We had our first frost this morning which spurred me on to go outside and do some work on the garden.  The garden has certainly begun to change over the last few weeks.  All of  [...]

We both love spicy food, though not too spicy for me.  I first had chilli jam in a cafe when on a break awayju.  It was in a toastie with pesto, and mozzarella. I loved [...]

This is the response I always get when I keep telling people to build a pantry and prepare. However, I  believe that we are taking our food security for granted?  At last the government are [...]

Some one in my online group today posted that buying ready meals was now cheaper than cooking from  scratch. With the high cost of living we are all trying to save money, aren't we?   However, [...]

How Music Can Impact Your Mood Have you ever put on your favourite song when you’re having a difficult day and suddenly felt a little lighter?  Maybe you played an upbeat song in the morning [...]

Do you ever look at something you’re being charged for today and think, “Hang on… wasn’t this free once?” Maybe it’s because I’m getting older, but lately I’ve found myself remembering all the little things [...]

When we think about decluttering, we often think about the money we can make from selling things we no longer need. That can be a lovely bonus and it can be put towards something that [...]

Mr S loves burgers, especially on the days that he has worked.  He would eat them every day if he could.  I obviously can't afford to give him meat ones every day and so I [...]

Aim of my garden There’s something slightly odd and out of kilter when reaching the end of the main food growing season. For months, the garden has been full of promise. Seedlings have been nurtured [...]

We needed some cheap, quick, biscuits the other day when I was proving my bread and so I made these almond biscuits.  They are based on a recipe by Mary Berry, except that I added [...]

There is something about September that makes me want to press the reset button.  In a way it is a beginning of a new year as the harvests are starting to end, most of the [...]

There seems to be a lot of frightening news at the moment and it is hard to avoid it.  Every day the news is worrying, with very few positive stories.  This obviously can impact our [...]

There is a strange contradiction at the heart of modern frugality. We are constantly surrounded by advice about how to spend less, yet so much of that advice still involves buying something. We are told [...]

One of the unexpected things about becoming more frugal is that you may discover it costs you something you hadn't put in the budget.  Sometimes, it costs you friendships.  At the very least, it changes [...]

I don't want to live like a pauper. This blog is aimed at people who are new to the frugal journey, mainly. A lot of folks are having to stretch the purse strings due to [...]

I make my own baked beans sometimes, but always have a tin of baked beans in the cupboard.  They have quite a lot of sugar in them and so I try to make meals or [...]

This is the third in a series of blogs about what to do with cheap 'essentials' cans of food to make them more appetising. I wrote one about a tin of tuna, and one about [...]

I have people saying to me that they are scared about feeding themselves this winter if prices go up. Worry is just wasted imagination. The thing to do is to use that creative mind and [...]

I always make sure that I have some tins of tuna in my pantry. Once upon a time I only used it in a sandwich, or on the side with a salad, which I still [...]

We have a wood burning stove. I have been meaning to make some briquettes out of waste items for a while, to complement the wood that we forage. Today we finally got round to it [...]

Radish pods are a very under rated vegetable, and I didn't know about them until about 3 years ago. However, they are so versatile, and at this time of year I let a few rows [...]

Every ingredient is precious to me and I often stretch it to enhance several meals, or courses. That is how I keep my food budget at £750 a year. Last year I bought a tin [...]

I was having family over for a meal the other night. We had made various salads, and we had meat on skewers. It felt like the meal needed some carbs. Usually I have some of [...]

As a child, I used to gaze through the window of Skeltons bakery, and wish that I could afford a black currant tart. My mum would buy them now and again for a special occassion, [...]

I like to make the most of the free resources around me before I even think about doing anything that costs money. At the moment I am making the most of the sun as that [...]

We often make vegetable fritters at this time of year in order to use up the various vegetables that we are harvesting. They are a nice addition to our pickie meals, served with dips. We [...]

During this hot weather, we like to eat ice cream every day. How ever, it is expensive to buy the cream and the condensed milk that we need. We therefore make ice cream using the [...]

As I type this, the house is hushed, and quiet. The curtains are drawn against the mid day sun, and a jug of iced mint and lemon balm  infused water sits on the coffee table. [...]

At this time of year it is easy to feed ourselves using ingredients  mainly from our garden. I grow a variety of crops so that our meals don't feel restrictive, and are not boring. It [...]

Peas are one of the few crops that I grow that probably aren't worth the effort as you can buy them frozen for low cost. However, we love them as snacks fresh off the plant, [...]

Pickled radish is Mr S's favourite pickle addition to our table at the moment. I plant a continuous supply of radishes every few weeks as they grow so quickly. We use them in stir fry, [...]

I think that I have a bit of heat stroke, heat exhaustion, or something. I took my grandson out yesterday,  concentrated on keeping him safe and well, and didn't look after myself. Have you been [...]

It is important to stop plants shutting down during a heat wave. Unfortunately we can't  control the weather, but we can adapt and control how we deal with it. Most times, we get advance [...]

This is a recipe from my mum's note book and so I don't know where it is from originally. I remember eating them in the 1970s. The peanut butter cookie dough can be frozen in [...]

A bag of red lentils is surprisingly versatile. I have plenty stored in my pantry as they are cheap and I can use them in a variety of ways. They also store foor years. I [...]

I was given a few bags of oats that have short dates on them. We no longer eat breakfast and so I can't use them in porridge. I then remembered a chocolate tray bake that [...]