How to make several days worth of meals with 500g of mince

This week's  cheap meat of choice is mince.  I used minced lamb but you can substitute whichever mince and oil you prefer. We have a really good selection of spices but if you don't have them just leave them out and make your own version. 

500g minced lamb, 2 tins of chopped tomatoes, 1 tin of beans.. I used ordinary baked beans from Aldi but you might prefer kidney beans, half a Knorr lamb stock cube, 2 sticks of celery, 2 cloves of garlic, 1 large onion, 200g red lentils and a good splash of olive oil. Half a teaspoon each of paprika, chilli powder, chilli flakes, and turmeric. Salt and pepper to taste 

Although the lentils don't need to soak I like to put them in a jug of water when I start prepping.  All manner of little things float on the top and some of the starch will wash out too.

Finely chop the onion and garlic and dice the celery into small dice. Fry them very gently in the olive oil until they are slightly softened. Now add the mince and break it up as it fries. When it has lost its raw look scatter in the turmeric, paprika and chilli powder and stir it into the meat and veg mix.. Cook for about ten minutes. At this point I took one third of the mixture and put it into a separate pan with a tin of beans... We'll come back to this later.  Continue on with the main meal. Add two tins of chopped tomatoes and the half stock cube. Give it a few minutes to warm through then drain and rinse the lentils and put them into the pan.  Swill around the two empty tomato tins with a couple of tablespoons of water and pour this  into the mix. We don't want to waste anything. Simmer this gently for about half an hour making sure you stir occasionally to stop everything sticking to the bottom of the pan.  Now taste it and adjust the seasoning with salt and pepper. Put it to one side for tomorrow.  It will develop beautifully overnight.

Now lets go back to the meat that I added to the tin of beans.  This will make a lovely chilli and rice. I like to add plenty of chilli flakes now as we like a hot chilli.  Warm it all through very gently and add a couple of spoons of the Bolognese that we have just made. I like to spoon just some tomato juice off the top of the pan.  Turn it off and leave it to develop for at least a couple of hours 

I cooked a pan of boiled rice and Tony and I had the chilli for our tea last night. I put a smaller portion aside for my lunch today.

Today I am planning to use the Bolognese sauce in two different meals.

Meal one. Is a bit like Moussaka but without the aubergine

2 medium potatoes, 1 medium onion, half the pan of Bolognese sauce 1 tablespoon of plain flour. a large knob of butter or margarine  and about 50g of  grated hard cheese.and enough milk to make a Bechamel sauce. Four cheese slices, Salt and pepper

Take a large non stick baking dish and grease it with olive oil. Now prep the onion and potatoes by slicing them thinly into separate bowls and rubbing them with olive oil and salt and pepper. Layer the potatoes into the baking dish and cook in a preheated oven for thirty minutes at 190 fan. When they are nice and golden add the sliced onions in a layer and cook for another thirty minutes at 190. Now pour the  Bolognese sauce mix over and cover with the Bechamel sauce. Put the four slices of cheese on top. Pop it back into the oven and cook it all for at least thirty minutes to ensure the Bolognese sauce is thoroughly heated.   It's a bit time consuming but tastes fab. It serves four. We don't need anything extra with it but you could have it with tossed salad and garlic bread.

Use the remaining Bolognese sauce to make a spaghetti Bolognese or a lasagna.  And that ladies and gents is how we stretch 500g of mince.