2014 Frugal Living Challenge

sparrer

Not too bad a day, saved myself £25 by bathing the dog myself. It takes 2 1/2 hours to dry his coat with a hairdryer but it meant a nsd/npd.
Also fixed the side gate after three lots of contractors had botched it up. I can open it and put the bins away now rather than coming out of the front door and falling over them. Possibly saved £50 by diy.

Mrs_Cheshire

Hi all, had a good day yesterday. Did the main food shop in A*di and only spent just over £22. One of the items on my menu plan they don't stock so I went to the Co-op to check they did, came home as I remembered I'd got some vouchers for the Co-op after signing up for the membership card and went back later to buy the goods.
I got duck with pancakes, chinese spare ribs, spring rolls and a bag of chedders for lunches for £3.98 as I'd been sent a £5 voucher from Co-op for some problems I had before christmas.

[Deleted User]

I am loving how busy this thread is this year. I think we are almost at double the number of posts the 2013 thread had all year! Mind you it does mean I can't quite keep up with all the posts as much as I would like.

I am aiming for a mega frugal week next week. Its payday next Thursday and I pretty much used up most of the stuff in my freezer so I will need to do a shop soon. I am planning frugal meals like soup and pudding, bruschetta etc to see us through until Thursday.

Mountaingirl

I can't keep up either! But I am reading and I am being frugal too, so it's all good.

quidsy

Managed to get 4 toothbrush heads, 6 cortisol toothpastes & 2 mouthwashes for nought using my boots points. Another 30+ quid saved.

Bad_Weather

Hi ladies/men!

Trying to get into this frugal way of life.

I have quite a few large potatoes that are likely not going to get used this week.

What can I do with them? Thinking I could make mashed potato and freeze it and then put it on top a cottage pie at a later date? Or anything else that is simple and only requires a couple of ingredients?

Any suggestions?

Thanks in Advance!

quidsy

One onion, one leek, the potatos, chicken stock, salt & peper. Boil it all up or chuck into a slow cooker for the next 8hrs & them blend into soup. this can be frozen in portions. When hot sprinkle a bit of grated cheese & you have the most delish potato soup.

Or else peal & chop into roast pot size, par boil & toss in oil then flash freeze & bag up for roasting at a later date.

The key is to flash freeze first before bagging up, that way it isn't a mushy mess.

afoolwithmoney

Neighbour going away for a few days so gave me contents of fridge & some veg so think I can hold out shop until weekend yippee. But on down side unsure what happens to toilet seats but another needs replacing yet again so going to have to spend out today. Its far to cold to manage without!!

mummy2threeboys

HI quick post to say boots have there 70% off sale..got a few baragin for birthdays and next christmas x

skintygerlinky

Bad_Weather wrote: »

Hi ladies/men!

Trying to get into this frugal way of life.

I have quite a few large potatoes that are likely not going to get used this week.

What can I do with them? Thinking I could make mashed potato and freeze it and then put it on top a cottage pie at a later date? Or anything else that is simple and only requires a couple of ingredients?

Any suggestions?

Thanks in Advance!

Wash potatoes, no need to peel, and dice up with a pepper, a largeish onion, a couple of cloves of garlic (if you fancy) and mix together with a good shake of dried herbs, salt and pepper and a tablespoon of flour.
Place into a greased casserole dish, warm a cup of milk (don't boil!!) and pour over the veggies.
Bake at around 200-220 degrees (depending on your oven) for about an hour - great if you are roasting meat at the same time!

This lovely casserole is really tasty. I sometimes put a handful of grated cheese mixed in with the raw veggies too.
A fab way to use up potatoes!