by Thrifty Lesley | Mar 24, 2023 | All Recipes, Dinners, Lunches
A mixed vegetable quiche is a classic British dish that comes out very cheap with a bit of frugalisation. If you think quiche or flan sounds like something your granny makes, you could always call it a tart and feel all contemporary. If you decide to use the oil...
by Thrifty Lesley | Aug 6, 2022 | All Recipes, Lunches, Round Up Post
School packed lunches – the dreaded chore! Can you feed a hulking teenager for 30p a head? Ideas for school packed lunches – many people with school aged children need them. Packing up a lunch box for children or an adult packed lunch is bad enough. It can...
by Thrifty Lesley | Jan 27, 2022 | All Recipes, Cakes and Bakes, Less than 500 calories
I really like the carrot cake from Cheap Family Recipes. Like most carrot cakes, it doesn’t actually taste of carrots and I fell to wondering what other vegetables could be used in a similar way. At Christmas, I got lots of the very cheap vegetables on promotion...
by Thrifty Lesley | Dec 22, 2021 | All Recipes, Christmas, Less than 500 calories, Puddings / Desserts
I had surplus mincemeat from Christmas and decided to use some in a pudding. I have made chocolate roulades for some time and felt sure that swapping the cocoa for flour and using mincemeat and perhaps some apple too as the filling, as well as cream, would work very...
by Thrifty Lesley | Sep 30, 2021 | All Recipes, Lunches
Curried Pumpkin and Coconut Soup This post was originally written in October 2014 and refreshed and updated in October 2021. I am a little confused today. I went to a WI garden group meeting yesterday, on Thursday. It’s usually on a Wednesday, like most other WI...
by Thrifty Lesley | Sep 24, 2021 | All Recipes, Breakfast, Cakes and Bakes, Less than 500 calories, Meal Plan 2, Meal Plan 4
Carrot & Sultana Loaf This post was first written in October 2013. Re-written and refreshedin September 2021. If you take 250g flour, some yeast and water, you can add many, many different things to it and get a lovely loaf, with 4 portions, to use for any meal,...
by Thrifty Lesley | Jan 4, 2021 | All Recipes, Cakes and Bakes, Less than 500 calories
Apple Bread I like a banana bread, but today, I was looking at my fruit bowl and wondered if other fruit could be used in place of the bananas. How about apple bread I thought? Ooh, or spiced apple bread? How can I make apple bread healthy? To make the apple bread...
by Thrifty Lesley | Dec 28, 2020 | All Recipes, Christmas, Love Your Leftovers
Christmas Leftovers – part 2. Clementine salad; Preserved Clementine’s; Turkey, Brie & Cranberry pie; Welsh Rarebit So after yesterday’s attack on the Christmas leftovers, and the ideas on the guest post at Skint Dad, we’re having another go at them...
by Thrifty Lesley | Dec 28, 2020 | All Recipes, Christmas, Love Your Leftovers
Christmas Leftovers – part 1. Soup, a Turkey & Cranberry Toast Topper, a Cheesy Tart So there you are, a few days after Christmas Day. Don’t know about you, but I’m drawing breath right about now and sticking my head in the fridge wondering what I’m going...
by Thrifty Lesley | Oct 1, 2020 | All Recipes, Other
Home made French apple jam Our little apple trees are usually very generous and I give lots of them away. We have a Discovery, a very early variety, that doesn’t keep and indeed should be picked and eaten still standing by the tree to enjoy it at its best....
by Thrifty Lesley | Jul 22, 2020 | All Recipes, Less than 500 calories, Puddings / Desserts
Easy Poached Pears Without Alcohol I made these rather wonderful easy poached pears without wine today when we had guests for lunch. I thought I’d see if I could frugalise the recipe. I have described these as with no alcohol, although I realise that the...
by Thrifty Lesley | Aug 29, 2019 | All Recipes, Breakfast, Less than 500 calories, Lunches
Fed up with plain cheese sandwiches? How about flavoured potted cheese? Do you have cheese sandwiches for lunch? Are you a little tired of them, or maybe wanting to ring the changes a little? How about making a potted cheese. I have lots of little bits and pieces of...
by Thrifty Lesley | Jun 7, 2018 | All Recipes, Breakfast, Less than 500 calories
I have been following Slimming World for a few weeks now in my ongoing attempts to lose weight. I cant stand boring or bland food, so am constantly looking for nice things to eat that are allowed. I’ve written before about how delicious overnight oats are, and can be...
by Thrifty Lesley | Oct 20, 2017 | All Recipes, Dinners
Something I’ve been making for decades – Sweet Bean Curry This recipe is one I have been making for decades. I first came across it at the house of a close friend when we went for dinner, and he kindly gave me the recipe Sweet Bean Curry Ingredients 175g...