Slow Cooker Beef Stew (Diet)

Ingredients

• 900g raw lean diced braising beef, visible fat removed
• 20g plain flour — staple
• 10ml neutral oil, MEASURED TOTAL for all cooking — staple
• 300g fresh carrots
• 150g onions — staple
• 250g fresh mushrooms
• 150g fresh celery
• 6g garlic — staple
• 30ml Worcestershire sauce — staple
• 500ml prepared beef stock (not concentrate) — staple
• 10g cornflour
• 800g peeled potatoes — staple
• 100ml pasteurised trim milk
• 2g salt and black pepper, measured/to taste

Add this — Thanja

• 200g peeled potatoes
• 20g butter

Quantities are for HER TWO serves of the four-serve batch. Keep separate from Declan’s portions. Adds per Thanja serve: ~149 kcal, 8.2g fat, 17.0g carbs.

Method

1. Trim and dice the lean braising beef and toss with flour and seasoning. Brown hard in batches in the measured oil without adding extra oil.
2. Put carrot chunks, onions, mushrooms, celery, garlic, Worcestershire and stock into the slow cooker. Add browned beef and deglaze the pan with a little of the measured stock.
3. Cook on high for 4–5 hours or low for 8–9 hours until the beef is fully cooked and pulls apart easily and all vegetables are tender.
4. Mix cornflour with cold water and stir into the stew 20 minutes before serving to thicken.
5. Boil the measured potatoes and mash with trim milk, with no shared butter. Serve all hot stew and vegetables over mash; cook Thanja’s extra potato separately and add her butter to her mash only.
6. Divide the shared base into four equal portions. Cook the listed extra starch separately (or in two separate ramekins for pies/lasagne), and add all Add this (Thanja) items only across her two portions. Heat cooking cream, cheese and any sauce extras thoroughly; fully cook any egg. No extra ingredients or unmeasured oil beyond those listed.

Notes

- Scaled from six to four serves; lean trimmed braising beef and measured oil retain the browned slow-cooked stew. The parent 560-kcal figure excluded mash: comparison uses 750 kcal including a potato/milk/butter portion. No fresh parsley. - Original serves 6; this variant makes four. Declan: estimated 637 kcal, 56.3g protein, 20.0g fat and 57.6g carbs per serve, INCLUDING the served carb, every sauce/coating and all measured oil. - Thanja’s base plus add-on is approximately 786 kcal/serve, at least the 750 kcal full-plate comparison used for this original. Add-ons supply both fat and carbohydrate. Original estimates and ambiguous portion sizes are approximate; this is not an individual pregnancy calorie prescription. - Nutrition is estimated from RAW meat, DRY rice/pasta or explicitly cooked noodle weights, and drained canned weights. Raw breast assumes 23g protein/100g; trimmed pork 21g/5g fat; lean beef mince 21.5g/5g fat. Brands, cuts, sauce sugar and pack labels vary; recheck purchased labels and recalculate before quoting precise macros. No fat-draining calorie credit is assumed. - Cook at least 175g whole vegetable ingredients per serve into the meal or roast on its tray; no side salad, fresh herbs, premixed vegetables, mayo, aioli or sour cream. Keep raw meat separate, cook meat to 75°C and all vegetables through; never use precooked meat as the main protein. - Cool leftovers promptly in shallow containers, refrigerate/freeze promptly, and reheat piping hot throughout. Freeze portions not needed within two days. Rice requires prompt cooling too. Use pasteurised dairy, heat cheese/cream sauces thoroughly and cook egg fully set. - Parent protein alternatives remain possible, but these quantities/macros use the listed lean cut. Reprice all eligible options and recalculate portions, fat and calories for any swap; no lamb or unrequested steak.