One of my sister & I’s favourite meals is one my mum had to come up with when she had little ingredients and no money is left over scraps of chicken, rice, sweetcorn, fried onions (layered in your plate w/ rice at the bottom) covered in white sauce. It is so tasty and cheap! Unfortunately neither of our husbands consider it as being a suitable meal!

My son was born in the 70s and money was extremely tight as jobs weren’t kept open for Mums in those days. I used to make my own clothes, curtains, duvet covers and sheets and between us my mother-in-law and I made my son’s jumpers and trousers until he was about 5 and he started to wear school uniform. Material these days is more expensive than buying clothes, but we could always revert to unpicking clothese and remaking them into children’s clothes, as my mother-in-law had done for her offspring!

Car boot sales these days are wonderful for snapping up good quality, cheap clothes, toys and household goods. (As a new Grandma I recently bought my little Granddaughter a wonderful Early Learning dolls house with furniture and dolls in perfect condition for £15!)

As for food – my son had what we had but I made sure his food contained little or no salt. As I was no longer working, I had the time to prepare fresh food, so we knew what went into it. It’s cheaper to make a large pot of stew with potatoes than going out buying ready prepared or takeaway food. One of our favourite meals was my Mum’s version of cauliflower cheese – steamed cauliflower placed in an ovenproof dish, covered in potatoes mashed with milk and butter (or low-fat spread) with grated cheese on the top, baked in the oven for about half an hour. You can add slices of tomato or bacon on the top for interest before putting into the oven.