Do you know why people used to eat Yorkshire Puddings?
It was because they were cheap to make and very filling so they were traditionally served as a starter before the main meal was served to take the edge of any hunger and to fill people up before the main meal, traditionally a roast beef dinner, was served.
We always had our Yorkshire Puddings before our Sunday Dinner when I was growing up and even now, when we go to my Dad’s for dinner, we have our Yorkshires before the rest of the meal which never fails to amuse the kids. In theory, because we’ve had our Yorkshire Puddings before we start the main part of the meal, we don’t need as much meat on our plates to fill us.
But Yorkshire Puddings aren’t the only way to bulk out a meal so you need less meat, I have lots of different little tricks to bulk out a meal without affecting the flavour depending on what I’m cooking….
- Porridge oats in mince dishes will bulk it out and you won’t even know they’re there if you add a handful or two as they simply blend in with the dish and take on the flavour of whatever it is that you’re cooking.
- Red lentils are a great way to bulk out lots of meals – curries, stews, casseroles and mince dishes.
- Grated carrot works really well to make meals like bolognaise and chilli go further. I also use if for casseroles and stews but I wouldn’t bother grating it though.
- A tin of baked beans is amazing for making meals go further – I use them in chilli (instead of kidney beans), when I make cottage pie of shepherds pie and sometimes in bolognaise. I also add them to pasta bakes that are tomato based sometimes.
- Meat free mince like Quorn mince is often on offer and works out quite a bit cheaper than good quality mince so I often add a handful or two to mince dishes to make it go further.
- Potatoes are excellent for bulking out stews, casseroles and curries – sweet potato and turkey curry is my favourite curry that we make.
- Bread isn’t the healthiest way to bulk out a meal but it is cheap and lovely for the occasional meal. Homemade soup with thickly sliced homemade (or bought) bread is delicious. As is simple egg, chips and beans with a couple of sliced of bread.
- If you only have a small amount of meat then why not make pizza with it? A quick homemade pizza dough spread with some tomato puree is great for stretching your meat that bit further as you can just add it to the pizza as a topping, sprinkle with cheese and you’re good to go. We often use leftover gammon as a pizza topping to make it go further.
- Rice and pasta can also be used to make your meat go further – things like risottos and pasta bakes take less meat to make and are delicious!
So there you go, ten ways to make your meat go further. 😉
Do you have any other genius ideas that I could use?
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