by Thrifty Lesley | Jul 17, 2022 | All Recipes, Dinners, Less than 500 calories, Stretch A Chicken
This recipe is part of a series on stretching a chicken to the max. I took one medium chicken of 1.5kg and made it feed a family of 4 for a week, with 7 different budget stretching chicken recipes. I roasted the chicken, had a roast lunch with my husband, then...
by Thrifty Lesley | Nov 27, 2021 | All Recipes, Cakes and Bakes, Less than 500 calories, Meal Plan 12, Meal Plan 14, Meal Plan 2, Meal Plan 9
Post originally published October 2013, refreshed and updated November 2021 These little biscuits are fun to make, especially if you make tiny hearts or teeny squares. Spice them up with cinnamon or mixed spice at Christmas time. Or see the variations for masses of...
by Thrifty Lesley | Nov 21, 2021 | All Recipes, Dinners
Post first written in July 2013, refreshed and updated in November 2021. Tomatoes, red lentils and a few spices made into dhal and served with brown rice. Quick, very cheap, and easy – what’s not to like? I like the dahl just on its own, but it would go well with a...
by Thrifty Lesley | Nov 21, 2021 | All Recipes, Dinners, Less than 500 calories, Lunches, Meal Plan 2
First written in August 2013, refreshed and updated in November 2021. I wanted to try a couscous salad that I have been doing for a while and see if I could get it sub 50p. Well, it worked out at 71p for the dish in the picture, and there is plenty there for two, so...
by Thrifty Lesley | Sep 16, 2021 | All Recipes, Cakes and Bakes, Less than 500 calories, Meal Plan 1, Meal Plan 11, Meal Plan 3, Meal Plan 7, Meal Plan 8
This post was first written in June 2013 and updated in June 2021. A very, very variable recipe, for oaty biscuits. Much, much too moreish – and although they are only 1p a biscuit, could make it not frugal as they get scoffed too quickly 🙂 especially warm and...
by Thrifty Lesley | Sep 16, 2021 | All Recipes, Meal Plan 1, Meal Plan 14, Puddings / Desserts
This post was first written in June 2013 and updated in June 2021. Are you following Meal Plan 1? All the recipes in meal plan 1 If so, this baked sponge can be eaten at any time during the week when you need the calories. Would be lovely as a Sunday tea, or maybe...
by Thrifty Lesley | Jun 23, 2021 | All Recipes, Dinners, Meal Plan 1
This post was first published in June 2013 and updated and republished in June 2021 Chickpeas are incredibly nutritious, packed full of protein and complex carbohydrates. They have been grown for 1000’s of years and in 2019, the world grew 19 million tonnes of...
by Thrifty Lesley | Jun 21, 2021 | All Recipes, Cakes and Bakes, Less than 500 calories, Meal Plan 1
A lovely, slicing, easy to make fruit loaf. Use any dried fruit you have. Cuts into 12 slices at 8p a slice First published in June 2013, updated June 2021 How To Make an Easy Fruit Loaf Line a 2lb loaf tin and heat the oven Stir all the dry ingredients together. In a...
by Thrifty Lesley | Jun 19, 2021 | All Recipes, Dinners, Meal Plan 1
This post was first written in June 2013 and updated in June 2021 I love this recipe, chickpeas in a tomato sauce. It can be spiced in any way you like, with whatever you have, and served with fresh cooked, fluffy nan. It won’t be as authentic if you use...
by Thrifty Lesley | May 22, 2021 | Dinners, Less than 500 calories
I made these lovely honey soy chicken drumsticks recently, using Aldi chicken thighs instead of drumsticks. I prefer thighs really, I think they are the best cut on a chicken, much more succulent than a breast, and a lot of flavour. Thighs do have more fat than the...
by Thrifty Lesley | May 7, 2021 | All Recipes, Cakes and Bakes, Less than 500 calories
My husband was desperate for some chocolate, but we were in Covid19 lockdown, so didn’t want to go to the shops for something so frivolous. So I thought I’d bake him something chocolatey as I still had some flour. Hmm, how about some chocolate scones?...
by Thrifty Lesley | Apr 19, 2021 | All Recipes, Cakes and Bakes, Less than 500 calories
Are you looking for a savoury vegetable muffins recipe? I recently made some with some friends. We all made the same recipe, then met up on Zoom to compare results. Great fun! The use of the term to describe what are essentially cupcakes or buns did not become common...
by Thrifty Lesley | Mar 21, 2021 | All Recipes, Dinners, Less than 500 calories, Lunches
This curry base recipe is a very useful one to have in your repertoire. Endlessly versatile, you can add pretty much any protein to it. Curry Base Recipe To make the curry base, start by frying off a finely chopped onion. You can use any fat to do it. Ghee is...
by Thrifty Lesley | Feb 23, 2021 | All Recipes, Dinners, Lunches, Meal Plan 14
Today’s recipe, by request, is for Onion Tart. Yet another recipe that I helped develop on the Cheap Family Recipes site. When I wrote this recipe, years ago, in 2013, CFR had disappeared and I made the savoury tart recipe using my notes. Consequently, it is different...
