Spaghetti Bolognese?

MrStuffins wrote: »

50g Wholewheat Pasta
150g Minced Beef (5% fat when I can get it)
Approx 200g Dolmio (or similar) Bolognese Sauce.

I don't add salt nor do I really add anything else.

You might not add anything but you can be sure they did.

the actual choice depends on what your goal is.

gain weight? lose weight? stay healthy? become pasta eating champion of the south west district?

each goal you have will affect whether or not spag bol is a good choice.

If its losing or gaining weight then the rest of your diet will have more of an effect than one meal choice, portions and your body size will dictate that.

If its staying healthy then store bought pasta sauce is not a great idea. especially when home made pasta sauce is really basic and easy to make.

Its not a completely ****e idea tho.

Same goes for the pasta. while its not a great choice, its not the worst. depending on your own stomach but pasta (wheat) can cause dietary problems, but TBH unless you have a medical condition 50g a day wont kill you.

However, home made Spag bol on a bed of veggies will be a better choice. and is comically easy to cook and can be made in bulk and microwaved as and when you need it.

If your goal is to become pasta champion then 50g aint going to cut it, stop slacking and and boil more pasta.

At the end of the day, one meal wont affect you. your diet as a whole will, as long as it fits into your goals



homemade spag bol:
chop onions, carrots, celery as small as you can, use food processor if possible

fry them on a low heat in butter till they are soft and clear.

add your meat in batches and cook until its brown.

add crushed garlic + herbs (parley basil or Italian herb mix)

add a tin of tomato

let that cook for a while 5/6 mins

add beef stock, a stock cube is ok.

bring it up to the boil then reduce it to a simmer, let it simmer for a while, minimum 20 minutes, longer the better.

you can now let it cool and put it in jars or freeze it.
then just reheat and pour over cooked root veg and some spinach leaves or pasta.

While it does take a little more effort in the beginning you can minimise that by making several days worth of food at once.

for 20-30 minutes effort on one day you can make a weeks worth of dinners much much healthier.

youll also be getting much more veg in your diet.

Gunner1886 wrote: »

If eating for health, drop the sauces for lean chicken or steak, stir fry or steam half a plate of veg for every meal, 1/4 plate of protein(lean meats) with every meal,

I never thought of making spaghetti bolognese like that!!!!

thegreatiam wrote: »

when i college I made duck in orange sauce to impress a girl.

I lacked duck so i just used 2 asda burgers. I also lacked orange sauce so I just used tikka masala sauce. Was very nice. Substitutions are a very common practice in high class cookery.

I still make duck a l'orange in the same method.

I'm gonna need a new keyboard.

And coffee refill.

Essien wrote: »

Time spent developing your understanding of food and learning a bit on how to prepare it is a great investment if you plan to "eat healthy".

@thegreatiam: Was the girl impressed?

no, but my flat mates were, Burger tikka masala became a staple.

along with spam fried rice and meat salad

Chazz Michael Michaels wrote: »

I always boil my mince. You should see the grease that rises to the top. Disgusting. Strain and you are left with grease free mince and the texture is lovely.

Dry fry it and you can drain off the fat.

And you're left with something reasonably appetising as opposed to boiled mince.

Add a few red peppers and mushrooms nom nom

So good you said it thrice?

Always buy good quality lean mince.
Always make your own sauce.

If you cant make simple tomato sauce you shouldnt be allowed near a cooker.

Stojkovic wrote: »

Always buy good quality lean mince.
Always make your own sauce.

If you cant make simple tomato sauce you shouldnt be allowed near a cooker.

If your not allowed near a cooker, how do you learn?

danslevent wrote: »

You could also try Quorn mince

Or clay.

It's cheaper and just as tasty.

MrStuffins wrote: »

What are the pros over regular lean mince?

There is none

Chazz Michael Michaels wrote: »

I always boil my mince. You should see the grease that rises to the top. Disgusting. Strain and you are left with grease free mince and the texture is lovely.

Alf Veedersane wrote: »

Dry fry it and you can drain off the fat.

And you're left with something reasonably appetising as opposed to boiled mince.

Why are you throwing away the tastiest bit? Give it to me.

I’m a huge advocate of real food, and I think most jars are crap and often full of sugar. I never use them.
But I’m gonna go against the grain here and say that tomato based pasta sauce is an exception, and there’s little wrong with it.

Making a simple sauce yourself is easy of course. And of course it is better. To do it right you need to simmer the tomatoes for a while to remove bitterness. Which is fine, it’s no longer than I’d spend on my homemade thai curry for example.
Except that for me, it’s my go-to meal in a hurry (like Stuffins, often after BJJ). When I’ve spend 2.5 hours training, I prefer the quick option. Kangaroo mince (honestly), tomato pasta sauce plus lots of onions, mushrooms, peppers, (I don’t usually have pasta though).
Somebody made a suggestion that a jar is 30% sugar. No it’s not, not even close. The one I buy is 5%. Which is not significantly different than the sugar content of the tinned tomatoes going into homemade.

Here’s the ingredients for Dolmio – Extra Garlic
Tomatoes 85%, Garlic 8%, Sugar, Onion, Salt, Basil, Citric Acid, Yeast Extract, Pepper, Paprika, Oregano, Fennel, Garlic Extract 0.5%

That’s mostly vegetables and herbs. While the added sugar isn’t necessary, it’s about 1% - if that’s the worst part of your diet then you have nothing to worry about. We need some salt in our diet.
Now I’m not saying that every jar of tomato sauce is fine, I’m sure plenty are terrible. But if you take a minute to check the labels you can find a good one.
To each their own, I’m happy to give up that tiny nutritional edge in the interest of speed when I need it (maybe once a fortnight).
I suppose a perfect solution would be to make my own when I have time and store it in jars ready to go, would that work?