by Thrifty Lesley | Jul 17, 2025 | Dinners, Lunches
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...
by Thrifty Lesley | Jul 14, 2025 | All Recipes, Dinners, Less than 500 calories, Lunches
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. What do I need to make this three bean salad recipe? Salad a tin of red kidney beans a tin of butter beans...
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...
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
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 be boring, tiresome and a real chore to do. You might be lucky and not mind it too much, but...
by Thrifty Lesley | Jul 17, 2022 | All Recipes, Dinners, Stretch A Chicken
Pizza is one off the worlds favourite foods for at least 1000 years, loved, and made, by millions. Pizza toppings can make a meal from little things leftover in the fridge, or as here, from chicken left after a roast. Homemade Pizza Dough Mix the pizza base...
by Thrifty Lesley | Sep 16, 2021 | All Recipes, Dinners, Meal Plan 1, Meal Plan 12
This post was first written in June 2013 and updated in June 2021. These falafel are pan fried and served with a super simple salad of carrot and peanuts. Add differing spices to ring the changes What do I need to make pan fried falafel To make enough for 2, you will...
by Thrifty Lesley | Apr 8, 2021 | All Recipes, Dinners, Poaching A Whole Chicken
I really fancied a BBQ pizza one day and wondered what I would need to use for toppings. Having made some vegan BBQ sauce that was really successful a while previously, I wanted to use that and decided to use it as the base sauce instead of a tomato one. Well, wow, it...
by Thrifty Lesley | Dec 28, 2020 | All Recipes, Christmas, Love Your Leftovers
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 today. Use up those clementines If you got over enthusiastic when buying the clementines, maybe buying a box or two when far fewer...
by Thrifty Lesley | May 27, 2018 | All Recipes, Love Your Leftovers, Round Up Post
One of the most wasted food items are bags of salad leaves. They are packed in a protective atmosphere and often wilt very quickly once the pack is opened. But, leftover salad ? What on earth can you do with that! Home Grown So you’ve grown some beautiful lettuce or...
by Thrifty Lesley | May 18, 2018 | All Recipes, Dinners, Lunches
A long lasting Tzatziki. Make a sandwich with it for lunch, with lettuce, for 14p Well phew, what a busy weekend. And you should see my diary for the next fortnight! I have one of those diaries that show 2 weeks at a time and there are scribblings of appointments all...
by Thrifty Lesley | May 7, 2018 | All Recipes, Dinners, Lunches
Two very yummy meals today. First up was breakfast after Fitstep class, so I was pretty hungry. Crisped up some focaccia from the freezer in a frying pan, with a couple of chorizo slices and had that with scrambled egg and tomato. Yum Then at lunchtime I tried one of...
by Thrifty Lesley | Jan 9, 2018 | All Recipes, Lunches
Today’s recipe is a lettuce soup that can use any leftover bagged salad leaves, wilting lettuce, that half a bag of fresh spinach, gluts from the garden in the summer, etc. The recipe is written by Janice Lambert, one of our lovely Facebook group members. I’ve added...
by Thrifty Lesley | Oct 12, 2017 | All Recipes, Dinners, Lunches
This recipe was one that the U3A made when the group came to my house for our monthly meeting. I had been looking through Yotam Ottolenghi’s Plenty More for inspiration and found this lovely salad. This is my version of it Bean and Quinoa, Lemon and Herb Salad...
