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Once you get into the swing of it, cooking extra for the next day (or to freeze) will become second nature. It really will save you time and money and keep you from purchasing those dry meal deals. A friend of mine recently worked out he’d save around £96,000 over his working life by taking a packed lunch to work. That’s retirement a few years early! Budget cooking is about using ingredients cleverly. Identify big flavours that you like and add these to your recipes. Examples are mustard, tinned sardines, bacon, feta cheese, lemon or lime. Expensive meat doesn’t have to be the centre of a meal. You can use less and still eat well.

100g sugar 120ml vegetable oil 1 tsp vanilla essence (optional)

bring to boil. Keep an eye on it, and when liquid starts to foam, carefully and evenly pour it over oat mixture. Stir whole thing together with a spoon to coat oats. Bake in oven for 25–30 minutes, gently stirring after 10 minutes and again after 20 minutes,until the oats are golden. Remove the granola from the oven and allow to cool before storing in an airtight container for up to 4 weeks.