Three dinners from one pack of mince. 20.60 zł and nothing left over

Minced pork shoulder costs 31.23 zł per kilo, and it's what sets the price of dinner. In the plan below it accounts for 61 percent of the bill. A pack holds 400 grams, while a recipe for one portion takes 120 to 150. Hence the scenario everyone knows: you cook one dish, the rest goes back in the fridge, and three days later it goes in the bin.

So here are three different dinners that use those 400 grams to the gram.

Three dishes, three portions

• Meat patties with potatoes and beetroot: 130 g of mince, 7.18 zł, 664 kcal, 34.2 g protein, 35 minutes
• Spaghetti bolognese: 120 g of mince, 6.50 zł, 779 kcal, 34.7 g protein, 30 minutes
• Pork meatballs in tomatoes: 150 g of mince, 6.92 zł, 532 kcal, 29.5 g protein, 35 minutes

That's 20.60 zł for three portions, 6.87 zł per dinner on average. It's the cost of the amounts used, not of the receipt. Starting from an empty kitchen the till says about 76 zł, because you buy whole packs rather than 130 grams of mince and half an egg.

The shopping list

For these three dinners:

• Minced pork shoulder 400 g: 12.49 zł, used in full
• Potatoes 2 kg: 7.99 zł, you use 250 g
• Cooked beetroot 500 g: 4.79 zł, you use 120 g
• Yellow onion 1 kg: 4.99 zł, you use 140 g
• Eggs, class M, 10 pcs: 13.49 zł, you use half an egg

The rest comes from the cupboard: plain flour 1 kg 1.79 zł, spaghetti 500 g 2.99 zł, passata 690 g 7.55 zł, chopped tomatoes 400 g 3.99 zł, garlic 250 g 7.99 zł, oil 1 l 7.99 zł. If your kitchen is empty that's 32.30 zł once, and those six things last for weeks.

How to cook it

Meat patties with potatoes and beetroot, 35 minutes

1. Peel the potatoes, cover with water and boil for about 20 minutes from the boil, until a fork goes in without resistance.
2. Mix the mince with half an egg, a tablespoon of flour and finely chopped onion, season with salt and pepper.
3. Shape two patties and fry in hot oil for about 4 minutes a side, until browned and springy to the touch.
4. Grate the cooked beetroot and sharpen it with a splash of vinegar or lemon.

Spaghetti bolognese, 30 minutes

1. Chop the onion and garlic and fry in oil for about 3 minutes, until translucent.
2. Add the mince and fry for about 6 minutes, breaking it up with a spatula, until it loses its pink colour and starts to brown.
3. Pour in the passata, season with salt and pepper, and simmer uncovered for about 10 minutes, until the sauce thickens.
4. Meanwhile cook the spaghetti to the packet, usually about 8 minutes, al dente.

Pork meatballs in tomatoes, 35 minutes

1. Mix the mince with chopped garlic and salt, and roll meatballs the size of a walnut.
2. Brown them in oil for about 5 minutes, turning, until they take colour on every side.
3. Pour over the chopped tomatoes, add the chopped onion and simmer covered for about 20 minutes, until the sauce thickens and the meatballs are soft inside.

What's left and what to do with it

The mince goes entirely, which is the point of the plan: it spoils fastest and costs the most. The beetroot leaves 380 grams, three more side portions for the days that follow. Potatoes, onion and garlic sit in the kitchen for weeks, so the rest of those packs isn't waste. The eggs will wait.

Why I count from the pack, not from the recipe

The recipe says "150 g of mince", the shop sells 400 g. As long as you plan one dish at a time, that gap ends up in the fridge and usually in the bin. Plan by the week and the pack sizes become the starting point, so the leftover never appears.

That's exactly what Snugmeal does: it builds a week of recipes so the packs close, and shows the cost of what you use next to the cost at the till.

It launches this autumn. Leave your address in the form right below this post and you'll get a one-off code for 20% off your first subscription.

Data: prices read live from product pages on zakupy.biedronka.pl on 18 August 2026. Nutrition values and times come from the Snugmeal recipe base, costs recalculated from the prices above. In the meatball recipe we swapped granulated garlic for fresh from the shopping list, and rapeseed oil for sunflower, because that's what the online shop stocks. Our own arithmetic.