that is acheived then I will cut back a bit.

freedom2011

With my 700g pack of mince I split it into three and from each 233ish g I made 2 meals which have fed 2 adults and 3 teenagers.

First 233g
Mince & dumpling
Chilli

Second 233g
Mince & dumplings
Lasagne

Third 233g
Spag bol
Curried mince - tonight's meal

All bulked out with, veggies, red lentils/yellow split peas, small handful of oats. Chilli with red kidney beans. Yum.

valk_scot

800g of mince = 8 adult portions, if it's good quality mince and not full of fat and gristle. It's all very well trying to stretch it out but I agree with the posters above who have warned against the dangers of diluting protein foods too far. Cut out something else to save money but don't skimp on core foods. Buliking out with lentils is acceptable if serving with some sort of starch like pasta or mashed potatoes, but bulking with oatmeal does little to keep up the protein level.

KxMx

I reckon using 800g of mince in a hotpot would go far. Fry up the mince, drain the fat, add gravy/stock and desired small veg (onion, peas, sweetcorn etc).

Adding carrots stretches it further, and you can cut the portion sizes of the stew by adding potatoes, yorkshire puddings or even bread and butter to bulk it out into a bigger meal.

Yolina

There's only me in the house and for me 80g of meat is a perfectly good portion. I'm not a big meat-eater anyway, although not a vegetarian either. So I'd get 10 portions out of it (for instance with rice, chick peas and a spicy sauce or in a pasta gratin) without trying to stretch it, obviously I could get a few more portions out of it if I really needed to.

RAS

Owain_Moneysaver wrote: »

Wartime rations were 12 oz - 1 lb of meat a week and 4 oz bacon/ham a week.

Plus a small portion of cheese if I remember rightly? Milk and eggs or egg powder.

RAS

valk_scot wrote: »

Cut out something else to save money but don't skimp on core foods. Buliking out with lentils is acceptable if serving with some sort of starch like pasta or mashed potatoes, but bulking with oatmeal does little to keep up the protein level.

Interestingly Wikepedia thinks otherwise http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oat

"Oat protein is nearly equivalent in quality to soy protein, which World Health Organization research has shown is equal to meat, milk, and egg protein.[9] The protein content of the hull-less oat kernel (groat) ranges from 12 to 24%, the highest among cereals."