Nature is my safe space. It is where I escape to when times are hard. By the time Easter arrives, something has usually shifted, even if the weather remains cold and uncertain. The light lasts [...]

Sometimes I buy those cheap  canned tins of peaches. They are a good fruit as a back up. I use them in trifle, chicken and peaches, on skewers in kebabs, or mixed with other fruit [...]

As we all know, fuel is increasing in price at the pumps, almost daily. A lot of us are trying to reduce our fuel costs, and use our cars less. However, that isn't always possible. [...]

The oil crisis is going to hit us all hard soon. I am not just talking about the price at the pump. Supermarkets put out a warning this week in the UK to say that [...]

Lettuces used to be cheap. I was shocked to see them at 89p each, today.  Those salad bags that quickly slimy, are around £1 or over. We never buy them and yet enjoy salad leaves [...]

We are eating out of the cupboards at the moment as money is scarce. I always ration meat as it is so expensive. When I freeze it, I divide it into 4 or 5oz portions. [...]

I love it when wild garlic is here again. It feels like the promise of Spring.  That heady aroma as I walk through the woods, fills me with joy. This free plant adds taste and [...]

I have always followed world news, financial markets, and watched harvests and weather conditions. This has saved me lots of money for years. For example, I slowly stocked up on on olive oil and coffee [...]

Our household at the moment has lost more than 50% of it's income due to unexpected ill health that came right of the blue. No warning, and none of the expected health risks that someone [...]

My name is Toni Graham and I am a chocoholic. 😊. Up until recently, a day would not go by without me having chocolate in some form or other. However, chocolate and cocoa have really [...]

This is the 2nd in a series about how we make sure that we have enough nutrition in our diet, whilst living on a low budget. Vitamins are needed for a lot of different functions [...]

Mr S is coming home from hospital next week. He has lost a lot of weight and ironically I noticed that his hospital food had very little protein in it. He looks like he is [...]

I made these for a buffet table recently, and they went down really well. They are a twist on an old classic that my mum made me as a child, and are an easy no [...]

Freedom is one of my most important values. The freedom to be me. It took me a long time to achieve it. At last I am taking the opportunity to live my life the way [...]

I only found out about this way of sowing seeds recently. Apparently seed snails have been trending for 2 or 3 years, and people have had positive results. I am attracted to it as it [...]

Getting through winter and the hunger gap is my biggest challenge as we rarely buy any fresh fruit or vegetables at this time of year. My only exception is that I do buy an odd [...]

When I was a mature student 35 years ago, I used to make money in the holidays to feed my daughter by doing various side hustles. One of them was making earings to sell at [...]

For about 2 years now I have seen reels with this healthy snack. Ramadan is just around the corner and so majoule dates are discounted at a lot of shops. I finally bought some to [...]

I have been asked to talk about what we eat in a week. This was a question from someone who was sceptical about our annual food budget of £750. If I shopped regularly, I wouldn't [...]

Sorry I haven't posted recently. Life and health take over sometimes. I thought that I should put our easy Yorkshire pudding recipe on here as we are proud to come from Yorkshire. It used to [...]

I don't grow winter crops (just Swiss chard, lettuce and spinach). My garden can be quite hazardous. There are also cheap Christmas vegetables around and and I have lots stored that we grew during the [...]

I am trying to eat more beetroot. I know it is good for me, especially  to lower blood pressure. However, I hate beetroot. It tastes like mud to me!  Usually I make a beetroot chocolate [...]

This is a recipe that I have made for over 50 years. I think it might have originally been from a Margarette Pattern baking book for kids. I even made it in my O'level 'home [...]

I probably make a chilli in the slow cooker twice a month. It is one of our favourite meals. Sometimes it has meat in it (I brown the mince first before putting in the slow [...]

During the summer I dehydrated  different herbs, fruit, and wild ingredients to make herbal teas.  Herbal teas are a fairly new thing in my life, but a way I have found useful to add more [...]

A cold snap is upon us. It seems extra cold now as it has been a mild winter. We limit the amount of time that the heating is on due to cost. My children and [...]

Christmas shepherds pie is a great meal to make on Boxing day, or later if you have frozen the leftovers from your Christmas meal. There are no quantaties as you use what you have. We [...]

Over the last 10 years I have been working at improving my skills to help me thrive in my simple, frugal life. This has  helped me adapt, stopped life feeling tougher as prices have increased, [...]

Someone in my private group had used  an 'intention bingo' card last year, and so a lot of us are making one this year. It is a great way of motivating yourself to take actions [...]

Today I decided to start operation no waste. The Christmas holiday is over and my fridge is full of food that is going out of date. Mr S has been ill and hardly eaten anything [...]

I have had my decorations up since the end of November and so I am looking forward to taking them down soon. For me, wrapping up Christmas isn't just about throwing the baubles in a [...]

Christmas, and the end of the year, are almost upon us. I don't drink alcohol very often, but am sitting here, by my wood burning stove, nursing some mulled wine in my tin mug. It [...]

I have been shopping all of the bargains that are around at this time of year. My cupboards and freezer are full. We won't need much until March now. It is not unusual for me [...]

I have seen these fir cone truffles  being made on the internet for a number of years now. This Christmas it was times to give them a try for our family meal. The truffle recipe [...]

Bone broth is so good for you. It is full of collagen which apparently helps keep the skin elastic and hold back aging. I could definitely do with some of that. Another bonus is that [...]

We had our Christmas early this weekend. My children have to work Christmas day, or visit inlaws. For a change we decided to serve fish as in some countries this is the traditional Christmas food. [...]