Monday 29 July 2013

Frugal Food - Just do with what I have July


Like a lot of people, I'm being extra careful with my money. 
I tried to be as frugal as possible this month.

One of my favourite bloggers, Frugal Queen, announced that she was having a 'Just do with what I have July'. She challenged her followers  to share recipes & menu plans to use up what was in the store cupboards to create frugal food.

Here is my humble effort.
Firstly I made a batch of carrot soup using left over carrots from the fridge. This time last year I would probably have thrown the carrots away. Instead I got a month' s worth of Saturday lunches. I frozen them in individual portions.  
Left over peppers & onions where thrown into the slow cooker with beans to make a curry. 5 dinners to be frozen. 
I love my slow cooker and often at weekend I will make a make a batch of chilli or curry, have some for dinner and freeze the rest. I've then got quick tasty meals to have when I get in from work. I just need to add any spare fresh veg to the chilli & serve with a jacket potato. 
These are my 15p Beany Burgers. It's one of Frugal Queen's receipes. I think mine cost a bit more that 15p a burger but no more than 20p. Half a pack of Aldi noodles (9p) with some frozen pepers (5p) and a handful lettuce from the greenhouse and it's another dinner for less than £1. I made batch of burgers and froze enough for another 5 dinners.

I make my own pizza now. It costs about £1.50. Friday night used to mean a trip to the chip shop but it's often pizza on a Friday night now.


Macaroni cheese is another  favourite.
Served with lettuce & tomatoes from the greenhouse.


And my favourite dinner of all - jacket potato, beans & cheese. I always have the ingredients for that in stock. 

I've eaten home cooked meals most days and they all cost less than £1.