So the kids are back to Uni and you’re worried that beans on toast every night isn’t the most nutritional diet. Why not send them off with a care package of frozen home-cooked food.

Time: 1 hour

Serves: 4

Top tip

Double up on ingredients and freeze extra portions so you can rest assured they have plenty of home-cooked goodness to see them through their studies.

What you’ll need

  • 1 tbsp coconut oil
  • 1 large onion
  • 1 red pepper
  • 1 tbsp chilli flakes
  • 2 garlic cloves
  • 1 tsp paprika
  • 1 tbsp marmite
  • 500g lean minced beef
  • 1 beef stock cube
  • 2 tbsp tomato puree
  • 1 can chopped tomatoes
  • 1 can kidney beans

Method
1. Dice the onion and slice your red pepper into small batons. Peel your garlic cloves and crush them in a garlic crusher if you have one, if not then dice the garlic finely.

2. Preheat the hob to high and add the oil to a large frying pan. After 2 minutes, add the diced onion and stir frequently for roughly 4 minutes. Once this has softened add the red pepper, garlic, chilli flakes and paprika. Continue to stir while it cooks for another 5 minutes.

3. Add the minced beef to the pan and break it up as it begins to brown. Continue to stir the mix and turn the meat to ensure it is being browned on both sides.

4. Crumble your beef stock cube into 250 ml of boiling water. Add this into the pan with the chopped tomatoes and tomato puree. Continue to stir.

5. Bring the contents to the boil and then reduce the heat to a low simmer. Let the mix cook down until it has reduced by half. Make sure it is not drying out too much (if it is, add a few tablespoons of water).

6. Pour a tin of kidney beans into a sieve and drain the excess. Add these to your chilli with a tbsp. of marmite and bring the pan back to the boil whilst stirring thoroughly.

7. After 10 minutes, bring the pan off the heat and allow to rest for roughly 10 minutes.

8. Portion the chilli into 4 and serve. This can be stored in the fridge for up to 2 days or frozen for up to a month.

Goes perfectly with…

This meal goes perfectly with a portion of instant rice and will ensure your kids have a fast, healthy, dinner-time option available. That’s one less thing to worry about!

Blend with style

For the stylish student or health conscious parent, the iconic retro Smeg blenders are the perfect kitchen accessory. Combining high power functionality with beautiful design, Smeg blenders are ideal as a statement accessory, or can be matched with other Smeg kitchen accessories for a complete retro look.