The other day, my nice neighbour Barbara offered me some dessert, and I thought I was about to get some cake. She plonked down a pickled pear, pointed, and gently said, “Would you believe that dessert was made in 1985? I’ve had that pear for 17 years”. I smiled, as little bugs of horror darted [...]

A few weeks ago, we started a list of resources for children, parents, teachers, and anybody who wants to learn a bit more about healthy eating and growing your own food. Food doesn’t get much cheaper – or better for you – than that. Teaching Resource #2: Irish Seedsavers Irish Seedsavers is an absolutely essential [...]

Each trip to the supermarket brings a fresh disappointment.  I arrive in naive anticipation of new and interesting fruits and vegetables, only to be confronted by more of the same. Always the same variety of carrots, onions, broccoli, cabbages, leeks, oranges,  bananas, and apple, plums, pears…. Peppers, mangoes, pineapples, the same selection of berries. Leeks, [...]

As anybody unfortunate enough to have lived with me knows, I’m not a morning person. Until a few years ago, I found breakfast really difficult, especially if I was on the run. I usually just skipped it altogether. Now, I manage to get some morning sustenance with a smoothie. What a great, healthy start to [...]

We haven’t written much about desserts or sweet treats on Cheap Eats, so I thought we’d use pears as our ingredient of the week. Pears, I hear you cry, are a high-maintenance fruit: either rock hard and dry, or else a pile of mush. The trick is to get them at the right time, when [...]

Now that we’re all more cost-conscious, how many of you are still buying organic vegetables? If you’ve had to cut back but would prefer not to, you may be interested in some advice I found in last Sunday’s Observer Magazine about shopping strategically and only buying organic versions of certain fruit and veg.

It’s about time Aldi got a look in on CheapEats. Their Super6 offer sees six selected fruits and vegetables priced at just 39c each. At the moment, this includes mangoes, kiwis, Irish red apples, scallions, salad potatoes, and turnips. This is a very tempting offer. I still haven’t tried Aldi. Is it much the same [...]

In Marks and Spencer today, I noticed that 225g fresh cranberries are half price, reduced from €4.19 to 2.09. At Tesco, these festive fruits are priced €3.19 for 300g. Or €2.49 for 340g at Superquinn. I’m making a few of my own sauces and chutneys to bring to my parents’ this Christmas, including this cranberry [...]