Cheap Easy Meals – Homemade Crumpets

Continuing frugal food for breakfast.  I have to confess a deep admiration for the humble crumpet.   Try them and you will see why!  Homemade crumpets really do make cheap easy meals.  All you need are some store-cupboard ingredients and you’re off! Cheap Easy Meals – Homemade Crumpets I know you can buy perfectly good crumpets in the shops. But though I cannot deny they are quick and pretty cheap, they are usually packed with preservatives too. Homemade crumpets are better for you, even cheaper and pretty darn quick too. There are many ways of making crumpets. Usually yeast is used […]

Cheap Easy Meals – Homemade Yogurt & the Cheapest Muesli

We’re starting off the cheap easy meals for breakfast or brunch with homemade yogurt and muesli.  This truly is a luxurious but healthy and quick recipe.  Totally flexible too, add what you like, there’s no need to get precious about breakfast!  Not entirely self sufficient, but this is definitely frugal food. Okay, homemade yogurt is not a quick healthy recipe to consider first thing in the morning.  But, make some homemade yogurt on a Sunday evening and it’s ready and waiting on Monday morning (and all week if you don’t eat it all before then).  And, one thing you can […]

Cheap Easy Meals for Breakfast or Brunch

I guess it makes sense to start a series on frugal food, cheap and easy meals with a look at cheap quick meals for breakfast.  If you are a serial cereal eater at breakfast time, consider these cheap quick meals as brunch recipes instead! With our purse strings tightening we have been consuming far less bread than usual. The bread in our local village bakery is baked in wood fired ovens and tastes divine.  In fact, we believe it may well be the best bread in the world!  But, it costs to get good bread, so rather than eat it […]

Do You Use a Moon Cup? The Menstrual Cup Review

menstrual cups

This is a post for the girls. Since I’ve been writing a lot about cleaning lately and generally being a bit ‘girlie’ I may as well air my dirty laundry completely, and talk about the mysterious menstrual cup. Thankfully since first writing this post these have become a lot more common and are finally losing a little of their mystery. But if you don’t have a BFF who uses them to explain the details read on… There are a few different brands out there but personally I am a fan of Mooncups.  And, though I don’t have ‘self sufficient‘ periods, […]

Environmentally Friendly Washing Up?

Self Sufficient Washing Up? Regular readers will know we are trying to make all aspects of life here as self sufficient as possible.  Even the really mundane bits like household cleaning are trying to be carried out as greenly and cheaply as possible.  But no we haven’t found a way to wash up self sufficiently.  We still rely on commercial cleaning tools such as bought scourers and cloths.  But I think we are improving as I have at last found an effective alternative to the humble washing up sponge. One of the last green (ish) cleaning switch-overs here as been […]

Self Sufficient Skin with Homemade Soap

Homemade Cold Pressed Vegetable Oil Soap Homemade soap needs fat or oil.  You can use animal fat or vegetable oil.  In our case the vegetable oil is, as always olive oil, as that is the one oil we are self sufficient in.  So far we have only made 100% olive oil homemade soap  (Castille soap) but other oils could be added.  Coconut oil would be a particularly good oil to include in your homemade soap.  In moderation it would improve the lathering qualities of this homemade olive oil  soap. If you are new to soap-making I highly recommend trying the […]

Tips For Traditional Cleaning Without Chemicals Green Cleaning Products

Traditional Cleaning Without Chemicals Trying to be self-sufficient? Frugal? Green?  Cheap? Save the Planet? Keep your pets or kids safe? Or do you just want less cleaning products taking up space in your cupboards or to use more green cleaning products? Want to find cool eco cleaning products like the goodbye detergent original spaghetti scrub? Here’s what you need to carry out most of the household cleaning. Casa Dirty Boots Eco Cleaning Products Microfibre cloths White vinegar Liquid or soft soap Bicarbonate of Soda (Baking Soda or Soda Crystals) Salt Mild Liquid Detergent (Washing Up Liquid) Eco Wash Balls or […]