About The Thrifty Squirrels

Making do, living well

Why the Stand Mixer is My Thrifty Ultimate Weapon

Most of what happens on this blog revolves around my kitchen and a collection of stand mixers that keep my kitchen running. You’ll often see me filming with my beloved 1970s Kenwood Chef—which has mixed more batter than I care to admit—alongside my modern Kenwood Titanium, my classic red KitchenAid, and my newest artisan dough workhorse, the Ooni Halo Core.

To me, a stand mixer isn’t a luxury counter ornament; it is the ultimate tool for traditional, budget-conscious cooking and baking.

Around here, “thrifty” doesn’t mean going without. It means being thoughtful. It’s a Victory-garden, make-do-and-mend kind of spirit updated for modern life. By mastering our stand mixers and their attachments, we can stop paying premium supermarket prices for additive-filled bread, fresh pasta, minced meats, and preserves. I love taking centuries-old, traditional British recipes that used to require hours of back-breaking hand work and showing you how to recreate them effortlessly using a mixer.

Me, My Kitchen, and My Labrador Shadow

Good cooking runs further back in my family than I can take credit for. In the 1930s, my grandmother was the cook for the poet Cecil Day-Lewis while he was teaching at Cheltenham College, long before he became Poet Laureate. I love the thought that a quiet devotion to feeding people properly has been passed down through the generations, landing right here at my pine table.

I’m rarely testing recipes or filming alone. Morse, my three-year-old black Labrador, is the kitchen’s unofficial supervisor. He is endlessly good-natured and entirely convinced that whatever is swirling in the mixer bowl is meant for him. Most of the vintage plates and teacups I use to style my bakes come from local charity shops and the vintage markets held here in Cheltenham twice a month.

The Dream at the Bottom of the Garden

I should confess something: I live in a fairly ordinary, three-storey modern townhouse on a new-build estate, not a rambling countryside cottage. I’ve spent years filling these rooms with history and character to coax a bit of soul into walls that didn’t come with any built-in. But I am working toward a bigger picture.

I want to give Morse a proper home—a piece of land with a wildflower meadow where he can run freely without the stress of crowded estate walks, and space enough to finally get him a Labrador brother to tear around with.

That dream is exactly why the thrifty way of life matters so much to me. Every single batch of stand-mixer butter made instead of bought, every supermarket shortcut replaced by a scratch-cooked alternative, and every thoughtful saving quietly adds up toward that meadow. I’m 58, by the way, and I mention it because beautiful dreams don’t have a deadline.

Come and Join In

Whether you are here to learn how to master your mixer’s dough hook, find out if a specialized spiral mixer like the Ooni Halo Core is worth the investment, or just want to see what Morse is up to, I’m so glad you stopped by. Pull up a chair, and I’ll pop the kettle on.

If you’d like to stick around, the easiest way is to drop your email below. I’ll send my latest vintage recipes, stand-mixer guides, and kitchen stories straight to your inbox—no spam, just the good stuff.

Donna x

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