Cheap and Cheerful - Filling Ways With Hamburger Mince

How to make 500 gms of Hamburger Mince into  4 Filling meals for 2 people
I’ve been cooking up large this morning
Dinner tonight and the rest for the freezer for the rest of the week
Not counting the cost of the pasta
Cost of this food about $15
Not bad

Cottage Pie
This is basically the way my Mother cooked her Cottage Pie
I’ve made a couple of changes, Ive found if you fry the mince separately to the vege, you get more colour on it and the flavour is excellent

Both of these meat sauces make perfect pie filings
Or if you're like our family
Great on Hot buttered Toast
Breakfast anyone?

1 tablespoon oil
1 onion peeled and finely chopped
1 stick celery finely chopped
1 carrot chopped into fine dice
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 tablespoon olive oil
250 gms mince
1 beef stock cube dissolved in 2 cups of hot water Water

Good dash each of Worcestershire Sauce and Tomato Ketchup
2-3 tablespoons chopped parsley

2 tbs Flour mixed with a little cold water

4 large potatoes peeled and large chop
a little milk
Butter

Heat oil in a frying pan
Add onions 
Season with S & P
Saute till soft

Add carrots and celery
Season again
Saute about  4 minutes

Meanwhile in another skillet
Add oil to a hot pan
Add 250 gms mince
Season and break up with a fork and cook till brown

Add to the vege
Place everything into a saucepan
Dissolve a stock cube in 2 cups boiling water
Rinse out both pan with this stock and add to saucepan

Bring to simmer and cook about 30 minutes

Thicken with 3 tablespoon flour mixed with water to a thin paste
Add to pot, bring back to simmer stirring all the time till it thickens

Add a good dash of Worcestershire sauce and 2 good dashes on Tomato ketchup
Add the chopped parsley

Place in oven proof dish

You may raise your eyebrow at using a hand beater to mash potatoes
Delia (for people outside of the UK …Delia Smith is a Kitchen Goddess there) said so!!! and she should know
It works really well

Cook potatoes in boiling salted water
Drain, put pot back on heat to dry the potatoes out
add 2-3 tablespoons milk

Let that come to the boil
Remove from heat
Using a hand beater ,whip up the potatoes and milk
Till well mashed
Add 2-3 good knobs of butter

Transfer beater to a wood spoon
and beat by hand
Taste and season with salt and pepper
Spread over Meat mixture

Dot with a little extra butter

Cook 30 minutes at 180C

Voila Dinner is served
Plus one for the freezer

Now for a change of taste treat
A Meat Sauce with an Italian flavour
A Basic Sauce to pour over pasta

Starts off the same way but turns into something quite different

1 tablespoon Olive Oil
1 onion peeled and finely chopped
1 red pepper chopped
1 stick celery chopped
1 large clove of garlic peeled and smashed 
2 tablespoons dried Oregano
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 tin chopped tomatoes (400 gms)
1 teaspoon sugar

1 tablespoon Olive oil
250 gms Mince
Slosh of wine about 100 mls

Heat oil in a large deep frying pan
Add onions season with S & P
Saute till soft

Add red pepper, garlic and celery
Season again
Saute about  4 minutes
Add canned tomatoes, add water to the empty can
about half full
Tip that in too
Add oregano and the sugar

Meanwhile in another skillet
Add oil to a hot pan
Add 250 gms mince
Season and break up and cook till brown
Add wine to mince
Let the alcohol vaporize off
Should take about 3-4 minutes

Add to the vege tomato mix
Mix well
Simmer for about 30 minutes
It will become lovely and red, rich and thick
Perfect over Pasta

Transfer to a container
In this case 2 containers, into the freezer
2 meals there