Tuesday 9 January 2018

Tuesday, 9-1-18

Good morning, everyone. 

A special thanks for Sue who has put a link to here on her blog,  'A Challenging Year', which is about life on her smallholding on a Welsh hillside, a fascinatingly frugal account of her day to day challenges and frugal victories.  Well worth a good read so do pop over there - I love it.

Today's food
B:  porridge, fruit and natural yogurt
L:  beans on toast (no butter)
D:  beany gardener's pie with sprouts and carrots
Ss:  apple and orange

The gardener's pie is a bottom made of vegetables, pulses and tomato and a top made of mash.  Like cottage pie but meat free.  Actually, it looks as if today is a meatless day, doesn't it?  Good!

From the freezer:
the fruit for the porridge
the bread for the toast
the bean  mixture for the pie - before Christmas my daughter. who is vegetarian, was coming over for a meal so I'd prepared it but she wasn't well so couldn't come so it went into the freezer.

The frugal factor
porridge, as always, and the frozen fruit from Aldi wasn't all that expensive either
the beans are Morrisons Savers and I always add a squeeze of brown sauce or ketchup for more ooomph
half a can of beans and two small slices of toast comes to about 16p so, even with the added sauce, that's a frugal lunch - when I did Live Below the Line, this was a favourite lunch
the beany mix is great value with pulses from the freezer, garden tomatoes that were prepped and frozen  and other garden/allotment veg too
the sprouts are still left over from Christmas - they were very cheap so I guess I bought more than I really needed at that time




I'm trying to use up the multitude of stuff in the freezer.
I want to make the most of my hard earned pension so am aiming for sensible frugality in my meal planning and making.
I have gall bladder problems, high cholesterol and high blood pressure so am taking myself in hand with low fat, high fruit and veg, generally healthy meals but with plenty of flavour.

5 comments:

  1. I like the sound of the Gardeners Pie, I'll be adding that to my repertoire this year. With a name like that it is made for me.

    Thanks for the mention and link 😊

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  2. Ha - Gardeners Pie is already on my meal plan for this week - for tomorrow I think! Mine will be topped with a mixture of sweet & ordinary tatties and will have lentils added to the base, but won't be truly meatless as I'll use some excess gravy from a stew a while back which has been lurking in the freezer!

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  3. Sue - yes, it would suit you down to the ground with all that amazing produce you grow and harvest.
    Robyn - snap! I love that you are using the left over gravy. I can't this time , of course. :-)
    J x

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  4. I regularly make lentil cottage pie and freeze portions for another time. I like it with a mix of potatoes and parsnip (or celeriac if it's on offer) mashed on top.
    I'm loving Sue's challenging year too.

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  5. I'm making fish pie tomorrow and will be topping it with a mix of potato and sweet potato which I love.
    J x

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