Money saving tips on food

[Lucyr]

They are a squash.
And very healthy.

Soup,
Sliced and roasted,
Stuffed,
Sliced and used in lasagne instead of pasta,
Cubed as a veg.
Curried,
Mashed.....

The seeds can be eaten raw, or baked and salted or flavoured.

I’ll have some of the soup and lasagne please

 

[Deleted member 21371]

I’ll have some of the soup and lasagne please

I have just found a pumpkin wine recipe as well.......

 

[42istheanswer]

I have just found a pumpkin wine recipe as well.......

That reminds me of a story the deputy head at my secondary told about when he was a teenager at boarding school... they were given an orange each as part of their breakfast but none of the boys ate them... so he decided to collect some up and ferment them into wine in his locker. Unfortunately he didn't judge the process right and there was an explosion, with orange mess across the whole room... he was made to clean it up and had a locker door held on by plasters for the rest of the year

 

[Deleted member 21371]

That reminds me of a story the deputy head at my secondary told about when he was a teenager at boarding school... they were given an orange each as part of their breakfast but none of the boys ate them... so he decided to collect some up and ferment them into wine in his locker. Unfortunately he didn't judge the process right and there was an explosion, with orange mess across the whole room... he was made to clean it up and had a locker door held on by plasters for the rest of the year

He is my hero 🙂

 

[Leadinglights]

That reminds me of a story the deputy head at my secondary told about when he was a teenager at boarding school... they were given an orange each as part of their breakfast but none of the boys ate them... so he decided to collect some up and ferment them into wine in his locker. Unfortunately he didn't judge the process right and there was an explosion, with orange mess across the whole room... he was made to clean it up and had a locker door held on by plasters for the rest of the year

A bit like my bottle of homemade blackberry gin which exploded in the fridge, it looked like a blood bath with glass and 'blood' everywhere.
It must have gone with a hell of a bang as all the fridge magnets were on the floor.

 

[Deleted member 21371]

Just had a good Sunday afternoon shop at Sainsbury's.
A lot of vegetables, and stir fry bags, and courgette spaghetti reduced to 20p.
That along with bread at 19p, some mince, pork, and a few other bits and pieces.
Then I succumbed to a Christmas t shirt.
But offset by finding a couple of Tefal frying pans half price, a Salter wok for £9, and a loaf tin for £3.50.
All is all well worth going after 3 on a Sunday.

 

[Sally W]

If you have a smartphone, I recommend the Olio app. It's designed to reduce food waste, but if you can pick up useful food then it also saves money!

You can give away food you won't eat, but also there are volunteers called Food Waste Heros who pick up unsold food from various supermarkets and distribute it through the app. There are a lot of salad items appearing now, often a lot of bread but not so much recently. Use By dated items have to be given to you by midnight (or frozen if they say they can be and the FWH has freezer space) so you'll need to be able to collect in the evening for those, but best before can usually be collected the next day. I've started doing some FWH collections, and a high proportion of my veg intake is now free! I've also sometimes picked up some minced beef or other meat too.

Salad and stir fries often end up still leftover, so if you want those you will make the FWH very happy too! Iceland collections tend to go up around 6.30pm and Tesco/One Stop around 9-10pm on the app, and you can set what distance from home you want to see what's available

I love Olio. In addition to food items I’ve recently collected a brand new pair of winter boots that were £100 & Jamie Oliver cookbook. All free. I also like donating food & items that would go to waste either.

 

[Deleted member 21371]

I'm pleased with another bargain today.
Morrisons cooking bacon, 750g for £1.49.

I usually have a look for ones with decent rashers in, I've had most that are just perfect rashers of bacon, I spotted one that was just 4 very thick bacon chops.
So, two meals for us for less than 40p each. 🙂

 

[zuludog]

I'm pleased with another bargain today.
Morrisons cooking bacon, 750g for £1.49.

I usually have a look for ones with decent rashers in, I've had most that are just perfect rashers of bacon, I spotted one that was just 4 very thick bacon chops.
So, two meals for us for less than 40p each. 🙂

Yes, I sometimes buy cooking bacon, also known as bacon pieces or bacon ends - they're the ends of sides of bacon that are too small to slice into rashers on a machine
Though usually you can get a couple of slices from a pack to have as 'proper' bacon if you slice it by hand; then I trim & dice the rest to make a vegetable + beans/lentils + bacon stew in the slow cooker
I batch cook it then dispense it into single servings in plastic bags and freeze them.

 

[zuludog]

Thought I'd mention Iceland, the frozen food stores

At the moment they are giving a 10% discount to over 60s on Tuesdays, on all items, food & non food, including items on offer or reduced prices
You need to take proof of age, such as a bus pass

I haven't done an extensive or thorough survey & comparison, but it does seem to be a genuine reduction
Obviously they have a wide range of frozen food, and although it includes sweet & carby items such as chips, pizzas, & food in batter & sauces, they have a fair amount of plain veg, fish, etc, and it's worth having a good search through the freezers to see just what they do have
They also have fresh meat, veg, the usual grocery & cleaning stuff, though not as extensive as a full blown supermarket

I checked with my local store this afternoon, and as far as they are aware this offer will continue - though who knows when & how companies run their businesses & change things.

 

[Deleted member 21371]

Back to my biggest bugbear.

Shopping in Sainsburys.

Bought a bottle of wine,
It's on buy a case of 6, get 25% off.
We only wanted one bottle.

But, it you can't afford 40 quid, and can only afford to buy one bottle, you are paying so much more.
Buy one at a fiver. Buy six, pay £3.75 each.
Buy six bottles, pay for four and a half.
So, the poorest who can't afford to put down over twenty quid in one go pay £30 over a few shops.

 

[Lucyr]

Back to my biggest bugbear.

Shopping in Sainsburys.

Bought a bottle of wine,
It's on buy a case of 6, get 25% off.
We only wanted one bottle.

But, it you can't afford 40 quid, and can only afford to buy one bottle, you are paying so much more.
Buy one at a fiver. Buy six, pay £3.75 each.
Buy six bottles, pay for four and a half.
So, the poorest who can't afford to put down over twenty quid in one go pay £30 over a few shops.

An offer only saves you money if you planned to buy it though.

If you went with the intention of buying one full price bottle then you planned to spent £5. Knowing you can buy 6 because of the offer means the offer cost you an extra £17.50. The only person saving is the person who planned to buy 6 bottles at £5 each who saves £7.50. The person who planned to buy one bottle at £5 and stuck to buying one didn’t spend more than planned, they just spent exactly what they intended to.

Okay if you buy 6 and then only use them exactly as you would normally then you’d save too, but the reality may be you drink more than usual because of the offer and so the offer actually costs you extra.

 

[nonethewiser]

Topped up wine supplies last week in Sainsburys with 25% off 6 bottles, even better wine we like was on offer at time plus we get staff discount.

Few supermarkets have 25% off wine at moment, Asda Morrisons being two.

 

[Deleted member 21371]

I picked up a ham hock in Morrisons, £2.50.

Slow cooked overnight in a glass of homebrew and coarse mustard., (a ruby ale style).

Taken out and shredded.

Now made into sausage rolls with pork mince and grated cheese.
Another batch of sausage rolls with pork mince, and sage and onion stuffing made out of the juices.

A lot of shredded ham left to make a rillette with the gelatin after boiling the bones and fat up in the rest of the juices.

The skin into the air fryer for scratchings.

About the only thing I had to throw away was the fat, but I'm sure others would use it.

 

[helli]

Topped up wine supplies last week in Sainsburys with 25% off 6 bottles, even better wine we like was on offer at time plus we get staff discount.

Few supermarkets have 25% off wine at moment, Asda Morrisons being two.

And Waitrose (or, as was known when I was a kid Way Troses) being a third 🙂

 

[nonethewiser]

And Waitrose (or, as was known when I was a kid Way Troses) being a third 🙂

Expect more will jump on board with Christmas fast approaching.

 

[Kelz7683]

I buy the containers usually 5 for £1 from the poundshop to use for freezer stuff as they stack neatly and can be reused over and over again. I once took what I thought as a tub of soup to work for lunch but it turned out to be stewed apples.

If you buy large freezer bags and your freezing something like spaghetti bolognaise or chilli or any other none hard item name the bag and what date you froze it pop it all into the freezer bag and zip it up then lie it down flat and spread it all out. It saves so much room in your freezer compared to the tubs you can just lie them on top of each other.

 

[helli]

If you buy large freezer bags and your freezing something like spaghetti bolognaise or chilli or any other none hard item name the bag and what date you froze it pop it all into the freezer bag and zip it up then lie it down flat and spread it all out. It saves so much room in your freezer compared to the tubs you can just lie them on top of each other.

I guess there are pros and cons for all approaches.
I use tubs as they are reusable and stack. I fill them to the top so space isn't very different.
My preference maybe related to an experience of bags slipping partially through the gaps in the grated shelves and freezing around the rungs.

 

[Kelz7683]

I guess there are pros and cons for all approaches.
I use tubs as they are reusable and stack. I fill them to the top so space isn't very different.
My preference maybe related to an experience of bags slipping partially through the gaps in the grated shelves and freezing around the rungs.

Ah I never even thought of that because my freezer has normal plastic shelves so it saves a lot of space for me because of the hubby’s and daughters food in the freezer. I have to admit I have rinsed the bags out a few times and reused them. I just thought I would mention it incase it helped someone save space. I do also use plastic tubs for some stuff now and again because not everything can be put in freezer bags.

 

[Deleted member 21371]

Sort of food related, I just picked up a cookbook, "Pinch of Nom, Everyday Light"
There were the original, and the "Quick and Easy" versions as well.
All £4.99 in Aldi.
I normally never buy cook books, buy a look before I paid had some excellent low calorie ideas, and some good swap outs I haven't seen or thought about before.
Not heavy on puddings, which suits me, and some "bulk cooking" ideas.