Sneaky ways to save the pennies

Mrs_Thrify

tara747 wrote: »

I really can't wait to start meal planning.

Now, a question for you ladies who have limited freezer space (how I would love a huge chest freezer, ahhh maybe someday):

Is it better to have it (1) full of whoopsied meat etc
OR (2) buy the whoopsies, batch cook and freeze the meals
OR (3) a combination of both?

My freezer is full of whoopsies atm (mostly great meat bargains) but this makes it really hard to freeze batch cooked meals, which would be so handy on CBA days - so I am going to try to use up some meat and start freezing whole meals. What do you all do?

Hi Tara, I do a bit of both. When you buy a good batch of whoopsies in one go cook some but what is too much put streight in the freezer.
It is handy to have cooked meals just to defrost and heat up on work days.

tara747

Thanks for the advice ladies. HariboJunkie, yes, I am guilty of putting the meat packs straight into the freezer as I think they are more 'airtight' than freezer bags. But yes, they do waste space.

As soon as I have used up a good bit of stuff, I will do a big batch cooking session and freeze that. I love making soup but can only make about 3 days' worth (I usually make enough for 6 lunches as OH loves it too) as there is often no space to freeze it! Also, things like curries that take quite a bit of effort with fresh pastes would be good to freeze as then the extra work is worthwhile.

Our freezer is the bottom half of a full length upright fridge/freezer so it's not exactly tiny, but it kills me to leave a really juicy whoopsie on the shelf for the want of a bit of space!!! LOL

p.s. I've just noticed Quasar's HUGE post count, I feel faint!!!!!!!!!!! :rotfl:

Mrs_Thrify

I am going to start saving the waste from my vegetables = broccoli stalks, caulli stalks, cabbage outer leaves, leek tops to make soup in the slow cooker. Then in the blender.

I am also going to try potatoe peel crisps in the oven.

thriftykitty

Hellooooo
I'm new to the forums and have been reading this thread over the past couple of days and just, wow, how many hints and tips Ive picked up! Thank you to you all! :T
Im a student and on a heavy course so dont have time for a part time job without my grades suffering so having to stick to a strict budget. Already planned my meals for my first week back and ordered stuff online so I dont have to worry about doing food shopping during exams :j More time to revise is a complete bonus!
Oh and have already gone round home squashing loo rolls (my family now think I'm insane) :rotfl: I guess thats kind of become the initiation to this thread tho

Becky_2

Welcome to this thread thriftykitty, here there is so much to learn.

Good luck with your exams .

Becky

Becky_2

tara747 wrote: »

I really can't wait to start meal planning.

Now, a question for you ladies who have limited freezer space (how I would love a huge chest freezer, ahhh maybe someday):

Is it better to have it (1) full of whoopsied meat etc
OR (2) buy the whoopsies, batch cook and freeze the meals
OR (3) a combination of both?

My freezer is full of whoopsies atm (mostly great meat bargains) but this makes it really hard to freeze batch cooked meals, which would be so handy on CBA days - so I am going to try to use up some meat and start freezing whole meals. What do you all do?

Hi Tara747,

What is whoopsies and CBA days? Personally I would cook something with the meat and then freeze the meals. I don't know if you buy sausages but if you do you could save space buy freezing 2 or 4 or whatever suits you in sandwich bags, then you don't need to defrost the whole packet.

Becky_2

I have found a way of making homemade bread stay soft for longer, this also applies to the bread you buy behind the counter where the plastic bag got small holes in it and the bread usually goes hard in 1-2 days. If you store the bread in a clean pillow case instead of the bag the bread wont go hard for 5-7 days.

sunflower76

Becky_2 wrote: »

Hi Tara747,

What is whoopsies and CBA days? Personally I would cook something with the meat and then freeze the meals. I don't know if you buy sausages but if you do you could save space buy freezing 2 or 4 or whatever suits you in sandwich bags, then you don't need to defrost the whole packet.

HI,

Whoopsies are the reduced items in the firdges / fresh veg & fruit aisle of the supermarket. They're also known as YS items which means Yellow Stickered as most of the supermarkets use yellow labels to mark reductions. Morrisons also use yellow for their offer labels so don;t get too excited when you go in and see rows and rows of YS 'bargains' :rotfl:

CBA is can't be ar ed (bothered if you're feeling polite)

Quasar

tara747 wrote: »

p.s. I've just noticed Quasar's HUGE post count, I feel faint!!!!!!!!!!! :rotfl:

Don't. Most of my posts have been clocked in the word games (one word or two per post), and one can make 30 an hour in there. :rolleyes::rotfl:

Oh and in the arms pub thread, where "Hi everyone" is a post of its own.
Not been in there for ages though, and my daily average is coming down like rain on a weekend.

Anywayyyy... we're all busy saving money aren't we, but time is also money, so how about a few tips for saving time and hassle? Just an idea. Here are a few tips money and/or time saving:

1. Use the ring pulls from drink cans. Nail them onto small tools, brushes etc and hang them up tidily.

2. To make a handy funnel, cut the top quarter of an empty bottle of washing up liquid and use that.

3. Store half used cans of paint upside down (ensuring the lid is on tight), so that when you use them again you turn the can upright again and any skin that may have been formed is now at the bottom.

4. Use surplus jars this way: screw the lid under the top inside a cupboard and then you can screw the jar onto it, which will hold things like nails etc, or even spices or whatever, depending or where you put them.

Any more? :A

ceebeeby

Quasar wrote: »

Any more? :A

Good tips Q!!!

My tip is an MSE thread working tip to save time.

On threads like this one, where I desperately don't want to miss any posts in case I miss something, I thank every post I've read - then, when I next log on, it has book marked exactly where I need to start reading from!

There's a few threads I do that on - fortunately haven't yet come across a post that I've regretted thanking :T