frozen mince...

[beansmum]

is it disgusting? It is cheap, and I am trying to save money, so I nearly bought some this week. It looks horrid though, the bits are really long and spaghetti like, does it taste ok?

[Shitehawk]

It's like every other sort of mince; some is good, some is not.

You just have to suck it and see, and if it's rubbish then stear well clear of that brand in the future.

Even cheap meat can be quite tasty though, if you cook it properly.

[lucysmam]

Don't buy the Asda Smartprice frozen mince, was yucky imo! but the fresh smartprice stuff is ok for stuff like spag bol or shepherds pie etc

[beansmum]

Ok, I wont try the asda stuff. Maybe I'll just try and make the fresh stuff go a bit further, although 250g made 4 meals this week so I don't think I can stretch it much more than that.

[biscuitsmustbedunkedintea]

We have a bag (Tesco version) in the freezer for DH to make chilli in the microwave. It's his quick/easy meal when there's just him, he won't eat pasta. I refuse to use it as it does not taste the same. Only time is when I drowned it in wine for an hour or so to make mediterranean shepherds pie. Then it tasted good

[BlingLovin]

250g for four people or for four meals for xx number of people? i'm impressed.

[muggglewump]

I tried some of the steak mince from FarmFoods and really liked it. I'd buy it again.
We currently have the frozen SmartPrice mince in the freezer but not tried it yet. In all honesty I'm not expecting to like it as I don't like the fresh SmartPrice stuff but worth a try I thought anyway and we'll eat it regardless.

If you want fresh mince try turkey mince. Cheaper and great in the slow cooker. It's so lean it doesn't need browning and the fat drained off the way cheaper beef mince does.

[Milliways]

I use about 300-350g for us 4 when making a spag bol or chilli. We use Sainburys or Asda own mince, and just use a baster to remove all fat before adding sauce etc.

I did buy a bag of Asday smartprice to try last week - not braved it yet, but will smother it in something & hopefully family will eat it.

Even the cat was put on Asda own brand last week - and he seems to prefer it!

[thebecster]

I use frozen steak mince. It isn't quite as good as fresh steak mince (mainly in texture), but better than the equiv priced fresh variety. I find that it's fine for chillis & spag bol, shepherd's pie etc, but no good for burgers/meatballs even if you defrost in fridge first (bitter experience!). I also find best to add lots of fresh tomatoes, lentils, canned tomatoes, & veg so that texture isn't so noticeable.

[beansmum]

I'll try some next time I go shopping, if I don't like it I wont buy it again. I think I'll steer clear of the smartprice stuff though.

(250g makes 4 meals for the two of us, so 8 portions altogether, not that impressive)

[lucysmam]

Milliways! baster, why didn't I think of that!? I usually sieve it before adding to it. It might just be me with the frozen Smartprice stuff, I just didn't like the taste whereas oh thought it was fine. Farmfoods are generally good for inexpensive stuff or Jack Fulton's if there's one near, or Heron Foods (although I don't recall having seen one of those elsewhere!)

I'm impressed by 8 portions out of 250g! especially if it was 2 adults you were feeding!

[muggglewump]

Lucysmam, I found the fresh SmartPrice mince gristly which is why I'm not expecting to like the frozen.
As I said though, we'll try it.
FarmFoods steak mince was nice though.
I only buy from Asda once a month (delivery) and the rest of the time in my local town where FF is the cheapest option.

[lucysmam]

muggglewump I love your name, makes me giggle every time I see it! We have a Farmfoods up the road so I'll give that a go, how much was it (ish?)

[muggglewump]

£3.00 I think for 500g
The minced beef was cheaper, thay had minced beef with onion too but that seemed pointless given the price of SmartPrice onions!
I tried the nicest because I'd never bought frozen mince before and I will buy again.
If you don't try it you won't know!
I'm still not really looking forward to the frozen SmartPrice mince though but I'll have a standby if it's really bad lol

If you have a FarmFoods you should try the box of broken biscuits. £2 for a big box and none have been broken, just chipped or rubbed together a bit but all chocolate ones and obvious brand names. Things like rockies and classics and those posh ones you get in boxes at Christmas, mixed with normal choccy digestives and similar.
Of course you can't guarantee what you'll get but if you like chocolate biscuits they're fab.

I can also reccommend their American range, LA diner. I don't buy the meat products, too turkey twizzler for me but the garlic mushrooms and bread, wedges, battered potatoes are great for "home takeaway". I usually make the burgers to have with them.

[BlingLovin]

Beansmum - VERY impressive. . I thought I was doing well the other day to make 500g stretch to spagh bol for 7!

[lucysmam]

lol, it's probably just me like I said, I just thought it had a bit of a strange taste. we have 'home takeaway' munchy tea kind of nights sometimes, I'll pay more attention next time I'm in FarmFoods because we always spend a fortune on stuff like that.

tend to make biccy's at the mo but for a treat boxes of broken biccy's are a good one. although oh can go through a whole box at night when I've gone to bed if I don't get out what he's 'allowed' first.

[muggglewump]

I'm a rubbish baker so I buy biscuits. These are great though if you like chocolate ones.
DD will vouch for that.
Oh, the milk is cheap too-£100 for 4 pints and the same as milk anywhere. I buy it there once a week and freeze it.
The Spar up the street have it at £1.79

[muggglewump]

£100 for 4 pints?
I meant £1.00, I'm just a shit typer!