We all love to save money but we all love to eat well too. Preparing meals from scratch doesn’t have to cost a lot and it can be awesome to have fun in the kitchen with loved ones, bringing a meal together, before enjoying it around the table. In this blog post I’m going to show you how you can eat all week with these mince beef meals.
What To Buy
There are loads of varieties of mince beef that you can buy. Different prices, weights, fat contents. Some are fresh, some are frozen. You usually get more than you need for one meal in a frozen bag so you can use the exact amount you need, and pop the rest back in the freezer. You can get a 700g bag of frozen beef mince from Iceland for £3, or 4 bags for £10. If you really want fresh you can get a 750g pack of reduced fat beef mince from Asda for £3.75, or 3 packs for £10. Find what works for you.
The Meals
Whilst you might not want mince beef every night, it’s filling and is a cheap source or protein. It can be the main part of all your meals, simply adding a few ingredients to make a different offering each night.
Make a chilli at the start of the week, served with rice and nachos. Make more than you need and pop it in the fridge for another night to serve with jacket potatoes. That’s two nights covered with a simple and easy to make chilli.
The same thing can happen with a lasagne. I often batch cook them, layering them in those individual foil trays and pop them in the freezer as our very own ready meals. You can cook them from frozen in 40-45 minutes and you actually know what’s in them, unlike shop bought versions. The great thing about lasagne is that it’s a meal within itself, it doesn’t need anything extra, apart from maybe a cheap garlic bread to dunk! So, with at least four nights of your week sorted what else can you get up to?
Make your own meatballs, which is loads of fun. Served with a simple tomato sauce, plenty of herbs and and some pasta. Forget the meatballs and just have a spaghetti bolognese. Create a cottage pie with a crispy topping of mashed potato. You could even create your own burgers. There are loads of possibilities of delicious meals with similar ingredients.
Alternatives
Of course you can change the beef mince out for something else. Turkey mine is underrated, pork is good and if you’re a vegetarian you could go with Quorn mince. All perfect alternatives for mince beef meals. What are you favourite alternatives to beef mince? Let me know on Twitter.
Your Shopping List
After you’ve got your mince, you won’t actually need too many extra ingredients in order to mix up your meals. Make a tomato sauce which can be used on both the meatballs and in the lasagne. Use peppers in your chilli and your lasagne. Make extra mash than you need for your cottage pie and fry up some potato cakes to serve with your burgers. Whilst it might not be for everyone, you can eat a variety of different meals with the same main ingredients throughout the week. Save yourself some money by buying in bulk, using similar ingredients throughout the week and you can put made from scratch mince beef meals on the table night in, night out.
