Make Do, Mend & Minimise in 2025 (and 2024)

YorksLass

Make Do:
- I have a very small shopping list in progress because I'm on a mission to use up some existing stocks before buying more stuff.  I've done a meal plan for the coming week with quite a bit coming out of the freezer, although it's quite flexible should we fancy something else.
- I also had a root around the baking cupboard and have made two cakes, one coffee and one coconut.  I think they'll be cool enough now to add the buttercream fillings and icing toppings.
- Tea tonight is h/m veg soup and sandwiches.

Minimise:
- A small amount of paperwork shredded and a cardboard box flattened for recycling along with last week's TV guide.
- The increase in my final salary pension has, as expected, been Minimised, thanks to now paying some tax on it.     Thanks Mr Chancellor.  Now I know what I'm getting I've been able to finalise the coming year's accounts and am relieved to see we should be slightly better off than this last year that has seemed like a hard slog at times.  Even so, the pinch point months are still there - this month, November and next January.
- The gas and electricity bill arrived this morning, it's coming down more slowly than I would have liked - roll on some warmer weather.

Mend:
- Nothing springs to mind although I'm sure there will be something if I could put my mind to it!  

weenancyinAmerica

@Crazycatlady2 - if you put something like "regrowing vegetables from scraps", so get a large number of YouTube sites showing how to grow lots of things including celery - things like turnip tops, onions, carrot tops, even a new pineapple. We learned to grow the carrot tops and turnip tops when I was younger. 

Cherryfudge

Crazycatlady2 said:

@Cherryfudge can you give me an idiots guide to what to do to grow celery please 😃

No problem, though the results are thinner and probably more flavoursome than you get in the shops. Buy celery with the root end as intact as possible and slice a tiny bit off so it can absorb water. By all means eat the outer stalks first but put the cut end of the rest in water and let roots form. You might need to change the water quite often. Just plant it up when you have a good root growth. Mine has survived a North Yorkshire winter, albeit a mild one and a sheltered spot.

Crazycatlady2

Thankyou I'll give it a try 

YorksLass

More Making Do & Minimising:
Yesterday's dinner was cooked lamb slices in gravy with mini Yorkies from the freezer, baby potatoes and stringless beans.  There are enough beans for tomorrow's dinner and I've used the leftover cooked potatoes for potato salad that we'll have tonight - a pilchard salad, I think.  I also made a batch of cherry scones to use up about 1/3rd of a tub of glace cherries from the cupboard and the last bit of plain yogurt from the fridge.

This afternoon I've made a list of what's in the freezer, both already cooked and to be cooked, and there's enough in there for 12 meals for 3.  Plus I have a gammon joint in the fridge, to be cooked next weekend, so that will be another 3 meals and some slices for sandwiches.  There's also a few "snacky" bits for lunches.

With this in mind, I've adjusted my shopping list and have only ordered things I really need so it was a bit of a job to get to the minimum amount for free delivery (I have an annual pass).  But where there's a will, there's a way.     I noticed toilet rolls and a few long shelf life pantry items that I use regularly were on offer so I've added those on and have used some more loyalty points to pay for them.  That got me to the minimum spend without costing more and I'll be replenishing needed stocks at the same time.  Have to play these SMs at their own game!  

YorksLass

Minimise: Household rubbish out for tomorrow's collection.  I've made a start on one of the photo albums and suspect this is going to be a very slow process if today is anything to go by.

Make Do: Dinner tonight is chilli (from the freezer), the rest of the stringless beans and some microwave savoury veg rice that's also out of the freezer.  I got this a few weeks ago when the SM had a 3 for 2 offer on frozen F&V; we had some when I bought it and, whilst it isn't awful, it's not the best either.  I'll not get it again and will stick to my own in future, but I'm not wasting it and dare say it will be fine mixed in with the chilli.  At least I hope so!

Mend: Nothing in the conventional sense of the word "mend" but I set myself a challenge to go through my groceries book to review what I do buy and see if/where I can make more savings (over and above the usual buying RTC, buying basics, using loyalty points, using leftovers etc).

A few successes:
Make my own cooking sauces to portion and freeze rather than buying ready made (I still have 3 jars to use up)
Buy black treacle from M&S (it's the same price as anywhere else but there's twice as much in the container and doesn't taste any different)
Buy DH's Polo mints in packs of 4 rather than individually (80p each or £1.75 for 4)
The toothpaste we use is £1 per 75ml tube but £2.75 for a pack of 4 x 75ml
Swap large eggs (26p each) for medium (22p each and no-one has noticed)

mandy47

Make do
Into the 2nd week of using bits from the freezer. I can see the bottom of 2 drawers.

Mend
DH knocked a small marble effect tray off the window ledge in the bathroom. I've glued it but there were too many missing splinters and it looked shocking.
I've binned it and purchased a new one. We use it for toothbrushes etc so we needed something.  Didn't want them sitting on the window ledge.

Minimise
The tray from the bathroom thrown in the bin. Painted the fence over the weekend and the empty bucket binned. Started cutting the hedge today. 2 thirds done but ran out of time. Cuttings in the green bin. I'll finish it tomorrow weather permitting. 

Floss

YorksLass said:

Buy black treacle from M&S (it's the same price as anywhere else but there's twice as much in the container and doesn't taste any different)

Ooh that's a good saving on the treacle, I will buy theirs next time I need some.

YorksLass

@Floss - HTH.  Forgot to mention, it's in the baking ingredients section and is in a plastic squeezy bottle rather than a tin that I find makes it easier to measure out and doesn't get as messy.  Just checked the quantity and it's 680g so not twice as much, but 50% more than a 454g tin so still a decent saving.

More Minimising and Making Do courtesy of the freezer.  Dinner tonight is fish pie with sweetcorn and peas and I'm defrosting a chicken breast and some bacon chunks that were from a pack of cooking bacon.  I'll use these tomorrow along with some mushrooms and leeks and half a packet of chicken & leek casserole mix from the cupboard.  Add mash and veg and that's another meal sorted.     

I don't think our bins were emptied today but it could be a change in collection days or routes due to council money saving efforts.  I know they were talking about making some changes but their website doesn't seem to have been updated.  Maybe tomorrow then.

Cherryfudge

M&S are going to wonder why their treacle is so popular! 

We were away for a few days so there was less chance to make do, etc, but we got an M&S ready meal instead of eating out one day. £12 for two of us which is less than a main course in most places, and the portions were generous.

Coming back to the things that couldn't be eaten up or frozen, I made do with a portion of a vegan meal from Friday for yesterday's supper. I've had to 'minimise' some cream cheese down the sink, alas. I've also minimised the lawn today. Just a quick mow but it had grown over the weekend.

Mending: I coloured in a couple of bleach marks on some trainers with biro and it's hard to find them now. I've also taped up the torn lining of an overnight bag, but I'm not confident it will last.