Sneaky ways to save the pennies

Savvy_sewing

moneysavinglaura wrote: »

Hi, I've seen many people mention Approved Foods - I'd never heard of them before. Are they cheaper than the supermarkets or is there anything they are particularly good at? It seems that they charge postage so doesn't that make it more expensive? I am only shopping for me and my OH but willing to do monthly shops, so would it be helpful do you think?
Any advice welcome!
Thanks

Approved Foods, is a cash and carry place, that are dealing with short date, or out of date items, that they sell off at low prices. The delivery comes by courier so the charges vary and can be quite high, compared to supermarkets, but if you are not fussy when it comes, then its about £5.25 which is not far off the supermarkets.
I use them for things like packet mixes, and tinned fruits, tea bags, crisps, squash etc. I have never had anything that has been off. The value is often rediculously low, packets of cuppa soup, at 12 for about £1.20 and considering there are 4 soups in every packet. Thats good. You can buy as little as one thing or multiples. I have a store cupboard under my stairs that I am slowly mixing into the menu plans, and have just placed another order of things that I know DS and I will like.
There is a link to them at the beginning of the Live for £4000 a year challenge

I will see if I can find the link, but I am not that good at posting things.
Approved Foodhttp://www.approvedfood.co.uk/

elyphant

Use washable wipes - saves even on the cotton wool! Bits of fleece or old flannels with water work perfectly, and if you like you can add a little baby oil to the water to keep skin soft. (I was a cloth nappy user so this def. made sense for me).

elyphant

elyphant wrote: »

Use washable wipes - saves even on the cotton wool! Bits of fleece or old flannels with water work perfectly, and if you like you can add a little baby oil to the water to keep skin soft. (I was a cloth nappy user so this def. made sense for me).

Sorry did a quick reply to someone from pages ago who was talking about using cotton wool and water instead of baby wipes. Makes no sense now tagged onto the end of the whole thread!!! Am desperately trying to catch up with this thread as I love it!!!

Confuzzled

moneysavinglaura wrote: »

Hi, I've seen many people mention Approved Foods - I'd never heard of them before. Are they cheaper than the supermarkets or is there anything they are particularly good at? It seems that they charge postage so doesn't that make it more expensive? I am only shopping for me and my OH but willing to do monthly shops, so would it be helpful do you think?
Any advice welcome!
Thanks

yes they do charge postage BUT we can't always get free delivery on our online shops and then if you drive to a shop you have to consider petrol costs and possible parking so that's something to consider. however the real thing here is just how much you save on items (that makes it well worth it for me)

http://www.approvedfood.co.uk/index.asp

if you're squeamish this probably isn't the place for you to shop, they specialise in items that are outside their best before date. safe to eat but most places can't/won't sell items beyond that date (USE BY dates are the health concerns, best before dates are a bit arbitrary and a sort of cover-our-bums measure for many manufacturers) i've had no problems with anything i've bought from them including fruit and nut pastes with a best before of nov 2008... i mean it's dried fruit, how can dried fruit magically go 'bad' on a certain day anyway??

if you're not squeamish then by all means i'd say give them a go. they have an alternative carrier that makes the shopping even cheaper so it's worth a look at least!

Savvy_sewing

I have just had confirmation by email from the courier that my Approved order is on the way. Hopefully it will arrive tomorrow before I go out!

Confuzzled

elyphant wrote: »

Use washable wipes - saves even on the cotton wool! Bits of fleece or old flannels with water work perfectly, and if you like you can add a little baby oil to the water to keep skin soft. (I was a cloth nappy user so this def. made sense for me).

i did the same thing with my daughter (also used cloth nappies) i used an old disposable wipes container (type with the flip up lid not the canister type) i'd mix warm water with a table spoon of veg oil and a few tsps of baby shampoo, once well mixed i'd take stacks of my wipes made from old flannel sheets, face cloths etc (even plain cotton sheets work ok) and would dunk them in the mix, squeeze about 85% of the water out then i'd put a smaller stack of dry wipes on top of those, then soak another stack etc layering them

what this did was to make sure that eventually all of the wipes were damp with the mixture but not sopping wet, that helped them to stay fresh longer (you'll know by the stinky wet laundry smell if they're left too long!) i found that i could lay 6-8 wipes on top of each other and hang the stacks over the radiator airers or peg them up in groups to dry (this way you don't have 100 individual wipes drying everywhere!) they dried fine for me

only time i used disposables wipes was when i was out and about or visiting somewhere (though at christmas time i used them at the in laws house as i wouldn't put my wee one in disposables for a week so they just had to deal with washing nappies and wipes in their machine!)

if you're doing cloth nappies then it makes perfect sense to use them, if you're not using them then it's a nice option, i dry pailed my nappies and wipes (ie no nappy sanitiser, no water just chuck em in a nappy pail with a tight fitting lid) i did loads at 60degrees two times in a row and 90 degrees on the third wash and never had any problems.

Confuzzled

Mooloo wrote: »

I have just had confirmation by email from the courier that my Approved order is on the way. Hopefully it will arrive tomorrow before I go out!

congratulations! welcome to the sisterhood of approved food junkies!!!


seriously though they have made our lives so much better, first it was to provide foods we loved but just can't afford right now but i've been able to stock up on practical items too and i'm slowly stocking up on all sorts of things that will really make my store cupboard challenge not only possible but actually quite enjoyable!

i have an order coming soon, probably be here tomorrow or monday, can't wait...the wee one loves it and gets a big thrill out of helping me unpack...after that comes we're going to do a HUGE inventory of what we have in all our cupboards (and drawers and under the bed...:p) and then we start our challenge!

i'm going to have her help me make up some meal plans too. i figure this is an excellent lesson in living frugally, budgeting, organisation, cooking and generally managing her life and we'll have such fun doing it too :T

Claire_Bear

Another sort-of-sneaky money saving tip is to make 'cheats fish pie'. I made this up one time at my parent's house, and found it was enough for one -

1 cod in butter sauce sachet
Handful of mixed frozen veg
Small handful of frozen peas
Smash
Sprinkling of cheese.

Boil the frozen veg and peas in boiling water. Boil the cod in butter sauce packet in the same water to save leccy/gas. When cooked, mix the two together in a small ovenproof dish. Use the water from the veg to mix up a small amount of instant mash, put this on top of the dish, and use a fork to rough up the top for a nice crunchy finish. Sprinkle some grated cheese on, bake in the oven until melted. You don't get a whole lot of fish, but it's cheap, yummy, and filling :j

Not sure if I posted this in the right place, feel free to move it to a recipe thread or something

BigMummaF

I use those plastic multi-hanger things where there's lots of pegs hanging from a frame. The main hook has broken on one of them so this morning I've taken the little pegs off & filled up the spaces in the other two I have & the remainder have gone into my peg bag Two reasons--a) you don't see these hangers as often as you used to & b) the little pegs are ideal for light-weight stuff on the main line.

lingojingo

BigMummaF wrote: »

Unfortunately I fall into the 'no other alternative' camp Having said that, with the help of this thread & the site in general, we are able to eat well & keep the bills paid..even if it means there's nowt left over for 'treats'. We've come to appreciate a bar of chocolate or bottle of pop as something special once more, like it was when I was a child. So enforced poverty can sometimes still hold a silver lining...particularly for things like watching a sun set from your own back garden. Who needs a tropical beach for that

Me too, and I also think our lives are richer for it, as we take pleasure in simple (and often free) things.
DD will be starting uni this aurumn and is amazed how much some of her friends think they will need to live on, she can't imagine spending so much on food and toiletries.