How to make food go further if money is short or you have unexpected guests

Money short or you get unexpected guests, here are some handy hints on how to make ingredients go a bit further.

Eggs	Make them into an omelette or scramble them adding vegetables, cheese and/or poultry.
Fish	Cut up, stir-fry with vegetables or mix with spicy rice
	Add tuna to mashed potato, divide into small round 'cakes' to make into fish cakes.
Noodles	Add leftover vegetables and diced meats.
Mince	Add breadcrumbs, grated courgette, carrot, and/or marrow. Rice, pasta, onion, green pepper, dried peas, beans or lentils.
	Fill cannelloni tubes with a mince mixture.
	Put mince mixture into a pie dish and top with mashed potatoes.
	Make pancakes, fill with mince mixture and roll up.
	Burgers can be bulked out with Bulgar wheat and grated vegetables.
	Make circles out of pastry, put mince mixture in centre, brush edges with egg or milk and fold over (in half form a semi-circle). Bake in oven.
	Fry onion, add mince, add boiling water, stock and then to thicken add some porridge oats (oatmeal). These oats absorb the flavours of the gravy and take on the same consistency of the meat, also adding an interesting nutty taste. It also reduces the amount of meat required. Natalie Gage sent in this tip.
	Useful mince recipes.
Meatloaf	Add one or more of the following - Breadcrumbs, rice, rolled oats, shredded carrots, hard boiled eggs.
Ice Cream	Add fruit, sauce, cereal topping.
Soups	Add vegetables, pasta, pulses, tofu, sour cream, barley, yoghurt.
Salad	Add some meat, fish, pulses, pasta, vegetables or hard-boiled eggs.
Steak	Dice and stir-fry with vegetables.
	Grill on skewer with vegetables.
Stews	Add creamed corn, vegetables, dried peas or lentils.
Green Pepper	Stuff with rice and leftovers.
Chilli	Add one or more of the following - beans, rice, spaghetti and/or sweetcorn.
Tuna
Cottage Cheese	Making your own cottage cheese is very simple and works out a lot cheaper. Put some full fat milk into a saucepan and heat to just below boiling point. Remove from heat and add a little salt and some lemon juice. Mix well. You will see that it begins to separate into curds and whey. Strain through a sieve or muslin to separate the curds from the whey. The curds remaining in the sieve is 'cottage cheese'.
Miscellaneous	You can make ingredients e.g. fish, bacon, eggs, leeks, cheese etc., go a lot further by using them as a tart filling
Missing an ingredient find a substitute, answers for common culinary disasters; other useful kitchen hints and tips plus useful information.

With money being very tight these days few of us can afford to waste anything. So rather than throw things out, here are a few suggestions which may help:-

If available in your area, take advantage of online or telephone grocery shopping, particularly for bulky or heavy items. Often the delivery charge can be reduced or eliminated if you choose certain time slots and spend over a certain amount.

Try doing a big order once or twice a month for all the non-perishable items that you regularly buy, such as dried, canned and frozen food, long-life milk and juice, toilet rolls, washing powder, cleaning products, soft drinks and dairy foods (these have surprisingly long sell-by dates).

Buy extra if anything you regularly use is on special offer. This route also has the advantage that you will not be tempted to spend more by buying extras you see in the store.

Even if a delivery service is not available in your area, you can adopt the same principle for a monthly supermarket trip, roping in the family to help. Then you only need to do a quick 10-15 minute shopping raid once or twice a week for fresh items and those you want to choose yourself.

Other money saving and cost cutting related information on Hints and Things:-

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HOW TO MAKE A LITTLE GO A LONG WAY