Part time vegetarian?

To keep within our food budget and to buy good quality meat we often have a couple of meat free nights a week. We also try and stretch meat out in meals by bulking it with beans and veg. A whole chicken can now last use three/four meals, it used to last us two.

I went to a friends house for dinner on Wednesday and tried quorn mince for the first time. Her family have been using it as part of their slimming world meal plan. I must admit I wasn't looking forward to trying it as I've always have the mindset that I would rather go meatfree than to use a meat alternative. She cooked it in a spaghetti bolognese and it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. I don't think it had as much flavour as used beef mince but it got me thinking I could possibly use it again.

The price of quorn mince also makes it appealing. I noticed it in aldi yesterday and it was priced at £1.48 for 300grams. Have you tried meat alternatives before? Do you have a recipe it works well in?

Here are some meatless meal ideas if you need to stretch your budget this month:

• Omelettes
• Stuffed peppers
• Quinoa burgers
• Fried rice
• Veggie pasta
• Black beans and rice
• Sandwiches for dinner
• Muffins or bread with veggies/fruit such as courgette muffins 
• Veggie curry
• Dinner picnic style with chopped veggies, fruit, crackers and cheese
• Smoothie
• Cheese/beans/eggs on toast