Caitriona Redmond: Try this bolognese recipe and save money by buying less meat

Plus a recipe for a vanilla cake that you can pile high with icing, sprinkles or whatever decoration you desire

Meat is quite the chunk of the household grocery budget.

When I first moved in with my husband we came to an informal deal. If I cooked the meals, he would do the ironing. As we all know, a deal made in the flush of young love is one that is to be stuck to. The consequences were, that if either of us reneged on the deal we would have to do both chores.

Not long after the deal was struck (a matter of weeks), the pile of ironing accumulated and he had to pay the price of cooking dinner. His culinary skills were in their infancy and shopping hadn’t been done. We were living on a tight budget so he took off to the local supermarket with a fiver determined to cook up a feast.