Five healthy ways to bulk out your batch meals to save you time and cash
BATCH cooking saves time and cash, plus can help you enjoy tastier and nutritious meals.
You can also make grub go further by adding cheaper foods to balance out pricier ingredients such as meat.
Here’s how to affordably bulk out your meals so you have more to save and freeze for another day.
OATS: Typically seen as a breakfast meal, but a handful or two can be used to thicken almost any sauce and add substance.
Use fine- milled varieties or blitz in a processor to help them blend in. Packs can be found for less than £1.
PULSES: Packed with protein and nutrients, beans and pulses are an excellent way of adding variety to dinners without breaking the bank.
Kidney beans are often found in chilli con carne but you could add a tin of black beans too (49p at Tesco).
Lentils work well with a cottage pie mix and chickpeas are excellent added to curries.
FRIDGE RAID: Many people follow recipes word for word, but often you can adapt to use up ingredients you already have.
Check your fridge for vegetables that can be added.
Tomatoes, broccoli, peppers and the like are incredibly versatile and work in many sauce-based dinners, helping to cut down on waste and increase the volume of your meal.
FROZEN VEG: Stretch out meals and add nutrients by adding a couple of handfuls of frozen veg such as peas, sweetcorn or broad beans.
Keeping these in the freezer ensures they won’t go bad before you use them and can be used in many dishes.
RICE: Add a couple of handfuls of rice to soup, casseroles and stew for a heartier and fuller meal with extra texture and minimal costs.
POTATOES: Chopped spuds are perfect for adding to curries and stews.
You can par-boil or just make sure you cook sauces long enough to get your potato nice and fluffy.
- All prices on page correct at time of going to press. Deals and offers subject to availability.
Deal of the day
BRUSH up on your dental hygiene with the Oral-B pro 3, down from £100 to £35 at Argos.
SAVE: £65
Cheap treat
FILL your home with a luxury scent with Deluxe candles, £3.99, in Lidl this week.
What's new?
SWEETEN up festivities with limited-edition packs of Haribo’s merry mix, £1.25 from Asda.
Top swap
WITH flavours of cherries, chocolate and vanilla, 19 Crimes cabernet sauvignon, £10.99 at waitrosecellar.com, is a delicious full-bodied red.
Or sip on Aldi’s The Reprobates, £7.19, for a similar taste.
SAVE: £3.80
Little helper
IN partnership with charity Cahonas,
Heck has rebranded as Check on chicken sausage packs this month to encourage men to look for signs of testicular cancer.
Shop & save
GIVE any outfit a touch of the wild with these animal print ankle boots, down from £45.99 to £27.59 at New Look.
SAVE: £18.40
Hot right now
HOMEWARE brand La Redoute is now available at Next, where shoppers who buy two La Redoute products will save ten per cent.
PLAY NOW TO WIN £200
JOIN thousands of readers taking part in The Sun Raffle.
Every month we’re giving away £100 to 250 lucky readers – whether you’re saving up or just in need of some extra cash, The Sun could have you covered.
Every Sun Savers code entered equals one Raffle ticket.
The more codes you enter, the more tickets you’ll earn and the more chance you will have of winning!