Sneaky ways to save the pennies

gravitytolls

BARGAINHUNTER! wrote: »

Not only can you add lentals, but you can also add value porridge oats as well! Made a huge pot of spag bol yesterday in my slowcooker with 400g mince, onion, 2x tinned toms, tom puree, crumbled stock cube, teaspoon of marmite, big handful of lental and big handful of porridge oats. Added some water as the oats and lentals really soak it up and I managed to get 8 portions out of it! Next time im going to make a chilli with mince, onion, 2 cans toms, tom puree, stock cube, marmite, 2 tins kidney beans, some chopped peppers and chilli powder, big handful of lentals and oats and water to top up (just been given a tip to add some cocoa powder as well to give it more 'body') so hoping to get at least the same number of portions out of that!

I use lentils and oats too, also soak dried beans overnight, and bung 'em in anything 'saucy' to soak up flavour and provide roughage, also weetabix, bran flakes and the like are a good alternative.

gravitytolls

Lidl soap in a dispenser is around 40p, and has a screw top for refilling with whatever. I buy cheap baby wipes, but put them in a tupperware type box, add a drop of cooled boiled water, and they are moist, soft and don't need many.

I strip chicken carcasses, and if it's not enough for curry (we are a family of many, so stuff doesn't off yield much in the way of leftovers), I mx with mayo, add mustard, or curry powder for tasty sarnie fillings/jacket spud toppings.

gravitytolls

Also don't serve dinner on plates, I put serving dishes and plates on the table, and we help ourselves. One rule, eat as much as you want, but if you take it, you eat it. Everyone takes less, but often has seconds. There is no waste, as everything goes into the fridge to be used tomorrow. With stews spag bol and chilli etc, whatever veg is in the fridge goes in too. The family are used to having broccolli and the like in their lasagne, but guests are often surprised.

consultant31

My daughter's friend visited yesterday with a lively toddler in tow. As my house isn't set up for little ones nowadays, I was worried that little fingers could get trapped in the door, so I improvised with the following:-

Cut the leg from an old pair of tights, holding one end tightly stretch the leg while winding in a figure of 8 from the handle/knob on one side to the one on the other. When all the leg is used up, tuck the ends in tightly. This stops the door from shutting, thus saving any trapped fingers, and can be quickly removed when the little one has gone home.

Very handy if you don't have special door slam stoppers available.

BigMummaF

I take me muvva shopping & we often share special offers of '2 for XXX'...particularly handy as mum lives independantly & I get to have some things the offspring don't always like.

Caterina

My children (19 year olds, not so much children anymore!) always use towels once for their baths - more often than not also throw them on the floor after use! I pick them up, hang them to dry and re-fold them as if they had been washed. Saves me at least 2 laundries per week!

Buy value mature cheddar and put it in packet of brand cheddar which I have saved.

Take non-brand butter out of pack and put in butter dish (also helps to spread well by being left out of the fridge).

Mercilessly reuse every bit of leftovers in "hippy slop" dinners (all-in-one pots of whatever is left).

Switch off pressure cooker once it starts steaming (unless it is pulses that need cooking longer),

Switch off pasta shortly after water boils, put lid on and let sit for a few minutes. I had major conflicts with myself about this, as an Italian I had very set views of how pasta should be cooked! But OS won over national pride! Now I am so used to this way that I would not even know the difference!

Caterina

BigMummaF

I've just posted on the Value Things You Like thread, about the 10p shower gel from MrT. I've decanted some & added water to it to make a liquid soap. It's in a branded bottle with a little squiggy thing to issue a gloop at a time & it's a deep blue colour like the original contents were It's in the downstairs loo so gets a fair bit of use & no-ones said anything in the week it's been there :j

Another bargain find is the value [25p] toilet cleaner in MrT--excellent performance, good perfume & what more do you need from summat that literally goes down the pan

I'm working on getting the shampoo into those soap dispensers next cuz the washing up liquid experiment is also a definate :T altho I do use thick green; either MrT own label-but-not-value, palmolive or fairy due to having sensitivity to a lot of the perfumes used in others. Considering I get at least double the amount now from one bottle & it still works incredibly well, I'm happy with that.

Unity

This is probably even beyond the credibility of Money Saving Old Style - but I'll confess, I do this :-

I save up the red wax from cheese such as Edam and the Alpine stuff from Aldi. Whilst I'm sitting I roll this up into little balls (it's very therapeutic I kid you not) and pop it into the container where I keep my tea-lights. Then, next time I am setting my wood-burner, I pop a couple of these in with the kindling and it helps to get the fire going.

Unity

BigMummaF wrote: »

I've just posted on the Value Things You Like thread, about the 10p shower gel from MrT. I've decanted some & added water to it to make a liquid soap. It's in a branded bottle with a little squiggy thing to issue a gloop at a time & it's a deep blue colour like the original contents were It's in the downstairs loo so gets a fair bit of use & no-ones said anything in the week it's been there :j

Another bargain find is the value [25p] toilet cleaner in MrT--excellent performance, good perfume & what more do you need from summat that literally goes down the pan

I'm working on getting the shampoo into those soap dispensers next cuz the washing up liquid experiment is also a definate :T altho I do use thick green; either MrT own label-but-not-value, palmolive or fairy due to having sensitivity to a lot of the perfumes used in others. Considering I get at least double the amount now from one bottle & it still works incredibly well, I'm happy with that.

I'm probably being a bit dim here, but what's MrT?

I was using that shampoo that you can get in Savers - it looks like a Tresemme bottle (black) but is about £1.98 a litre and has a pump dispenser - I liked the shampoo and it seemed to give a good lather for the price - but if there's a cheaper way, I'm happy to try it.

Sugarhunny1

Unity wrote: »

I'm probably being a bit dim here, but what's MrT?

I was using that shampoo that you can get in Savers - it looks like a Tresemme bottle (black) but is about £1.98 a litre and has a pump dispenser - I liked the shampoo and it seemed to give a good lather for the price - but if there's a cheaper way, I'm happy to try it.

Mr T = Tesco
Mrs A = Asda

These seem to be common abbreviations throughout the forum.

HTH

Sugar xxx