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 | Aug 20, 2022 | All Recipes, Puddings / Desserts
You don’t need to make an egg custard and you don’t need an ice cream maker to make no churn chocolate ice cream. There isn’t a trace of an ice crystal crunch either. If you leave it to get fully frozen, take it out at least half an hour before you want to eat it and...
by Thrifty Lesley | Apr 11, 2022 | All Recipes, Less than 500 calories
Cabbage is a very nutritious vegetable and has been eaten by people for 1000’s of years, currently consumed worldwide. One day last month, I had far too much white cabbage to be able to use it up before it went manky. So I decided to try freezing it. I hadn’t...
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 | Jan 27, 2022 | All Recipes, Cakes and Bakes, Less than 500 calories
I really like the carrot cake from Cheap Family Recipes. Like most carrot cakes, it doesn’t actually taste of carrots and I fell to wondering what other vegetables could be used in a similar way. At Christmas, I got lots of the very cheap vegetables on promotion...
by Thrifty Lesley | Dec 22, 2021 | All Recipes, Christmas, Less than 500 calories, Puddings / Desserts
I had surplus mincemeat from Christmas and decided to use some in a pudding. I have made chocolate roulades for some time and felt sure that swapping the cocoa for flour and using mincemeat and perhaps some apple too as the filling, as well as cream, would work very...
by Thrifty Lesley | Dec 18, 2021 | All Recipes, Christmas, Dinners
I was watching a programme on cranberries and what to do with them and one of the chefs talked about a creamy base of leeks, topped with a crumble mix. I thought it sounded really nice, but they hadn’t put that recipe on the internet for that programme, so I...
by Thrifty Lesley | Nov 30, 2021 | All Recipes, Less than 500 calories, Lunches, Meal Plan 10, Meal Plan 2
First written in August 2013, refreshed and updated December 2021 For quite a few years now, once a month, I have coffee with a friend in The Baytree, one of the independent little coffee shops in Heathfield. We were talking about food, as we often do, and one of us...
by Thrifty Lesley | Nov 29, 2021 | All Recipes, Dinners, Less than 500 calories, Meal Plan 2
Post first written in September 2013. Refreshed and updated November 2021. This recipe makes a generous portion of pasta, dressed with olives, tomato puree and soft cheese. Very quick to make, just taking as long as the pasta does to cook through. How To Make This...
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...
