by Thrifty Lesley | Mar 27, 2023 | All Recipes, Dinners, Lunches
I bought a 200g packet of smoked mackerel fillets and wondered how I could stretch them into lovely meals for 2. The first one I tried was this recipe for mackerel pâté that is super simple and very delicious. What do I need to make mackerel pâté smoked mackerel...
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 | Oct 28, 2017 | All Recipes, Breakfast, Less than 500 calories, Lunches, Round Up Post
I have made lots of different sandwich pastes and toast toppers. This round up post gathers together 8 of them. I’ve really liked each of them. They are quick and cheap to make, freeze well and can be used as sandwich fillers, toast toppers, jacket potato fillings and...
by Thrifty Lesley | Nov 1, 2016 | All Recipes, Dinners
I run a cooking group for the local U3A that meets once a month, and this months meeting was today. We made plain chow mein, a creamy leek cheese toast topper and this wonderful Pad Thai. It works out rather expensive for our budget here, although there are...
by Thrifty Lesley | Mar 1, 2016 | All Recipes, Dinners
the budget cookery group Had the budget cookery group round this afternoon. We had our usual laugh, then made some Carrot and Tahini Hummus, a Mixed Nut and Seed Butter, then a glorious Goan Fish Curry. It was gorgeous! The recipe is adapted from the Indian book I...
by Thrifty Lesley | Feb 28, 2016 | All Recipes
Went to Glyndebourne yesterday, with the friend I go to see the live transmissions with. No, not the posh, picnic in the garden type. Very expensive! We went to see the youth group do a modern opera called Nothing. It was distinctively modern. The singing was...
by Thrifty Lesley | Dec 7, 2015 | Lunches
Tried the first experiment with reviving dead bread stored as breadcrumbs today. Had a look in the fridge and found a few bits and pieces that I thought would work, got a bag of breadcrumbs out of the freezer and had a play. I have set out below what I used to give...
by Thrifty Lesley | Dec 1, 2015 | Christmas, Other
Had the U3A budget cooking group here, at the house, this afternoon. I was wondering what to do. Thought it needed to be seasonal, but most definitely not mince pies. I ended up deciding to do a few nibbly type entertaining bits. We started off with Nigella’s Union...
by Thrifty Lesley | Nov 19, 2015 | Bready Things, Dinners, Love Your Leftovers, Lunches, Round Up Post
Went to a U3A meeting this morning on Science. One of our number talked about Astronomy. We discussed the immense distances involved and moved on to the possibility of life elsewhere. The presenter is a chemist, so we had a very interesting discussion around why...
by Thrifty Lesley | Nov 4, 2015 | Dinners
The fish is obviously the expensive ingredient here, and the thing that we need to search around for to make a healthy fish pie recipe that is delicious and as cheap as we can get it. It took a while, but I think I’ve done it alright, plus at the end of the post are...
by Thrifty Lesley | Oct 5, 2015 | Dinners, Less than 500 calories, Lunches
When I was last in Aldi, I picked up a tin of their pink salmon. Wondering which of lots of things that can be done, I wondered what to do with it. I thought it could well price up to make fish cakes, which I love! So I had a little look at what I would need, and yes,...
by Thrifty Lesley | Aug 11, 2015 | All Recipes, Dinners, Meal Plan 9, Meal Plans
This is dinner on day 2 and 5 of Meal Plan 9 Pasta & Tomato Sauce serves 2 60g cheddar, grated,Asda 350g/£1.55, 27p 100g onion, Asda 1kg/59p, 6p 300g tinned tomatoes – NB, not a whole tin, 23p 150g value pasta, 500g/29p, 9p 20g veg oil, Asda litre/89p, 2p...
by Thrifty Lesley | Jun 19, 2015 | Meal Plan 9, Meal Plans
This was my tea tonight, the tuna pasta salad from Meal Plan 9. On the meal plan, this salad is used as a lunch, but it could just as easily be a dinner, and in fact, it was What you need to make tuna pasta salad half a tin of tuna, Aldi, 49p, 25p 80g onion, Aldi 59p...
by Thrifty Lesley | Jun 18, 2015 | Dinners, Meal Plan 9
This delicious pie is from Meal Plan 9. The Meal Plan is for 2 people, providing everything needed for the week except drinks. I tried to update the prices today, but mySupermarket isn’t showing Aldi and the Aldi site itself is showing a limited selection of what they...
