Monthly Archives: September 2014

Meatballs in black bean sauce with rice and vegetables.

frugal food

Hello Dear Reader,

I feel really rough today. DB has had a battering of sorts and we’re all under the weather. If you don’t mind, today isn’t about cooking but assembling food and sort of making a meal out of it. Gordon Ramsay would roll his eyes! I bought the black bean sauce from Approved Food for 60p which is less than half of what it costs else where.


I am officially rubbish at cooking rice! So, as I don’t want to ruin it, I buy boil in the bag from Aldi for 59p for 4 sachets. I get three medium portions from each bag at 15p a bag, so 5p a portion.


32 meatballs, at £3.59. They were very very good and we did pig out on eight each, they are small but delicious. DB is going to have some in a bread roll for lunch tomorrow. I usually buy 24 (venison or lamb - which is cheaper than beef) meatballs from the wholesale butcher for 99p. If I didn’t have access to such a butcher then these meatballs from Waitrose are a good price when I compared them with others in other supermarkets.


A quarter of a bag of mixed veg from Aldi. 22p



Cook the meatballs. I drained out the excess fat and cooked them further.

I cooked the rice and vegetables together. Then, when the meat balls were cooked, added the black bean sauce which is always delicious with beef.


We’re both tired and this cheat’s stick it together meal was just what I needed. Cheaty, lazy and eaten in pyjamas before I went off for an early night.

Over to you, who else resorts to cheating when really tired? or, is it just me?

Until tomorrow,

Love Froogs xxxx

Walking a tightrope?

money saving


Hello Dear Reader,

Another day, another curve ball. DB’s employers have restructured the workforce several times. He’s had a pay cut, new job title and now a whole new way of working. With all that, he’s still the lucky one. He still has a job and both of us are in full time employment. Many of you are not and those who have jobs walk precariously with the chance of a financial fall at any moment.

We do everything we can to prepare for life’s financial ups and downs. Here’s what we do and why.

1.We pay all bills by direct debit. We make sure we have no sudden bills or expenses and make sure every bill is paid on time every month. We look at car tax, insurance, home insurance as a bill and contribute an amount each month into savings to pay for the annual bills when they arrive.

2. We save 10% every month for household needs and repairs. My washing machine has been repaired twice and is not sounding healthy, it will need replacing soon and I have the money save when it is needed. Our savings also pay for clothing, shoes and hair cuts and we make sure that 10% that we put aside is for expenses that we know are going to appear, just as birthdays and Christmas happen at the same time every year.

3. We keep a good supply of food and household items in store. This really saves us money as there’s always something to eat, loo rolls, toiletries and pet food. If needed, I can go a month without shopping for some items to help stretch the budget a bit further.

4. We keep our spending to a minimum. We really evaluate what we need and don’t need. We trim back spending but still make sure we don’t go without. If we need a new coat then we get one. Of course, it will be we researched and the best quality for the money and it will be bought to last.

5. We save for the big things. It’s really difficult to make plans for big items as it means you have to make some kind of a financial sacrifice for years. We set those goals and set aside money each month, just as if we were paying a bill. It’s the reverse of having a loan, people willingly pay out £250 a month for five years to pay a loan, we pay into an account and have £15,000 at the end of the five years.

However, even with all of those plans, life is still a tightrope. You have to concentrate on balancing all the time or you will simply fall off. It’s not easily done. We have to balance the books, concentrate on planned spending and a planned budget that’s set up for years to come. It’s backside achingly boring at times, like holding your breath or being good all the time. It’s also a strain but, like the guy on the tightrope, if we don’t concentrate and hold our nerves we will fall off.

We had planned a short break in the half term and as working practices have changed, so have contracts and allotted holidays so now that plan has had to change. It’s all about the financial balancing act, had we gone on holiday, then there would have been a hole in the savings and just for now, we need to keep the books balanced.

It’s tough but we have to remind ourselves that we are a lot luckier than most people as we are both still in work.

Over to you, what difficult decisions have you had to make recently to make sure you balanced the books?

Until tomorrow,

Love Froogs xxx

Spinach and Mushroom Pancakes

frugal food


Hello Dear Reader,

Working people will get this. When you both work, when you both have a couple of hour’s commute a day then weekends are all about making the week as easy as possible. Weekends are all about getting the house clean, getting the laundry washed, dried, ironed and put away, getting meals planned and cooking and getting some rest before the next round of twelve hour days. In the middle of all that getting ready we need to grab some simple food.

Very simple to make pancakes. Take an ordinary mug and use that to measure one mug of plain flour, or in my case gluten free flour, and one mug of milk into a bowl, beat together with one egg until smooth and blended.

Make the pancakes and set to one side. I invert another plate on top to keep them warmm.

To make the filling I used:

1 tin of Tesco everyday value sliced mushrooms
6 nuggets of frozen spinach - I defrost these in the microwave and then wring them out, in my hands, to remove the excess water.
1/2 punnet of cream cheese
1 onion, finely chopped.
50g of grated cheese
20g of butter
another mug of milk
2 tablespoons of cornflour

Fry the onion and drained mushrooms
Add the spinach and cream cheese and heat through.

Add enough to each pancake to fill each one then fold over and roll into a tube. Sprinkle a very small amount of the grated cheese to each one. Leave to one side.

In the frying pan you cooked the onions, mushrooms and spinach in melt the butter.

Add the cornflour and blend.

Add the milk and stir until thickened.

Add the cheese and stir until melted.


Pour over the pancakes and serve.

These were far to filling to be honest and one each would have been more than enough but these were our main meal for the day.

Tomorrow is the last car boot sale of the summer for our area, we haven’t been to any this year in our attempt to cut back out spending. What have you not been to this year in an attempt to cut back on your spending?

Until tomorrow,

Love Froogs xxxx

As British as pie.

frugal food

Hello Dear Reader,

One week and two pies! Not the healthiest option but a cheap enough meal. This pie has a secret ingredient that fooled DB into thinking that this was a chicken pie. This really is a cheap alternative and a great family meal.

I had some gluten free pastry left in the freezer which I defrosted to use. HERE is the recipe. It’s almost like a hot water crust pastry with a taste not too dissimilar to a pork pie crust. Mine is crunchy in places but the flavour is great.

Here’s what you’ll need to make the pie filling

500g leeks, sliced and washed. I always try to use as much as the green bits on leeks as possible 89p
150g of smoked bacon lardons, or chopped smoked streaky bacon - 89p Aldi
6 small potatoes, chopped into cubes, but not too small. 10p
1 onion, finely chopped. 3p

Fry the lardons to render down the fat, but don’t drain it as you need it to saute the onions and leeks.
Add the onions and leeks and cook for five to ten minutes until they start to soften.
Add the potatoes and half a cup of water.
Cook with the lid on for five minutes until the potatoes start to soften, but not too soft.

Now add the magical ingredient that will turn this pie into something special.

1 Cream of chicken condensed soup - 70p Tesco.

It will give you the thickest creamiest chicken sauce and will give the entire pie the flavour of a leek, chicken and bacon pie.

Always fill your pie until it’s heaped, there is nothing worse than a stingy pie.

You will need one beaten egg to glaze around the edge of the pie before adding the top of the pie, it will stick it together and stop any leakage.

Crimp the edge as usual. The last time I made the pie, Paul Hollywood’s apprentice wanted to know if I blind baked the pie. Life if too short for mushroom stuffing and blind baking. I use an old fashioned enameled tin pie dish and my pies always turn out with a cooked bottom. If it were soggy it would sag. No sagging soggy bottom here. This is a self supporting structure that Kevin Mc Cloud would be proud of.

Golden crunchy top and a very tasty and affordable pie. DB looked surprised as if I had actually made a chicken pie. This is one of many tasty ways to hide vegetables from meat eaters who wouldn’t willingly eat a pie that was mainly veg.

When my children were young, this was a real favourite of their’s and when we had so little money on which to feed them, it really stretched the budget. In fact, when they were young, there were not bacon pieces just a a vegetable pie with a soup base to give it the chicken flavour. A good vegetarian version of this would be to use the leeks, potatoes, onions and add a tin of condensed mushroom soup.

In the spirit of saving money on food and energy, we had this for supper yesterday and for supper tonight. ‘Ding Cuisine’.


Low spend September is going well. We’re now eating the veggies from the freezer and I’ll have to do a top up fruit, veg and dairy shop tomorrow. We’ve had plenty of no spend days, a few low spend days but certainly no big shops, blow outs or indulgence. It’s going to be like that for a while as we get on an save up for the things we need and days out and holidays to which we are looking forward.

Over to you Dear Reader, what secret ingredient do you use to make something cheap and cheerful seem that little bit more special.

Until tomorrow,

Love Froogs xxx

Roasted Vegetable soup

frugal food

Hello Dear Reader,

This is a recipe for the nights where you really can’t be bothered to cook as this really doesn’t require any effort or much cooking.

For this soup you will need:

1 stock cube dissolved in 250ml of boiling water
3 tbsp of olive oil
2 sweet potatoes - peeled and cubed
1 butternut squash - peeled and cubed
1 large courgette sliced
1- 2 tomatoes
1 onion finely chopped.

Heat the oven to 180 and roast the vegetables for 20 - 30 minutes.

Remove from the oven and leave to one side.

Pour the oil from the tray into the saucepan, heat and add the chopped onions.

Add the vegetables and the stock.

Bring to the boil and simmer for five minutes.


Blend with the hand stick. The sweet potatoes and butternut squash really make this. You could have also roasted carrots, you could have cut the onion into quarters and roasted that too.

Over to you Dear Reader, please share your favourite soup ideas or recipes.

Until tomorrow,

Love Froogs xxx

Blackberry, Apricot and Custard Crumble Cake

frugal food

Hello Dear Reader,

If you want to make this, there are still plenty of blackberries out there in the hedges. I bought mine but I’m sure some of you have a freezer full of these beautiful purple berries. I was sent the challenge by Rix, to try my hand at a blackberry recipe for their competition.

You will need to pre-heat the oven to 160 degrees C or if you’re cooking in a range, then medium oven.


You will need a rectangular baking tray. I didn’t have one so used my lasagne dish. I lined it with greaseproof paper and then I made a sponge cake base.

225g soften butter
225g SR flour
225g of sugar
3 eggs
1 tablespoon of vanilla extract.
4 tablespoons of milk.

Beat the lot together, smooth into the dish or baking tray and bake for 20 minutes until the cake is entirely set. I have a fan oven, you might need to bake this for slightly longer.


Whilst the cake is in the oven, make up an instant custard, you know the sort out of a sachet. You will need around two thirds of a mugful of custard. Make it quite thick.

To make the crumble you will need:

80g of SR flour
40g of butter, cut into small cubes
3 tablespoons of sugar

To make the crumble, rub the butter into the flour with your finger tips until it resembles breadcrumbs. Stir in the sugar.


For the fruit you will need a punnet or bowl of blackberries, or 250g and a tin of drained apricots. You could omit the apricots, but the combination of blackberries and apricots work really well.

Take the sponge out of the oven, it should be entirely set, although only just, you want the sponge to be moist.

Pour the custard onto the sponge and spread evenly.

Arrange the blackberries and apricots on top. I always add berries when they are still slightly frozen so they don’t fall apart when cooking.

Sprinkle the crumble on top and return to the oven for another 20 minutes.

My oven is a fan oven, if yours is a range, a gas or electric oven, then you might need longer for the sponge and then for the crumble mix to bake through.

I’ve baked mine until the crumble has just started to brown, I didn’t want to dry out the fruit or the custard.

This cuts into twelve very generous portions, or chilled would cut easily down even further. It’s delicious served hot with ice cream or cold with a cup of tea in the afternoon. It makes a great tray bake or pudding.

This will need eating in just a couple of days because of the fruit and the custard, if it even lasts that long.

I like the way you get the full bite of cake, custard, fruit and crumble. It’s light, not too sweet but still feel really indulgent.

The fruit is fresh and cuts through any sweetness.

I couldn’t resist it and had some hot with some Greek yogurt, but this would equally be great with some clotted cream.


I know lots of you lovely readers try my recipes, I hope you try this one, if you do, then let me know.

Until tomorrow,

Love Froogs xxxx

Gluten free mince and potato pie

frugal food, http://schemas.google.com/blogger/2008/kind#post


Hello Dear Reader,

I’m getting better at making gluten free pasty. There’s no need to rush these things, it took me years to get over my fear of wheat flour pastry and I mastered it eventually. It’s the same with gluten free pastry.

Here’s how I make my savoury pie pastry

16oz Gluten free bread flour - it already has Xanthan gum added.
1 beaten egg
4oz of very cold well refridgerated lard
4oz of butter, equally cold.
Salt and water as required.

Add the flour to a bowl and add the salt, mix well.
Grate the fats into the bowl.
Add the beaten egg and stir in.
Add water and stir in until you have reached the pastry consistency you require. Always make gluten free baked products wetter as they will dry out and always require more fluid.

If you’ve every eaten a suet crust pie crust, then this is similar, the crust will be crunchy and structural. The butter and egg gives it a rich flavour. Also, not rubbing the fat in gives the pastry an air of rough puff without the effort.

Chill in the fridge.



The filling

300g of minced meat
1 finely diced onion
1 tin of potatoes - value brand
1 tin of carrots
garlic granules
stock cube
water and gravy granules.

1. Fry the mince and onions until the mince has browned and starts to ‘catch’
2. Chop the potatoes and add them along with the carrots
3. Add a little water, bring to boil, then allow to simmer for 15 minutes.
4. Add the gravy granules to thicken.
5. You want this pie to be solid and not runny or sloppy.

6. Roll out the pastry as required, GF pastry is delicate.

7. Pack the pie, the fillings are cheap and this feeds an entire family in one pie.

8. Crimp the edges and glaze the pie with beaten egg.

9. Bake at 180 for 30 - 45 minutes. The filling is already cooked - you just need to cook the pastry through.

Here it is, gluten free, mince and potato pie. Served with green beans, cabbage and a slosh of gravy. I don’t make pies very often, too nice, too fattening and too easy to eat too much! But this is just too good and we really enjoyed it.


Any one else out there who can’t eat gluten? Darn stuff just can’t be tolerated by my digestive system so I steer well clear. Anyone else struggle with pastry? Has anyone ever tried gluten free hot water crust pastry? I really miss pork pies.

Until tomorrow,

Love Froogs xxxx

Making the most of a windfall….sorry about the bra!

Budgeting

Hello Dear Reader,

I went to the Post Office on Saturday to pick up a letter that had to be signed for. I must admit, I let out and audible squeal of happiness when I opened it. One of the sponsors from the MAD Blog awards had sent me a £100 John Lewis gift card for being one of the five finalists. I’ve already emailed them to let them know how grateful I was. It’s very tempting when you get any kind of windfall to think about a new dress, lots of make up or something pretty for the house.

As John Lewis and Waitrose is the same company, I decided to get as many groceries as I could for the money. I checked out their website and found that new customers could get £15 off a £100 spend. So, my prize was actually £115 as I registered online. It was getting better by the minute. I used their click and collect service and retrieved my shopping on my way home from work tonight.

For non-British readers, Waitrose is the most expensive poshest supermarket in the UK, where the Bentley brigade send their butlers to pick up the foie gras! I wanted to get as much as I could and bought loads for my stores. I also looked for genuine offers such as 3 for the price of two and got as much as I could. I did better than I expected, they have a reputation for being expensive but I didn’t think something were more than Tesco, or at least they are similarly priced.

Lots of oily fish for my plan to up my oily fish intake to twice a week.

Three for two on Ecover, don’t worry, when these are empty, I will going back to getting refills at the local shop. (Buy two get one free)

A big meat stock up, three chickens, lamb neck fillets, meatballs, corned beef, chicken thighs, lambs livers.

The chickens were great value, £16.20 of chicken for £10. I had to take them out of the posh containers and pop them into freezer bags to fit them into my small freezer drawer.

Lots of tinned and frozen fruit. Usually, I buy frozen raspberries but for a change, I bought blackberries.

May tins of green beans, sliced beans and chick peas.

Soup. I use the condensed soup as a pie filler with left over meat and vegetables. The tomato soup is a real favourite, in a mug, in front of the fire on a cold night.

The liver will be going into faggots, I haven’t made them since last winter and DB loves them.

A dress and some new make up would have been nice but the peace of mind of having a stocked store, pantry and freezer is a great peace of mind. There are some treats, maple syrup for DB, lemon pie filling and pop corn for movie nights. The Ecover hand wash was an indulgence too.

Many thanks to Parentdish for the prize. Also, thanks to Waitrose in Saltash. It took them a while to get our order together and they gave us free coffee and a bunch of roses for the delay, which was a nice surprise.

Over to you, what would you do with a windfall?

Until tomorrow

Boiled Fruit Cake

frugal food

Hello Dear Reader,

This is a Mary Berry recipe, often used at the county shows as a competition recipe. I’ve adapted it slightly as dried fruit is really expensive.

To make this you will need

1 & 1/2 bags of mixed dried fruit. - 750g of dried fruit.


397g tin of condensed milk - 1.09
150g of butter - 60p
100g of glace cherries - 65p
225g of SR flour - I used GF flour, but you can use ordinary baking flour. 39p (GF)
2 level teaspoons of mixed spice 10p
1 level teaspoon of cinnamon 10p
2 beaten eggs in a mug 33p
IF - you are making the GF version, fill the mug with milk and add that too, GF flour needs more moisture.

Total cost £3.36 - cuts well into 16 portions - 20p a slice. Not bad for a nibble of indulgence.



Turn the oven on to 150/gas mark 2.

In a large pan, place the butter, condensed milk and all the dried fruit. Heat gently stirring all of the time until all mixed together.

Turn the heat down and keep stirring for a further ten minutes.

Remove from the heat and cool for 20 minutes.

Add the beaten eggs and milk if making the GF version.

Beat well together.

Add the flour and spices.

Spoon into 7″ tin, lined with greaseproof paper. You can buy tin liners like this from Lakeland if you don’t live near Trago. The cost me £4.50 for 100.

Bake for two hours - I check mine after one hour. After removing it from the oven, leave to cool for an hour in the tin and then transfer to a cooling rack or plate to cool completely before storing.


This will last for ages, I think it could even make a good Christmas cake. It’s best eaten the day after you’ve made it. The condensed milk gives it a toffee like flavour and the fruit gives it a dense rich texture. It’s wonderful on a Sunday afternoon with a bit of cake. Keep it wrapped in foil or in an air tight tin and this will last all week even after being sliced.

I’m entering a baking competition soon, so you’ll see a few cakes as I practise. Now it’s your turn, what’s your favourite cake?

Until tomorrow,

Love Froogs xx

Humble food that can make a difference

frugal food, MAD blog awards

Hello Dear Reader,

If you ever think food isn’t important then think of those who don’t have any. Food is rooted at the centre of our culture and how we cook, and what we eat says a lot about who we are. I had this moment of depth last night, over a glass of wine watching the Twitter feed from the MADs in London. As ever, it was an honour to be a finalist in Best Thrifty and Best Food blog. The wonderful Ricky at Skint Dad won best thrifty blog. Please pop over, take a look and say Froogs sent you xxx The food bloggers are an accomplished lot: A Mummy too, which is a proper grown up foodies blogger. Her recipe index is comprehensive and a great go to site for families with children, not only to feed but to involve in cooking. I love the complexity of the Bento boxes, and the competitive edge too of Eat Amazing. What a lucky lot her children are and what a creative mum she is. Gourmet Mum has a lively approach to getting her family to eat healthily and her recipes are fresh and easy to follow and always beautifully lit and photographed. Finally the lovely Crazy Kitchen, who makes the home cooks among us look like we’re just not trying. Her food is as professional as her slick and professional website. Her recipes are easy to find and even easier to follow. Please drop by to their websites and say hello.

Then there’s Frugal Queen. My photos are poorly lit, I use a £60 camera covered in cheese sauce and without superfast (not round these parts until the end of 2015), I often have washed up, had a shower and got ready for bed before the photos have uploaded. My recipes are simple home cooking and they are certainly nothing fancy. With that in mind, I’m immensely grateful that you read, that you follow, that you chat to me on Facebook, that you tweet and retweet and I’m incredibly humbled by the emails you send me. Every day, over the site receives over 11,000 page views and each month over 37,000 unique visitors log in and read.

I don’t always write about food but is is so important.


It changes lives and cements families. So many of my memories about my family are about the food my mum fed me. We didn’t have much and in some cases, we didn’t have enough but we never went hungry. Food was always plain, never shop bought, always homemade, filled us up and did us good. She was and is an incredibly good cook and then and now that food is not just delicious but nurturing and comforting. We take it for granted, but there are families out there who don’t like to, can’t or won’t cook for each other and generations of people are growing up without the skills to eat well. That’s ok if you have money, someone else can cook it for you, either Mr Marks or Mr Spencer can make your meals for you, even Mr Morrisons can add to your table. That being the case, where’s the heart and where’s the love in the making of that meal?


Here’s my simple recipe for Veggie Lasagne - serves 6.

Pre- heat the oven to 160C.

3 stalks of celery finely diced
2 onions finely diced
2 large courgettes cut into cubes
1 tin of sliced mushroom - or five fresh ones, diced.
4 large carrots, peeled and diced
1 heaped teaspoon of chopped garlic
1 heaped teaspoon of mixed herbs
salt and pepper
2 tins of chopped tomatoes
3 tablespoons of oil

You can add any vegetables to this, what ever is in season so long as it chopped small enough to sit easily between the layers. I made a large lasagne for everyone else and a small gluten free one for me. Don’t worry, I didn’t eat all of it in one meal.

  • Fry the ingredients above for 10 minutes, stirring continuously.
  • Add the chopped tomatoes and seasoning.
  • Bring to boil and then simmer on a low heat for 20 minutes.


Make the cheese sauce.

3 heaped tablespoons of corn flour
50g of butter
3/4 litre of milk
salt and pepper to season
100g of grated mature cheddar

  • In a sauce pan, heat the butter
  • Stir in the flour until it forms a ball
  • Add the milk and cheese
  • Stir over a medium heat, continuously until thickened.
  • Remove and leave to stand.


Assemble the lasagne

  • In an oven proof baking dish or casserole or pie dish.

  • Pour some oil into the bottom

  • Place sheets of lasagne to cover. I don’t pre-cook. I make my sauce quite wet so the lasagne can soak this up, softening whilst cooking.

  • Next layer of vegetable sauce

  • Next a layer of lasagne.

  • Now sause

  • Then lasagne

  • Finish with a liberal pouring of the cheese sauce. You could sprinkle some cheese on top. We ate ours with lettuce, grated cheese and some chopped red pepper.

  • Place the casserole dish on a baking tray, in case of spillage and bake for thirty minutes. I usually take it out after 25 and leave on the side for fifteen minutes before serving. Other wise it’s just too hot to eat.



Simple, cheap and a really simple supper. It keeps well in the fridge and makes a great ding cuisine for another day. I write because I really believe that we can all eat well enough, even if we have a tiny budget, not a lot of time, or money and only a few skills. It’s great that there are foodie families out there, eating lovely food but it’s also great that families are creating bowls of soup, hearty stews of simple veggie lasagnes. I also want to save families money so they can save up for or keep their homes or make a small wage work really hard.

Thanks everyone for voting, for Parentdish and Kenwood for sponsoring and for Sally Whittle, without whom, the blog awards wouldn’t exist. Thanks so much.

Over to you Dear Reader, what difference does feeding your family well mean to you?

Until tomorrow,

Love Froogs xxxx