Sort of debt-free but hope to be a super-scrimper in 2019

System

rtandon27 wrote: »

CBC - an inventory is the best place to start a store cupboard/freezer challenge! It's the place to learn about past 'bad' shopping & squirreling habits and where you can learn to amend your strategies!

OH & I are coming to the end of our current 2 week eat from the stores game & the three lessons I've learned this time round are:
1) much as I love pickled gherkins & cucumbers - six assorted types are not necessary! - no matter how much they remind me of home (across the pond):rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:
2) we will never buy steel-cut oatmeal again, even by accident!:o 40 minutes cooking time is only doable on vacation vs 4 minutes in the microwave for rolled porridge oats:o
3) we do not use our frozen bone broth quickly enough & need to get back to homemade risottos & soups to do this - also freezing broth in smaller jars as 1L is too much for 2 people!

Will be waiting to hear of any interesting ingredient combinations you discover in your quest to slash the food budget this month! (even butter beans - which my OH loves!)

XOX RT:D

What do you freeze your bone broth in? I have started making bone broth but not frozen any yet, normally just put it in the fridge. I also find that I had far too much and didn't use it all. Would be a good idea to freeze some.

[Deleted User]

rtandon27 wrote: »

CBC - an inventory is the best place to start a store cupboard/freezer challenge! It's the place to learn about past 'bad' shopping & squirreling habits and where you can learn to amend your strategies!

XOX RT:D

It wasn't the inventory making as such that bothered me as I knew I needed to know what I had before I could make any plans. It was just the time it took to do it that surprised me:eek:. It was the best part of a whole evening. I did check all dates as I was dragging stuff out of normally pretty inaccessible cupboards though so that added to the time taken. I'm only 5'1 and a lot of tinned goods are stored in overhead cupboards or top shelves. Not very sensible I know but cupboard space in my kitchen is pathetic:(. I'm surprised nothing was years out of date, some of these tins hadn't seen the light of day for a very long time:o


I didn't unearth a stash of pickled gherkins (although one jar would have been very nice, I'd forgotten how much I like them until you mentioned them) . I do have 3 big jars of bargain pickled red cabbage and lots of tins of butter beans though. I can understand the red cabbage, I love it and can snack on it straight out of the jar, but 3 biggest sized jars seems pretty excessive. And why the beans?????. I can take them or leave them and I'm not sure OH even likes them. I hope he will do by 1st February:rotfl:

wishingthemortgaheaway

Popping in to say Hi and that I've subscribed.

Re: smaller amount of broth/soup etc. What about breast milk bags? I'm sure not the sort of thing that many of you have in, but I had a huge stash post breast feeding and have bought more since. I think they are 500mls in size (maybe even 250, cant remember )

[Deleted User]

ploppy57 wrote: »

What do you freeze your bone broth in? I have started making bone broth but not frozen any yet, normally just put it in the fridge. I also find that I had far too much and didn't use it all. Would be a good idea to freeze some.

I don't know how rtandon freezes broth and my attempts in the distant past always resulted in lots being discarded whenever I defrosted the freezers:o. Now I never freeze it and always use mine straight away to make big batches of soup which I freeze in manageable portion sizes. We have HM soup most lunchtimes in colder weather and it's so handy to have lots available. I haven't made risotto in years:o. One of my inventory 'finds' was an unopened bag of risotto rice so I'll definitely give risotto a try. Thanks, rtandon, for the hint:j

rtandon27

ploppy57 wrote: »

What do you freeze your bone broth in? ...

carbootcrazy wrote: »

I don't know how rtandon freezes broth and my attempts in the distant past always resulted in lots being discarded whenever I defrosted the freezers:o. ...

Hello ladies - Once upon a time I'd inherited some soup bags from a work colleague with a l@keland addiction. These worked well but in order to reuse the bags, pre-planning was needed to defrost the broth. (didn't really work for us!)

TBH with all the concern in recent years about pl@stics touching food, I switched to glass jars on the advice of an Aunty across the pond.

My OH loves own brand instant coffee so we've amassed a large collection of tall slim jars over the years. Just pop it in the dishwasher and the label falls right off. I then use a butter knife to pop out the paper from the inside of the lid. As long as you leave about an inch header for the liquid to expand, it freezes very well with the lid off & then just screw the plastic lid on once solid. Can be defrosted in the microwave straight in the jar (without lid).

We've now started a collection of small glass salsa jars (thanks to my recent addiction;)) but they have metal lids instead. Same method though & they hold about 250mL which is perfect for small batch recipes.

As long as the liquid is room temp before jarring and placing in the freezer, there should not be any issues with the glass jars cracking.

Hope that long winded explanation helps!:D

System

rtandon27 wrote: »

Hello ladies - Once upon a time I'd inherited some soup bags from a work colleague with a l@keland addiction. These worked well but in order to reuse the bags, pre-planning was needed to defrost the broth. (didn't really work for us!)

TBH with all the concern in recent years about pl@stics touching food, I switched to glass jars on the advice of an Aunty across the pond.

My OH loves own brand instant coffee so we've amassed a large collection of tall slim jars over the years. Just pop it in the dishwasher and the label falls right off. I then use a butter knife to pop out the paper from the inside of the lid. As long as you leave about an inch header for the liquid to expand, it freezes very well with the lid off & then just screw the plastic lid on once solid. Can be defrosted in the microwave straight in the jar (without lid).

We've now started a collection of small glass salsa jars (thanks to my recent addiction;)) but they have metal lids instead. Same method though & they hold about 250mL which is perfect for small batch recipes.

As long as the liquid is room temp before jarring and placing in the freezer, there should not be any issues with the glass jars cracking.

Hope that long winded explanation helps!:D

wow, thanks for that. I have actually never considered freezing anything in glass. Will have to try.:)

Sun_Addict

Car boot the flash sales appear on the app but I think they are also on the proper website version as well just as you go to checkout. My DD works for them so we get staff discount which is an added incentive to shop there.

Seasidegal58

Hi there cbc and a belated Happy New Year!

I've followed you over from Harry's diary as I always enjoy your posts and have subscribed. Looking forward to plenty more!

Well done on kicking the majority of your debt into touch - without alerting your OH!

SSG x

enthusiasticsaver

Congrats on your new diary carboot. I have often seen your well thought out responses on other diaries so good you now have your own. Inspiring to have cleared that much and look forward to joining you on your final furlong. Hopefully the F and Fs will be good ones. When do you plan to offer and what percentage off are you asking for?

[Deleted User]

Sun_Addict wrote: »

Car boot the flash sales appear on the app but I think they are also on the proper website version as well just as you go to checkout. My DD works for them so we get staff discount which is an added incentive to shop there.

Thanks:T. I've never used the app as I don't have a mobile phone and I've never seen them on the website. Will definitely be looking out for them online when I make my next order in Feb (if I manage January without having to do one;))


When I go to checkout a few items come up headed something like 'have you forgotten...?' but this just shows things I regularly buy but haven't this time. No flash sales though:(