Do you have any special ways to extend food so it will feed more people?

We use oatmeal.

@ YARNLADY In tuna salad? Isn’t it sticky?

Not sticky, it acts much the same as cracker crumbs.

Grated carrots work really well with tuna. Gives it a little bit of crunch and very good flavor.

I also grate carrot into my tuna fish. Sometimes I mix in cottage cheese instead of mayonnaise.

With ground beef then I add grated onion, carrot, bread/cracker crumbs or minced potatoes.

I like to serve enchiladas with piles of lettuce and then the toppings on them like a salad.

If I serve Italian sausages then I score them diagonally a few times and then cut them in half lengthwise to cook.

Omelets seems bigger with minced vegies stuffed inside and a shredded cheese on top.

I put red lentils in soups and stews, spaghetti sauce, they fill you up with less meat, so it is very economical and good for you too.

I save stale bread and make croutons to stretch the salad, fresh veg seem to be ridiculously expensive at the moment. $9.95 per kilo for tomatoes, the same for a red capsicum. The usual cold weather veg are more reasonable $3.00 for broccoli, $4.50 for a whole head of cauliflower. I also chuck the stale bread in stews and sauce, it pretty much dissolves but thickens whatever.

I am in the north of Queensland in Australia.

When I’m making omelettes I “dilute” the egg with milk. (It also makes the omelette bigger and lighter/fluffier).

I mix finely chopped raw onion and mushroom with tuna mayo.

I mix a can of baked beans with minced beef when I’m making a cottage pie. (not only are the beans cheaper but the sauce gives a nice flavour to the gravy too).

I think it’s pretty common to put milk in scrambled eggs or omelets.

I also put lentils in soups and stews – great way to add fiber and protein and a little thickness. The red lentils are less grainy than the gray ones.

You can serve casseroles and soups or stews over rice.

Rice, flour, corn, barley, etc, all make good “fillers” to add volume to other foods. You’re on the right track. : )

The idea of red lentils in foods sounds good! Now I’m curious how a lasagna of spinach and colored lentils would come out. Too bad it’s in the teens and to turn on my oven would mean self immolation.

@Neizvestnaya – I bought a gas ring that fits onto the gas bottle from the gas grill and use it outdoors when the weather is too hot.

Brown lentils are good too but they are more of another ingredient whereas the red ones practically dissolve therefore are more of a thickener.

I think I have seen lentil lassagne, I will hunt for it. I have seen a recipe for a lentil pie, that sounded good too.

Thanks @rooeytoo: Yum. I’m drawing up a list of meals to slip red lentils into. Tonight I think they’ll go into our stuffed bell peppers along with some ground meat, cracked wild rice and tomato paste. Fluther makes me hawngry.

@Neizvestnaya – mmmmmmm that sounds good. Did you ever try it with red peppers instead of the green? I am not fond of green peppers, my stomach complains about them when I eat them.

I make them will any color of peppers I can find on sale. Usually Fresh & Easy or .99 Cent store will have packs of 3 or more peppers marked down. Have you tried pan roasting the Greens in oil before stuffing and steaming or baking? I’ve done both because my stomach doesn’t like the Green skins otherwise.

Nope, never have, thanks for the hint, I will give it a try.