Bootiful beets - a start to being frugal AND healthy?

Credit: Fancycrave on Unsplash 

Being frugal isn't always a need, sometimes it can be a refreshing way to look at how you can pare down what you use, or what you spend, or anything really...

I'm not an extravagant person and more recently, as circumstances have changed, I have been more creative than normal. Suddenly last week R and I found ourselves both facing unemployment. It hasn't happened ... yet... but I grasped the challenge by the horns and am trying to save as much money as possible, seeing how little we can live off.

If you think about it rationally, it's about less waste, more homemade. A bit 1950's you might think, but, hey, aren't we all trying to be more environmentally conscious? If you stepped back to those days, things were minimal. People grew their food, cooked and baked, made preserves, stitched and knitted... the list goes on.

I wouldn't change anything about how I live today and the easier life, but there are lessons to be learnt.

I am extremely conscious about waste. Ask R. He constantly gets irritated that I keep the smallest dose of ketchup, or the few veggies left from sunday lunch "just in case". But I always use them! Whether in soup or added to a pie, they are always useful. I'm the one who finishes the bottom of the ketchup bottle after standing it upside down for a few days to get it all! I guess we all have our little irritating habits 😂

Hopefully you will have seen my recent soup post, well, there are more and more flavours appearing on our lunch table. Today was mushroom and tarragon - it was fantastic! Much better than the can in Sainsburys that cost £1! The mushrooms cost me 49p reduced and I make my own stock. You'll also know if you've read my posts before that I freeze fresh herbs (the ones I don't grow) for soup or pies or anything where the herb will be cooked, and I always pick up reduced packets! Perfect.

We have also decided to up our vegetables and once a week for the month of February eat vegetarian. Should be fun! There will be new recipes, some vegetarian, some vegan, but all I'm sure will be interesting.

Tonight is the first week (as Feb starts on Friday), so, having seen some beetroot burgers for sale in Marks and Spencer, I thought I'd have a go at making my own. A little research on the 'net and I found a recipe that I could tinker with at BBC food. You know me... never have quite the right ingredients at the right time 😉 I did have beetroot though! And chickpeas and tahini... anyway, here's my adaptation of theirs:

Bootiful Beetroot Burgers

1 large onion, diced
1 pepper (colour of choice, I used orange), diced.
1 tbsp olive oil

Pack of 4 small cooked beetroot
1 large carrot, grated
1 tin of organic chickpeas, drained and rinsed
100g porridge oats
1.5 tbsp tahini paste
0.5 tsp ground paprika

In a pan, fry the onion and pepper in the oil to soften. About 5 mins, the  allow to cool slightly while you prepare the other ingredients.

In a blender, place all the other ingredients and pulse to blend slowly. Add the onions and pepper, followed by a generous pinch of salt and pepper. The mix looks almost mince-like 🤔

Prepare a baking tin with greaseproof paper and lightly flour the tin. Using a serving spoon, make burger shaped patties on the paper. Refrigerate for at least 30 mins.

I decided to bake my burgers at 200°C for 30 mins, turning once halfway through. They look great!

Turn halfway....

All done! (The white is the flour!) 

Tonight I am serving them with spiced, roasted cauliflower:

And paprika wedges:

The result... a healthy, fresh vegetarian meal. The burgers were great, and i loved the cauliflower too. I whizzed up a quick cheese sauce for R's caulI as he likes some "sauce". I sneaked some too and it wasn't bad - a spicy cauliflower cheese!

Today's cost was an 80p pack of beetroot as I had everything else! Not bad, eh?! Will be sure to total the ingredients next time to see how cheap it was, but a good meal, home made is going to be  better than buying ready made ones.

Verdict: This month is going to be fun! 😄

Let me know if you have any fab vegetarian recipes, or any tips on being frugal. I'm going to need all the help I can get!

Deb x