Welcome to Faye's Frugal Food
Hi I'm Faye, and welcome to Frugal Foods! Come in, make yourself comfortable, perhaps grab a mug of tea.
By the time you are finished investigating the Frugal Food website, we are confident Frugal Foods will become part of your daily life, helping you to create interesting varied family food, whilst maintaining a very tight control on your budget.
Frugal Living
If you are feeling the squeeze let me help you with Frugal Recipe ideas, Menus, frugal meal plansand Shopping Lists ensuring you use up the left overs and maximising every penny you spend. The meal plan is free to download - we don't pass on your details to everyone else - we just use it to send you the next one ....and the next one.
Too good to be true - no, but it probably does confirm that I need to get out more!
Check out the Ramsons!
This time of year check out the wild garlic, and you'll know that the Spring is on the way. Also known as Bear's Garlic, You will probably smell it before you know its there. In old woodland and on the sides of old lanes you will find wild garlic blanketing the ground. Pick the leaves and take a nibble - whilst it is possible to confuse with Lily of the Valley, (as the leaf shape is vaguely the same), use your nose, you will know you have found the right thing, the smell and taste are undeniable.
The leaves you pick, will last a week in the fridge in a little sealed bag.
The whole plant can be used in cookery; from the leaves and the bulbs, to the flowers later in the season which are lovely in salads, with a light peppery taste.
Try it just steamed for a few minutes in melted butter (in a pan with the lid tightly on, turning from time to time, finish with lemon juice) and if that leaves you inspired try out some of these other recipes!
Trout
There are Three European varieties of this fish.
- Salmon Trout (Sea Trout or Brown Trout)
- Lake Trout
- River Trout
In addition to the various American types, including Rainbow trout.
Trout, both Rainbow and brown are great sporting fish, and trout fishing has understandably become an immensely popular sport, one which has become increasingly accessable as trout fisherman have stocked lakes ponds and old gravel pits.
As Trout require clean, well-oxygenated water to survive they are frequently reared on fish farms, and then released in to natural lakes etc
Sea Trout frequent all the countries bordering the Atlantic, from Spain northwards. Lake and River Trout are found in rivers and mountain streams all over Europe and all are in season here from March to August.
River Trout are the smallest of the three types and are prized for their more delicate flavour. In most British trout rivers, fly-fishing is the only method allowed to catch them, but in some stocked fisheries, often any methods are allowed.
Sorrel
Sorrel (Rumex Acetosa) is a wild plant with sharply pointed leaves and red flowers. Its not much used in England but widely prized in France, where is it cultivated in gardens, however it is really common in England - if you look for it.
Sorrel has a very acidic taste, akin to Lemons or gooseberries, and the leaves should be added in small quanties to salads, sauces soups and savory dishes.It can also be cooked like spinach. Sorrel should be picked young and eaten fresh. It first appears in February but is good to spot for the first time if you don't know what you are looking for in June when it flowers.
BE CAREFUL with Sorrel, the leaf is much smaller, but the same(ish) shape as Lords and Ladies. I have been looking for Sorrel with my daughter and looking for a sharp lemon tang have nibbled a couple of contenders, get it wrong and your mouth goes numb (even after a nibble) and your toungue swells and you start to dribble - it's not pretty!
Its okay to find it this time of year (due to the flowers) and pick the younger leaves - make a note where the plants are and then next year you will know where to look and what to look for. Good luck!
Asparagus
Available all year round imported, but the months of May and June Asparagus is at its Best. The British Asparagus season last a maximum of ten weeks, but it is worth taking full advantage of.
Its a fussy plant if you want to grow your own, I don't, we have the wrong type of soil, cold and soggy in the winter and dry and hard in the summer. Furthermore I am impatient. Established plants may crop for 10-15 years but the crowns need to be ground for three to four years before you get your first crop.
Generally, asparagus isn't a frugal food as such, but it's so delicious and the season so short that it's worth buying it at least once in the season and ensuring that you have planned to use all of the spears to get the maximum from your outlay.
That said, if you live in Lincolnshire, where I was last week, I was able to buy 400g of fresh 'straight out of the ground' Asparagus for around £1.25 - where as at home I am being offered 200g of fresh British Asparagus for around the same price!
