Padding out meals

MATH

I use all of the above and rolled oats to pad out mince to the point that it becomes 'almost' vegetarian LOL

reverie

I would suggest mushrooms too. They don't affect the taste or texture much. I put in whatever veg I have lying around, but always mushrooms and carrots, normally courgette too. I blitz them in the food processor and just add them when I have dry fried the mince and drained the fat off, tip in and fry for a minute or two then add tomatoes etc to make sauce. I like the idea of stretching meat to more portions, eating less red meat and more veg in the meal.

FemmeAuFoyer

I use about 100g per portion and then add mushrooms, finely chopped carrot, and GREEN lentils. This tend to be a bit "bittier" than red lentils. Red lentils are fine if you want to hide them a bit more, because they will go to mush if you let them long enough and they are good for thickening if you have put in too much stock. I use red wine and stock to make, then adding a tin of tomatoes per 500g of meat.
HTH!

Willpower?

reverie wrote: »

I would suggest mushrooms too. They don't affect the taste or texture much. I put in whatever veg I have lying around, but always mushrooms and carrots, normally courgette too. I blitz them in the food processor and just add them when I have dry fried the mince and drained the fat off, tip in and fry for a minute or two then add tomatoes etc to make sauce. I like the idea of stretching meat to more portions, eating less red meat and more veg in the meal.

I agree blitzing them in a food processor is a great idea. The Spag Bol keeps its meaty texture and you get your extra veg portions

MATH wrote: »

I use all of the above and rolled oats to pad out mince to the point that it becomes 'almost' vegetarian LOL

I'll have to try that too. ANything to sneak an extra bit of fibre in

liney

Handful of oats, grated carrots, celery, mushroooms, extra onion, red pepper...

Why dont you seprate yours into 2 batches and then add a couple of suggestions. If he likes it great, if not, next time try a different combination in half your mixture and try again.

amyandoli

My dh doesnt like lentils. Every other week though he eats a lasagne which is 50/50 red lentils (processed along with any veg he doesnt like as the veg sauce) and quorn mince. Really if you dont know, you can hardly tell. You can get lentils canned in the beans section which is a quick standby. I have these and a kilner of dried too. When I use dried I boil up a pan of water in the morning, put the lentils in, lid it and by the evening when I put the lasagne together they're ready to go in. They freeze well too.

Lydia.42

I would go for the soya mince/tvp. Very cheap, and if you add is to the sauce whilst cooking the bolognase, it soaks up the flavour of the meat and tomatoes.
We do this all the time with bolognase, curries, cottage pie, etc.

Paulie'sGirl

if you're worried about messing up the whole batch, you could take 2 portions out into another pan?

I know it makes more washing up, but worth it if you find the carrots don't work for OH?

Hope it goes well!

(just as a thought, could you add an extra tin of toms to the mix? I find that helps stretch it a little. Also the mushrooms as previously mentioned)

Good luck!

ecsb

i pad out our bol with loads of veg, onions, mushrooms, carrots, peppers, courgettes and then once cooked, slowly, i blast it with the hand held blender so kids and hubby don't know what a healthy meal they are having. i quite often only use 500g of meat and make enough for 4/5 meals for a family of 4 by adding all the yummy veg.

furndire

Aubergines or courgettes chopped up fine, are a brilliant filler.