WELCOME TO THE BLOG!

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June 2025

 

Occasionally grumpy 70-something (though I still feel 40! Or maybe 50!!)

Long-term interest in health and weight control on a budget, converted to this blog in 2015.  Now producing digital and printed books (slowly). 

Digital & Android versions of cookbook Fabulously Frugal from 67goingon50 are now on sale at Apple Books and Lulu Bookstore. (Details here.). Print version is underway.  

The blog 67goingon50 has never had a paywall.

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Passover and Easter are not that far away and this week’s blog focuses on flour/gluten-free treats.

They’re not all what you’d expect at this time of year - baked goods made with nuts or matzo flour - but they are all wonderfully appealing.  And delicious.

Along with flour-free cakes, pies and biscuits are gorgeous fruit platters, a sorbet and a pudding.  All are pretty easy and reasonably wallet-friendly.  And there’s an added bonus — they’re perfect for the weight-conscious!

Try one or all.

18 Mar 2026: 

Flour & Gluten Free desserts for Passover/the weight conscious/ Easter 

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PRICES:  Please note SOME recipes posted during the life of the blog have not yet been updated and PRICES WILL BE HISTORICAL.  Note the date the recipe was posted and calculate accordingly.  Generally, the newer the recipe (see top right hand corner above photo) the closer the cost will be to current prices...though with some products showing rises again (Feb 2026), one can never be sure!!

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By the way…Make your own gourmet sandwiches with sandwich-sized wholemeal rolls from Sable D’Or, Englands Lane

Great news for lovers of good bread, especially singletons and small households. 67goingon50 has been looking for ages for sandwich sized rolls from a good bakery that doesn’t charge the earth.  You know, something perfect for a sandwich lunch - baked that day, crunchy on the outside, gloriously soft on the inside -  just the right size for one so that you can go back the next day for another fresh roll.  Places like M&S and Waitrose, to be fair, offer £1’ish decent rolls but nothing compares with bread from a good deli or proper bakery.  One of 67’s favourite bread outlets is the deli-restaurant Sable D’or on England’s Lane which has a daily early morning bread delivery.  Their filled baby baguettes are the best.  And hooray! They’re now selling wholemeal baby baguettes, which are wonderful.  At the moment, the baby baguettes are only a pound each so get there fast before prices rise.  Sable D’or also offers vegetarian/vegan salads ; Barret’s Butchers next door sell sliced meats, cheeses and cooked chicken. 

67goingon50's Bargains/Treats in North London: (depends on availability).

APPEARING ALTERNATE WEDNESDAYS when supermarkets update their offerings.

Next: 27 March

M&S: Mothers Day Specials: Family dine in, £20 for 1 main, 3 sides including mushroom stroganoff pie, slow cooked beef , side of salmon, large chicken,  British pork cracking joint; sides - variety of potatoes, various roots, honey roasted carrot,  spring greens, cavalo Nero and peas. Smoked Salmon, 2 for £10, usually £6 each;: sweet cured; honey roast hot smoked and organic. Family sized trifles - raspberries, strawberries, mixed, chocolate - have mouthwatering reductions. 

Citrus fruits still attractively priced, as well as other fruit & salad bits: 250g ‘bigger pack, better value’ raspberries are £4.70; 400g mixed blueberries & raspberries £5.50; 2x pomegranate are £4.50 from $2.65 each; ripen-at-home pears, £2 for 550g.  If you’re a baker try the neat lidded containers of individual and mixed nuts or dried fruit, including soft and succulent raisins, apples, prunes. Iceberg lettuce 90p; bunch beetroot £2.10; value packed peppers 750g (5-6) £2.80; round tomatoes £1 for six; 2 ‘King’  pineapple for £4.50 usually £2.50 each; cooked beetroot 95p.   The blogger hopes to test more Portable superfood salads £2.45, incl balsamic beans, Greek, Mexican style, super green, butternut lentil and goats cheese, Moroccan style, avocado, Italian pasta and spinach & bang bang noodles. Mini roasted potatoes £1.15 per kilo,

Chicken tenders in many appealing flavours and levels of crunchiness are 3 for £12 and includes made without wheat.  Quiche are still 3 for £8, wonderful for stashing in the freezer.  Deli: halloumi kebabs  or quarter pounders £5.25.   Multi-offers - prawns; chicken slices, pork, ham and bacon, brisket of beef, top side of beef, 2 for £6. 50, usual price £3.90 each.   Extra large succulent olives in gorgeous marinades are 3 for £8.  Also 3 for £8 are picky bits including Moroccan lentils, tomatoes and mozzarella, falafel, calamari, chorizo and Gouda, anchovies, Spanish tortilla, ham and cheese rolls; Spanish tapas selection are 2 for £6.50 usual price £4.25 each.  

NEW: Aromatic half duck £13.25 including pancakes, cucumbers, spring onions and hoisin sauce.  Chinese Favourites Menu to share includes three main dishes and three sides (looks good!).  Select from spring rolls, prawn toast, egg fried rice, salt and pepper chicken, chicken chow mein, etc

Try new hot cross bun flavours incl green apple, millionaire’s chocolate.

Waitrose: Mother’s Day (on Sunday 15 March) is still the focus.  On the food front:  Mother’s Day afternoon tea is 20% off: choose from quality loose teas, Florentines, carrot cake, mini cakes, Victoria sponge, chocolate cake and even Fiona Cairns’ splendidly decorated  rhubarb ginger  or elderberry loaves.   Mother’s Day Roast and trimmings a third off prepared potatoes, cauliflower cheese, cabbage, Yorkshire Pudding.  Savings also on desserts, brownies and tarts. Mains include Greshingham whole duck, a bargain at £9 from £12.01; there’s also a third off roasts of British top side, top rump and lamb lamb shoulder.  25% off Specials on creams, moisturiser, soaps & gels continue;  now-joined by discounted Australian shampoos and moisturisers. Sanctuary’s Mother’s Day Bath and body boxes are still one third off. In  case Dad feels neglected,  men’s grooming products are also 1/3 from Nivea, L’Oreal & Rock Face. ELVIVE shampoo and conditioner are £4, down from £6.  Suffering from early season hayfever?   Kleenex Balsam mega pack, 112 sheets, are two for £5, from £4.20 each.

S Plenty of bargains on quality chocolates:  Lindt, Ferrero Roché, Bendix, Milk Tray.  If you love crisps but worry about calories, Walkers six-packs are £1.75 from £2.35;  large packs of Doritos are £1.75 from £2.50.  Free-from crisps from Master Freed are £1.55 from £2.10; avocado tortilla chips look worth testing.

Easter bakes:  Billington’s soft brown sugar is £2.60 from £3.60 for a kilo;  Waitrose golden caster sugar is £2 per kilo from £2.94. Have a look at Dr Oetker wafer flowers, not a big discount but oh-so-pretty.  Craving good Italian pasta?  DE CECCO pastas are £1.35 down from £2; SACLA pestos are £2.50 down from £3.50.   Filippo Berio special extra-virgin olive oil 500 ml, £5 from £10.

Tuna mayo never gets old and this offer is cupboard worthy: 400g Hellmann’s real mayonnaise £2.25 from £3.10; 4 tins John West tuna chunks in water  are £4 from £5.25.  Merchant gourmet pre-cooked pulses  are £1.50 down from £2.25 incl beluga lentils, red and white quinoa, purple & greens lentils, Spanish greens and rice.  PUKKA organic teabags are at £.,25 from £5.04, including  nighttime, three mint, lemon ginger and honey, three ginger, Matcha, peppermint and licorice.

Other bargains: 3 for 8 deli specials include smoked ham and Italian meats; arancini, falafels,  empanadas: usual  price £4 each; 20% off Waitrose number one large sourdough pizzas £5.20 from £ £6.50.  Yorkshire Tea,  244 bags,  £6.50 from £8.50; Food Lovers dine in for two: £15 including paella,  cook slow steak and red wine, beer battered haddock etc.  Butchers Counter offer savings on pork -  fillet, chops and loin steak. Iceberg lettuce £1 each;  fruit bargains incl yellow nectarines and kiwi fruit, 2 for £2.45, down from £3.10 each;  Dutchy Cherry vine tomatoes and avocados 20% off.

Kosher: Thinking ahead to Passover.  Too early for hotdogs? Gilbert doesn’t think so. 350g turkey or beef hotdogs are £6.35; jumbo beef Viennas and Americas also available at higher prices.  Gilberts has also produced fresh-cure salt beef, 1.2 kg for £28. Suitable for Passover are a top rib joint around £20 a kilo and beef mince 450g for £7. Lots of smoked fish: 200g Mr Freeds oat smoked salmon £9.20 per 100g; LOCHFYNE small batch smoked Scottish trout £6.50.  Also: loads of cleaning products are discounted;   The Flash speed mop starter kit (with mop and refills) is  back with a big discount — £12 from £20.  Blogger  recommends. 

Good discounts on laundry detergents and conditioners.  Extra large Comfort, Fairy conditioner and Lenore are £4 from £5.5.  Persil liquid detergent £7 from £9.4; Ariel also well discounted. 

BY the way: 

…Waitrose’s £5 meal deal of main, snack & drink is quite a bargain when you consider the cost of a salmon dragon roll is £4.80 and a sugar/sweetener-free drink (Cawstons Elderberry Lemonade) is £1.60.  And that doesn’t include your small packet of baked, not fried, crisps.

…Tony’s 180g Chocalonely bars are dangerous!! A friend accustomed to happily treating herself to an occasional solitary square of M&S dark chocolate recently consumed an entire Tony’s Dark Chocolate and Almond bar in just over a week.  

• Recent health posts from Twitter/X  (b lee @BrightSunEnter1)

  
  

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  Note: Print version of WALLET-FRIENDLY WONDERS FROM 67GOINGON50  is on the final stretch after technical problems not of the blogger's making! Watch this space!I

  For more details of the FABULOUSLY FRUGAL FROM 67GOINGON50 COOKBOOK including what it offers, how it helps ease the cost of living crisis, reviews and links, go here  

  Buy:

  IOS/Apple: https://books.apple.com/us/book/fabulously-frugal-from-67goingon50/id6443309798  £5.99

  ANDROID/ everyone else:  https://www.lulu.com/shop/bonita-lee/fabulously-frugal-from-67goingon50/ebook/product-mjdmvk.html?page=1&pageSize=4 £6.99

  
  

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  A small doglover's dream:
  hand-knitted postboxcover in Belsize Park

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updated Jan 2023 

I am in my 70's but don't look or feel it. Strangers are surprised by my age.  I'v'e had a lifetime to study good health and now achieve it (with lapses) on a small budget. 

I'm shy and don't like having my picture taken but one taken recently is at the top of this page.  See also Testimonials page from people who know or have met me, and About Me on the Navigation Bar above.

67 GOING ON 50

Many but not all recipes were originally created for age-specific ailments (heart disease, high cholesterol, high blood pressure, overweight) but are now targeted at the entire age range, to help prevent the onset of such afflictions.  Some recipes are family-friendly, some for hard-working professionals, some for small households.  Others are aimed at more sophisticated tastes.  It's a blog for anyone interested in healthy eating.   

Recipes include 'skinny' versions of much loved 'dirty' dishes. Many incorporate cooking techniques gleaned over a decade as a contract chef, making life easy for the busy home cook.  Look out for easy-peasy, almost-instant or prepare ahead recipes. 

The blog works on the principle that one indulgence-day a week is the only way to achieve success in eating healthily; thus you will find recipes for cakes & cookies (often modified to reduce sugar and fat) and the occasional dig-deep-in-the-pockets crowd-pleaser.

The blog grew out of the long-held notion that healthy eating can be available to everyone, whatever your age or income.  I knew from personal experience that it is possible to age gracefully and to fend off, or reduce the effects of, various ailments which afflict the old. 

Worries about the NHS we're also a factor. What seems an eternity ago, 67goingon50 believed that if we take responsibility for improving our own health, there should be less pressure on the NHS.

Since then, there's been a seismic shift in the landscape.  Somehow the concept of the NHS being responsible for the care of people suffering from ill-health has shifted to doctors' representatives demanding we put them ahead of patients. And that strikes for huge salary rises, now, are justified.

It's all rather astonishing, and serves to emphasise even more how important it is for individuals and families to take the necessary steps to become...and stay...as healthy as possible.  

You want to be able to fend off chronic ailments that afflict the old, and if that's not possible then to reduce the effects of them.  

No one wants to spend years in pain or dependent on medical drugs.  No one wants to wait eons for operations or treatment for life-threatening conditions.  

You must do everything you can...NOW whatever the ages of those closest to you...to boost health and immunity through diet, exercise and good emotional and mental health. 

Hopefully, 67goingon50 can help in that effort.  

Concept to Action

A lunch club was formed in one of the unhealthiest areas of London, providing free healthy meals for a group including non-English-speaking housewives and the home-bound.  The Blogger was the volunteer chef, cooking meals while passing on a few principles of healthy cooking. 

The idea was developed with West Euston Partnership in London, then moved under the umbrella of Well London.  It was funded by the National Lottery, with a small grant from Morrisons.  

Everyone was astonished at how easy it was to eat well on a limited income.  I proved my point: it is possible to live a healthy lifestyle on a tight budget.  However, despite its success, the venture did not end well.  

BACKGROUND 

The blogger worked as a contract chef at posh banquets and events, City canteens and directors’ dining rooms, on Army bases and in little one-chef kitchens.

If anything has been learned about encouraging healthy eating, it is that everyone wants to do it but they’re simply not interested in boring food.  They want something that excites the taste buds, satisfies the appetite and looks great on a plate.  And they don’t want to spend the earth. 

Increasingly, in a backlash against industrial meat production, they also want to cut back on meat or even go vegetarian or vegan.  

The blogger is a die-hard flexitarian - eating a range of foods but of the best quality possible taking into account the budget - and that's what this blog offers.  And judging from an increasing global audience, the recipes are welcomed.

Going Organic

For health reasons, the blogger relies on as a high a proportion of organic food as budget allows.  However the blog recognises that organic food is out of the reach of most people, especially those on limited incomes, and recommends only that shoppers buy the best food they can afford as and when they can afford it.  And not to feel guilty when they can't.

The blog's section on frugal food (see Navigation Bar/Recipes II), is popular with pensioners and students.  Two invaluable posts for those on low (or high) incomes are:

Reducing Food Bills

Eating Healthily on very low budgets from Jack Monroe  

The blog also also offers practical advice on subjects such as reducing grocery bills, budgeting, low-cost exercise and freezer storage - all validated by personal experience. 

POSTING

The blog hopes to continues to post a maximum 4 recipes a week during the lull between cookbooks.  The first cookbook, Fabulously Frugal, is finished and currently on sale at Apple Books.  An Android version is available at Lulu Books.  Go to the top of the page for details of the book, a few early reviews and a link.  

A second bookbook, Dieters' Delights, is in the final planning stages.  Once that is underway a minimum of one, usually two, new recipes will post every week.  

The Welcome to the Blog page continues, as does 'By the way' which includes interesting developments in foods and eateries, plus recent Twitter posts on  b lee@BrightSunEnter1.  (The account gets hacked; best not to follow it but check in weekly.)  

The blog's recipes are aimed at its global audience, which includes families with kids, pensioners/twosomes, busy singletons, and senior executives with sophisticated palates.    

The first post lands at 00:01 UK time on Wednesdays; other recipes may post on the weekend.  Sometimes everything is posted on Wednesday.

67goingon50 posts on Twitter as BrightSunEnter1. 

FORMAT 

At the top of each page, underneath the title and strap-line  ‘Recipes and Tips for Great Health and Graceful Ageing Whatever Your Age or Income’ is a Navigation Bar.  Click on the following sections and it will go direct to the page:

Welcome to the Blog

A brief round-up of what’s being offered in the week’s post including items of interest such as grocery and shopping bargains. 

Home

1-4 Recipes, with photos, on a single page

Recipes 

One big rule for recipes: the dishes have to taste good.  It doesn't matter how healthy it is; if it doesn't appeal, it won't get posted.  That includes vegetarian and vegan food -- if carnivores won't eat it, it's out. 67 has two perfect tasters for veggie/vegan food - a 'food is fuel' previously die-hard carnivore and some macho independent butchers.  

The recipes are divided into various categories e.g. frugal, easy-peasy, fruit-based desserts, lamb, fish, vegetarian/vegan, free of common wheat etc.  The recipes section is divided into two pages for ease of reference.

How to…

A treasure trove of practical information including Healthy Eating: Principles;  Exercise on a Budget; Cutting Shopping Bills; Feeding Kids; Medical (eg Statins, Stress); the Sick Bed (incl. cold & flu remedies); healthier baking, processed foods, pulses, slow cookers and 'No, we are not all gonna die if we have a bit of sugar or bacon!'.

About Me

A little more information about the Blogger’s health

Testimonials

...from those who know or have met me

COSTING 

Calculated according to amount used, e.g. 2 eggs NOT half a dozen eggs.  Prices are normal supermarket prices, not organic, although egg prices are free-range.  Please check the date of the recipe; 67 tries to keep up to date with prices but they seem to change every week!! 

PORTIONS

67goingon50 is obsessive about smaller portions.  We don't need as much protein as we think we do. (See How to...calculate Daily Protein needs)  And we definitely don't need as many sweets as we would like.  67 believes we often only taste the first few bites of any food anyway.  The only things you should be having large portions of are salads (with dressings that don't go overboard), vegetables, fruit.

PRODUCTS

It's a minefield out there in the supermarkets; some products are definitely inferior to others.  67goingon50 marks its chosen products with a* and the source and price are indicated below Tips.

COMMENTS & FEEDBACK

67goingon50 welcomes feedback.  Go to the bottom of the recipe page to the Comments box and type in questions or comments.  

Thanks to Dan Patterson and Christopher Alley for technical assisatance

DISCLAIMER: The author accepts no liability for the consequences of any actions taken on the basis of the information provided.