Monthly Archives: December 2013

Five easy steps to saving money in 2014

Saving money

Hello Dear Reader,

You may read Frugal Queen everyday but you may have stumbled this way looking for advice for the very first time. You may have decided that 2014 is the year that you are going to sort out your finances. You may feel that it is a big task and you really don’t know where to start.

In 2009, my finances came crashing down around me. I sold my house, had everything ready to go and move into a small cottage and the bank pulled the mortgage from us on New Year’s Eve. The reason why? We had too much personal debt. The only option I had was to clear every penny that I owed and start again afresh. It took us two and a half years and by then, the housing market had dropped away from beneath us and our house had lost so much in value that we didn’t have the substantial deposit we once had. Another financial crisis and we had to throw every penny we had at reducing the mortgage and each month we over paid to pay off the capital on our mortgage. We did it and this year, four years after our personal financial crisis we sold and managed to move with a £60K deposit and have at last got ourselves a house we can afford to pay for and live in.

We did everything we needed to do to pay off all our £45K of personal debts (previous home improvement loan - £25K, car loan - £10K credit cards and overdrafts - £10K - the credit cards were maxed as we renovated the house we were in to sell it ) and here are the five simple steps we took to turn our finances around.

1. Earn extra money - This was an essential and why we paid off our debts so quickly. Dearly Beloved scoured the local auction houses and after research bought and sold vintage radios and speakers. He knew what he was doing and this fed into our paypal account. I’m a teacher and worked several nights a week as a private tutor. Three times a year, I marked exams. We had a lodger. I taught quilting and sewing on weekend classes. In the school summer holidays, I cleaned caravans at the local holiday park.

2. Stop spending money - We didn’t spend any money on ourselves for years! We gave up satellite TV, any club subscriptions, I gave up any hair and beauty treatments and didn’t cut my hair for years and coloured it myself. We commuted by public transport as it worked out cheaper than using the car. We didn’t go to anything we were invited to, not even relatives weddings. We didn’t give any Birthday or Christmas presents to anyone but our closest family. We stopped eating out, we didn’t have a takeaway for three years. We didn’t buy any new clothes other than underwear and shoes. We didn’t have a holiday or a day out that cost any money. All of that might sound really parsimonious but now I go to the hair dressers, we can have new clothes if we need them and we have money in our bank accounts that we would never have if we stayed in debt.

3. Run your household like a business. - we learned to account for every penny. We worked out exactly how much we needed to live on and ran a week by week budget. We didn’t waste electricity and used low energy bulbs in every room and never lit or heated an empty room. We did without central heating and just heated the room we used. We used rechargeable solar lamps (they were dim but gave enough light for a cosy evening). We wore clothes until they were dirty and dried our clothes in front of the wood stove. We did a food stock take every week. We would menu plan and not waste any food. We even tried, although we failed, at growing veggies in our soil less garden (grew in tubs). We found the best deals on energy tariffs. We had a water meter installed. We recycled shower water for the garden and to flush out toilet. We counted and saved the little things because they all added up. We learned to recycle everything. I’m a reasonable quilter and still use recycled fabric and Dearly Beloved can keep us warm for days with a few pallets.

4. Snowball your debts - It works like this. I had several debts. I paid the minimum payment on all of them except one. I started by paying off the smallest balance first. You could choose to pay off the debt with the highest interest rate. Each month, I would pay every single penny I didn’t need to live on into the debt. When that debt was paid, I took the minimum payment and every single penny and added that to the next smallest debt and paid that on top of the minimum payment I was already paying. I never gave myself a break until every debt was paid off. I didn’t give up and not pay, but made every extra payment every single month!

5. Create an savings fund. Let’s get this straight. An emergency is something you can not exist without. You need a cooker and a washing machine. If our TV had died, we would not have turned to the emergency fund to replace it. Instead, we would have gone without! Every month, we would budget for 5% of our income to go into our emergency fund. This meant we could service the car, pay for the annual MOT and tax the car every year without using a credit card. We now save a lot more than this each month but we put aside enough each month that meant we could service the boiler and look after the car and house without using credit every again.

How did this change my life?

1.We still earn extra money only now it goes towards overpaying the mortgage. Dearly beloved still buys and sells and I still mark exams. I have a ten year mortgage deal on this cottage but I aim to pay off the balance within five years.

2.We now spend money but we are still careful. I go to the gym, have a personal trainer and go the the hair dressers and beauty salon. However, I don’t go on holiday to the Maldives and we haven’t bought a new car. We’ve bought the smallest house we can fit into and we haven’t rushed out and bought new furniture for it. We are having new windows, a new boiler and new wood stove but consider them to be long term investments in keeping household running costs to a minimum. We won’t be having a holiday this year as we’re prepared to go without a bit longer to make our house more eco-friendly.

3. We still run our home like a business. We get the best deal on everything. We haggle. We check every bill. We still don’t heat or light empty rooms. We still only wash dirty clothes. I hang washing on the line to dry as much as I can and then only use the tumble drier to finish them. We still don’t eat out, we had a takeaway on our anniversary, we still only buy what we need. I still menu plan, I still stock take food, I still shop on a budget. I still bulk cook the meals for the week at the weekend.

4. I have no debt. I have no intention of having any. I over pay the mortgage every month, even if it’s only by £100.

5. We save every month. We put money aside each month for annual insurance payments, all car costs. We are now putting money aside each month to renovate the house and have booked work to be done every other pay day.

I hope this is the year that you take control of your finances, get out of the red, even if not completely but as much as you can and improve life for your family.

I write every day so until tomorrow,

Love Froogs xxxx



Old fashioned thrift

frugal home, money saving

Hello Dear Reader,

I was asked once if I recycle much, to be honest, I don’t. I mainly re-use. My local hardware store is called Modern Grates and they sell everything. Anything that any one might need for their home maintenance is sold there. I refill my Ecover cleaning products there. I take the empty bottles back and they re-fill them. It’s much cheaper and it creates very little recycling. I happily reuse the same bottles over and over. They even refill my handwash and shower gel. I changed to chemical free products in my attempt to rid myself of migraines (along with not eating gluten!) so far, and touch wood, I haven’t had the health problems I had previously so I’m going to continue being chemical free. A word of warning about Ecover cleaning products is that you only need the tiniest amounts!

I still use sodium bicarbonate to clean stubborn dirt and a mixture of lemon juice and olive oil to clean wood. I still use white vinegar to clean anything that I want to shine.

Yesterday, whilst on the radio I made a remark on thrift. It might seem silly to some people to get cleaning products refilled to save a few pennies here and there. It might seem silly to use bicarb and olive oil for cleaning but it’s the little amounts of money saved that means I have more money to do the fun and enjoyable things in life.

Over to you Dear Reader. What little things do you do that saves a few pennies here and there?

As ever, I look forward to hearing from you.

Love Froogs xxxx

Pledge to become debt free in 2014.

debt free

Hello Dear Reader,

First of all, thanks and apologies. Thanks to everyone who sent emails to Tracy about budgeting and money management. Apologies, we were not able to read them all out today but will do when I’m on the Tracy’s radio programme again on Sunday 12th January when we will be discussing personal debt and how to get out of debt.

If you want to listen to Tracy and I, along with Jen, the local vet who gives advice on pet care then click HERE and move the cursor to the last hour.

Below, I’ve added my radio script of some tips and ideas and contact details to help anyone get out of debt.


The UK is in the grip of a debt epidemic
  • People who can least afford it have the most debt
  • 8M households have no savings
  • Consumer debt has trebled since 1993
  • Outstanding debt on British credit cards - 55.6Billion
Facts from The Guardian Newspaper’s financial section

The poorest are paying a ‘poverty premium’ - mainstream banks won’t lend - payday lenders, doorstep loans and ‘rent to buy’ stores who sell at twice the price of mainstream stores and then charge very high rates of interest to customers who can’t get credit anywhere else.

The best thing any British family can do is get themselves out of debt!

1. Work out what you owe and who you owe it to - if you have no means of paying this back, for example if you lost your job since borrowing the money contact
Step Change - 0800 138 1111 - debt management advice
Christians Against Poverty - 0800 328 0006
These offer free debt advice and will help you get out of debt - beware of debt management companies who make money out of debt.


2. Set a budget

  • food
  • clothing for children - for adults - make do with what you have other than essentials
  • travel to work
  • car costs
  • B/day C/mas for children only
  • The rest goes into debt repayment -a debt is a bill! Pay it monthly when you get paid! Always aim to pay more than the minimum - Pay off one debt at a time and then take that amount and add it to another debt - it’s referred to as ‘snowballing’.

3. Be disciplined - if you fall off the wagon - get right back on it! You will pay off debts but you must stick with your debt repayment plan.


4. Cash only/debit card only spending! No more store cards or credit cards - burn them, shred them but you can’t afford the debt you have - you certainly can’t afford any more!


5. Organise your bills
  • pay everything by DD on pay day
  • even insurance - more expensive but if this is the best way to discipline yourself then go ahead.
  • put money into a savings account, again by DD for car costs - or annual bills
6. Switch and save - energy suppliers, internet providers, phone providers

7. Get rid of everything you can live without - it’s not forever

  • Contact TV - give notice to satellite
  • Contact any subscriptions - give notice
  • Contact mobile phone - give notice - go PAYG
8.Sell everything you don’t need -
  • online auctions - old toys, clothes, CDS - any money, no matter how small can go towards debt repayment
  • two cars? go down to one
  • 1 car? can you live without it?
9. Change the way you eat
  • put a basic menu together for a week at a time
  • check the cupboards, freezer - use up what you have
  • shop with a list
  • don’t waste food - get portion sizes right - use up everything
10. Learn to control you impulsive shopping behaviour.
  • never shop when hungry
  • have no spend days, build them up into no spend weeks
  • keep a spending diary - look at what causes you to shop.
Over to you Dear Reader. Join the pledge and work towards debt freedom. What initial steps are you going to take to become debt free?

Until tomorrow,

Love Froogs xxxxxx

Quilting for family and friends

quilting

Hello Dear Reader,

I’ve had a joyous day in my sewing room. I had made all of the blocks in this quilt before we moved but it’s been too long since I’ve sat at my sewing machine. I

I have a stack of quilts to make for other people. My PT is off to pastures new soon and I’m making him a quilt. I’m going to make one for a friend’s young child and this one is for my brother. I’ve been promising him a quilt for quite a while and he’s been very understanding and knows he will get it in the end.

All of the fabric that you can see was sent by you Dear Reader and I hope you like how I’ve used it!

I love stars and my brother is a star so this will suit him!

The outside edge is 2.5″ strips, that you also sent me and I’ve had a ball getting this quilt top made today.

In future, I will have to hire some space and layer and back my quilts and I’ll save a few up for a back breaking, get it all done in one session day.


I’ve tested my new sewing room today and there’s room enough to share. Watch this space…….I’m going to be holding a few sew together days in a few weeks time. I’m going to try out a few new blocks and then have them ready to share with you at the sewing ‘bee’.

If you are interested in a quilting day, then send me an email. Also, if you’d like to learn to sew from scratch or brush up the skills you have, also send me an email and I’ll arrange something for you.

Over to you Dear Reader. Who quilts? Who loves making gifts for friends and family? Who’s in the middle of making something as I would love to know.

Until tomorrow,

Love Froogs xxxxxxxxxxx

Change your behaviour to live a better life!

Saving money
Hello Dear Reader,
I will be on Radio Cornwall on Sunday and this week’s topic is going to be all about sticking to goals. I find it really easy to set a target and then single mindedly work towards it. It doesn’t matter what it is, I keep at it. I wasn’t always like this. I used to live like other people and think if I gave something up then I must be denying myself of something. I now know how much I need and what my own wants and desires are and I don’t worry about what anyone else has or is doing.
I was sent some interesting information and the positives are that 4/5ths of the British population keep their resolutions, which goes to show what I’ve always believed that we are a nation with a back bone and we can achieve anything!
  • 13 million* people plan to make New Year’s resolutions
  • Fitness, exercise, healthy eating and losing weight top the nation’s New Year’s resolutions
  • Top financial resolutions include saving money on outgoings, putting more money on deposit and getting out of debt or reducing loans and credit card balances.
  • A fifth (21%) say they usually break resolutions within a month
“A survey of New Year’s resolutions has revealed that getting fit tops the nation’s New Year wish list with millions of people resolving to exercise more and lose weight. Money matters also feature high in the nation’s 2014 ‘to do’ list with a third of those making a New Year’s resolution to sort out their finances and reduce their outgoings.
I’m not surprised that getting fit tops the nation’s list as we are not a healthy country and so many people are bigger than they would like to be. My resolution hasn’t changed from last year, I’m going to continue going to the gym, running and limiting my calorie intake to an amount that helps me sustain my weight loss. In my case, no more that 1500 calories in any day and on sedentary days no more than 1200.
28% of the 2,000 UK adults Gocompare.com quizzed revealed that they are planning to make resolutions in 2014, many (46%) will do so because they genuinely want to change their behaviour. However, the survey also revealed how hard it can be to keep resolutions, with 21% of people admitting they have usually broken their resolutions before January is out.”
The biggest change I made in my life and most people seem to want to make in their lives is behaviour. If your behaviour dictates that you come home and slump in front of the TV then it probably needs to change. If you don’t sit down and check and plan your finances, short and long term then you probably need to change. If you are disorganised and don’t plan and therefore have some unwanted chaos in your life then I can guess you’ll want to change that too.

CHANGING YOUR FINANCIAL HABITS!!!!
Rank
Top financial resolutions for 2014
%
1.
Save money on outgoing -
Change your behaviour - To start, you will need to know all your incomings and outgoings. Balance your books to start and make sure you only live on what you have. It’s the first step is to keep it really simple as it’s only basic arithmetic. Add more information week by week and get to grips on your emotional spending. It is as important to analyse when you spend as it is to work out when you eat emotionally. It will be the first step to changing your financial behaviour.
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2.
Save more in a deposit account
Change your behaviour - if you are now debt free and you have a workable budget then you are ready to start saving. Move the money on pay day! Get used to doing without 10% of your income. This is going towards the long term bills initially. Do this for a year. Get used to having the car tax, pay your home, contents, life and car insurance in one hit once a year. You may not have all of it in one go but you will have changed your behaviour by putting money aside each month. Next year, build that up to 25% of your income!
32
3.
Get out of debt or reduce loan and credit card balances
Change your behaviour - this is a really hard one as you may already have money problems and you will have to dig deep into your emotional strength to cope with this. Remember, this is a short term fix. Three to five years might seem forever but those days, weeks and months will pass. Work out the minimum you and your family can live on and make do. Every month, keep a diary of how much you’ve reduced your debts by. Keep a tally chart on the wall or start a blog! You also need to look for more work, take in a lodger, deliver flowers or takeaways but do anything you can to get more money into your home. All extra monies………you’ve guessed it…..goes to pay off debt. The big change in your behaviour will be that you now pay for what you need in cash or you go without until you can.
21
4.
Shop-around for a better energy deal
Change your behaviour - never, ever ever accept the bill you’ve been given. Check it, question it and find any way to reduce it. Use price comparison sites and make sure you are on the best tariff. When you’ve done that, start work on reducing consumption. Get a smart meter and check that every unwanted light is off and that nothing is on stand by. Use a slow cooker for stews and casseroles, fill the oven when you use it and batch cook. Look at the weather report and get your laundry outside on a dry or blustery day. Close the curtains as soon as it starts to get dark to keep the warmth in. Get a shower timer and try to get all clean in under five minutes. When you run the tap for hot water, keep a jug and bucket by the sink or bath to fill whilst you wait for hot water and use that to flush the loo. Energy cost account for 5% of an average family’s income so you need to make sure you know what you are spending and use it wisely.
17
5.
Buy a house or move home
Change your behaviour - You will never ever buy your first home without incredible self sacrifice. You are probably at the stage of your life where you want it all. You want: fun, social life, nice clothes, babies, family, holidays and probably your own home. You can afford a home if you put everything else on hold! Many young people go to university without any idea why and end up being the best qualified coffee shop waiters in Costa! Only go to university when you have researched the eventual job you want and change your desires to go into work that’s needed. Also, be prepared to take your skills and qualifications anywhere in the world that needs them! Around the world they need: nurses, doctors, mechanical engineers, IT programmers and developers, accountants, electrical engineers, dentists, pharmacists, mining engineers, physiotherapists, psychiatrists, radiographers and speech therapists. Go train to do those things and you’ll soon have a job, a home, will be able to get married and have babies!
12
6.
Invest some money
Change your behaviour - I look at my parents and know they have done their very best all their lives to put money aside. They know they didn’t start early enough. We know this too. Like many people we had enough to live on and didn’t have any spare. However, there are people out there who can and should put money aside for long term savings. Even if it’s for a new car every ten years. £166 a month will accumulate £20000 in ten years without interest and we all need to think of long term investments. One of my resolutions this year will be for us to put aside money that we don’t touch for ten years and build up a ‘we will need this when we retire’ fund.
11
7.
Shop-around for insurance
Change your behaviour - Be the person who haggles for the best price for everything. Use price comparison websites, get the best quotes you can and hold those quote reference numbers. Then go to cash back websites and buy your policy through them and get some money back too. The behaviour change? Don’t think of the money back as spending money but as money you can add to long term savings, what ever that is for.
10
8.
Put more money into a pension
Change your behaviour - if you haven’t got a pension then make sure that this is the year that you start paying into one. If you have one then it won’t be worth as much as you want it to and you will need to top it up. Check out your own pension provider. I pay an extra £124 a month into my pension and have committed to do this for a ten year period and that will give me an extra £1000 a year on my pension. If I had done this early, then I could have a much better pension to look forward to. Change your behaviour and pay more into your pension. You are fit and well and can do without now but that won’t be so easy when you are old.
6
9.
Re-mortgage
Change your behaviour - when we moved, we were able to get an incredible mortgage rate as we were only borrowing 60% of the value of the house. If you have reduced your mortgage and own almost half of it, then you are in the position to get a much better mortgage deal. Change your behaviour to move your mortgage as often as it benefits you.
3
Over to you Dear Reader! What behaviour are you going to change to live a better life? Who wants to get on top of their financial behaviour? Who is going to change the habits of a lifetime and set aside money on pay day to put into longer term savings? Who is going to budget and plan for the weeks and months ahead? Who gets by each month but knows you can change? Who is going to save for a car, house deposit, wedding, holiday, home repairs or a college course? You can make your pledge right here. If you don’t want it published, just let me know and it’s just between you and me.
If you can - send your pledge to [email protected] and we’ll share them on Radio Cornwall this Sunday!
Let’s make 2014 the start of a whole new life. 80% of you all will stick with the promises you make to yourself! Let’s do it together!
Until tomorrow
Love Froogs xxxx

Feeling Blessed?

Uncategorized

Hello Dear Reader,

Thanks for all your Christmas wishes and kind messages. We ‘ve had the most perfect couple of days. After years of being the caterer and hostess, it was lovely to have the day off. We had a lazy lie in, walked the dogs and then had lunch with my parents who equally don’t ‘do’ Christmas. We all reflected on how lucky we were to have hot food on the table a fire to sit by and that we were unscathed by the weather.
Today, was wonderful. It’s a rare day when I have my son and daughter under the same roof. By special request, I cooked lasagne for my girl, her partner and for Dearly Beloved, a gluten free version for me and a veggie pasta bake for my son and his partner.
To make the veggie pasta bake
1/4 head of celery - finely diced
1 onion - finely diced
4 cloves garlic - finely diced
Saute the above in olive oil
Add any chopped veggies of your choice, or in my case, two cups of frozen veggies.
Add a tin of chopped tomatoes, a veggie stock cube and a cup of water.
Add two cups of pasta shapes and turn the heat down, put the pan lid on and simmer gently for thirty minutes.

Place in a baking tin and cover in cheese sauce . Serve with lashing of tea and chatter.

There’s plenty left for supper and even lunch tomorrow. I hope you’ve managed to have a peaceful break and that the weather has been kind to you.
Over to you Dear Reader, who’s been hit by storms ? Who’s been left unscathed? Who else feels blessed to have have heat, light, to be well fed and a roof over your head?
I know I am.
Until tomorrow,
Love Froogs xxxxx

How to feed a family on less than you would think

frugal food

Hello Dear Reader,

You told me all about your food spend and wanted some help on: batch cooking and freezing, reasonably priced lunches, healthy meals for your little boy who’s nursery school age and filling up a hard working husband. Your big costs are nursery expenses, which I fully understand as you need to stay skilled and in the job market. You also wanted to know what to stock up on from Approved Food and you needed to get supper on the table super quick when you both get in from work. If you look at the side bar of this blog, you’ll see ‘labels’ and the top label is ‘frugal food’. You can also go to my archive of recipes on the drop down menu at the top of my blog. I’m not saying all my food is healthy (I like cake as much as the next woman!) but I hope it’s affordable for the average working family.

Firstly, I’ll answer your question about cheap cuts of meat.


This is where you need to get to the butchers and not the supermarket. Our local butcher sells every part of every animal! I buy pork knuckles which is the pig’s leg from the knee down. It’s good meat and effectively leg of pork. I buy the trotter attached and boil it to make gelatine if I’m making a raised pork pie however, most butchers will chop if off if you don’t want it. Just roast it like a leg of pork joint and eat with roasties and veg. This will usually cost around £2.50 and feed all three of you very generously for Sunday lunch.


Whilst you’re in the butchers get to know the offal they have on sale but don’t expect it to be cheap. Thank you very much Hugh chuffin’ Fearney Whittingstall and your trendy servings of heart and liver and thanks very much for sending the prices up! It might be more expensive than it used to be but it’s still incredibly cheap way to feed a growing family. Even Dearly Beloved won’t eat liver just as it is, but he will wolf it down in the form of faggots or meatloaf. If you have a food processor, this is dead easy to make. Here is ‘Frugal Queen Faggots recipe’ . If you love the taste of sage and onion stuffing, then you’ll love faggots with onion gravy mash and veggies.


If you saw Jamie Oliver’s programme on Money saving meals, he and I both agree on something, there is nothing wrong with frozen veg. I always make sure I have some in reserve. If I’m having a week of not spending, I will draw on my reserves of food and eat from my stores and my freezer. I’m happy to use frozen veggies in frittata, in fish pie, in veggie lasagne and even steamed with my meal. I understand that some people don’t like it but it doesn’t offend me in the slightest and all the research proves it’s just as good for you. I also buy frozen berries and eat them for dessert with yogurt, with breakfast with porridge or in muffins which is a great way of hiding unusual vitamins from unsuspecting children or husbands!


When the silly season is over, the supermarkets will push lots of basics and will have reduced their ‘everyday’ food items. If you can, keep some frozen meat, fish, fruit and veg in store - it will get you through the month!
You will have noticed that I use my slow cooker a lot. I tend to buy chump chops, stewing steak, chicken thighs and cuts of meat that are tasty but need a slow gentle cook. They are cheaper for a reason so I use my slow cooker and make a lot of casseroles and stews. I make enough for lunch the next day too. You could take this to work in a food flask or a plastic sealed tub if you have access to a microwave. I enjoy a simple hot lunch and soups and stews are a great alternative to sandwiches.


Check out your supermarket freezer sections for meat and the frozen New Zealand lamb chops, they are cheaper than cutlets and casserole well. I buy lots of the casserole mixes, usually ten for £1 from Approved Food and the recipe and instructions are on the pack. I get it ready before work and come home to a ‘ready meal’. I usually add some vegetables that can be steamed in under twenty minutes and I have a substantial meal for a lot less than you would think.


I buy rice either when on offer from Approved Food or from the supermarket. Either or, we have at least a kilo of it in the house at any time. You can stock up on pay day and keep going all month! Here’s my recipe for PAELLA. I often add a handful of prawns to a veggie paella just to give that fishy little burst every now and then but in the main, we just have veg in a paella.

The other secret is add mashed potato to everything!

Bacon patties

Fish Cakes

Bubble and Squeak

You also asked about getting enough fruit and veg. I shop in Aldi and like their Super 6 offer. Every week, they will have an offer on fruit and vegetables and you can get fruit at a good price in Aldi for everyone in the family to have a couple of items of fruit a day at a reasonable price. Also, you can use tinned fruit as a dessert and we sometimes have that with instant custard. I promise it’s just fine and tastes just like tinned custard. Try it with tinned fruit for a really cheap, tasty and reasonably healthy dessert.


I think one of the most successful meals I regularly cook is shepherdess pie, which is so tasty than no one will ever miss the meat. We usually eat meat every other day, as much for health reasons and keeping costs down. Too much meat makes me sluggish and I like my diet to be mainly veggies.


I love food, cooking it, reading about it, writing about it and of course eating it. I don’t have much time and want my food to be reasonably affordable and easy to cook. I hope I’ve given you a few ideas but don’t hesitate to write to me again if there’s something specific you want me to help you with.

Until tomorrow and you know what you get tomorrow!!!!

Love Froogs xxxxxxxxxxxxx




Gluten free Christmas cake and mince pies

frugal food

Hello Dear Reader,

I thought it would be easy enough to buy gluten free mince pies and Christmas cake. My local supermarkets didn’t sell either at all so I looked online. One well known gluten free supplier offered a cake for just under £10 that gave ‘six generous slices’! Since when were six slices generous? I also found gluten free mince pies for sale at four for £2.25. I can understand why….gluten free pastry isn’t easy to make. On my first attempt, I added Xanthum gum and they puffed up and were rubbery. This time, I didn’t add any and used butter in the pastry and cooked them as suggested and they were hard and crunchy and certainly not buttery and crumbly in the way I wanted them to be. I will try again. My minced pies were made from

200g gluten free flour - 34p
100g of butter - 39p
200g of mincemeat (half a jar) - 50p
Add water until the mixture combines.
Total £1.23 for twelve gluten free mince pies.

Roll out, add mincemeat and top with pastry. I cooked them for 25 minutes, which is too long. They don’t brown like ordinary pastry does and I suppose I shouldn’t expect it to.


Here’s my recipe for my Jack Daniel’s Gluten Free Christmas cake.

150g of Dove’s Farm Gluten free flour - 26p
500g bag of dried mixed fruit - 95p
2 tablespoons of Jack Daniels - £1
200g of glace cherries - 1.30
125g of salted butter - 50p
125g of soft brown sugar - 31p
rind of 1 lemon - 30p
rind of 1 orange - 30p
3 FR eggs - 50p

Mix all ingredients together in a bowl. Pour into a lined cake tin. Bake at 150 for two hours. Leave to completely cool in the tin until tomorrow.

Total cost - £5.42 and will easily cut into 16 really generous slices!

I was quite happy to forsake aforementioned seasonal treats but I’m actually glad I’ve succumbed to some nibbles to see us through until the new year.

Over to you Dear Reader, does anyone else find the cost of gluten free food prohibitively expensive? Does anyone else struggle with pastry?

Until tomorrow,

Love Froogs xxxx

Making the most of the shortest day

frugal home

Hello Dear Reader,

If you are in Australia, then today is your Summer Solstice whilst here, it’s the Winter Solstice and the mark of the turning year. It’s the shortest day and from now on, the days will get longer by a few seconds each day. It’s been very overcast, with low clouds, a lot of rain and hardly any day light all day. It’s also the first day of my holiday and I’m battling tiredness!

We had a burst of energy.

We fitted the rest of the secondary glazing film. It’s surprisingly effective. I have altered the curtains to fit the windows. I had to butcher two pairs of curtains to make one longer set of curtains. The curtains in our dining room used to be in our spare bedroom. They were laundered and packed and now, they’ve been cut and sewn.


We also had a visit and quotation from the double glazing firm that we use. Double glazing for the entire house will cost us £???? (not telling) and we were offered credit terms. Instead, we’ve split the job over five months and we’ll pay for what we can afford in three separate fittings. The work will be done by the end of May. We will pay for the work as it happens, instead of having it all done at once and then paying for it over the year. I prefer it that way.

We’ve also broken down the cost of having a wood stove installed. In the summer, we’ll have the chimney lined and the roof line chimney repaired and the chimney pot will have a cowl fitted. In the autumn half term break, we’ll have a new stove fitted in time for the winter. It’s going to be an expensive year and we’ll have no spare money for any other repairs or alterations. Decorating, flooring, the garden overhaul will all have to wait until the following year. This is not a sprint but a slow and steady walk to the finish. I personally feel it’s better to get the work done now, whilst we’re both able to take on extra work and we’re healthy enough to amuse ourselves with long walks and turning the garden over to veg for a year.

It was lovely to sit at my sewing machine today and to do just the slightest things to make our house more homely.

I hope your shortest day went well and your winter will turn to spring as quickly as it does here in Cornwall. It’s amazing to think that snowdrops will be in flower in a month and within weeks of that, daffodils will start to push through the soil and a week later will be in bloom. Winter’s are mercifully short here in Cornwall!

Until tomorrow,

Love Froogs xxxxxxxxxx