by Thrifty Lesley | Nov 18, 2024 | All Meal Plans, Celebration Meal Plans, Christmas, Vegetarian Christmas Meal Plan
If you are on a tight budget, Christmas food can be very difficult, causing stress, and maybe even debt too. No need to get into debt, when with a bit of extra planning, you can enjoy a delicious vegetarian Christmas festive meal, without spending a fortune. Re-Priced...
by Thrifty Lesley | Nov 9, 2024 | All Recipes, Dinners, Less than 500 calories
I tried these several years ago as my brother is coeliac and these, if you use the gram flour option, are gluten free. They are easy to make, freeze well and taste delicious. This recipe serves 4 adults. Great for kids as it’s easy to portion, they can just have...
by Thrifty Lesley | Nov 5, 2024 | All Recipes, Less than 500 calories, Lunches, Meal Plan 1, Meal Plan 2
This post was first written in June 2013 and updated in June 2021. I love this soup, it is my go to for a soup for lunch. I usually add a tsp of ginger paste from a jar, a tsp of garlic paste, and a tsp of turmeric to give it a lovely spicy kick, and at it’s...
by Thrifty Lesley | Nov 3, 2024 | All Recipes, Dinners
This is recipe I made when looking to use the vegetables in the vegetable box one week. I had a couple of aubergines and a huge lovely firm winter squash and used one aubergine and a wedge of pumpkin. This recipe, for 2-3, uses an aubergine / eggplant and a wedge of...
by Thrifty Lesley | Oct 30, 2024 | All Recipes, Dinners, Less than 500 calories
I recently made a really good lentil ragu which I thought would work well as a lasagna. It did and it was very good indeed. This led me to think of other vegetable based mixes that I could substitute for the lentil ragu layer. I’ve come up with a long list of...
by Thrifty Lesley | Oct 28, 2024 | All Recipes, Breakfast, Dinners, Less than 500 calories, Lunches, Meal Plan 1
This recipe came about when I was challenged to create an 8th day on Meal Plan 1 using remaining groceries. It was indeed quite a challenge trying to come up with a days eating from this and that. I’m really quite pleased with these! What do I need to make vegan...
by Thrifty Lesley | Oct 12, 2024 | All Meal Plans, Meal Plan 14, Meal Plans For 4
The Fourteenth Meal Plan – wow, that’s three and a half months worth! Plus all the celebration and 5 day ones! This one, as per usual shows 3 meals a day, plus some cakey extras to fill any gaps, for 7 days, for 2 adults, and this time, two 15 year old...
by Thrifty Lesley | Oct 5, 2024 | All Recipes, Less than 500 calories, Lunches
Post originally written in January 2014, refreshed and updated October 2024. When I did a demo a while ago, I did a soup that we have often. The original recipe came from Feasts From The Place Below, Amazon currently (October 2024) selling 2nd hand copies for £2.90,...
by Thrifty Lesley | Oct 4, 2024 | All Recipes, Dinners
I recently made a really good lentil ragu which I thought would work well as a lasagna. It did and it was very good indeed. This led me to think of other vegetable based mixes that I could substitute for the lentil ragu layer. The first one is a mushroom ragu,...
by Thrifty Lesley | Sep 22, 2024 | All Recipes, Less than 500 calories, Meal Plan 2, Sides
Post first written in January 2015, refreshed and updated November 2021 Onions are a flavour powerhouse. They are sweet, savoury and pungent all at once. Caramelised onions have all that umami flavour concentrated and are very useful In Meal Plan 2, there are 750g of...
by Thrifty Lesley | Sep 12, 2024 | All Recipes, Dinners, Less than 500 calories
If you are like me and grow tomatoes in your garden, you are likely to have large amount of them at this time of year. I was looking for ways to use a lot in one go and came up with tomato risotto which used 400g for me and my husband. Oh my goodness, was it good! The...
by Thrifty Lesley | Aug 23, 2024 | All Recipes, Dinners, Lunches, Meal Plan 12, Meal Plan 14, Stretch A Chicken
What do I need to make a chicken and onion pie For a 20cm pie, serving 4, you will need Pastry 200g flour, I always use self raising, but it doesn’t seem to make a lot of difference 100ml vegetable oil about 100ml water Filling 100g cooked chicken 3 stuffing...
by Thrifty Lesley | Aug 8, 2024 | Lunches, Other
Having made cranberry curd and experimented with other fruit pulps, I decided to have a go at savoury ones and started with tomato and basil and my good ness it’s good. A great way to get some vegetables into veggie phobes. Great on toast or in a sandwich with...
by Thrifty Lesley | Jul 19, 2024 | Dinners, Lunches, Meal Plan 14, Sides
Peperonata is one of those things that we have pretty often. It is a pepper and onion stew that goes with many things, can be used as a main dish or as a side. We first started having it with cheesey gougere, which is choux pastry – I must blog that recipe one...
