So, Quorn Shepherd's (Style) Pie:-
500g pack of Quorn Mince - on offer a few weeks ago at £1.49 in Morrisons (1/2 bag = 75p)
Large Onion - 10p
1/5 catering tin of carrots, chopped - Approved Foods 99p, so approx 20p (can use fresh carrots)
Garlic clove - 5p
Tablespoon of oil - 5p
2 Tablespoons Tomato Puree - from a big AF tin - approx 2p
Teaspoon yeast Extract (Marmite) - 5p
2 vege stock cubes - AF approx 5p
Dried Rosemary and Thyme and black pepper - 5p
1.5 lb potatoes, peeled, boiled and mashed with a little milk and low fat spread (or butter/marg) - approx 50p
2 oz grated cheddar - 25p
Fry the garlic and onion in the oil for a few minutes,(if using fresh chopped carrots fry them with the onion) add the quorn mince and fry another couple of minutes.
Add the other ingredients plus about 1/2 pint of boiled water. Allow to simmer for 20 minutes. While mince is simmering, boil the potatoes until soft and then mash with the milk and marg/butter/spread.
Put half the mince mixture in an oven proof dish, top with the potato and sprinkle over the grated cheese.
Bake near the top of the oven at Gas 6 for 15-20 minutes until the top is browned.
I served this with 1/2 a sweetheart cabbage from Aldi (49p so 25p for half).
Use the other half of the mince mix for another meal, or make 2 shepherd's pies and freeze one for another day.
Total cost of Shepherd's Pie plus cabbage = Approx £2.32 or 58p per serving
The other half of the mince mixture (minus cheese and cabbage) is 46p, mixed into 12 ounces of pasta (30p) and topped with 4 oz cheddar (50p) the second meal totals £2.62 or 66p a serving. Add salad and its approx £1 a serving.
I'm really pleased to have used up all the tinned carrots; they were quite horrible on their own but okay in dishes as they seemd to take on the other flavours.
Right, confession time. I've broken my promise not to add to my food stores. I had a £2.50 voucher off a £25 spend for FarmFoods and as we had absolutely no chicken in the freezer and as I'm trying to eat more healthily and chicken is my favourite low fat meat, I decided to stock up on their chicken breasts. They also had a 3 for £6 offer on their 600g (18 rashers) packs of back bacon.
I ended up getting 3 x 1 kg packs of chicken breast fillets at 3 for £10, 2 x 1.5kg packs of chicken thighs at 2 for £5, 3 x 1kg packs of pork steaks at 3 for £10, 3 x 600g packs of back bacon rashers at 3 for £6 and a 200g pack of Ham at £1. Total cost was £32 or £29.50 minus the voucher. I now have a wide variety of meats in my freezer which will give us a selection of meals for the next couple of months. I'm still using up my stockpile, making use of sauces, casserole mixes, pasta, rice, couscous etc to add to the basic ingredients.
Tomorrow should be my volunteering day, but the winds have been fierce here today, and we just had a thunder and lightening storm and torrential rain so I'll have to see what the weather's like in the morning before I chance making the 9 mile journey to Deal. DH left work early this afternoon to be on the safe side, losing a couple of hours pay, but he has to go in if he can tomorrow because he has his interview. DS1 is also in Canterbury for work at the moment and will travel back at around 9pm; hopefully his bus is running because there have been problems with the trains.
I suppose we're all asking ourselves day after day when this awful weather will end. DH is supposed to be going to Bridgend in Wales next week to visit his mum in the nursing home but its looking less likely he'll chance travelling. Luckily we havent booked his ticket yet as we were waiting until the last minute just in case.
Okay, that's enough of me rambling on for tonight. Hope everyone sleeps well despite the weather.
Dinner looks lovely. Just what you need on a cold , wet, windy day. Hope your son gets home OK. X
ReplyDeleteLuckily no problems with DS getting home. And the dinner was yummy. It was supposed to serve 4 but I had 1/4 then my two big boys ate the rest.
DeleteTopped with mashed potato and cheese I would eat plain boiled lentils, your filling looks and sounds very tasty. I still haven't tried Quorn, I am happy with my pulses but I really ought to try it.
ReplyDelete20 years ago Quorn was my saviour when DD2 turned Vegetarian at age 8. The range and flavour, texture etc is so much better nowadays. It's very low in fat and calories and can replace a lot of meat in meals. We had chicken-style quorn in fajitas when we went to dinner at DD2's on Monday night, and I do a lovely meal with quorn chicken chunks in a wine and mushroom sauce with rice. I use a lot of pulses too, and make a lovely three bean chilli and a cheese and lentil bake. I also add green lentils to lamb either in a shepherd's pie or with chops in a stew.
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