The pig man cometh.....

 It is true that bulk cooking helps stretch your pounds. Bulk buying is no good if you can't eat it all before it goes off, that's just wasted money in the bin, so if you want to take advantage of bulk discounts, make sure that you've room to store it all.

 Pig man pie is my version of Shepherds Pie, as my husband won't eat beef or lamb. To make your mince go further, I add in some tinned beans - borlotti  are my favourite as I think they have the best flavour, and grated carrot which adds taste, bulk and extra veg.
This is my basic 'meat sauce' mix, which you can just as easily serve with spaghetti or make into lasagne.






meat sauce

mince 750 g £ 2.97
red onions 2 - 8p
carrots 200g grated - 11.5
garlic - 2p
beans x 2 - 74
chicken stock -  4.1

£3.96

 It's the usual thing - fine chop and soften your onion, add garlic and grated carrot. In a separate pan, brown the mince and then add the beans. Add this to the veg (Make sure you have a big pan) and then add your tomatoes and stock. You can thrown in any herbs you have, bay leaves etc, and ends of wine, that sort of thing. If you have an odd rasher of bacon, chop it up and fry that in with the mince, same goes for sausages - and if you have cooked meat left overs, chop and add these also, they will be fine if you add them with the raw meat so they get well heated and cooked in.

Key to this is having small pie dishes such as these, which you can find in charity shops and don't have to match at all - so that you can prepare and freeze individual portions - that way you won't eat more than your diet or your budget allows you! I topped these with mashed potatoes - I had a 20 Kg sack from the in-laws at Christmas and it took about 3 lb mashed up with half a tub of smart price cream cheese (20p) to top them all. A kitchen aid or similar is essential for this, beat the potatoes really well and they're go creamy without the need for more than the cheese. Season well and top each pie dish and bake for about 20 mins until browned - this made 6 dinners each costing 70p - but this didn't include the cost of the spuds.

You could make a white sauce and make 6 lasagnes, which would come in at around £1 each, or even fry up some aubergine and layer with the meat mix and top with cheese for a sort of moussaka -  and even, for a real budget bonanza, use slices of buttered day old bread and top with white sauce, it's a way to use up left overs and its really tasty!

Next time - a break from all the scrimping as I make a fairy garden cake for a lovely little girl's birthday.