Page 8 | Mu parents have bought 48 tins of tuna

CrinklyCraggy · 2022-02-07T19:56:23+00:00

It was on offer at a discount store, worked out about 50p a tin. These are not poor people. One of their biggest concerns is inheritance tax (I say fgs spend it!) They don't even like tuna much, but have been back for another 48 tins. This absolutely will not be wasted. They will plough their way through 96 tins of tuna that they don't enjoy, just to be thrifty, which they don't need to be. They've always been ones for stocking up when the price is good - in then70s they would buy a whole cow from the butcher for the freezer, but surely this is ridiculous? What's more, I mentioned that we actually get through quite a bit of tinned tuna because it's about the only thing DS2 likes in a sandwich and they didn't even offer me a pallet [grin] Do you have examples of extreme and unnecessary thrift? I like a bargain, I'd stock up if it was something I enjoyed, but when you don't?

BitOutOfPractice · 07/02/2022 23:23

@TatianaBis

My sister bought a box of 30 tins of pilchards in tomato sauce at the start of the pandemic.

She still has 29 left.

I’ve just finished off the last of the Brexit cupboard tinned artichokes.

Unpack that sentence if you can

I was clearly expecting some sort of middle class Armageddon

Mariposista · 07/02/2022 23:25

Every time my gran went to the supermarket in the run up to Christmas (meaning starting in late October haha), she put a huge packet of peanuts in the trolley. We still have 8 bags to wade through and we really only eat them on special occasions.

Stillfunny · 07/02/2022 23:26

My DF stored tissues and toilet roll in the loft . My DM stockpiled rubber gloves. Me and my sis never bought any ourselves, just went there.
My DM passed away in 2009 and my DF decided he needed to sort out closets , etc. In the airing cupboard were 5 sets of sheets , still in unopened packets , from 1975 ! They kept getting shoved to the back as they were the good ones.

LittleMissTake · 07/02/2022 23:29

I knew someone who bought a year’s supply of discount cat food. Sadly, the following week the cat went missing never to return.

AuntyBumBum · 07/02/2022 23:31

@LittleMissTake

I knew someone who bought a year’s supply of discount cat food. Sadly, the following week the cat went missing never to return.

A sad story, but equally likely: the cat went off that brand of food in week 2.

DublinDoris2000 · 07/02/2022 23:31

My mum and dad loved park and rides. Ruining a lovely day out with 30_60 minutes effing around waiting for and catching the shuttle bus. All to save a couple of quid. I know its good for traffic / congestion but drives me nuts for some reason!

D0lphine · 07/02/2022 23:33

My grandma has 64 pairs of nearly identical black and navy joggers (mum counted). At 87 she is worried about having enough to last.

EmbarrassingHadrosaurus · 07/02/2022 23:34

@Mariposista

Every time my gran went to the supermarket in the run up to Christmas (meaning starting in late October haha), she put a huge packet of peanuts in the trolley. We still have 8 bags to wade through and we really only eat them on special occasions.

Peanut butter made from the peanuts? And then 3 ingredient peanut butter cookies?

D0lphine · 07/02/2022 23:34

@KatherineJaneway

I'd buy that ☺️ Tuna can be used in salads, soups or stews. I use it a lot

Tina soup....

Is this a joke?

alexdgr8 · 07/02/2022 23:35

[quote ABitOfAShitShow]@KatherineJaneway In soup??!! What would you put in with it?

@Vebrithien I loved your story. ☺️

@HelloKeith 😂[/quote]
i often use tinned fish, inc tuna if i have it, to add to minestone cup-a-soup, with a base layer of cous-cous and a slice of bread atop.
i make/mix it in a big bowl with lid. no hob. use kettle-boiled water.
sometimes add fresh chopped peppers/toms.
i find it very tasty, and easy for single non-cook.

blyn72 · 07/02/2022 23:36

Your parents could donate to a food bank.

KimikosNightmare · 07/02/2022 23:37

@TottersBlankly

That’s lovely, Vebrithien.

< Actual smile, not snark.

Yes it was.

D0lphine · 07/02/2022 23:37

@alexdgr8

You're a wrong un.

marpelier · 07/02/2022 23:38

PLease don't donate to a foodbank. Just because you are poor shouldn't mean you have to eat cheap tinned tuna. Only half joking. And as pp's have mentioned , cheap tuna is terrible for the environment and full of mercury. Vom.

FusionChefGeoff · 07/02/2022 23:40

My grandad was amazing at this. He had a senior role for life in a huge financial institution so was not short of a bob or two and was incredibly generous for birthdays, Christmas and often treated the whole massive extended family to holidays and hotel breaks.

However, when it was announced that stamps were going to go up by about 2/3pence he started buying books and books of the ones that just said 2nd class on them before the price rise - as you could still use those afterwards.

I don't think he even managed to use up his stash before he died

Joystir59 · 07/02/2022 23:42

@feellikeanalien

My sister found 14 boxes of man size tissues and 10 tubes of toothpaste (all unopened) when clearing out our parents' flat after Dad died. They were also very partial to large stocks of tinned tomatoes (I think I may have inherited that tendency!)

I can't resist buying tinned tomatoes either.

vivariumvivariumsvivaria · 07/02/2022 23:45

@Vebrithien

I have a somewhat heartwarming one though. My dear departed grandfather never EVER wanted to wasted anything. Everything that could possibly be saved, was. I lost him in 1996.

At some point in the late '80's, my grandparents got a new, plastic set of Christmas fairy lights. My dear GF carefully unscrewed all of the metal screw bulbs, and kept them. Just in case.

When my beloved GM passed away, she left me all of her Christmas fairy lights. Carefully tucked away in the middle, was a little box I'd given my GF, with all of the spare, old bulbs safely inside. This was in 2014.

Fast forward to this Christmas, just gone. We visited DH's parents. They had their tree, with the original fairy lights that they had got for when DH (in his late 30's) was a baby. They were sadly lamenting that if another, single bulb went, they would have to get rid of the set, as they just couldn't find any replacements.

AND MY GRANDAD'S BULBS FIT!

There are enough to light their tree for many, many years, and I find it so lovely that, although my GF never got to meet DH (they would have got on), something he did , so many years ago, as a frugal instinct, has made my PIL and DH so happy.

OMG.

HearMeSnore · 07/02/2022 23:48

@stairway

My parents own 3 houses outright…, my dad was absolutely thrilled at finding someone’s hat on a walk and has been using the hat himself everyday since. I said to him why don’t you leave it on a fence for the owner to pickup but nope finders keepers.

Your DF didn't happen to find that hat while walking around Carsington Water, did he...?

(DH lost his favourite hat there about 5 years ago and hasn't shut up about it since.)

lborgia · 07/02/2022 23:50

Tuna buyers - you're all barking mad, or will be when you've finished ingesting all that lead, mercury, and cadmium..

Proper Science

1Dandelion1 · 07/02/2022 23:54

I confess to buying this offer, but i did split the box with my mum and sister. We use tuna at least once a fortnight so it won't be wasted.

KimikosNightmare · 07/02/2022 23:57

I'm feeling slightly queasy reading this thread. I can't stand tuna. Tuna and sweetcorn sandwiches make your breath smell. They are always soggy- and smelly.

And even worse is the abomination of the tuna savoury sandwich. I'm still shuddering, more than 2 years on , at the one I was offered for "dinner" at a Lothian NHS hospital. I was in a single occupancy side room and they'd forgotten about me and the tuna horror was all they could find.

Frazzled50yrold · 07/02/2022 23:57

I'd worry about mercury poisoning. They're quite small tins so I suppose it's not really a huge quantity of tuna.

ABitOfAShitShow · 07/02/2022 23:59

[quote D0lphine]@alexdgr8

You're a wrong un. [/quote]
😂 I was thinking what to reply but you’ve summed it up perfectly!

You’re not selling it @D0lphine!

Everydaydayisaschoolday · 08/02/2022 00:04

Are they war babies? My mum was born in 1942 and is a shocking hoarder. She downsized to sheltered housing last year and I have ranted on here many times about clearing out her house. She stockpiled basics to the point she had no idea what she had (38 in date tins of tomatoes, nearly 50 unused umbrellas, over 100 brand new, unopened pairs of tights and stockings, over 40 pairs of brand new gloves, 14 Fry bentos pies and on and on and on). There were piles of packaged shirts, socks and underpants for my dad - who died in 1990.

It took 8 weeks solid work to clear the house. She only wanted to move a couple of carloads to the new flat. The huge majority of it went to charity shops, the dump and food banks. It was exhausting and grubby and demeaning work. She is now gradually filling up the new flat with huge amounts of unneeded and unwanted 'bargain' tat again. I'm not going to change her now but I am absolutely determined I will never inflict this burden on my own children.

Silversprinkles · 08/02/2022 00:05