Why buy?

Caterina

Idiophreak wrote: »

As a complete aside, there's an episode of Frasier where Niles and Daphne hire a doula, but honestly didn't know it was a real thing til just now

Yeh me neither until some 7-8 years ago when it was just about starting in London, now you can find doulas all over the country! Good job, very interesting, but I got burned out after looking after loads of families over 6 years, and now work for an organisation that offers the service of voluntary doulas to mothers in prison, but I don't do the hands-on, I do the admin from home!

Caterina

chocolateteddy

bigmuffins wrote: »

We also buy grated mozzarella or mixed pizza cheese when is cheaper as easier to use on homemade pizza (make dough in breadmaker but have done completely from scratch pre breadmaker days). Mozzarella is hard to grate and the ball in liquid works out quite expensive if making for a crowd as it doesn't stretch very far when I slice it!...

I used to buy grated mozzarella until some one on the forum somewhere said to freeze the ball having drained liquid and grate it frozen goes alot further, I found it grated best when not quite fully frozen but it went alot further than cutting it. I never even realised you could freeze it so when I found lots of whoopsied balls one night I took them home and froze them lovely homemade pizza sorted for weeks HTH

kitschkitty

Caterina wrote: »

Squash (esp. the Taste The Difference type!) - get some cheap fruit juice, add water, much cheaper and healthier. Or squeeze your own!

Caterina

I always buy plenty of sugar free squash as I'm diabetic. Also fresh juice doesn't last for weeks on end (like squash does), and cheap fruit juice is normally from concentrate anyway so adding more water makes it taste even worse!

I think there are lots of things that I personally wouldn't buy because for me they are a waste of money, but unless it's like for like products (like someone above mentioned different price promotions on different size packs being cheaper) then I would think they were being wasteful!

My mum is always amazed (working in Boots) when people turn down bogoff's for things like deodorant - it's not going to go off, so if you need one why not accept the second one free? - heck if you don't want it give it to someone else, or the nearest charity shop!

kitschkitty

chocolateteddy wrote: »

I used to buy grated mozzarella until some one on the forum somewhere said to freeze the ball having drained liquid and grate it frozen goes alot further, I found it grated best when not quite fully frozen but it went alot further than cutting it. I never even realised you could freeze it so when I found lots of whoopsied balls one night I took them home and froze them lovely homemade pizza sorted for weeks HTH

that's a great tip! Shall have to tell my mum that one.

kitschkitty

Idiophreak wrote: »

Yorkshire puds/instant roasties - these, actually, I think are a really nice idea, actually...whatever anyone thinks, whipping a couple of bags out the freezer and chucking them on a baking tray takes a lot less prep time than doing these things by hand - and makes a lot less washing up...if it means you have a proper roast dinner more frequently, I don't see anything wrong with them as short cuts.

I hate Yorkshire puds, if it weren't for the invention of frozen ones my OH would never eat one again (yup he loves them)!

kitschkitty

Has anyone said.... I buy certain ready meals, tins of soup etc BECAUSE I LIKE THE WAY THEY TASTE!!!

Also if there is only one person in a household that likes a certain food, sometimes preparing certain dishes (especially those you don't eat often) even if you can freeze extra portions, isn't particularly economical. For example I always make my own chilli from scratch but will occasionally buy a ready made moussaka (lamb and aubergine aren't the cheapest of ingredients alongside all the others I would need).

Also I think some people over estimate the money saving benefits of certain from scratch products, take onions for example.

My mum buys frozen chopped onions, and I ALWAYS used to buy fresh whole onions, but one day I was in Iceland and need onions frozen onions were a lot cheaper than fresh.

Using them I was converted!

No wastage by weight (no skins to peel and ends to chop off)

They cook quicker (and are less prone to burn) saving on gas and wastage.

They are handy/can be stored for a long time without fear of them going off.

they save time in chopping.

They save water and gas (making it hot) as there's no washing up a knife and chopping board!

Overall I think they save money in a number of ways and are incredibly economical.

tinkerbell84

thriftlady wrote: »

I think Lilac Lady's point was that the cost of those individual pots of jelly is way more than making up a tablet of jelly and pouring it into little pots. I thought she was asking if people ever felt like pointing out a cheaper alternative, not that she was saying that folk who buy these things are lazy.

But you can't buy the Hartley jellies in a tablet

So I'd have to buy the juice and then mess about with veg gelatine to make them!

moanymoany

FairyElephant wrote: »

Well, I try to be as OS as poss. but like many others I am working fulltime, have a busy life, and am trying to spend as little as poss. I try to balance out OS vs. Cost vs. Time, and sometimes it's a tricky juggling act!

One example is tinned or packet custard = always! I don't like custard myself anyhow, and we only have it when DH's kids come to stay (DH & I don't normally 'do' puddings when on our own). By the time I bought the ingredients and spent ages stirring madly to stop it being lumpy, I'd spend more in money and in energy than in buying a cheapie tin in Lidl and zapping it in the microwave......I will be serving it with HM crumble or pie though...unless there's a 'whoops' or special offer on a pud which makes that much cheaper...

If there's a 'value' 'smartprice' or whatever alternative, I'll always buy that as first option - unless we've tried it before and it is really horrible (have to say that is very rarely the case though).

A tin of 17p smartprice tomato soup is cheap, warming & filling for my lunch - I can keep it in my desk 'til I need it and zap in the microwave at work in 2 mins....or I can spend £2.00 on a pre-prepared sandwich when I've forgotten to bring in my lunch - hhhmmmm - I wonder which I should do?!?

I have to say that I've been amused and a little surprised at some of the pre-prepared stuff I see in the supermarket - but I mean on the shelves and not in other people's baskets - chopped onions got me the other week - I'd never seen them before and did wonder who would be so 'lazy' as not to chop their own...then I thought about it and did think of disabled people and how convenient it would be for them....and if they were on offer or 'whoopsied' so they were cheaper than the whole ones, of course I would buy them - who wouldn't?!?

The DSK's still think my cooking is much better than their BM's (sorry - I am human - this makes me feel not a little smug LOL!!!), and that I cook loads of 'proper meals' so I guess I must be doing something right!

I want to be a SAHM, with a garden full of veggies, and some chickies, make HM bread every day, pick blackberries & stuff in season & make jam, sew my own clothes and furnishings...... but I just don't have the time, the garden (or the children!) so until I can, I'll keep juggling my bills, my diary, my slowcooker and my housework (with white vinegar, stardrops & washing soda of course!) and dream of my ideal OS life......

You made me laugh fairyelephant. I also buy made custard. We rarely eat it and the made stuff is always good. Value tomato soup as well - very good stuff and it contains 2 portions of fruit/veg.

I do buy a lot of ready made stuff - baked beans, tinned spaghetti. Value meusli is a good base for my home made, only adding oats, raisins and linseed.

I do think pancake mix is a hoot, and for those with a basic cooking knowledge some of the plain bread mixes. BUT, I don't work and I have a lot of time to do these things.

I have chopped onions in the freezer. Chopped peppers too, they work out cheaper than fresh.

ashbart

got-it-spend-it wrote: »

I love seeing people at the checkout who are bulk buying a few items- I always try and guess what they might be buying it for.....like people who are buying loads of tea bags and biscuits, or loads of eggs etc.

I do this too! Love it! :rotfl:

puss14

puss14 wrote: »

1. Instant mashed potato
2.grated cheese
3.canned soup
4.ready made custard
5.tinned creamed rice

Apart from the cheese I dont like the taste of these packaged foods and much prefer HM, but do understand time and physical limitations as my partner now has arthritis and no longer can always mash 4 me.

I have to say though my major pet peeve is plastic plates. I think the reason I get so annoyed about these is when I go to a friends house she insists on using them anytime she has people over and yet still puts through her cups and cutlery in a dishwasher load. I find this very irritating, but perhaps I get peeved as I dont have a dishwasher and still manage to use china when we have guests;)

I hope that I didn't come across as too judgemental, because I certainly don't want people to think that I am sneering at anyone for buying these products-each to their own I say. It was more a list of things that I never buy. I am sure also that pple would look in my trolley and think organic chook and coke "thats a waste of money" and they may have a point with the coke:D but I am not stopping buying organic freerange chook, Id rather not eat chook at all. I always brought freerange but upgraded to organic after my best mates niece had developed a breast:eek: at the age of 3, and was told to stop feeding all chicken products to her child and when eventually it was introduced they said only organic or not at all. The paediatrician also said if they could possibly afford it to modify her diet to mainly organic.

I think I get irked by my friends use of plastic plates because she refuses to recycle anything even though they have kerbside pick up.