Monthly Archives: January 2016

Homemade tomato sauce for pasta

frugal food

Hello Dear Reader,
Terrible photo but a lovely cheap and simple supper
3 garlic cloves- crushed
6 tbsp olive oil
1 carton passata
Heat the oil and garlic for about ten minutes but don’t boil it, just warm as the garlic infuses.
Add the passata and gently heat for another ten minutes.
Season with salt and pepper.
Add what you like!
I added half a bag of spinach and a pack of sliced garlic sausage that I cut into thin strips. I let the spinach wilt, added the sausage and then added cooked drained GF pasta, but you can use the 20p a pack ordinary pasta. You can also add grated cheese on top
This cost about £1 each as GF and the fresh spinach were expensive but a great quick and easy supper.
Until tomorrow,
Love Froogs xxxxx

Friday night takeaway

frugal food
Hello Dear Reader,
There are sometimes when I could kick down the door of the chippy and take over the fryer! Firstly, it’s really cold and I didn’t want to stand on a windy street in a queue. I’m also in no mood to spend a fiver on a takeaway.
So, I opened a tin of
Cut them up, popped them on a baking tray and sprayed them with fry light.
Added three fillets of pollock and again gave them a spray, I put them in a hot oven, 200 degrees, for twenty minutes.

I opened a tin of mushy peas, heated them up in the microwave and that massive supper cost 92p each. We could have eaten less but sometimes I just want to stuff my face!
No, this isn’t a push for Tesco, you can buy pollock cheaper in Lidl and the peas and spuds are the same price in Asda. If you’re not watching the calories then you can use some sunflower oil and give a fry up. I just baked mine.
I’m now stuffed and off for a bit of sewing.
Until tomorrow,
Love Froogs xxxxxx

Fish pie and buttery greens 87p per portion

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Hello Dear Reader,
1/2 pack Tesco value frozen white fish(pollock) defrosted and cut into pieces - 85p
1 pack of Aldi smoked mackerel - skinned and cut into pieces £1.49
2 tbsp cornflour - 5p
1/2 litre milk - 25p
Tsp dried parsley - 5p
Salt and pepper.
2 heaped tablespoons of marg or butter - 5p
Heat a pan and melt the butter
Add and blend the cornflour
Add the milk and parsley and keep stirring over the heat until thickened.
Pan of potatoes - cooked and mashed - 20p
1/2 cabbage - shredded, 1 leek sliced, cup of frozen peas - steamed - 55p
Pour the sauce over the fish and stir, cover with mashed potatoes.
Place in a hot oven (200) for twenty minutes, serve with green veggies.
I usually make a cheese sauce but this has a few less calories. It has big chunks of fish and a creamy parsley sauce. I’ve plated up four portions so we don’t have to cook tomorrow. It’s a very retro, almost ‘school dinners’ type of meal and 87p for the entire meal.
No sign of the ‘perfect storm’ we’ve been promised. If it’s cold where you are then you’ll need some mashed spuds!
Until tomorrow,
Love Froogs xxxxxx

6p a portion!

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The
Hello Dear Reader,
Set the oven to 150
350g of value oats - 26p
175g of value golden syrup - 30p
175g sugar - 10p
175g buttery marg - 30p
Melt the marg - dip a pastry brush in and brush a 20cm square tin.
Add the sugar and syrup, whilst over a low heat until completely melted and blended.
Remove from heat and mix the oats well.
Tip into the baking tray, press down with a clean spoon.
Bake for 30-40 minutes.
Remove from oven, loosen the sides with a knife.
Leave to cool for ten minutes.
In one movement, turn onto a cutting board.
Cut into 16 pieces.
6p per portion!
Until tomorrow,
Froogs xxxx

Liver and Bacon Casserole

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Hello Dear Reader,
I noticed when I was in France that there lots of cuts of offal for sale and it was relatively expensive. We saw everything from tripe to pigs heads and trotters which some butchers will give you for free here. Liver and kidneys are cheap enough and heart can also be bought really cheaply. Not so in France and you’ll see it on restaurant menus, such as Persilade ( I think that’s how it’s spelt) which is thinly sliced liver, cooked in butter with parsley and it melts in your mouth.
Some people have very bad experiences with offal because if you over cook it, then it can be tough. It needs cooking just for a few minutes.
I used
600g lambs liver £1.80- thinly sliced - Ox liver is my favourite but the supermarket didn’t have any.
250g cooking bacon 45p - tesco value - chop into chunks, Lardon size.
6 small onions - 10p - tesco value
2 tbsp gravy granules - I used Bisto Best as it has no gluten but you can use a cheaper variety - 10p
25g butter 9p
£2.54
I also used 1 Savoy cabbage 50p, six large carrots 12p and 1/6 bag of frozen pease - 14p
Total cost of lunch for six - £3.32- 55p per portion.
Heat a pan - not too hot.
Add the butter, onions and bacon and fry lightly
Dust the slices of liver with flour and season well with salt and pepper.
Cook very lightly.
Make up the gravy as directed and add to the pan
Cook for another five minutes.
Serve with buttery mash and veggies. It reheats well. It’s not a great photo as we tend to over do the gravy.
Now, I’ve cooked with offal before and it’s certainly divided opinion. I’ve had remarks such as offal is for dog food. I’m of the opinion that if we are to raise and slaughter an animal then we should eat it nose to tail. I like string flavours and this very traditional casserole is a massive favourite here.
Over to you Dear a Reader, any French readers or readers in France who have any other offal recipes to share? Or anyone else who shares a love of offal recipes.
Until tomorrow,
Love Froogs xxxxx

Helping others to avoid debt.

Debt reduction
Hello Dear Reader,
The biggest difficulty of having either debt or a low income is access to ready cash. It puts people in a debt cycle as there will always be a time when the washing machine breaks down or you need new bedding. There are charity shops but I’ll be bold enough to say their pricing takes the biscuit. Fortunately, there are furniture and clothing banks and we donated some of furniture that we’d bought second hand in the first place. We have one in Liskeard and volunteers will even collect it for you. If you have no money at all they will let you have clothing, household items such as a washing machine for free but if you have an income they will sell items for far less than charity shops.
My ‘new to me’ table was bought from eBay and came originally from a high end oak furniture store and would have cost around a thousand pounds. I bought it for ninety quid and got a courier to deliver it for forty. It’s a very fancy find and ‘like new’ in condition.
So, where am I going with this? Look out for furniture and clothing banks instead of turning to debt. If you can, donate clothes, household items and white goods so others can have them for nothing. Debt is pernicious and has a terrible grip that is incredibly difficult to get out of.
A massive mention of http://www.recycleandrenewing.com in Liskeard and to all their volunteers for the work they do in the community. It’s great to donate and to know that people in genuine need can avoid debt because of your service.

Until tomorrow,

Love Froogs xxxxx

Thrifty French renovations

France
Hello Dear Reader,
Thrifty renovations are underway in our absence. Our back door was rotten, didn’t close properly and had no window. As with many French houses, there’s no windows at the back so we opted for plain glass. There’s nothing behind the house but the forest so no one’s looking in. I will make a curtain.
Can you see the logs? The tree surgeon is in the midst of clearing the trees from the back of the house that over hang the property. He’s also taken all the trees down in the garden.
The garden is currently a mess but they’ll be back soon to clear it and stack the logs. I’m so glad that the ugly conifers are down. I’m sure the neighbours will be glad to be out of the shadows too.
This weekend, we’ll collect another eBay purchase as we gather good as new furniture for the house.
Until tomorrow,
Love Froogs xxxx

Cowboy potatoes and beans

frugal food

Hello Dear Reader,
Cowboy potatoes? It’s any potatoes, cooked with onions in a skillet. It’s not the healthiest recipe but once in a while it’s a big hit. We’ve always loved this since we used to camp when the kids were small. We used to have a one burner wonky hard to balance gas cooker so there was just one pan cooking. When we camped, eggs and beans went into the same pan and we’d sit on the campsite floor to eat it.
Take a 500g pack of cooking bacon, that’s basically off cuts of bacon and cut it up into bite size chunks. Three small onions sliced and ten mushrooms. All of those ingredients are ‘supermarket value’ and that’s fine for us.
When the bacon and other ingredients have rendered down add cooked potatoes. I used tinned potatoes for speed and ease.
Once they’d cooked, I added half a pack of cream cheese, just because I had it and it needed using up. You could add dried herbs, garlic, chopped sun dried tomatoes, any cooked veggies, just do your own thing.
Serve with what ever you like, we kept the camp cuisine thing going with beans.
Until tomorrow,
Love Froogs xxxxx

French kitchen

France
Hello Dear Reader,
You’ll have to use some imagination. The sideboard is work top height and will be a kitchen base. The pine shelves will be kitchen ‘units’. Both bought locally via eBay for £57. The seats came from the tip. The third floor is a small self contained flat that will be home whist we continue to renovate the rest of the house. After we’ve done that the furniture will assume more traditional roles.
The dining room has turned into ‘storage.
I’m sure I was a Womble in a previous life!
Where’s the dining table? That’s in France and we’re on the eBay hunt for a ‘new’ one.
I know, I know, I could go online and order something from Argos but I love a recycle or upcycle. More fun and a lot cheaper.
Until tomorrow,
Love Froogs xxx

Stocked up with plenty in store?

frugal food





Hello Dear Reader,

If you’ve ever been really skint at any time in your life, then you’ll get this. I grew up with no money and as a family we were always skint and there was never enough. I left home still a teenager and was skint. I had children and was skint. In fact, I was skint (lived on minimum wage, had two jobs, could barely pay my bills every month) until I got a ‘proper job’ at 37. I then had financial ups and downs, had to choose to be really careful with money and now choose to live on less for my future financial well being.

Sound familiar?

One of the things that makes me feel really really wealthy is to have a well stocked pantry. I stock up every other month. I also like to have a stock of cleaning and laundry products. If there is ever a seige then I’ll probably be OK and you can come round to my place and there will be plenty!

We don’t have Tesco near us so I organised a late night £1 delivery, I have stacking boxes ready by the door to do a box to box transfer to save on paying for carrier bags.

This little lot will keep us going for months!

Over to you Dear Reader, does my ‘seige mentality’ sound familiar or sound alarms? Who else likes to ‘stock up’ once in a while?

Until tomorrow,

Love Froogs xxxxx



Quantity Product Price Total
1 Lea And Perrins Worcestershire Sauce 290Ml £2.15 £2.15
2 Tesco Everyday Value Lasagne Sheets 250G £0.29 £0.58
1 Tesco Everyday Value Sultanas 500G £0.84 £0.84
4 Tesco Everyday Value Crunchy Peanut Butter 340G £0.62 £2.48
2 Tesco Butter Me Up Spread 500G £0.89 £1.78
1 Tesco Everyday Value Soap Filled Pads 15 Pack £0.44 £0.44
3 Tesco Everyday Value Penne 500G £0.30 £0.90
2 Tesco Crushed Chillies 28G £0.85 £1.70
2 Tesco Everyday Value Eggs Minimum Weight Box Of 15 £1.25 £2.50
2 Tesco Everyday Value Strawberry Jam 454G £0.29 £0.58
2 Tesco Everyday Value Digestive Biscuits 400G £0.31 £0.62
4 Tesco Everyday Value Cream Cleaner 500Ml £0.30 £1.20
1 Tesco Shortcake Biscuits 200G £0.40 £0.40
1 Tesco Malted Milk Biscuits 200G £0.40 £0.40
3 Tesco Everyday Value Orange Marmalade 454G £0.27 £0.81
3 Tesco Everyday Value Spaghetti 500G £0.20 £0.60
2 Tesco Everyday Value Plain Flour 1.5Kg £0.45 £0.90
2 Tesco Everyday Value Self Raising Flour 1.5Kg £0.45 £0.90
6 Tesco Everyday Value Baked Beans In Tomato Sauce 420G £0.24 £1.44
12 Tesco Everyday Value Skimmed Longlife Milk 1L £0.49 £5.88
3 Tesco Everyday Value Dark Red Kidney Beans 400G £0.30 £0.90
6 Tesco Everyday Value Plum Tomatoes 400G £0.34 £2.04
6 Tesco Everyday Value Sliced Carrots 300G £0.19 £1.14
2 Tesco Everyday Value Cooking Bacon 500G £0.80 £1.60
3 Tesco Cannellini Beans 400G £0.55 £1.65
5 Tesco Chickpea 400G £0.55 £2.75
2 Tesco Butter Beans 400G £0.55 £1.10
4 Tesco Everyday Value New Potatoes 567G £0.20 £0.80
2 Tesco Everyday Value Lard 250G £0.39 £0.78
2 Tesco Everyday Value White Fish Fillets 520G £1.70 £3.40
3 Tesco Everyday Value Sliced Mushrooms 285G £0.41 £1.23
2 Tesco Dried Coriander Leaf 16G £0.70 £1.40
1 Tesco Ambience Fabric Conditioner Limited Edition 1.47L £1.00 £1.00
2 Tesco Super Concentrated Biological Liquid 630Ml £2.00 £4.00
2 Tesco Everyday Value Salad Cream 540G £0.60 £1.20
1 Tesco Rich Tea 400G £0.40 £0.40
2 Tesco Everyday Value Onions 1Kg £0.60 £1.20
2 Tesco Everyday Value Spaghetti Hoops 410G £0.20 £0.40
2 Tesco Everyday Value Mixed Herbs 30G £0.85 £1.70
3 Tesco Everyday Value Tomato Puree 200G £0.40 £1.20
2 Tesco Everyday Value 20 Pork Sausages 1Kg £1.40 £2.80
3 Tesco Everyday Value Toilet Tissues 6 Roll £1.00 £3.00
1 Aasani Red Split Lentils 2Kg £2.49 £2.49
2 Tesco Garlic Granules 56G £0.70 £1.40
4 Tesco Everyday Value Tomato Ketchup 985G £0.55 £2.20
1 Ds Wholesome Seeded Sliced Loaf 300G £2.50 £2.50