February is 'use up' month

HOLsale

today dd and i had a nice romp in the snow so when we came in i raided the cupboard for some more stuff to use up

we shared a tin of lentil soup i got ages ago when i was ill with bronchitis for a prolonged period (dh was overloaded with essays and exams and couldn't cook for me, i was too sick, don't normally buy tinned soup)

then we made hot chocolate with some out of date fairtrade drinking chocolate, honestly, does powdered chocolate suddenly go 'off'? don't think so, it supposedly did sept 2005 but tasted lovely

tonight i'm going to make a dent in the chopped tomato situation and the tinned beans... i'm making a slowcooker soup from my new slowcooker book (bought with amazon vouchers from surveys of course!)

i actually had to buy MORE sugar and flour...unheard of in this house as i usually have at least 3 bags of each but i've been so gung ho on the use it up front that i DID use them all up :rotfl:

HOLsale

oh just thought i'd give an example of how this use it up thing is BENEFITING my family dh in particular

dh is doign a 1 year intensive MSc and spends a LOT of time in the dept because they have computer programs we can't run here (or can't afford) that he needs for his work, plus trying to work at home with a attention grabbing 4.5 year old is nigh on impossible, i know, i work from home ((big sigh))

anyway it was getting expensive cuz he kept sneaking off to tesco's when he'd run out of the odd thing he picked out of the cupboards in a hurry

so i put my foot down and told him i'd make him stuff so nice with what we had he wouldn't want tesco's stuff anymore, AND i'd stay in my £30 week budget

well, i've done this by using up a lot of what we already have, this has allowed me to buy things i normally wouldn't

here's what dh took with him last night for the next few days:

homemade pate wraps stuffed with rocket, coriander or tarragon
(liver had been in freezer for ages, used some of my plethora of onions in it and used up a mini bottle of blended whiskey we'd had forever) the wraps were bought on buy 2 get one free the herbs i don't get unless we have extra money for veggies

4 small avacados (don't normally buy but they were on special and again saved money by using up so much at home)

4 apples

large dish full of Morrocan Chicken made in slow cooker on top of bulghar wheat recently discovered that bulghar wheat tastes just like cous cous and is half the price the chicken had been in the freezer for at least 6 months, thought it might be freezer burnt but it was fine. used up butterbeans i've had forever, used up a plaintain that had seen better days, used some of my plethora of carrots and onions too plus i ALWAYS have spices this was gorgeous, we fought over it :rotfl:

6 large potatoes to microwave later plus 3 tins of beans all part of my large stash!

gorgeous fresh salad of rocket, coriander, peppers, spring onions, bacon, goats cheese and ceasar dressing again, wouldn't normally buy the herbs but i've had to buy so much less so i had the money peppers and spring onions had seen better days so we salavaged most of them and put them in the salad. the bacon was from a bag of cooking bacon that's been in the freezer forever, the goats cheese was a mega clearance deal from new years eve, i don't like goats cheese and it had been put back into the fridge (we freeze cheese) awhile ago so really needed eating and the ceasar dressing, i'll be glad to see that go... it's one of those long tall bottles from lidl... it came flying out of the fridge about a month ago and hit me very hard on the joint of my big toe... i couldn't move my toe for 12 hours (thought i'd broken it) and had a HUGE ugly bruise for about a week... :rotfl:

at any rate, he commented that this stuff was far nicer than tesco's and i can guarantee you it only cost a few quid and will feed him for about 4 days (3 meals and snacks daily) and that's 4 hungry feed-my-brain days so i'm quite chuffed with that :T

thanks for the inspiration everyone :beer:

chardonnay_2

we just had to use up two half tubs of ice cream so we could fit in our reduced bargains. does this count? lol

HOLsale

chardonnay wrote:

we just had to use up two half tubs of ice cream so we could fit in our reduced bargains. does this count? lol

it would in my house

avrilholland

Why not donate much of the Unopened gifts to your local Charity Shop. Just keep enough to see you through until the next 'gift' season and help with your favourite good cause.

cha97michelle wrote:

i like the sound of that. My bathroom is absolutely overflowing with open bottles of stuff.

My problem is i'm a teacher, so the kids mostly buy me smellies, and then i feel bad about using it all up/chucking out the bottle. The plus side is that i very rarely have to buy things like moisturiser and shower gel, but the minus side is the bathroom shelve from hell, which has now spilled over to a cupboard full of reserve toiletries.

I think i could be using up for a long time, but i'm willing to give it a go.

cha97michelle

Thanks - i've done that with some already.

I was off school ill last christmas, so didn't get any :j

And i will be on maternity leave next christmas. So i'm going to hang onto the remainder, and just have lots more pamper baths, rather than a 10 minute splash.

so i think i will just keep using them up. I don't want to appear tight, the charity shop has had more than 10 boxes from me since christmas, so i'll see how i go with the rest.

Michelle, x

Spendless

Well I was doing well with this especially on the toiletries but DS came home with 'creatures' in his hair and gave them to DD and we've been trying to get rid of them for a while. I used some detangling spray that the top had come off of, put it in a spray bottle and was using this on her hair before combing thru. Last night she was incredibly whingy, this morning all round her neck is red and swollen and looks as theough she's been sunburnt. So I've taken her to the GP who says her skin has reacted with the detangling spray and given her some cream for it. I now am wary of using up old opened toiletries

Sarahsaver

I was doing brilliantly until Boots went and tempted me with 100 points on a conditioner which was also on BOGOF and some hair mask with 50 points also on BOGOF.
Back to square one with the conditioner.
Found some really old febreeze type stuff I'd had since ex oh was here that was 2002 !!! :rolleyes:
Also eating some out of date French mustard but what on earth can possibly grow in that!
I have made sure to use some unusual seasonings/herbs/sauce with each meal and its made things a bit different in a nice way.

sashacat

I've now defrosted and cleaned one freezer as a result of this "challenge", tried some new recipes, saved a lot of money and eaten well...so thanks to whoever it was who suggested this. I am half way through the second freezer and have just had some lovely fish pie

**purpleprincess**

Using up sausages and tinned carrots (I seem to have found myself with loads for some reason!!) I imagine it would work well with cooked fresh carrots too.

Ingredients-
2-4 sausages
small tin of carrots
chopped onion
lemon juice (Jif lemon left over from pancake day!!)
herbs
oil

Method-

Fry onions and sausages together for about 10 minutes. Add the carrots without liquid, the herbs, squeeze of lemon juice and mix it all up and let it simmer for about 15 minutes. Ta da, sausage and carrot ragout!!! Yummy!!

I normally slice the carrots and sausages but do what you feel!!!