This is a new way to save money on the dinners that you cook at home. And no: it doesn’t have anything to do with my tips and tricks for filling your supermarket trolley for £30 or less. Nor am I about to prescribe a diet of Supernoodles and tap water sandwiches.
Instead, I’m going to recommend The Resourceful Cook: a lovely new website, which provides weekly meal plans with accompanying recipes, to fit your budget. Oh, and like all the best thrifty services, it’s free!
Simply select how many people you are cooking for this week (1 – 4), and select the Great Value Suppers option (low calorie and vegetarian meal plans are also available).
I have tried meal planning websites before, but often the “value” recipes are nothing to write home about. This one features some delicious recipes at budget prices. The Great Value Suppers plan is £26 for two people for seven dinners. The vegetarian plan is £25 for two people for seven dinners.
As you know, I spend very little at the supermarket (less than £26 a week, all in). But one reason why I like The Resourceful Cook is that each individual meal is broken down into pounds and pence – I can dip into the site as and when I wish. The dish pictured above is Tandoori Spiced Vegetable Skewers from the vegetarian meal plan, costing £1.58 per person. Here’s the recipe:
August 26, 2010By: missthrifty Category: Competitions
Ugg Boots UK – coming your way! Well, I thought that with the weather suddenly turning so rotten, it was time for a nice woolly giveaway…
THE PRIZE: a pair of brand new ugg boots worth up to £150, delivered to your house in a box tied with a ribbon.
These aren’t just any old ugg boots. Perish the thought! These are Whooga Ugg Boots: made “with the single purpose of being the warmest, most luxurious sheepskin boots available”. They are thicker and warmer than other uggs, double-stitched by hand for durability and lined with super-soft merino fleece.
If you win, you will have free run of the Whooga Europe online store, choosing the style, colour and size of your prize boots.Men’s and women’s styles are available.
Closing date: 12 noon GMT on Friday 3 September.
This competition is open to all readers in the UK. As usual, a winner will be selected at random from the comments section, using the Online Number Generator.
TO ENTER: simply leave a comment below. Visit the Whooga Ugg Boots website, and then let us know:
a) Which boots you will pick if you win. (Short Violet Ugg Boots? Grey Weave Ugg Boots? The choice is yours.)
b) The price of the boots that you have picked.
c) Your shoe size!
That’s all there is to it. What are you waiting for? Go go go!
Important: One entry per reader. UNLESS you are also a fan of Miss Thrifty on Facebook – in which case, you get to enter twice! Once here, and once on Facebook. All entries posted to the Miss Thrifty Facebook wall will be counted.Good luck.
This is one (well, six) of the nice things about moving out of the city. At my husband’s workshop, one of his regular customers is a local farmer, who tips in eggs:
The eggs always appear mysteriously, as the day dawns: my husband turns up for work in the morning, and there they are outside the door, waiting to be cracked and gobbled. I like it when the eggs appear: they are good, tasty free range eggs. And they keep our supermarket bills down.
August 21, 2010By: missthrifty Category: Staying In
If you have come here after listening to the Weekend Breakfast show on BBC Radio 5 Live, welcome to Miss Thrifty! My passion for fashion knows no bounds, but neither does my craving for saving…
Why I love debt – I don’t really love debt, of course. This post is the story of how I went from Spendy Queen to Frugal Freak, setting up this blog along the way. When they asked about this on the radio just now I thought, “Crivens! If we get into this now, we’ll be here all day!”
I update my blog with all the latest frugal tips, competitions and must-have discounts. If you would like to subscribe for free, click the orange RSS feed button (up there on the right). You can also follow Miss Thrifty on Facebook.
I flash the cash rather than flex the plastic, but (gasp!) am I about to break my own frugal rules? Truth is, I’m having a dilemma here – dilemma being a Money Monster sitting on my shoulder, whispering sweet IOUs into my ear – and if you have any thoughts on this one, I’d really like to bend my other ear in your direction.
As you know, my husband and I keep our spending firmly in check. Take our annual holiday: we will be flying out to America in October and it’s going to be another thrifty roadtrip. Credit cards? Pah! The flights were booked and paid for back in February, and now we are saving up spending money ready for when we go. Exemplary, no?
So… friend is getting married overseas in February next year and we have been invited. It isn’t the first time this has happened: we have had a number of such invitations over the past few years and up until now we always declined them, albeit with regret, because it was difficult to justify a jolly to Southeast Asia or Scandinavia or wherever when we were scrimping to pay down debt.
Here’s the rub. This time it’s my very dear friend L and her wonderful fiance getting married, an amazing opportunity to spend two weeks exploring a beautiful part of India and a great deal… and I really want to go. However the flights have to be booked and paid for in the next four months. As for spending and accommodation: with this trip scheduled so soon after our holiday in America and the Christmas break, there is fat chance that we would be able to save enough before went. We are thrilled to have been invited but if we go, this trip will be going straight on the never-never card.
August 11, 2010By: missthrifty Category: Staying In
Looking for a top (but thrifty) present for a boyfriend or husband? I’ve been looking too, after receiving this plea for help from Miss Thrifty reader Anna:
Hi Miss Thrifty
I wanted to make a nice present for my boyfriend’s milestone birthday. I’m pretty rubbish at printing off photos etc but I can’t afford to spend a lot on a bought present as we’re already off to the Big Chill for the Sunday. Any ideas or pointers please??? Thank you x
Anna’s boyfriend is age 40+, and her budget is £40. Here is what I came up with; some of these are made presents and some are bought ones… Read the rest of this entry →
Welcome to the 269th Carnival of Personal Finance: the Diva$ Edition! Oh yes: it is an all-singing, all-dancing week for this popular Carnival, and all the songs are about money, so don’t forget to turn up the sound…
Without further ado, here are our Nina Simones: they look good, sound good and have their (financial) priorities firmly in order… Read the rest of this entry →
Were you wondering why I had been quiet these past few days? Well, this packed cool box, which was sitting in my kitchen on Friday, should provide some clues as to why.
It contains:
- 2 x locally caught trout, neatly packed
- 1 x empty plastic jar, filled with homemade seafood chowder
- 1 x empty ice cream tub, filled with tomato soup made from homegrown tomatoes
- 1 x empty peanut jar, filled with cream of tomato soup made from homegrown tomatoes
- 1 x jar of homemade quince jam
- 1 x jar of homemade greengage jam
- 1 x jar of homemade blackberry and apple jam
- 1 x jar of homemade orange marmalade
My day job (in media, dahling) means that I often get emails from journalists who are looking for case studies for real-life features in newspapers and magazines. A round robin email pinged through the other day, from a journalist on The Daily Mail.
QUERY: Do you have the perfect life? I am putting together a light-hearted feature
about a couple who fit the brief of a recent survey which describes the
‘perfect life.’…
Sounds intriguing, doesn’t it? So are you wondering just what the officially perfect life might be? A happy, healthy family perhaps? Debt-free, bucolic bliss? Sunshine and giggles?
Need some smart savings advice? Halifax has some money saving tips to help you understand how to make the most out of your money
High interest Savings
Compare savings accounts and find the best high interest savings account for your money no matter how much you have to save. We have a range of accounts including instant access, fixed and variable rate accounts to suit your needs
ISAs
Make the most of your tax free savings allowance with the UK's No.1 choice for ISAs. Our range of cash ISAs let you save up to £3,600 each tax year without paying tax on the interest you earn
To subscribe via RSS and receive Miss Thrifty's free daily updates with money saving gems, unmissable sale alerts, red hot frugal tips and more, hit the big orange button above.