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 | Jun 25, 2024 | All Meal Plans, All Recipes, Less than 500 calories, Meal Plan 3, Meal Plan 7, Puddings / Desserts
Sunday Lunch DP and I often have a Sunday lunch at, erm, lunchtime, then in the evening we have a pudding, often a fruit crumble with custard or evaporated milk. I always used to make custard using dried powder and UHT milk. Then one day, having spotted value custard,...
by Thrifty Lesley | May 2, 2024 | All Recipes, Dinners, Less than 500 calories, Lunches
This is a Northern Indian cabbage recipe, packed full of vegetables, pulses and spices. Make it hot if you like things that way. Personally, I like a lot of spice and hardly any heat When I first made this, we had it with Matar Paneer (cheesey peas) and a home made...
by Thrifty Lesley | Apr 26, 2024 | All Recipes, Cakes and Bakes
Chocolate Muffins Recipe Mike was ‘needing some chocolate’ yesterday, so I decided to make some chocolate muffins. Haven’t made any kind of muffins for yonks. They are super easy in that it is just a bit of stirring, and not too much of that either...
by Thrifty Lesley | May 18, 2023 | All Recipes, Lunches
This is a very simple soup, made with just 4 ingredients, and saucepan to table in just 30 minutes. It contains a head of broccoli including all the stalk, red lentils, an onion and some seasoning. Change the broccoli to another vegetable and get a completely...
by Thrifty Lesley | Feb 22, 2023 | All Recipes, Breakfast, Less than 500 calories, Meal Plan 1, Meal Plan 10, Meal Plan 11, Meal Plan 14, Meal Plan 2, Meal Plan 7, Meal Plan 9
This is an idea I first came across on Cheap Family Recipes, I absolutely love them, especially with a strawberry compote with full flavoured summer strawberries The raisins contribute towards your need for a portion of purple each day. I think this is the hardest...
by Thrifty Lesley | Nov 21, 2022 | Christmas, Saving Money
At this time of year, thoughts begin to turn to gifts for friends and family. Many people like to make a hamper, personally, I love to receive a hamper containing anything food related. Want to do a homemade Christmas hamper? What a smashing gift to receive Many...
by Thrifty Lesley | Apr 6, 2022 | All Recipes, Less than 500 calories, Other
How To Make Hot Ginger Tea I use a small glass tea pot of 450ml to make fresh ginger tea. By far the easiest way to store it is freezing fresh ginger whole. I pop it in just as it is – not wrapped, not peeled, and grate it on a fine grater straight out of the...
by Thrifty Lesley | Mar 25, 2022 | All Recipes, Puddings / Desserts
We are very fortunate in that a local church has started a community larder. Each morning, they pick up surplus groceries that would have gone to landfill from the Co-Op and lay it all out on There were a few limes there this morning, so I took 3 and made some lime...
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 | Oct 26, 2021 | All Recipes, Meal Plan 2, Other
I was looking at the leftovers in meal plan 2 and thought, with a little adjusting, I could probably get another day out of it. And right enough, I did! Very satisfying! One of the things I experimented with was wondering if I could use the last of the carrots, and...
by Thrifty Lesley | Sep 30, 2021 | All Recipes, Lunches
This post was originally written in October 2014 and refreshed and updated in October 2021. A delicious way of using up carved Halloween pumpkin insides – a gently spiced, coconut pumpkin soup. I am a little confused today. I went to a WI garden group meeting...
