Simplifying household stock and introducing routines

oh this thread reminds me of a while back in tesco i needed ham for packed lunches, i stood looking at about twenty foot long shelves and shelves of wafer thin,honey roast,ham hock,dry cured,smoked over a open fire in the tibetan mountains by three foot raven haired pgymys singing chitty chitty bang bang in flemish .......................had a melt down choosing from the thousand different types ended up moving on for fear of store cameras wondering why a middle aged woman was in chiller section wringing her hands sweating and crying...............bought tin of corned beef and went home with a migraine i kid you not still cant go and choose the stuff send oh to get it ,dont start me on yoghurts just wanted a old fashioned strawberry one was bombarded with cultures and that woman who smears it on her nose for the love of God WHY! i want simple things i miss going and just wandering up the aisle and plucking it off the shelf where it always was ,i think we shall be handed floor plans in the future when we go shopping so we know where things are.i unfortunatley lost my dog to old age in may of last year so have not been in pet section since then,decided to saunter down it last week to be greeted to A FRIDGE!!!!!!!!!!!!!! for pets four quid for a tiny tub of chef made mush i think we are going mad the description on said tubs sounded mouth watering i think i would have wrestled my dog for it .so some people could be spending 28 quid a week to feed ruffus oh dear! maybe i just mean in my old age but i know i could buy a lot for that a week and feed my dog fresh meat if needed not that i would have there is too much waste on unnessecary stuff now rant over away to have a cup of coffee and count my tins of basics pineapples xxx

craigyw, I feel the emotion, too.

I won't say that I had a meltdown or even an epiphany, in an aircraft-sized HASDA when standing in a canyon of biscuits, but I did think that our society has reached Peak Silliness and went home biscuit-less and malcontent.

I sometimes joke that I belong to the Henry Ford School of Fashion (as in, you could have a Model T in any colour as long as it's black) with regard to certain things like footwear and bags. It keeps things simple.

There's a load of stuff on the interwebs about voluntary simplicity and how people have had enough of all this and are opting out and deliberately simplifying everything from their wardrobes, to their homes, to their working lives etc etc.

I washed my hair this afternoon from the One Bottle of Shampoo, which will be out until it doesn't pour. Then it will spend a while upside down, then water will be added to the last dregs, which will serve another hairwash and a rinse before hitting the recycling bin.

A pal of mine with a household of teen daughters grumps good-naturedly that there's so many bottles of shampoo around, all on their dregs, that she typically has to use up two or three to get enough to wash her hair the once.

Perhaps the secret to happy family life is a stock-room with a damned big lock on it, and for us to be like the chatelaines of castles of yore, with the household keys hanging in a bunch from our belts.:D

With non-perishables, I tend to go with "one open plus a spare". When the open one is used up and the spare brought out for use, I put the item on the shopping list, to buy a replacement spare.

There are two open bottles of shampoo and two bars of soap in the bathroom, because Mr LW and I use different ones - he doesn't like smelling "girly" and his Imperial Leather soap makes my skin itch!

In the food cupboard, the open packs/boxes/jars are on the right hand side (the easier side to access) and the spares on the left.

It seems to work ok for us.

Planning_ahead wrote: »

I am still not sure why I bought numerous tins of chickpeas?

Make hummus - it is so easy and is great to have for snacking or in a wrap or pitta with salad.

http://www.jamieoliver.com/recipes/uncategorised-recipes/simple-houmous/

YORKSHIRELASS wrote: »

I know everyone has their own opinion but I don't stockpile. To me it is wasted money having lots of food in the cupboards. We also dont have a lot of storage space, I might feel differently if we did.

My experience is the opposite.

The unit cost of batches of canned tomatoes, Heinz Tommy soup, Spaghetti hoops, beans, cans of spinach, sweetcorn, chick peas etc is about 20% less than buying individually from supermarkets (even Lidl / Aldi). Toilet rolls are a big money saver as are cans of corned beef which I worked out at 50p cheaper per can.

Even when I was renting a teeny tiny cottage I improvised with space to allow me to bulk buy - it's amazing where empty space exists or can be created. Tops of wardrobes, under beds, a small shed in the garden... it's just thinking outside the normal way of storing stuff.

My shelving has a small footprint but goes floor to ceiling making the most of that space. Hundreds of cans or jars can be stored in a small floor area if they are stored upwards on racking.

I only buy the staples that I will always use - Amazon has some great offers on stuff like spinach, pulses etc. I save a small fortune by doing it this way.

Plus there is always something waiting to cook up if it snows, I get ill or we are hit with unexpected visitors.

I'm a store brand kind of gal, so unless I've had something we don't like then that's what I stick to. There are a few exceptions (store brand is fine but I love Nutella brand type scenario) and some things that don't come in store brand. It's the easiest most frugal easy way to shop for me.
I do shop sales and buy name brands occasionally, if the price beats my usual. I pretty successfully figure how much I will use in the next 3-6 months and only buy that amount. I am currently trying to cook my way through my spendthrift days of trying new cuisines and buying all the stuff to make the recipes. I have a great stockpile of all the basics for that type of cooking. I made myself stop buying cookbooks.

I throw chickpeas into lots of soups/stews and especially love them in chili. They are pretty innocuous, taking on the flavor of the dish and add protein etc., which lets one cut down on the amount of meat used.
http://www.dovemed.com/7-health-benefits-of-the-chickpea/

Last year, I cut my grocery/eating out/carry out bill in half. Thank you Jackie O! I aim to trim it down again this year. Meal planning and being mindful of what's in the fridge is key. I see a marked difference from my previous spendy ways.