News from Thrifty Lesley

Slaps and bombs

Well I've been quiet for a while as life has delivered another resounding slap round the chops!

On 21st December 2023 we lost my lovely eldest daughter. On the 29th of January this year, her husband died suddenly, and unexpectedly, overnight, setting off a bomb in the family.

This left a traumatised 17 year old having lost both her mum and her dad within 13 months. She is slightly on the spectrum, if that's not like saying slightly pregnant, and to cut a very long story short, she is now living with me. My quiet life, gently coasting into old age is going to be pretty challenging! It's a long time since I've had a teenager in the house, and I've no experience of looking after an autistic child. We've also inherited two cats - good job there aren't any other pets in the house!

We're fortunate that we converted the loft a few years ago, so we have room for her, although the house is a bomb site as we've had to displace everything in that room to other places, and move her stuff in, so lots and lots of sorting to do in the next few weeks, book cases to build etc.

There's a challenging time ahead for me and himself !

We were in Bexhill at my younger daughter's house looking after the cat while she is in Thailand when this all kicked off.

Steve was very keen on everything being online, but we have no passwords or signons, and there was no will. This has caused a lot of problems trying to get to things and sort out his affairs and reminded me that I need to make sure that my password book is up to date, and that everything else is easy to find

Cooking together

Yesterday my eldest grand daughter came round and we had a day of cooking together, which was lovely.

We made hummus and falafel, mayonnaise, red pepper pasta from Simply Jamie, apple and orange granola from Riverford, and raspberry and white chocolate cheesecake. All very yummy. The teen joined in with everything as she is keen to learn how to cook - which of course delights me!

I'm now looking forward to showing her how to make lots of other things :)

The garden

The garden is looking lovely and ready for spring. The snowdrops are up and flowering, the Tete a Tete daffodils (small ones) are budding up, the cyclamen are flowering and the Daphne is utterly gorgeous, showering the garden in its wonderful scent.

I think Spring might be my favourite time of year - everything bursting into life, so much to look forward to in the coming year and the warmth of summer just coming into reach.

And so, to some recipes you might like

Raisin Pancakes

These wonderful little pancakes taste amazing and always get an 11 out of 10 when I'm demonstrating!

You can make them without the raisins and top with a fruit compote, chocolate spread or nut butter, or put something savoury with them

Recipe here

Bacon and Leek Pie

I found the base of this recipe in one of my many cook books – The National Trusts Great British Vegetable Cookbook by Sybil Kapoor.

I have tweaked it rather to frugalise it. I used oil pastry rather than butter shortcrust. Whole eggs replaced egg yolks, I can’t be doing with parts of eggs in the fridge. There was creme fraiche in the fridge so I used that, but cream is cheaper so have used that in the recipe. And of course I used cooking bacon instead of rather more expensive rashers

Get the recipe here

How to stretch a chicken to last a family a whole week

Buying a whole chicken and jointing it yourself is cheaper than buying ready jointed chicken pieces. If you are going to roast a chicken, then a whole one is much nicer to present at the table I think than pieces.

This post sets out in detail how to make that chicken last 4 people a week with 7 recipe suggestions

1. Roast chicken, 400g chicken, gravy, with stuffing, 4 portions, this recipe
2. Risotto, 140g chicken, onion, half the the stock, some vegetables butter and parmesan, 4 portions
3. Pizza, 117g chicken, tomato sauce, maybe some stuffing, 4 portions
4. Spicy Pasta Bake, white sauce, 120g chicken, onion, spices, stuffing, 4 portions
5. Tart, 100g chicken, onions, sweetcorn, couple of eggs, no cheese, stuffing, 4 portions
6. Pie, 100g chicken, some of the gravy, onion, maybe some sweetcorn or mushrooms, maybe some stuffing, 4 portions
7. Soup with the remaining half of the stock, red lentils, onion, spices, 4 portions

this comes out at a total of 28 portions, which I think is pretty good!

Get the recipe here

Pancake Day

It’s Shrove Tuesday soon, the traditional day to use up everything that’s left before the arrival of Lent. Pancakes are one of those lovely things that can be paired with all manner of other things to make something delicious.

If you have the minimum of resources, you can make pancakes successfully with just flour and water. Lots of ideas for fillings in the pancake day recipe post.

They need to be eaten straight away as they go a bit soggy if they are left to be reheated, but eaten fresh, I couldn’t tell the difference. Make your pancakes the usual way with eggs, flour and milk, and they will freeze beautifully, or keep in the fridge for a few days.

All the ideas here!

I published an ebook for meal plan 1 in August 2021 and am delighted that many people have thought it was worth getting. I repriced it again in June 2022 and it was still holding on, even in these scary times. Now we are in September and prices have shifted again and I've managed to get my head around WooCommerce so I can feature it on the blog and you can find it here.

I was busy recooking, photographing and updating the recipes for Meal Plan 2 and putting them into an ebook as well. The meal plan was first written in 2013 and still prices up, which is fabulous and that is finally complete. The book is done now too, prices seem to be stable enough to do it.

I've finally completed the e-book from the Stretch A Chicken To Last A Week series. Took me absolutely ages to finish it off!

Do come and say hello on the Fantastically Frugal Food Facebook group, or the Sensational Slimming Sustenance group. I'd love to see you. Lots of useful tips, recipes and ideas. The over 17,000 membership are brilliant, brimming with talent.

And don't forget Thrifty Lesley, where there are 800+ recipes of fantastically frugal food and many weekly meal plans. And Cheap Family Recipes where you can find all kinds of delicious things that don't cost much, with two family monthly meal plans.

I've also got a few YouTube videos up, not many yet, but I'm planning to do more. I've done a couple more, need to edit them now. So much to do, so little time!

With all best wishes, until next time