When my 3 children were young we had so little money & non car owners, l used to take them on simple picnic's on weekends to local parks. We lived in the city but explored our local area and found new picnic areas that we didnt even know were even there. They loved it, looked so forward to it after a week at school stuck indoors. l just dont understand families spending their weekends in summer walking around over-crowed noisy shopping malls, being tempted to spend, when they could be in the fresh air. All my 3 grown up children still wont shop at weekends , they rather do late at night midweek shopping, and they take the grandchildren out for weekend walks or bike rides, what ever the weather. Now their new hobby is fishing with the grandsons.
I like growing lettuce (lollo biondi). My current addiction is sugar snap peas which are dear and have guilt airmiles, so Ive got a batch coming in the garden along with green beans. Being as OH is prediabetic and I’m type 2 we eat a lot of veg generally, but I’m not prejudiced against frozen. Would like to get better at growing tomatoes and I’m pants at growing spring onions. Lockdown and my OH’s retirement has made us a lot better at not wasting food Here we have a joint of beef called bread and butter joint. I buy a whole one. Cut 500g slices to make poor man’s steak and chips for 3, casseroles and curries, , and get two smallish joints for a total of 6 roast dinners which makes it v economical. It makes a lovely gravy. I’ve always loved your cooking stuff.
Lots of picnics for us in the summer. It’s the cheapest and best way I can think of to get us all out of the house for a little trip without spending any money. Sandwiches, tea, fruit and a little treat, there’s no way I’m going to waste £30 in a cafe. Our utilities bill went up to £225 this month, I have to really be extra careful with my budget. Thanks for the ideas Jane x
Those British prices are a joke. The French government capped the price rise at 4% and people in France are feeling the squeeze with high food prices and for gas or oil for their homes. People are getting new free heating air source heat pumps but they still have to wait for them to be sorted.
@@FrugalQueeninFrance it is a joke and it is immoral. I’m scared to put the heating on. We’ve managed (just about) to rearrange our budget to take the price rise in to account. I really worry about lower income households though. Any little tips you can think of to share with us would be appreciated. I’ve downshifted my groceries and toiletries as much as possible, I’m driving slower to use less fuel, I’m washing clothes less and on a shorter cycle. What else can I do?!
Spring is always the time when I have a good clear out of whatever food is in the cupboards and freezer and likewise in autumn, in the spring I can use up the wintery foods on colder days and likewise in autumn I can use up the summery foods. By doing this i know that all the food I have stored will be fresh and within date. Love your inspiring videos, thank you x
Thank you for this lovely video❤. I enjoyed it very much! Our eating changes when the vegetables in our garden starts to grow. Than we end up with the question "What will we eat" and ask us "What is in the garden to eat". My own garden "supermarket" opens in May with the first salade, early radish and lots of herbs. We grow every plant from seed in our home on the window shelfs. To buy all the young plants would be easier, of course, but so much expensive. And on top I love my garden and many of the seeds for the next year I get from my own plants. Our eating in summer time is much lighter than in winter, too. More salades insteads of casserolls.
During the warm weather I'm big on cold suppers and husband likes to grill/BBQ. I like to keep 2-3 salads in the fridge as my readymade side dishes. Winter time I use my Instant Pot a lot for hot meals and I do like to make a lot of soups...nice thick hearty ones or cream soups. Roast dinners are usually a weekend thing in the winter. A typical meal during our Canadian winter for us would be something like chili con carne over noodles or macaroni, or Toad In The Hole with onion gravy.
My go to summer food is a mixture of veg and potatoes boiled,drained and chopped finely made into a salad cooled, add mayo to taste plonk into the fridge and eaten as cold as possible as here in Portugal, hot weather is always very hot indeed, ypu can also add flaked tuna or shredded chicken.
Hi! Popping in to get my dose of motivation. It’s been a very busy and full week. You always calm me and persuade me to go do a little more. Thanks to you both
Summer for me unfortunately is busy season at work. It’s a time I need to be vigilant about meal prep or I’ll eat out from lack of time to cook. I am currently stocking up on freezer meals to get through without the need for restaurant meals. I often work 14-16 hr days and 2-3 weeks at a time without days off. Days off are generally spent preparing for the coming weeks. I long for summers with picnics and walks in the fresh air and envy your freedom. May through September are nightmare months for me but I do it so that in two years I can picnic too😊. I also try to have ingredients for super quick and thrifty meals on hand. Cheese for Welsh Rarebit, canned beans and bread for beans on toast or hummus, flatbread and tomatoes for something without cooking that I can eat before falling into bed. Those are my tasty last resort meals. 😊
I container garden so I eat mostly lettuce tomato cucumbers and onions. I eat summer squash and green beans...peppers. My herbs help with seasoning. I always cook a whole chicken to make several meals and for broth to freeze. Every little bit helps.
In winter it's is soup for lunch, in summer cold soup or salads. As the weather has been very kind the last month or so we often eat on our balcony for lunch and dinner. On the go we take tea and cold water bottles with us and lunch from home. So no drinks at a café but picknick in the forest and at a lakeside ( is free entertainment) and this week we looked at an airport to see planes land and depart. 👌☀️
I’m glad I stumbled upon your channel a few weeks ago! You make frugal life very interesting to watch and live! I am a frugal person, but to be very honest, it’s because of necessity at the moment. We are in the process of finishing up a house to sell it for money. At the moment we have no income or govt pension or any money coming in. !In general I’m very cautious with money on a daily basis. However, I’ve learned with your channel. Thanks Jane! 🌷Sam
Once the weather finally warms up here I find that I eat much lighter. In the winter there's nothing better than a hearty hot meal but in the summer and spring I really like to eat salads and fruits. Also in the warmer weather a group of friends that live right near me will often get together to have a cookout with each person bringing something to contribute to the meal. These are so much fun and we have a really good time gathering to relax and chat and enjoy the nice weather. We all bring our dogs and they run and play in The yards and have a good time as well. Unfortunately we don't have a beach that we can go and have a picnic on but getting together is almost as nice.
Sorry, I'm a bit behind with watching and commenting (teen boy in middle of mocks). Love hearing about your life and also agree that your videos are really motivational. I find that as the weather warms up I continue to use my slow cooker. I know people associate it with soups and stews, but for me it's fantastic as I can switch on and then get outside in the garden for the day. Cooked a chicken in it yesterday and remaining meat to make into chicken pie this evening (son's request) and risotto tomorrow. We keep chickens so lots of quick, light egg dishes in the warmer weather as well.
In summer after a busy hot day when I don't want to cook, I make a tin can salad! A tin of chick peas, rinsed. A tin of corn kernels, rinsed. A bunch of baby spinach leaves. And a tin of sliced beetroot, including the juice. Season with pepper. This is enough to serve four people. If it's winter I will add boiled potatoes to make it warm. So quick and easy with so little preparation. I love your stream. I would have a picnic sitting on one of those boulders for a relaxing lunch. Love your dog!!
I would like to see how you entertain and cook for guests. Do you make special menu or serve same foods you eat daily. Also…do you have any French friends?
That sausage and leek pie looks so good Jane. If you like eating Philadelphia style cheese, mashed cauli is yummy with a few tbsp of garlic and chive Philadelphia.
Our meals change seasonally because of what we’re growing in the garden. That makes us sound very self-sufficient…. Which we’re not 😂 I must try that soup 💕
I love a simple picnic, winter or summer! At this time of year we are starting to eat salads from the greenhouse too. I hate food waste and find frugal cooking to be creative and fun. You certainly produce some lovely food!
It all looked really tasty ,, you both deserve a lovely picnic at the beach with your dogs ,, thanks for sharing,, I love leeks ,, with the warmer weather coming and being outside, instead of cooking mash and roasts, we have more jacket potatoes done in the microwave with baked beans and cheese ,, simple, quick and filling ,,
I really enjoy your food videos, always gives me some inspiration on what I could cook. We had mushroom stroganoff this week with some lentil pasta which turned out to be really tasty! Your video has just inspired me to make some mushroom soup this week. When the season changes in to summer we start to have more outdoor family gatherings we love a BBQ or a picnic. Boiled eggs are always a nice treat on a picnic aren’t they, or if I’m really feeling like cooking, then some home made scotch eggs perhaps!
Today my daughter made pea and pesto soup. Sounds odd but it was very quick tasty and above all cheap. (Frozen peas cooked in stock then blitzed a d green Pesto added to taste.). Great taken out in a flask too.
Hi there 😊 I am gluten free and lactose free and always on the look out for recipes I can eat or adapt! Do you ever show any g/f meal ideas in your videos? Kim 😊
Starting in spring I make lots of mixed salads . Tonight ’s is shredded endives (raw) + 2 small diced potatoes , half an avocado , a tomato ,some cucumber slices ,2 hard boiled eggs with a lemon and olive oil dressing. Maybe I’ll have some (cooked with plenty of cinnamon but no sugar ) apple and pear sauce.
I've mixed turnips with potatoes and mashed it all together, was quite tasty. You can also mix potatoes and cauliflower, if there's ever a time when you need to stretch things. In summertime, I make a cold pasta salad with tofu that's been marinated in soy sauce and chopped. It also has (frozen) peas, chopped onion, grated fresh ginger and a tahini dressing. I don't know what the price of tofu is now, but will be looking for it soon so we can have this, it's a favorite. Other frugal foods for summer are tomato and cheese pie, homemade baked beans in the crockpot, zucchini noodles with no-cook tomato, basil and garlic sauce, zucchini or corn fritters, veggie kabobs on the grill, cold rice salad with peas and toasted slivered almonds, fried tomato sandwiches with cream cheese and crumbled bacon filling, sausage stuffed zucchini, corn pie (with hardboiled eggs in it), roasted sausages with grapes, scrambled egg sandwiches on English muffins spread with cream cheese and pesto, Greek salad stuffed into pita bread, and many different salads. I use a lot of different dressing recipes to keep the salads interesting. I cut fresh ginger into chunks and freeze it. You can pull out however much you need and grate or mince it for recipes.
I enjoy meat, avocado, cheese, mustard, mayo, tomato and or bacon sandwiches in the spring and summer! Ante pasto salads. Polish sausage, mustard, chopped onions, cheese n a bun. Potato salad.
Hi Jane and Mike 🤗 We definitely change our foods as the weather gets hot - it seems we only have two seasons now here in Canada - Cold Winter and Hot Summer!LOL I eat salad every day for lunch but I will change out the vegetables as the seasons change. I also eat more berries in the warmer weather. My partner eats meat so he will barbecue more often over the next few months. We Love having picnics and will always bring our own food and drink for our epic bike rides. We also like taking a drive to a different park or waterfront destination to have a picnic. Sometimes we bring our little camp stove which is quite small but nice to boil water and make some hot tea/coffee to have with a sandwich and some homemade cakes. Looking forward to Sunday's video 🥰
Summers in Canada mean a lot of outdoor bbq meals, lots of fresh salads and watermelon!! It can get extremely hot here in July and August so cooking inside makes the house unbearable and It takes a lot of energy to run air conditioning (if you have it).
Some lovely meals there Jane using what you have, we eat lighter meals and I do a few cook extra meals. We have lo beef from the weekend and I did another meal with boiled new potatoes and veg my daughter gave me the lo gravy too. I cooked extra new potatoes and we had them the following evening sliced and pan fried with baked beans and fried egg. I like to plan ahead and save on the energy and double cooking certainly helps out. We will be going away again shortly on another £29 4 night static caravan holiday on the coast, all our food will be taken from home and we have picnic lunches with the flask, it all helps to keep the costs down. Because we don’t travel far if we cut back on using the car we only have to add a little extra to our £50 petrol budget and I do online surveys to get this money and put it into the holiday fund. Take care and I can’t wait to see where you went ……… Love Wendy ♥️💋
Hi Jane, Made your leek, cheese and onion tart for supper last night, delicious. Does it eat well cold as we may go on a picnic this weekend and it would be great to have food already prepped and just throw a salad together and go!. We too love the slower simple way of life here in France
In Augusta Georgia we have Jazz on the river for free. It has been 2 years since I have gone but I will go this spring and summer with my picnic basket great reminder.
These meals look delicious! Do you ever cook frittatas? I love egg dishes. Can't wait to see where you went for your picnic. I live in the desert and I miss the beaches. I'm not complaining, I'm happy to live in Arizona! We take day trips to places like Tombstone. It's often an excuse for lunch out at a simple restaurant or burger stand. Taking our own food would be wiser but the meal is part of the treat for me. I admire your taking your own food! I suspect you do trips more regularly than we do. We only do a jaunt about every 4-6 months. Keep up the wonderful videos. Thanks so much.
The farmers market where I live is only on from the end of April until the beginning of December, but while it is there, I get really fresh veggies at a better price than in the supermarket so I eat more salads and other veggie dishes and some grilling on occasion in the warmer weather. I do a packed lunch every day for work and I sometimes eat outside at a local park when I have the time. I tend to eat more soups and stews in the winter and colder months. Delicious looking food this week as usual! Thanks!
Hi Jane and Mike. Great vid as usual. When we go out we normally go to a cafe for lunch. Your picnic ideas have really inspired us to eat our own food when going out so making the trip more cost effective. Thanks for the I inspiration as usual xx.
I love a picnic when the weathers nicer. I often make a quiche or sandwiches but I think I’ll include pate and crackers as a change next time. Nice meals, especially the mushroom soup xx
P's I normally cook everything from scratch a home to take with me on a trip /day out. If still need something I would normally buy that in a supermarket. When we went camping I always mealplan and litterly for weeks if necessary and have all items with me when I leave for the duraof the trip (shelfstable lactose free milk, tinned fish, meat /veg /beans/dried meat, for the first days to a week fresh eggs, carrots, fruits, courgette, broccoli, potatoes, nuts, penutbutter, dried fruits, tea and coffee and ofcourse glutenfree bread pasta and crackers) so I don't have to search on the spot and not find it...
We tend to grill out more when the weather starts to warm and eat more fresh veggies as they come available from local farmers. Eating out is more and more expensive so we don't go out as often as we have in past years, but really I don't miss it and enjoy fixing meals at home. Thanks for all of your inspiration.
I eat more salads and more salads with grain in the summer. And more stews in the winter. I always want warm food in the winter. I eat on the balcony as soon as the temperature is tolerable and all summer.
Wonderful work, Jane. My motto is 'cook once, eat twice'. This week I barely cooked. Most meals were from the freezer and made enough for another dinner or lunch. It was a great week that just flew bye.
Great look quiche, I love mushrooms and onions. I eat more salads in the summer and more soups in the winter. I've never had cauliflower mash but I may give it a try, thanks Jane 😊
Hello ! Thank you for this video ! I've started the "sandwiches season", as I hadn't had time to cook those past weeks. It's more difficult to have nice ideas for summer outside salads, and most, springs and summer fruits and vegetables are always more expensive than leeks or carotts in winter...
Love a picnic lunch out and some yummy food there for sure. And never though of putting sausages in a pie like that makes a change from toad in hole. Thanks another great idea. Also made a lentil lasagne ( inspired by you, I put some marmite in it along with a stock pot ) last week and my carnivore son ate the lot, a big win. Thank you 😊
My family would sometimes take a Spanish omelette on a picnic, along with sandwiches and fresh fruit. We always take homemade chocolate cornflake buns for the sweet treat.
We grill more in the summer, as we have a lot of snow during the winter here in Michigan, not so pleasant to grill when it is freezing! Keeps the house cooler in the summer as we don’t use the oven as much.
I eat seasonal food winter is time for soups stews casseroles summer is salad seasonal fruit yoghurd autumn spring is sandwiches sliced cake fresh fruits
When the weather changes normally look for lighter recipes to make like quiche, burgers wraps with salad , light soups like butternut squash and red pepper , and if do go out take drinks sandwich fruit etc I do love your vlogs and the food you cook , I do try to cut down on grocery shopping and woukd be easier if just me and hubby but have a fussy 20 something year old living at home , so what I thought we would look through recipes together and luck out what she likes and adapt them frugally
I always enjoy your cooking videos. The mushroom soup looked divine! I always try to batch cook and have leftovers for quick meals during the warm weather months because I'm usually working outside until dark and too tired to cook after I come in and clean up. We do tend to eat more salads and lighter meals. Take care!
Lovely as ever, thank you x I actually find it harder to plan meals in Summer, my husband is not a fan of salads at all. Winter is definitely easier for me, stews, pies, any hot meal really!
I agree it is cheaper to eat in winter.Stews, curries, risotto, pies all with loads of veg and lentils and a little meat. Also these usually taste better on day 2 and also freeze and reheat well. Let’s face it left over salad is not very interesting is it. Some lovely food ideas there. I will definitely be trying the cauliflower mash I already do carrot, swede, parsnip, potato mash so cauliflower and I suppose broccoli mash would be just as nice. I also love a picnic lunch even if it’s only a picnic in the garden it just seems nicer eaten outside or in the car really summery even on a cool windy day(car picnic).
That mushroom soup looks lovely jane .and the quiche too .i make a lot of salads also use lettice leaves as wraps .i make cold pasta mix tuna onion sweet corn and chopped cucumber mix with mayo add grated cheese if you like i make a big bowl for a coupl of days .some times if weathers nice just make a plowmans lunch rather than cooking too or cheese board crackers snd grapes and apple .when its hot we seem to want a lot more salads and pasta not heavier meals x
Hi Jane and Mike great food for the week and brilliant picnic. It is great summer is on its way and we can get out for more picnics we do as you do for food on those days and have an easy to serve dinner after the day out. Enjoy many more of them Anna.
@@FrugalQueeninFrance For the record 😉 Moulinex was created by my grandma's teacher's brother, Jean Mantelet. It used to work out for years but unfortunately, nowadays all brands are loosing quality...
