Spending money to save money?

Greenqueen_2

I would definitely go for a chest freezer if you can manage. It`s top of my "gadget" favourites. As for storage boxes----we use ice-cream tubs, butter/margarine tubs and plastic bags. I inherited some tupperware boxes from older relatives when i got married (nearly 30 years ago) which are still going strong even though they weren`t new at the time. Dont forget to label everything. OH recently put stewed quince in his Gin and tonic, thinking it was a cube of frozen lemon juice!

lally666young

We had a chest freezer, but I feel in it!!! I am only short and we kept finding the odd fishfinger looking sad. I grow my own, micro greens using a seed sprouter is best for this time of hyear and you have a batch ready within five days. I grow my own outside in the summer and I love to see what we grow.
I am on the fence about a bread maker I am getting a cheapish one to see how we go. I just missed one off freecycle the other day and it was someone I knew!
If you have pound shops in oz well dollar stores have a look in there as you might get your containers from there. Or if you have takeaways keep the containers and resuse them at a later date.
fruit we have an apple tree and we are snowed under with apple sauce, so I am going to give some as gifts for xmas.

rubberbiscuit

The only thing there Id find a real money saver is a nice roomy freezer TBH. Im rubbish at sewing so just hem and mend by hand (badly!) and I make my bread by hand too. I have 2 upright freezers, one for my food and one for the animal food (dogs are on raw and the snakes have a rodent drawer!:eek:). In fact next year I might try and squeeze another one in as I had trouble wiith freezer space this year when I started growing my own fruit and veg and Im on the waiting list for an allotment, hopefully next year.
Ooooh, and my slow cooker was abit of a revelation!:D I cant believe I coped so long without one.:o

SailorSam

I thought the food slicer was a good thing until a broke it, I only used it for bread, but one day the paddle from the breadmaker was still inside the loaf and it wouldn't slice.

snowleopard61

the snakes have a rodent drawer!:eek:).

Yikes. Good thing you do have an upright freezer, with drawers. A bit of careless labelling in a chest freezer (or none at all as I'm occasionally guilty of) and dinner might be an interesting... surprise. _pale_

Softstuff

armchairexpert wrote: »

Ooh, Softstuff, the frozen ripe fruit idea is very tempting. My kids would die of joy if we had a freezer full of frozen mangoes. Okay, that's getting closer to selling me on that one. For some reason I'd forgotten about bulk buying and freezing fruit and veg, was just thinking about batch cooking but you're right, the possibilities are endless.

Well, it depends where you are obviously, but there can be some great bargains on fruit and veg. I've found IGA and independent veg stores best.

armchairexpert wrote: »

Midnightraven, Sambuca, I think I'm not not very good at gardening. Or, really, I just don't have the time at the moment (I have a three year old and a baby and I work OOH). The birds and possums get all our fruit and pull our seedlings out of the ground in one night, and netting only does so much, so I'm a bit discouraged. But I'll have another stab at it, thanks for the inspiration.

A little tip for fruit on your trees (I'm not a gardener but all of the inlaws are), make little net bags out of old net curtains from the op-shop, pop them over the individual fruit (works best for few big fruit obviously).

armchairexpert wrote: »

Our freecycle is a bit rubbish, but I'll definitely check out the local secondhand markets for equipment.

Do you have a local Salvos? I've found them to be pretty good for stuff. I wouldn't waste money on dollar store or second hand freezer containers though, bit of a false economy, the lids never fit right and they shatter quickly. The decor ones go down to about a couple of dollars each regularly and last forever.

armchairexpert wrote: »

You can see what I'm asking in a broad sense, though, can't you? It'd be very easy to go right, I'm serious about saving money, I'll need to drop several hundred pounds on a breadmaker and a whizzy state of the art freezer and a new sewing machine and a greenhouse and some chickens in a luxury coop, that'll definitely help me pay the mortgage off faster!

I think the key is, you've got a set household budget to cover groceries etc. If it's a cheap week for those you can set the spare dollars aside for something that'll help you be cheaper long term.

Another tip I have is to shop according to catalogues. Check the coles, woolies and IGA catalogues online (other catalogues are available too at lasoo.com). Work out what the cheapest price items you actually use go down to over a few weeks (they always rotate offers), then when they are down to the cheapest, buy some extra for the storecupboard. A good example of this would be zafarellis pasta - standard price is about $2, it regularly goes down to $1 in the catalogues, but IGA get it down to 75c now and again.

lindseykim13

We have 3 freezers-one was free given by a relative-one was second hand off ebay and the other was in the sale.
If they start running empty i will switch 1 off to save the elec, but they do save me alot of money because we only buy reduced food.

I have a breadmaker (given as a gift) but don't use it as the time/energy factor isn't worth it when i can get a reduced loaf for never more than 60p

Sewing machine i have because it's a hobby of mine and comes in handy for altering second hand bits i've picked up so think that pays for itself.

I have an allotment which i have esablished costs more for us to run than we get out of it.
Rent to the council for it, shed, tools, plastic sheeting to stop the weeds/grass over the winter, organic slug pellets, seeds. Anything that we could get second hand we did but it has still hasn't paid for itself. Unless you have a lot of free time it's not worth it imo.
You find things don't grow, get eaten or dug up by animals-maybe my bad luck but i must have spent a good £300 and certainly not got that much back!

slow cooker-worth it as cheaper to run than the cooker

I think you have to take a step back before buying anything and work out if you will use it and if it's worth it. If yes then get it as cheap as you can.