Sneaky ways to save the pennies

frugallily

Thanks, Lesley and Emilyt. I agree about the recipe book but mine never turn out like pictures anyway!! And the link is just what I meant. Did you know that there is an "ammonia" stardrops?

karren

I use old birthday cards to make new one, i buy blank cards in the range 50 for five pounds then recycle old cards to make new.

Patchwork_Quilt

We do this too and we make Christmas cards and labels out of the old ones. Also, we have a drawer full of wrapping paper, ribbons etc to reuse. We take the tissue paper out of shoe boxes etc and use that for wrapping delicate items before they go in a (reused) present bag.

mogchops

Lesley_Gaye wrote: »

A recipe I got from my mum uses the green lentils in a veggie shepherds type pie.

I typed it out recently for someone else, so I have pasted it in in case you would like it. I cook this fairly often, it freezes well too. Haven't costed it, but it must be pretty frugal

Lesley

Green lentil cottage pie.
2 lb potatoes, cooked and mashed with milk, butter/spread and ground black pepper
Vegetable oil
1 onion, chopped
6oz green lentils (uncooked)
1 clove garlic, crushed
4 oz vegetarian cheese (cheddar)
2 carrots, diced
1 tablespoon tomato puree
1 green pepper, diced
4 oz mushrooms
1 teaspoon dried basil
Pinch cayenne pepper
Seasoning
Vegetarian stock cube


Cook lentils in plenty of water until just soft, drain, but save ½ pint of the cooking liquid.
Meanwhile, fry onion, garlic and carrot, adding the pepper and mushrooms towards the end.
Add the cooked lentils, tomato puree, basil, cayenne and seasoning. Add the reserved liquid and the stock cube.
Put this mixture into an oven proof dish, cover with the mashed potato and sprinkle with the grated cheese.

Bake in a moderately hot oven until the top is golden brown

Thank you very much, will give it a go!

Becky_2

Thanks for everyone's suggestions on how to save money. My latest money saving tip is to buy ground coffee for the coffee machine with strength 5 instead of 3 or 4. Then when I make 6 cups of coffee I use 3 measurements instead of 6 and it still tastes as good as before.

kaz665

Got some wallpaper samples the other day as we are thinking about new designs for our spare room. Thought I could use the pieces for my card making once we have made a decision!!

rosepink1984

Wow what a great thread this is! I can't believe I've only just found it! I've got as far as p.6 but I will be reading the rest. I've got loads of tips from you all already, thanks so much!

Kay_Peel wrote: »

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

Just told DH we should do this, and he says he already does!

sparklygirl1 wrote: »

My Hubby will only use a certain toilet roll, think puppy! It must be Aloe Vera and it is so expensive. Any ideas guys? It think it's the distrinctive stripped pattern on it..........

My DH is the same, he likes the ones with the bear on it. He won't be deterred to any other brand, and I've tried "the shop only had this one, they didn't have the one you like" but it's a no go. So now I just buy the biggest pack available as that makes it cheaper.

One thing I do is use those tubes you fill up with washing up liquid and put refillable sponges on the end for doing the dishes. Since using them, I use loads less washing up liquid – I got the biggest bottle in the shop and it took a year and a half to finish it up!

We do bulk cooking and freeze into portions so that we have our own “ready meals” which cuts down the temptation to resort to takeaways when we are tired.

DH is fussy about cleaning sprays so I’ve kept two dettol spray bottles and filled them half with white vinegar and half with water. He hasn’t noticed, although I do try to clean the kitchen when he is out as the smell might give it away! The smell goes tho once it’s dry.

I put as little washing powder in the WM as possible, as my mum says that’s its the water swishing about that cleans the clothes, not the powder itself

We use carrier bags instead of bin bags

If something we use is on offer like bubble bath or shower gel or DH’s Lynx stuff, I get tons of it and then don’t buy anymore til it’s next on offer

I use the library instead of buying books

I buy packs of note cards off ebay so I have one ready for any occasion, I never buy individual ones apart from really special anniversarys, like my nan and grandad’s 50th.

I never use kitchen roll, I always use j cloths to wipe up stuff with

We buy most of our meat from our local market, which means we can buy steak and lamb! Yum! The butcher in the village is v expensive, but they have all their “close to sell by date” stuff on a stall in the market on a Thursday and it’s really good value. We also get our veg from the market, or from DH’s parents who grow their own and give us some too!

I do food shopping online – we live in the country side and the delivery charge is less than the petrol we would use to get there, I can keep a closer eye on how much I’ve spent, and there’s less temptation to buy stuff we don’t need! Have cut my food bills down loads since doing this

My mum makes her own lipstick out of the dregs of old lipsticks

Things I will be doing having read your tips:

Cutting up toothpaste tubes is a good idea and one we will be adopting


I think I will start doctoring DH’s squash with value stuff – I drink water but he drinks squash or beer!

Thanks for the tip on Lynx, I think we will have to make a trip to poundland or wilkos!

I’m going to pay more attention to veg and freeze it before it goes off, fed up with throwing out veg – in fact I might write down in my diary when we buy it that I need to check it X days later

Seriously thinking about watering down milk now I’ve heard all you saying about it, never thought of it before!


Sorry if I'm repeating what' already been said on the over 100 pages I haven't yet read! I can't wait to start trying these tips!

rosepink1984

Oh, my mum makes bookmarks out of cards people have sent her - if there is a pretty picture on the front she cuts out a bookmark sized strip of the picture.

And I've been using up old bits of wool by knitting cushion covers

rosemary54

following on from economy gastronomy(not watched last nights yet)after watching Val Warner last week(what to eat now) I tried his very quick version of egg and chips......fry left over new potatoes in olive oil(usually use butter ) then mix with finely chopped rosemary,garlic and sea salt and top with a fried egg sprinkled with smoked paprika(just happenned to have that in cupboard)I added veg from the garden and a couple of slices of bacon....now that was economy gastronomy mmmmmm,(tonight i am trying his stuffed courgette flowers)

rosemary54

saw this site advertised in a magazine,think it's a government one and it has Martin on it ,only had a quick look but it has some good tips(all about food waste)
http://www.lovefoodhatewaste.com/