Hello Dear Reader,

Oh yeah! I always go out on New Year’s Eve!!! To the supermarket! I bought no end of goodies to see the old year out and the new year in. I usually make pizza, and certainly don’t run to flash of Pizza Express, nor do I usually have dips, or salami or shop bought hummous but hey! It’s been the best of years and the worst of years in equal measure. My bill would have been £22 and was reduced to £7! Some will go into the freezer and some will be a treat for a two person party……………well! He is my most favourite person in all the world.

Aspects of my job and my personal life have brought me equal measures of strife and delight. My family have brought me great pride and also, heart break. There have been moments in this year that I will remember forever and moments I will need professional help to get over! Tonight, I’ll put all that behind me and raise a glass to the passing of 2011 and say hello to 2012. This may we herald a new chapter in my life and you can all watch this space to see if it unfolds or not.

All my love,

Froogs xxxx

Hi everyone!

You will need to check with your local Lidl store and we’ll have a look this weekend but here are some offers for your freezer and store cupboard that you shouldn’t miss (unless you hate bacon and beans!). If I see an offer like this, I will buy as many as the store policy will allow me to buy. Sometimes, I’ll go back out and in again on a separate transaction to over ride their policy or go to another store or get Dearly Beloved to have a separate trolley!

I’m signed up to all the supermarkets and look out for their ‘lost leaders’ and silly offers. I use ‘My supermarket’ to compare prices, which Lidl, Aldi and Netto are not on! They have their own websites and I can compare there too. I even check these out before we go on trips to France and look for their ‘offers’ worth stocking up on and bringing home in the boot of the car. I work on this basis, if I need it anyway, or I’m passing by anyway and I will need it later and it can be stored. Then, and only then, do I stock pile. I never buy anything because it’s a good price unless I buy it any way.

Some of you commented on my mini oven, which saves me a whole heap of energy and costs. They have them in on sale in Lidl on the 5th of January. Again, they will be gone on the day.

You can go to the Lidl website and read about it there.

I would add, that I’m not endorsing this shop and I’m not paid to do so by anyone. If I need something, I will research it carefully and buy it at the best price from where ever I can. I’ve had my oven for well over two years and only paid £15 back then. I’ve taken it on holiday as the accommodation we rented only had a hob and I’ve used it as a second oven when I’ve had guests and it is the main oven we use for just the two of us.

Now my lovely frugal friends. What’s on ‘almost give away offer’ that’s caught your eye, where ever you are in the world - do tell, do share.

Over to you,

Love Froogs xx

Hello Dear Reader,

I thought I would share one of our favourite recipes. Stuffed Mushrooms. You can stuff them with just about anything. Butterbean and lentil pate, stilton, but today, as I had some, I used some chicken liver pate.

I pulled out the stalks of the mushrooms and squeezed in some pate. I then rolled them in beaten egg and then coated them in homemade bread crumbs.

I put a shallow dish in the mini oven, with some oil in it and got it smoking hot. I carefully placed the mushrooms in, with the pate on the upper side. Every so often, I took the dish out of the oven and spooned some hot oil over the top to get them all crispy.

I served them with romaine lettuce, a tin of sweetcorn and some of my homemade spicy damson chutney. Be careful though, the pate will be really hot. I often make this as a dinner party starter but as I had the ingredients laying around we had this for lunch. I’m off now to do some bulk cooking and I’ll share that with you later.

Love Froogs xxx

Hello Dear Reader,

A turkey, though expensive, is so versatile. Here’s my version of minestrone soup with turkey as a chunky addition. You will need: One large carrot, one large onion, 2 sticks of celery, one leek, the outside leaves of a savoy cabbage, a good squirt of tomato puree, 2 chicken stock cubes in 1 litre of boiling water, a small amount of spaghetti cut into little pieces and a good handful of cooked, chopped turkey. Here’s the how to:

1. Chop and sweat off all the veggies in a little olive oil.
2. Dissolve the stock cubes in a litre of boiling water.

3. Add the spaghetti and chopped turkey and cook for 30 minutes on a low heat.

4. I serve the soup or chunky broth with a dollop of pesto. I don’t add it before as the garlic can lose its flavour.

We’ll have a couple of bowls each tonight and some for lunch tomorrow. There’s still plenty of turkey left so you’ll just have to wait and see what I do with that.

Until tomorrow,

Love Froogs xxxx

Hello Dear Reader,

A quiet day with my offspring today. I thought I would share a few recipes with you.

First of all - Key Lime Pie. You will need 1 pack or Oreos, 50g of marg or butter, 3 eggs, 50g of caster sugar, 3 limes, 1 400g tin of condensed milk. I bought the Oreo’s in Poundland, 2 packs for £1. The limes were 3 for £1 and the eggs are 85p for half a dozen free range. It’s very rich and will cut easily into 10 and works out at 32p per portion. Here’s the how to:
1. Melt the butter in a microwave.
2.Blitz the biscuits in the food processor.
3.Mix melted butter and biscuit mix together and press into a loose bottomed baking tin. Smooth some biscuit mix up the sides of the tin.
4. Separate three eggs.
5. Zest three limes, squeeze the juice and combine with the egg yolks and tin of condensed milk.
6. Use an electric whisk (I use my Kenwood chef for everything - similar to a Kitchen Aid - mine’s retro and bought it second hand) to blend until pale and fluffy and add on top of the biscuit base.
7. Whisk the egg whites to a stiff meringue and then whisk in the caster sugar.
8. Smooth the meringue mix on top of the lime custard.
9.Bake at 180 degrees for 25 - 30 minutes until the meringue is golden.

I made mine the day before and it will keep a couple of days in the fridge.

Turkey Paella.

This is a great way to use up all the bits of meat you can pull off a turkey carcass. I stripped it today and it will make a good few meals. I bought a 4 kilo turkey, which was suggested for six people and there was plenty left.

You will need: left over turkey chopped into cubes, left over ham slices cut into small chunks, some prawns if you have any, left over peas, an onion, two garlic cloves, paprika or paella spices (thanks for Foster Mummy) 100g rice, chicken stock cube. Here’s the how to:

1. Chop and fry the onion and garlic in some oil.
2.When soft, add the rice, paella spice mix and 750ml of chicken stock (I use the 10p a pack cubes from Tesco) and cook for however long it takes to absorb the water.
3. Just before all of the water is absorbed, with about 15minutes left, add the cooked turkey, ham, peas or left over vegetables and prawns. You could add any left overs to be honest!
4. Cook for another 30 minutes until all ingredients are piping hot.

Banoffee pie.

I can assure you, it looked much better yesterday! I followed a recipe but think it’s better with a thinner biscuit base. Here’s what you need. 2 large bananas - buy the ripe ones, usually sold cheaper and even better if they’ve got dark. A tin of

this is expensive!!!! Not frugal at all and I can’t find this cheaper than £1.50 any where! 3/4 of a pack of digestive biscuits and 100g of butter! I would use less butter in future as the base was hard to cut and less butter would have resulted in a crumblier lighter base. 1 small pot of whipping cream - again! the cheapest I could get was 65p. You will need a few cubes of dark chocolate. You can buy perfectly good dark chocolate for cooking in Tesco or Asda for 30p a bar.

Hello Dear Reader,

Let’s see what we can make with this lot? A few spuds, a couple of onions, four slices of bacon, some almost on the turn cherry toms, a tin of chopped tomatoes and a tin of carrots! Just watch this.

First of all, I cut the tomatoes in half, threw away the mouldy ones and layered some thinly sliced potato on top.

I have then layered sliced onions, the finely chopped bacon and sliced tinned carrots, I’ve then poured a tin of chopped tomatoes on top.

I then mixed up 400 ml of instant cheese sauce and poured that over the top. I buy mine in a sachet from Asda, 4 for £1, it seems to keep for years. I then baked it on the highest setting in my mini oven for one hour.

The potatoes absorb the tomatoes and the cheese sauce and it’s rich and yet tangy with the tomatoes and not too stodgy as there isn’t much bacon.

The end result was lovely. We didn’t have anything with it, it’s full of carrots and tomatoes, so enough vitamins there, enough protein from the few slices of bacon and the cheese sauce became sort of crunchy but permeated the hot pot.

It was full of flavour and just what we needed on a cold night. Now the cost £1 for the bacon, 25p for the cheese sauce, 30p for the tinned toms, 20p for the carrots, 60p for the cherry toms, 20p for the spuds and 10p for the onions. There’s enough for 4 portions, so approx 61p per portion. It’s getting increasingly difficult to put a nutritious meal on a plate for under £1, what are you having for supper and how are you managing with costs?

Until tomorrow,

Froogs xx

Hello Dear Reader,

Firstly, thank fully Foster Mummy rescued me today from the depths of feeling miserable and I am so grateful that I am blessed with a friend who will drop what she is doing, cross counties and come and see me. xxxxxxxxxxxxx!!!! X 10 Million !

Tonight, we are mainly eating chicken stew. Here’s how I do it! Firstly, use the cheapest part of the chicken, the thigh. I have a pan full for £2.25. It will feed us for two day. I get the griddle pan smoking hot, I drop the thighs in, skin side down until the fat start to render. I keep turning until it’s cooked.

Now I get the oven on, I drop the peeled and sliced carrots into boiling water and leave to cook, whilst I chop an onion and a pepper.

I add the onion and pepper into the cooking chicken and cook in the chicken fat.

I add the whole lot, chicken, carrots, one large spud peeled and cut into pieces. I threw in a punnet of cherry tomatoes as they were going soft. I mixed up an Aldi chicken chasseur mix with water and poured that over the top.

I then made dumplings. 200g of SR flour, a pinch of salt and 100g of beef suet with enough water to make a dough. I spooned out dollops and rested that on top of the chicken stew. I have a domed lidded casserole dish, usually used for roasting poultry, but great for making stews or casseroles in the oven.

The finished result, an hour later, was an unctuous and rich stew with fluffy dumplings on top.

No good at all for the waist line but good for the soul on a grey and drizzly winter’s day. We’ll have the same again tomorrow. The cost? 75p per person, per meal.

Until tomorrow,

Love Froogs xxxx