Sneaky ways to save the pennies

Nessa56

Hilaryb10 wrote: »

Add a handfill of "orange" lentils to any minced meat mixture; no-one will notice and you can double the quantity by doing this; spag bol, shepherds, lasange - the list is endless!



Hi just a quick question, do you have to soak the lentils first for any time?

v
x

Feline123

When cooking chops or a roast, I find it a real pain to have to remove the fat from the grill/roasting pan and make gravy with the meat juice residues. I pour in some boiling water, scrape to make sure none of the goodness is lost, then freeze (fat included) in yoghurt pots or similar. Every few weeks, when I have quite a few pots, I boil the whole lot up in a big stock pot, strain it though a fine sieve, and get rid of the fat using a gravy separating jug. What's left is good gravy, totally fat free which I then refreeze in the washed out pots and take out one at a time to reheat when needed. You can thicken with flour or thickening granules (which I prefer) and chuck in a slug of red wine if you feel like it. Every so often I supplement the big stock pot with a pouch of Tesco Finest Beef Stock (and more red wine)! You can continue this process for ever and the flavour just gets better. Even the fat doesn't get wasted as, once it has soilidified, it can go out for the birds.

The actual money saving is not great, although you never have to spend on nasty artificial gravy mixes, but the quality is superb and you never have to sweat over a hor roasting tin when everything else is nearly ready and you're trying to do six things at once.

debbym

Nessa56 wrote: »

Hilaryb10 wrote: »

Add a handfill of "orange" lentils to any minced meat mixture; no-one will notice and you can double the quantity by doing this; spag bol, shepherds, lasange - the list is endless!



Hi just a quick question, do you have to soak the lentils first for any time?

v
x

No - if they are the red ones they just go straight in;)

squeekymoo

using the library is a good way of saving money especially as you can order books when they are released for a small fee.

Morrisons do value/economy microfibre cloths pack of 2 for under £1 (white ones by the dishcloths) which do for face clothes as well as around the house

I use my pressure cooker a lot especially for dried beans which only take 20min or so after covering with boiling water for 1hr and draining

when I cook pasta I bring water to boil put pasta in and Boil for 2min with lid off, then turn heat off & put lid on for the remaining time - it saves it boiling over as well so saves on cleaning the hob.

Gorwel

A few years ago when I was a student, a gang of us used to send cards to each other for birthdays and christmas. Someone had the idea of sending a £1 gift token (or even a £1 coin in a cheap card) instead. It was a much better idea than spending upwards of a £1 on a card only - and having £10+ to spend in tokens was a real treat!

usa1

grreatsite2 wrote: »

I always turn off the iron just before I'm finished and use the remaining heat for the last item or so, can't bear to do it with the iron actually on! Also, I spend quite a bit of time wandering round in semi-darkness rather than turning on the light!

Ha Ha - I thought that only I did the semi-darkness thing. Plus, I go one step further. I go to bed early and put the electric blanket on, than stay up with the heating on. Family maons, but I say im saving more money for treats for holiday - that does the trick.:p

boospurgeon_2

i buy cheap shower gel/bath stuff and use it to refill the shower containers and handwash containers. can get nice smells from tesco (the dark blue one) and nobody notices or minds

AnnieP_3

noonesperfect wrote: »

Once vegetable have reached the boil I put the lid on and turn the ring off. All the vegetables I cook this way (residual heat/ceramic hob) are great (wouldn't try it with something that needs 15 mins+ like spuds tho).

I do this too, but also do it potatoes. Just make sure they are not piled up too deep in the pan, if necessary use a larger pan, and chop the potatoes smaller that you usually do. Especially good for mash

columbine75

AnnieP wrote: »

I do this too, but also do it potatoes. Just make sure they are not piled up too deep in the pan, if necessary use a larger pan, and chop the potatoes smaller that you usually do. Especially good for mash

I do this too with pasta - once it's reached the boil, stir it, put the lid on and turn the heat off (I always start it off with boiling water from the kettle too) - usually after 10 mins the pasta is perfectly al dente!:D

squeekymoo

Gorwel wrote: »

A few years ago when I was a student, a gang of us used to send cards to each other for birthdays and christmas. Someone had the idea of sending a £1 gift token (or even a £1 coin in a cheap card) instead. It was a much better idea than spending upwards of a £1 on a card only - and having £10+ to spend in tokens was a real treat!

In our family we give £1 presents at Christmas quite a lot of ingenuity has to be used finding an apt present in the pound shops or markets etc We are on the look out all year round, but this does save on having to take unwanted/ill fitting presents back after Christmas only to find they have been reduced in the Janaury sales so you dont get back what was spent (you can't always ask that person for the receipt)

at work we belong to the 'Birthday Club' when it is your birthday each member puts in £5 so you get money to spend how you want rather than a gift you dont like - you just have to tyr and make sure you spend it on yourself and not on housekeeping or essentials