Home Made Vs. Shop Bought

narabanekeater

lots of people put jam jars into bottle banks. If you put a banana box by the side of the bottle bank with a sign saying used clean jam jars for jam making people will pop them in there for you. Well I used to manage a Supermarket and saw it done often. Just keep going back to check for left ones.

PipneyJane

watermelon88 wrote: »

I was just having a nosey on Pinterest when I noticed a pin for home made cherry jam. That got me thinking, is it cheaper to make things like that yourself at home, or buy them in the supermarket? Some things, like value bread for instance can cost as little as 47p per loaf, can you make home made bread as cheaply as that?

I can't always do a lot of baking and things because of my bad back, but if it would work out cheaper to make things myself I think I would either try more often, or teach my fianc!e how to do it lol.

When it comes to bread, we go through phases where we don't want any, but if I don't buy any you can guarantee a few days later we will want it. I thought that maybe making it as we want it would be a better idea, I would just have to keep a constant supply of the fresh ingredients. I have no idea what's what with making bread, is it hard to make it without a bread maker? Is a bread maker cost effective when you're trying to save money?

What else can be made at home? I want to try making Jam and/or Marmalade, but would it work out cheaper to make it myself than buy it? Do they keep for a long time? I don't eat jam, my fianc!e likes it, and I rarely buy marmalade so I'm not sure how long it lasts really.

I've heard about making cleaning stuff at home, at the minute I buy the value all purpose cleaner, that does the job, I get a bit overwhelmed when I look at making cleaning stuff myself.

I'm also looking for something I can make myself that will stop things in my wardrobe, airing cupboard and storage cupboards from getting that musty smell, like some kind of home made air freshener or smelly thing.

Basically, I am new at this whole money saving thing, and I am looking for any ways I can find to cut costs, even making things at home. I like the idea of making things myself, if it can work out cost effective. It needs to be either cheaper or the same price really as I can't afford to spend more than I do right now, although I suppose if it was something that would work out cheaper in the long run then that would be ok.

I'm rambling on a bit now lol. I'd be appreciative of any advice or tips anyone has. I've searched through old threads but the really long ones kind of boggle my mind.

I'm still trying to re-learn how to do the shopping, I am so used to buying convenience foods that are quick and easy to do that I have absolutely no idea how to do a healthy food shop. Whether to buy fresh or frozen or what. I've just added home made soup to my meal plan, the stuff is arriving tomorrow so I may have a go at my first batch of home made soup on Saturday :-D.

I have no idea how people way back when used to go and buy all this fresh and healthy food. My main problem is that I avoid fresh veg as we do our shopping once a fortnight and I am worried that it will all spoil before the end of the fortnight. I wish we drove so we could go to markets and shop around etc.

OK, I'm going to stop rambling now or no one will read this post all the way through!

:rotfl::rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:

Jam making is one of those "it depends" items. It depends on whether you can get free or cheap fruit. It depends on whether you can get cheap sugar. It depends on your source of jars and whether you had to pay for them. How long jam lasts depends on how sterile your jars are (Americans routinely sterilise their jam for 20 minutes after bottling, using the hot water bath method of canning).

My bread machine was a wedding present so I have no idea how much they cost. However, it costs me about 25p to make a loaf in it of the best bread I have ever eaten (and that includes cost of flour, power, yeast, etc). Look on freecycle for a bread machine. If you're going to buy flour, yeast, etc, make sure you've got suitable storage containers for them - I use the biggest Lock-n-lock boxes. It may be more sensible to buy bread and freeze it.

On the veg front: properly stored fresh fruit and veg will last the best part of 2 weeks. However, having said that, a lot of supermarket veg isn't properly stored in the supermarket, so won't last that long. It's in plastic bags so it is sweaty on the shelf or they store it in the fridge before they put it on the shelves (onions should not be covered in condensation).

Eating more fresh veg isn't an either/or thing, though, it can always be topped up with frozen stuff for the last couple of days before your next shop.

PipneyJane

watermelon88 wrote: »

We do all our shopping online as its too much to carry on the bus. It would be great if we had a car or lived close enough to town to walk it :-) could shop around then

When I didn't have a car, I used to get a minicab home from the supermarket. I only shop once a month, though. Justified the cost on the basis that it saved me money not going near a supermarket in the interim. Also, I shopped mid-week, directly after work. If you pick the right night, you can get a lot of whoopsies at 6.30pm.

watermelon88

We can't afford the taxi costs, we're so far away from the supermarket it's stupid.

On the home made note, I found a great recipe for home made fat free crisps :-) the only calories etc come from the potato itself. Going to try it out in a bit.

PipneyJane

watermelon88 wrote: »

I hate the value bread, which is why I rarely buy it now.

As I pay off debts I'm addin more to the food budget to bring it up to something more human, at the minute it's £50 a fortnight to feed & water two adults, 6 cats and a dog & buy household sundries!

I might try my hand at making things as an occasional treat until I can afford to do it full time.

Can jam and marmalade be made sugar free? I know there will be sugar from the fruit but that's ok, I mean without adding any? I'm diabetic and need to keep sugar out as much as possible

Our monthly budget is a bit higher these days (£120 for groceries, £40 for meat saved up and purchased quarterly) but wasn't always so. My worst month, I had £25 to feed two adults, so I feel your pain.

Regular jam relies on the sugar to preserve it. Sugar free jam will need to be sterilised in the jar, probably in a pressure cooker at least 10lb of pressure. Most of the recipes I know about for sugar free jam are American and involve "canning". (Google is not your friend in this respect.) Marguerite Patten's Jams, Jellies and Preserves, is the book you need to consult because it's written for British conditions and British equipment. (Whatever the Americans say, you can use a pressure cooker to bottle food, so long as it gets and holds the correct pressure.)

LameWolf

watermelon88 wrote: »

On the home made note, I found a great recipe for home made fat free crisps :-) the only calories etc come from the potato itself. Going to try it out in a bit.

Ooh, those sound interesting. Let us know how they turn out, and would you mind posting the recipe? Pretty please?:o

watermelon88

My fellas just popped to the range to buy one of those veg slicers that slice them up real thinly, then we going to test it out :-) ill post a link to the recipe in a bit. There's no fat roast potatoes on there too :-)

watermelon88

Here's the recipe for the crisps. There's some other nice ones too.

http://fifteenspatulas.com/2012/04/20/oil-free-microwave-potato-chips/

Sambucus_Nigra

On the topic of jams and jellies; if you can - buy a few strawberry and raspberry plants [and maybe a gooseberry or two].

We bought about 12 strawbs, 18 rasps and a red gooseberry [Pax], and recouped the cost of these in jams and jellies in the very first year.

I am now picking strawbs from the babies of the original plants; and the raspberries are now in their hundreds even after digging out about 50 each year to give to friends and family; and the gooseberry makes enough gooseberry jelly to do me for a whole year; plus leftovers make a gallon of wine. I got enough strawbs today to make my first pot of jam; however these are going in cream later for my pudding [it's tradition!].

If you like your jams and jellies; they are worth their weight in gold for long term food. Also - add a few elders around the sides of your garden for instant elderflower cordial and later with wine that is probably the best wine you will ever taste.

And the great thing is that all the above can be 'got' using cuttings and suckers from friends if they already have the fruit; so minimum outlay.

watermelon88

Well my home made soup went ok yesterday. It needs an onion though to help the taste, the recipe calls for an onion I just didn't have any lol.

Very filling and worked out less than 400 calories per portion :-D