Lots more Sneaky Ways to save the pennies

-taff

Primrose said:

Straying a little from the topic of Saving pennies, but for anybody of an economical mind who enjoys reading and who has access to a library , I can thoroughly recommend "Nella Last's War" and "Nella Last's Peace".   She was a lady who participated for many years in the government's  Mass Observation project to get ordinary people to record the trials and tribulations of living in wartime and the post war austerity years which followed.  Her diaries were published after her death and are a fascinating read about the limitations  of living through this period of history. 

She records the frustrations of trying to live with rationing, food coupons, shortages and the general moods of the time through the eyes of a housewife who was frustrated by the mantra that women were always expected to be subservient to their menfolk, even when they were more intelligent.  Her recordings of the meals she cobbled up with the few ingredients she was able to obtain on her ration book will surely ring a bell with people on this forum ! 

I've never really read anything about daily life in ww2 except the reminiscences of posters on this board, so I bought it on the Kindle and have just started reading it. I've already laughed, at her comment about god not needing Mrs Helms to tell him what to do, and the parts dealing with terrible weather which are obviously very timely. Thanks for the reccomendation, I'm enjoying it a lot more than I thought I would.

Siebrie

We have a christmas tree with lights, and lights on the outside of the house (those were a St Nicolas gift to dds). I only switch them on about 5 minutes before dds will see them, and switch them off again when they can't.....

Gem-gem

Have spent the later part of the morning and lunchtime peeling and chopping vegetables. We bought three bags of carrots for 19p
1 bag chopped into batons - as a veg side dish, 1 bag chopped in paysanne for stews and soups and the final bag we will use this week - for coleslaw, veg curries, veg Mornay and side dish on Christmas Day.
Also bought and extra bag of parsnips - prepared and frozen into individual servings. 

Have thought about buying an extra bag of potatoes and making mash potato then freezing it into individual servings. DH doesn't eat mash, so I have it when he eats chips. 

Not buying extra Brussels sprouts as they tasted revolting when cooking them after freezing them. 

Primrose

That's interesting - your comments about frozen sprouts. One vegetable I,ve never frozen.  We always try to buy them on the stalk with the leafy top still intact.  I think sprouts are great raw shredded in coleslaw and the tops are a nice substitute for spinach. 

You can,t go wrong with 3 bags of carrots for 19p.   Notworth the space trying to grow them for that price !

Gem-gem

Primrose said:

That's interesting - your comments about frozen sprouts. One vegetable I,ve never frozen.  We always try to buy them on the stalk with the leafy top still intact.  I think sprouts are great raw shredded in coleslaw and the tops are a nice substitute for spinach. 

You can,t go wrong with 3 bags of carrots for 19p.   Notworth the space trying to grow them for that price !

I grow them in the summer - I not long ago finished them. So the 19p bags have arrived at the right time. 

I am thinking very carefully about what I am growing next year. No more brassicas - fed up with the caterpillars. Probably grow more sweet corn. It is runner beam year. (only grow biennial). Grow lots of soft fruit as it is expensive. 

wondercollie

Why the rush to process the carrots?   I buy a five pound bag, keep them in the fridge and they are good for a couple of months.

Siebrie

Keeping carrots:

finish a dark box of icecream (the box needs to be dark, the ice cream can be any taste) of about 2 litres

put a piece of kitchen roll in the bottom

put the carrots in neatly

put the lid on tightly

keep in fridge

Brie

Quite frankly I don't think that the carrots needed to be very prepped either but that's because I tend to eat them almost as quickly as i can "peel" them.  (can't eat them raw otherwise...well I would if I was starving).  Many's the time we've bought a big bag so that 2 of us can have some as a side with dinner and the OH comments on how few make it to the table.  Def my snack of choice!

Elisheba

A sneaky tip that probably saves you money - if you use an Amazon Fire Stick for your TV (which you might do even if not paying for Prime) then you will know the batteries are always running out on the remote control.

Instead you can download the remote control app on your phone, and use that instead. Not sure if it works for multiple phones though, and if you are using rechargeable batteries then there may not be much in the way of savings to be made. But it's certainly cheaper than replacing normal batteries if you don't have rechargeable ones to hand

Brie

Double check your pensions.  Just discovered a mistake in information given to me a couple of years back.  I could have been getting £400+ a month from one for the last 4 years.  I doubt the moderate yearly increase I will get in the future would compensate for being out nearly £40k!