Sneaky ways to save the pennies

ness_w

When giving my kids ice cream I always use cones and give them a lot less actual ice cream than in a bowl. I only serve up the best ice cream (usually home made but sometimes bought) because I think the cheap stuff is rubbish, so I figure this is saving me quite a lot of money. The children don't notice at all.

Any other ways of sneakily saving pennies that your family doesn't notice?

Ness.

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Bambywamby

I put some value goods into brand labelled bags as O/H can be quite brand fussy. This can include Asda teabags into Yorkshire tea box, value biccys go straight into the biccy tin and value oven chips go straight into a McCains bag I have kept. He doesn't notice the difference at all.

I bulk my curries up with grated carrot - not only does it dissapear into the curry because its a similar colour, it means less meat is needed and it is alot better for my vegetable shy family.

I soak tea stained cups/stained kitchen utensils in a bleach water solotion in my kitchn bowel, when they are clean I then use half the water to mop the kitchen floor and the other half to put down the toilet.

When fruit goes "limp" or past it...and my son turns his nose up at eating "rotten food" I pop it into a smoothie and he guzzles it down being none the wiser.

The things we will do eh?

kippers

My husband thinks he eats Kelloggs cornflakes and my DD2 thinks she has kelloggs coco pops...both are Tesco's own

thriftlady_2

I do the ice cream cone thing too;) My kids prefer them to a bowlful. Of course I'd put loads more in a bowl.

Cornishpixie_2

I buy value raisens and put into saved little boxes. My kids all like different fruit which never lasts. So I buy some for the house and give them a few dried apricots in their packed lunches, saves buying even more fruit.Give DS3 snacks in a sandwhich bag which he carries around and eats whilst we are out. Things like rice cakes, dried fruit, sliced orange, bread sticks etc.:D

angchris

i buy whole milk and when nobody is looking the milk gets a good glug of water from the tap to eek it out a little further. neither my son or my oh have twigged that i do this yet, i reckon this has saved me a small fortune over the years because both of them eat huge bowls of cereal everyday and sometimes they eat 2 bowls each, i certainly notice the difference doing my shopping monthly as i don`t buy nearly as much milk as i used to :j

Kay_Peel

I switch off the oven for the last 5-10 minutes of cooking time.

mineallmine

Learn about cuts of meat. Now use neck of lamb for stew with the bones left on. I found it cheaper than other cuts and gave the best flavour. Took trial and error and my blank face at the butcher every time he spoke about a different cut but got there in the end!

gazza975526570

Just wanted to say some of these are great and im learning!!

Keep em coming guys

seraphina

I cut my Brillo pads into quarters - I use them only rarely and I'm not using a whole one for one pot/cooker ring!

Put soap/fairy liquid into a pump dispenser - this prevents MrS from using half a pint everytime he does the washing up!

Madcatgirl

Good tips! I've I'm working at home I fill a thermos with coffee first thing rather than keep on boiling the kettle. I also have two different types of porridge/hot oats. I use value porridge which takes longer to cook at weekends and days at home and only use more expensive quicker cooking oats on work days.

I love the tip about turning the cooker off early. A great tip with electric cookers that take hours to cool down (and heat up!)