What can I make with 1kg of beef mince that does not involve tinned toms or tom puree?

[Egg]

I have two 500g packs of beef mince best before today. Was planning to do either spagbol or chilli con carne but have discovered that all FIVE tins of toms in my cupboard are out of date and puree been open for too many weeks.

It needs, if possible, to be something that DTs (age 12 months) and DS1 (nearly 3) might eat too????

I am a pretty poor cook btw, but can follow a recipe.

Ideas please..............

Message withdrawn

Stuffed peppers? Fry u the mince with onions, garlic and herbs and stuff inside peppers, put 'lid' back on each pepper and roast for about 35 mins or until done.

Kofta / kebabs / meatballs / burgers?

use the toms anyway

shepherd's pie. or, if you have a tin of veg soup, you could use that instead of toms...

how out of date are the tomatos?

Bobotie ?

Freeze the mince?

Burgers/meatballs are good - I mix with a chopped onion and a crumbled low salt stock cube and shape. You can freeze them raw too.

Make the chilli etc without the tomatoes but more ordinary stock. Serve as you would have done.

cottage pie with a layer of cauliflower cheese between the meat and mashed potatoe.

you can't make shepherd's pie with beef mince, it's cottage pie
[pedant]
[snigger]

cottage pie- yummy!

I was asking myself the same question the other day and found this

Beef koftas - should be lamb, but with a handful of cumin, coriander and seasoning, you probably wouldn't care. Serve with rice, pitta, salad, and a mint & yoghurt dressing.

it should be potato shouldn't it

Cottage pie, definitely - peel, boil and mash potatoes, chop and fry onions, add mince and brown, add a bit of flour, then some stock to make it 'wetter' (to taste), add Worcester Sauce/other seasoning, add frozen peas and the last minute - transfer to ovenproof dish, top with mash, rake top of mash with a fork, bung in oven for 20-30mins.

i second bobotie, its delish!

I'm not one to worry about use by dates and that kind of nonsense so would just cook whatever you had in mind originally! How out of date are they btw?

Wow thanks for quick replies. I was thinking cottage pie, but both DTs and DS1 refused it last time (DTs eat anything I put in front of them normally).

Stuffed peppers are out as only have one pepper...

Toms are varying dates. One is only Dec 08 but next best are Sept 08. Would use for me and DH but not for DCs (esp as DTs have dodgy tummies at mo as well).

Did think of freezing mince, but left it too late so obv when I go to defrost it, once 24 hrs is up it will be a day out of date.

The Bobotie looks delicious but sadly I am lacking too many ingredients.

So I think I might end up down the cottage pie route, but might try the meatballs / burgers if I am feeling brave!

It's worth at least opening the tinned toms to check - sadly we recently discovered that the Use By dates on Orange Juice are actually "I will go off and be entirely disgusting immediately after" dates but I don't think that applies to tinned toms.

i would not think twice about using them ! esepcially as going to be cooked..

but if the DTs have bad tummies.. can you use the one tin from December..? i use beef stock to make bolognese a bit more liquidy as my DCs don;t like it too tomatoey

'Use By' dates on perishables (eg meat, dairy, juice) are different to 'Best Before' dates on tins

[microbiologist hat on]
if they aren't dented, rusty, pierced or swollen, use 'em

Big pot of Stovies!!!

meatballs with spagetti could use tomato soup so its not dry.