A firm family favourite, chilli certainly is a versatile dish. Served with rice, chips or even in a burrito, chilli is one of my favourite dishes both to cook and to eat.

Chilli is a great choice for families on a budget as you can make it in bulk, freeze it, and defrost and enjoy at your leisure. This got me thinking about a way to maximise flavour whilst making the cost even cheaper by reducing the amount of mince you need to buy.

The perfect way to do this is to cook your chilli as normal using your favourite chilli recipe. However, at around 25 minutes before serving, add porridge oats. You may think this sounds crazy, but it carries the flavours of the chilli perfectly and bulks out the meal. Simply add around half the amount of oats to meat (e.g. 100g of oats to 200g of mince) and add around half a pint of water. Then viola, the perfect chilli!

Trust me with this one, it really works.