Lots more Sneaky Ways to save the pennies

Primrose

Alas we don't have a Lidl near us but that cooking bacon sounds good vaue for money, especially as you don't need much to life the flavour of almost anything you add it too.   We sometimes buy little packs of pancetta for the same purpose but that's more expensive unless you can occasionally get it on special offer.

-taff

Most supermarkets do packs of cooking bacon, just have a hunt around the bacon and sausage aisle...

Poppy1984

I have just finished reading both of the sneaky tips threads, I don't have a tip to share but I wanted to post to say a huge thank you to all of you that have posted it's been a real eye opener and I have picked up lots of little things to start doing which will help save pennies and get this debt finally paid off. I love the OS board great tips and so many lovely posters. Thanks 😊 

Poppy

Uniscots97

Primrose said:

Alas we don't have a Lidl near us but that cooking bacon sounds good vaue for money, especially as you don't need much to life the flavour of almost anything you add it too.   We sometimes buy little packs of pancetta for the same purpose but that's more expensive unless you can occasionally get it on special offer.

Do you have a local butcher? I switched to a local butcher during the first lockdown. Had a great chat with them and it's actually cheaper than the supermarket. Everything is so much nicer and there's no waste. They do free delivery too and if I want something but not sure what is the best value they'll advise. They've been great. I can also ask for a bit of flank mutton for soup or ask for things prepared for me too. I'm also finding that buying better quality mince it's going further too, tastes nicer and less fat. As for cooking bacon they can do that too, as well as the end of say ham or beef and they'll shred it for you. Lovely on a sandwich. 

Frugalista

PipneyJane said:

I can't believe that the last post on this thread was in March!  

I think that it's been mentioned before, but I'd like to rave about one of my favourite ingredients:  cooking bacon.  L!dl sells a kilo for £1.49.  I'll split the kilo up into 4 or 5 and use a portion for quiche, another for a different flan recipe from my repertoire, the third for bacon sandwiches on a Sunday, the fourth for Cuban-style black-bean stew and add a portion to my Bolognese sauce.

- Pip

Could you post the recipe for the blackbean stew please.

I get my cooking bacon from Heron foods or Home Bargains.  It is packaged as Bacon and Gammon offcuts and last time I had 4 good sized gammon steaks.  Yummy with new potatoes, veg and parsley sauce.  The random bits I snip up with kitchen scissors and freeze for use in soups, omlettes, pasta carbonara, etc.

MandM90

Lots of chat re: hairdressers back in March - I used to have an aversion (too much £££, smalltalk and a waste of time) but have now found a lady in the village who does me a great dry cut for £12 and I'm in and out like a shot! My hair is curly so I think dry cuts actually work better. I have long hair so will probably still only go every 6 months or so. With a tip it's under £2.50 a month for my hairdressing needs which is less stressful than persuading poor nervous DH to have a go!

Siebrie

MandM90, I have curly hair, too, and am always so happy to find a hairdresser who actually knows how to cut it! I hang on for as long as possible, usually until they retire or move too far away. (That said, I only go twice a year, max, and do my own cuts in-between. The curls hide a lot!)

Rosa_Damascena

I'm another one with pretty wild hair, supervised student cuts do me fine and respect my pocket.

PipneyJane

Frugalista said:

PipneyJane said:

I can't believe that the last post on this thread was in March!  

I think that it's been mentioned before, but I'd like to rave about one of my favourite ingredients:  cooking bacon.  L!dl sells a kilo for £1.49.  I'll split the kilo up into 4 or 5 and use a portion for quiche, another for a different flan recipe from my repertoire, the third for bacon sandwiches on a Sunday, the fourth for Cuban-style black-bean stew and add a portion to my Bolognese sauce.

- Pip

Could you post the recipe for the blackbean stew please.

I get my cooking bacon from Heron foods or Home Bargains.  It is packaged as Bacon and Gammon offcuts and last time I had 4 good sized gammon steaks.  Yummy with new potatoes, veg and parsley sauce.  The random bits I snip up with kitchen scissors and freeze for use in soups, omlettes, pasta carbonara, etc.

@Frugalista The recipe is on my blog, but since we can't post links to those, here you go:

Slow Cooker Cuban Black Bean Stew 

Ingredients

500g black turtle beans, soaked overnight and drained (£1.10)

1 onion chopped (12p)

6 cloves garlic, crushed (10p)

2 green peppers, roughly cubed (40p)

150g-500g  cooking bacon, roughly chopped (or use leftover ham) (18p-60p)

2 chilies, chopped (or 1 heaped teaspoon ground chilli)

1 smoked dried pepper (if you are lucky enough to find them) (say 50p)

1 bay leaf 

1 tablespoon oregano 

1 tablespoon ground cumin

2 tablespoons white vinegar

1/2 teaspoon liquid smoke (2p) Optional if using smoked bacon

Boiling water to cover

Method

1. Combine all the ingredients in the slow cooker.  Ensure that there is at least a 2.5cm (1 inch) covering of boiling water, more if your slow cooker lid doesn’t seal well.
2. Put the lid on, set the cooker to high and cook for a minimum of 8 hours.  
3. If it gets a bit dry, add more boiling water (cold water will cause the pot to crack).
4. If it turns out soupy, serve with lots of fresh bread.  Otherwise, serve over rice.

- Pip

Gem-gem

Grow Chard - great as a salad crop / lettuce at the start of the season and the cook it like spinach. One seed packet planted in the spring is still going very strong. ( I grow it under netting).