I love magic mince, you can make a huge batch and then bung it in the freezer until you are ready to use it. It is so versatile you can make it into bolognaise, chilli, lasagne, cottage pie and probably loads of other things.The basic recipie is:1kg Lean minced beef2 rashers of back bacon2 onions (I prefer the frozen ready chopped stuff)2 Garlic cloves600 ml beef stockA large glug of red wine (optional)A teaspoon of thyme (fresh or dried)Fry together the chopped up bacon, onions and garlic until the bacon is cooked and the onions are soft. Then remove them from the pan and brown the mince for … [Read more...]
Transforming our back garden….
We moved into a new build house a few months ago and were a bit annoyed to find out that the builders, Persimmon, didn’t include turf in the back garden. (It also didn’t include an oven but thats a whole other story!)Honestly though we didn’t think it would be that expensive to get someone in to do it after we had moved in so we decided not to pay the £450 that they were charging to do it for us.After we moved in, we asked a few local landscape gardeners to come and give us a few quotes, the cheapest of the three was £850. So…….. We decided to bite the bullet and do it ourselves, despite the … [Read more...]
Welcome to the Frugal Family blog
Let me introduce us all…. I am 31 years old and I work in the complaints department of a large bank so you can imagine how much fun my job is! Mr Frugal is 35 and works for a large supermarket chain. We have had our ups and downs (who hasn’t) but on the whole we are happily married.Mr Frugal and I have two children, Miss Frugal is 6 and Master Frugal is 4. From September they will both be at school full time and I cant wait…. Not because I want my babies to grow up but because it will save me a fortune on child care!The frugal kids cost a fortune each week, football coaching - £3.00 … [Read more...]
