Use this option to filter all the recipes and posts on Thrifty Lesley to select just the ones you want to see.

For example the Category of Dinners, with the Tag of Vegan and Nuts. This will show you all the posts that are dinners and that are vegan and use nuts. Or use just Category, or just Tag to select all Dinners, or all Vegan or all Nuts

Split Pea Soup - a 3 ingredient soup recipe

A soup that uses minimal ingredients, is very delicious and just 19p a portion

Poach A Chicken

How to stretch a chicken to make it last the family the whole week with seven budget stretching chicken recipes

Budget meal plan with lentils and chickpeas

A cheap 7-day meal plan using red lentils, chickpeas and bacon. Frugal, nutritious and easy to cook

Week Seven Meal Planner – minced beef, bacon, red lentils

Need to feed your family with the minimum of cash? This meal plan is based on minced beef, bacon & red lentils. As at 27th August 2025, £1.46 each, per day! Everything you need, three meals a day plus cakey extras

Meal Plan 4 - butter beans, oats and parsnips

How to eat well on a teeny, tiny budget! A weekly meal planner to serve 2 adults for 7 days at a cost of £1.34 a day each as at August 2025

Meal Plan 3 - chorizo, chick peas and dried mash

A weekly meal plan based around chorizo or salami, chick peas and dried mash. Feed yourself all week for £1.40 a day - priced in August 2025

Meal Plan Two - salted cashews, black olives and soft cheese

First written in September 2013, re-priced annually since then. I'm so  pleased this meal plan is still pricing up at just over £1 a day in August 2025 - 12 years old, and still going strong!

Meal Plan 7 - Lasagna

This recipe uses a third of an easy beef ragu made for use in Meal Plan 7.  We use the other 2 thirds for a spaghetti bolognese and a cottage pie.

Meal plan 7 - Beef Ragu for 3 different dishes

Make 1 big ragu and you can make a cottage pie, a lasagna and spaghetti bolognese with it!

Cheese and Onion Sandwich Filling - how to copy a deli filling, much cheaper!

Do you love those little deli pots of cheese and onion sandwich filling sold in the supermarkets? If you do, then this post is for you - you can make an even more delicious sandwich filling at half the price!

Crunchy Broccoli Salad

This is a delicious salad that takes just a few minutes to make. It is creamy from the dressing and has a wonderful balance of flavours, with little pops of sweetness from the currants and savouriness from the sunflower seeds. It doesn't taste particularly vegetabley strangely, probably because of the dressing, so might be liked by those not especially fond of veg.

Three Bean Salad

Three Bean Salad - an absolute classic dish. It's super easy to make, is absolutely delicious, can be used as a main or a side and is very adaptable.

Chicken and Sweetcorn Sandwich - how to copy a deli filling for a third of the cost

Just mix three ingredients together to make a delicious copy of a chicken and sweetcorn deli filling from a supermarket - and for a third of the price!

Smoked Mackerel Sandwich, with Egg

This simply gorgeous sandwich is made with a smoked mackerel fillet, a boiled egg and a slick of mayonnaise. It's SO good and costs just 53p!

Hidden Veggies Pasta Sauce

Most people, including veggie-phobes of all ages, seem to like tomato pasta.  If you cook and whizz in a mix of other vegetables, it's a good way to get more of a variety into people.

Egg Mayonnaise Sandwich

A boiled egg, chopped, with a generous spoon of mayonnaise, classic deli filling, found in all the supermarkets. Absolutely delicious, and very quick to make yourself at home, with just 2 ingredients!

Tuna and Sweetcorn Sandwich

If you buy those little pots of deli filling from a supermarket, you might be surprised to know that you can make it in moments for half the price!

Quick Banana Bread

I usually use up soft bananas in smoothies, with an unpeeled apple and a splash of orange juice. But if I want cake, this recipe for a homemade banana bread is super quick to mix up and very tasty.

More slaps round the chops from life

Another resounding slap round the chops from life

Muffins made with mincemeat and oats

Muffins made using mincemeat and oats. These muffins are tender and delicious, especially still warm, straight from the oven.

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