Giving every £ a job

foxgloves

We aim for zero food waste here & mostly achieve it these days, plus peelings go into the worm composter or general dalek bins. I think people often don't realise how useful freezing can be to avoid food waste. Freezers get used for bought-in frozen food in these programmes but they offer so much more to the money saving mission..... not just batch cooking & freezing multiple buys of yellow-stickered mince, chicken, fish etc, but also saving stuff before it goes off. Peppers are a good example. They can be de-seeded, sliced & frozen before they get to the soggy stage & will be fine next time a recipe requires a pepper. Ditto greens, other veg, etc. I regularly do this with carrots, cabbage, etc. The silliest waste of money (& of course I used to do this back in the day) is ordering in a takeaway through pure laziness when there is perfectly good food in the fridge on its last 'use by' date.
F x

Blackcats

I'm not at zero food waste yet but I'm good at zero wine waste!   Actually I've cut back quite a bit on wine consumption and now tend to wait for the weekend and buy a better quality bottle rather than a couple of cheaper bottles.  I've just poured my first glass of the weekend and it feels like a real treat.  I remember when my friend and I were really skint and we could have a great evening with a couple of bottles of Lambrusco or Limbrini after our children had finally settled down for their sleep over 👯‍♀️

savingholmes

We used to be a lot worse with grocery spending than we are now. Good that you can see progress too. 

Blackcats

Thanks SH - I think that many of us who have or had debt problems can attribute part of it to supermarket spending and waste.
I finally did a freezer inventory today .... so much good stuff in there so I'm not going to buy any more freezer food for a while and put together some meal plans to use some existing stock.  I've got lots of fancy burgers and nice sausages from the butchers which could form the basis of a bbq.  Numerous part used boxes of fishfingers 🙄
I haven't shopped at Tes*o for a long time but I checked my club card vouchers and had £47 worth which I tripled by using to buy ferry tickets - really happy with that.  Cashed out £14.96 from £co to go into the marginal gains pot.  I've got another £44 tracked cash back due in august.  I've used £co for a long time and I've received over £1000 cash back - lots of little payments but insurance and energy suppliers pay quite generously.  

Feeling very happy at the prospect of a sunny bank holiday tomorrow - will stay close to home and take a picnic.

Sun_Addict

I rarely shopped at Mr Ts until the pandemic, now I’m there several times a week. I use the vouchers to pay for magazine subscriptions.  

Blackcats

Had such a nice day today.  A long walk through beautiful countryside - stopped to watch a beautiful foal and their mum basking in the sun - such a pretty sight.  Took an old fashioned picnic - sandwiches, crisps, chopped up fruit and a bun with a flask of tea.  I seriously contemplated going to marks and spensive to buy their picnic 3 for £7 "bargains" but realised I had everything I needed and would rather keep the money in my purse.  I know that I'd have spent a silly amount buying fancy food but actually it was the company and the location that made it special and no need for designer picnic foods.
hope everyone has had a lovely long weekend.  

savingholmes

Glad you had a lovely picnic

DayDreamerandGeneralWaster

Sounds like a lovely day! 

Blackcats

thank you SH and daydreamerandgeneralwaster.  Had another nice day yesterday exploring some local woodland.  We emerged from quite dense woodland to the most beautiful panoramic view stretching for miles across the county.  Drank a cup of tea with a biscuit on a perfectly positioned bench listening to the birds.  
had a car blip earlier this week when it refused to start, all the electrics had cut out too.  It was a flat battery which has been replaced and I'm hoping that will fix it.  If not it's a new alternator which costs £400.  I've got over £1000 in my car fund so I can cover the worst case scenario cost but I'm keeping everything crossed that the battery is all it needs.  

I've already spent 50% of the monthly food shopping budget which is a bit worrying but I've stocked up on lots of store cupboard stuff from Lidl and my freezer is jammed full of meal options.  I've got plenty of fresh fruit and veg too but that will be the first category needing a top up although there's lots of veg and sone frozen fruit in the freezer too.  I haven't had a proper food budget for very long so I'm vaguely surprised that I'm trying to stick to it and even more surprised that I know how much I've spent.  Now that I've cut back on eating out, the food budget is the biggest category in my discretionary spends.  

I rescued some out of date mixed dried fruits from the parental home today and I'm planning to make them a tea loaf later this week. I found a Waitrose recipe for Lady Grey tea loaf in my (now) well organised recipe folder which looks quite easy.  I'll report back if it is actually as easy as it looks.  

foxgloves

Sending car trouble sympathies, @Blackcats. I remember having to shell out for a new alternator when I'd hoped & hoped it was only going to be a battery. I miss having my own car in some ways, but having a car each did mean two potential money-pits instead of one.
I am loving my newly refurbed recipe file too. I have a plastic wallet at the back for new recipes to try. If they make the grade, they are added to the file. 
F x