It's getting tough out there. Feeling the pinch?

YorksLass

t14cy_t said:

i got a too good to go bag from a budgens which is a 10 minute drive away last night. cost £4. it had in it, 3 packs of ham, 6 loaves of bread, 6 packs of pineapple, 6 packs of frankfurters, 3 large meaty pizzas, 24 baking potatoes, and 10 pints of milk!!! very happy. freezer full to bursting!!

That was a fantastic bargain, well done.  

@London_1 - You've got a good couple of inches height on me then!  At 5' 1" I'm the tallest female on my late DM's family side - all the women were under 5' and stocky rather than slim - but at least I've inherited their genes for a full head of thick hair and good skin.     
The weather here today is mild with a gentle breeze but very dull, even the flowers I saw on my weekly Co-op trip looked a bit fed up.  Apart from the ever present dandelions, that is.    

I didn't buy much - a TV guide for next week, a bottle of lemonade for DH, broccoli for the weekend, cod fillets for tomorrow's tea, a ys bunch of spring onions and a tin of sardines.  I had a membership offer of 20p off the veg and another 50p off the sardines.  Total savings of 92p - not much, but it all helps.  I'm always pleased with this last one as we eat at least one tin a week, usually mashed with vinegar and pepper and served on toast or with salad stuff.  Tasty, filling, inexpensive and an easy way of eating a portion of oily fish.

On the way home I posted a birthday card to my cousin (we're more like sisters) and, fingers crossed, it will arrive on time since it's not until next Friday.

elsien

I gave up on too good to go. It was primarily stuff that you couldn’t freeze, or one week I had 3 loaves of bread. 

As a single person it didn’t work for me. 

linz

elsien said:

I gave up on too good to go. It was primarily stuff that you couldn’t freeze, or one week I had 3 loaves of bread. 

As a single person it didn’t work for me. 

I think it's lost its purpose to some extent. I really liked the idea at first as I hate food waste, but a lot of places on there now, even when they're about to close, still have loads on the shelves, eg sandwiches, cakes, pastries etc. Not that i'd want it all, but they really do seem to ration what they give out so I think a lot of places on TGTG still waste a lot of their produce.

-taff

I've used it a few times. The carvery leftovers were good, M&S were good, Morrisoons were rubbish, I won't forget a bag of manky potatoes and six loaves of bread in a hurry...But as it is, I think some shops get the idea of it, some just use it to avoid filling up a skip.

joedenise

We've got 2 Morrisons which we can get to, one is rubbish (the one closest to us) - always loads of bread and very little fruit and veg; the other one is usually really good with loads of fruit and veg and usually one loaf plus occasionally something like scones or pain chocolate.  It definitely seems to vary by shop.

Longwalker

I downloaded the app but this being rural NI, very slim pickings

The only one that pops up is Tim Hortons - and thats at silly o'clock at night, and a 40 mile round trip

London_1

I must agree, nothing seen worth travelling to get , but I seem to do well on a Tuesday morning with some reduced odds and ends from the Waitrose outlet in Dobbies .

As I go there to meet my friends most weeks anyway its not out of my way I just go half an hour earlier and have a quick shufti around.:)

Finished off the last of the two pinta bottle of milk last night which had been reduced to 39p.I had a jug of custard and several cereal breakfasts plus loads of cuppa's and the bottle has been washed out and will be reused to make me another bottle for left over water to water my garden with.

The bag of organic carrots I turned into carrot and coriander soup which is portioned up in my freezer I had a good 10-12 carrots for 40p which I saw and immediately thought carrot soup. Made a huge pot of it the whole meal bread was portioned up and popped in the freezer and the packet of ham did two days salad lunches so I'm more than happy with my miserly purchases really spent very little this week at all,

Dry and bright today so I may take a slow walk  to the library to take two books back and get a bit of fresh air. 

YorksLass  I feel positively tall and willowy now at 5'3"  but isn't it aggravating when things are on the top shelf in the supermarkets for that matter on the bottom shelf s I don't bend in the middle very well  

I was quite shocked at the price of a head of broccoli in my local shop 76p ! ! !  I thought blimey it must be gold encrusted it seemed to be more stalk than head as well.I'm afraid thats off the menu until it comes down in price a bit
Mind you I trim the stalk if I get one with a longer stalk, and it goes in my freezer to be diced up at a later date..

Re Sardines I decided to open a tin yesterday, what a faff that has become those ring pull things are useless as my fingers don't have a great deal of strength I usually use brute force and a pair of pliers ,:) and 9 out of 10 times the blooming ring falls off. So there I am in my kitchen using very anglo-saxon language at a tin of sardines
I suppose men do have their uses at times.

I  ended up using a tin opener .:) Mixed the contents with some fresh ground pepper and a dollop of garlic mayo and had a very tasty addition to my salad, with enough left over to fill a jacket spud at lunchtime today. Thats my oily quotient of fish done for the week:)

I had a slice of smoked bacon on the left-over shelf in the fridge today so I am going to dig out a chicken breast from the freezer and encase it in that, and slop some BBQ sauce around it and cook it for dinner tonight with some mash and mixed veg from the freezer. Uses up the bacon rasher in a sort of hunters chicken

I still have a little custard left in the fridge and a bit of stewed pear with cinnamon as well so thats pudding taken care of

I'm going to delve into one of my food cupboards this morning to see what hidden treasures there are lurking there. Streetching out what's there beats going out and buying more.

I feel a list making day ahead when I have returned from the library

Have a good day chums

JackieO xx 

Pollie

Am*z** do several ring pull openers costing up to £3 for people with weak fingers, if they would be of help.

YorksLass

@London_1 - The broccoli I got yesterday was 85p!  Mind you, the Co-op is always dearer than anywhere else but it is quite a large one - I've trimmed the cut end and have popped it in a glass of water in the fridge to keep it crisp.  Like you, I freeze the stalk for future use.  And yes, those ring pull cans aren't the easiest to open.  And I do it over the sink in case of spillages.     Corned beef tins aren't much better either - not that they feature on my menu very often nowadays at £3.10 for a large tin of SM own brand.     

Last night for dinner we had pork & caramelised onion sausages with steamed sweetheart cabbage, carrots and mash.  We had two sausages each and the remaining two will make a lunchtime sandwich, thinly sliced, with maybe mustard or pickles/chutney and some side salad.  It was a ys pack and I think I paid something like £1.84 so not bad for a dinner and a lunchtime for two.

Our weather forecast looks pretty good for the next week or two so I'm starting on (very) belated spring cleaning, beginning with curtains/windows.  In my younger days I'd have done upstairs one day and downstairs the next, but nowadays age forces me to pace myself - I reckon I might (just might) manage one room every other day!  Anyway, today I've done the front door and have washed the door curtain and replaced it with a lighter weight one, so at least I've started!     

Meter readings due tomorrow - I'll be interested to see what they are now the heating is off.

annieb64

I'm beginning to think that Waitrose is actually cheaper than our local Coop.