Submitted by annie2006
This is my huge batch bake recipe which I make every month without fail. It makes: 2 spag bol, 5 chilli con carne and one shepherds pie for a family of 5 (2 adults and 3 small children), so a total of 40 portions
but only uses 1kg of mince
Ingredients (looks long but that’s because you are making 8 meals!)
1kg mince
3 onions
cpl cloves of garlic
2 oxos or if you are really good the left over juices from a previous beef joint.
6 tins toms (or fresh/frozen if you have plenty)
Tube of tom puree
Any veg you need using up ie peppers, celery, carrots, courgette cut up small or grated.
Couple of handfuls of porridge (sounds rank but trust me!)
Couple of handfuls red lentils
6 cans of beans – can use a mix of baked beans, chickpeas, kidney beans whatever you like / is on offer
Chilli powder / fresh chillies to your taste.
Some mashed potatoes
A bit of strong grated cheese (stronger it is the less you need to use)
Method:
In the biggest pan you can find, fry your mince with onions and garlic. add the oxos and chopped veg and cook until all nicely browned. Add the lentils and porridge and a good amount of water for them to soak up. Add the toms and cook for about 20 mins (just watch it has enough water).
Now you can split into your meals.
Put one portion into the bottom of a casserole dish and pile with your mashed potatoes and a bit of grated cheese. Either freeze at this point or pop in oven for 40 mins at 180c.
Add the tom puree and split the remaining mixture in half. One half should make you 2 nice sized family portions of Bolognese sauce which you can pot up and freeze.
The other half of the mixture is going to be your chilli. Add all your beans and chilli and cook for another 15 mins until the beans are soft. Split into 5 tubs.
I think it works out at around a £1 / £1.50 a meal.
Having just started to live a frugal life due to basicaly being fed up of having NO money.. not even being able to pay the bills each month i tried this recipe.
FANTASTIC!! there is plenty to go around for each meal. Very filling, tasty and satisfying. I will definately be using this recipe again 🙂
Keep up the good work and I look forward to trying out more of your recipes.
Lisa x
Great! Definitely going to try this recipe.
will be trying this next week, looks good to me
Oh so fab – this is on the cooker now. I laughed when I first read this recipe ….. all those meals from 1kg …. but hey, couldn’t wait to make it. I’ll report back how it goes. BTW I’m making half amounts with 500gm of meat.
Made this tonight, it made a huge amount of food! I did add some mixed herbs and a dash of worcestershire sauce and black pepper. It tasted great, clean plates all round.
Thank you.
This looks a good recipe, I am looking into cutting my food bill this year, I am looking to a more frugal life style, Food price are sky high, I have never been what you call keeping up with jones, The kids have all flewn the nest, so I can live more cheaply with only me and my partner to feed, alway been a bit of a second hand rose.
Swapped the mince for quorn.
Started February with determination NOT to waste food and save money!
Thank you for this I had never thought of batch making resulting in different dinners, just lots of the same thing. Has completely changed the way I look at a bag of mince!
I’ve been using this recipe for a few months and my family and myself LOVE it.