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Original poster

Mu parents have bought 48 tins of tuna

312 replies

CrinklyCraggy · 07/02/2022 19:56

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?

OP posts:
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Cailleachian · 08/02/2022 00:05

I dont know if anyone here ever used Approved Foods, but I used to end up with cupboards of stuff, cos cheap, three kids and little cash

I can never ever ever eat cous cous again because I bought a tonne of it thinking it was 1p a packet, and it turned out it was 1p a box, garlic cous-cous, mushroom cous-cous, vegetable cous-cous, for breakfast lunch and dinner. The kids used to groan if they so much as saw the packets.

Then there was the time we all lived off rivita for a month, (it was really posh fancy rivita quite nice really), and the bread making extravaganza cos there was loads of cheap bread mix....then the time that we ate these gorgeous mini pear cheeses with a walnut on top for a week. Or when we had to eat sushi for a few months because I accidentally ordered 3 boxes of Nori.

The kids remember those days with fondness, coming home from school seeing the boxes and finding out what our diet would be for the month.

Where is this cheap tuna place again?

onlychildhamster · 08/02/2022 00:11

@Cailleachian Lidl

onlychildhamster · 08/02/2022 00:14

@Everydaydayisaschoolday why did she mass buy tights? I remember being at M & S and seeing this elderly lady with at least 5 pairs of tights in her hands. There were no multi buy offers and I haven't seen many discounts for tights..they tend to sell at RRP...

Everydaydayisaschoolday · 08/02/2022 00:27

[quote onlychildhamster]@Everydaydayisaschoolday why did she mass buy tights? I remember being at M & S and seeing this elderly lady with at least 5 pairs of tights in her hands. There were no multi buy offers and I haven't seen many discounts for tights..they tend to sell at RRP...[/quote]
Because she is a hoarder. She grew up in a time when there were often shortages of basics and so she now stockpiles similar basics 'Just in case'. The problem is she buys and hoards so much that she forgets what she had and so most of it goes to waste. My inlaws were similar and my DH often does the same. I can see the tendency in myself bit am fighting it and I now operate a strict 1 in, 1 out policy.

grapewine · 08/02/2022 00:30

Vebrithien so lovely!

alexdgr8 · 08/02/2022 00:32

what is was approved foods.
reminds me of approved school, = a reformatory for naughty boys.

BlondeWidow · 08/02/2022 00:34

Just saw this on Facebook. 31p a tin for John West at Tesco.

Tuna is absolutely rank to me but each to their own!

Mu parents have bought 48 tins of tuna
CovoidOfAllHumanity · 08/02/2022 00:42

My grandma (bless her dear separated soul) was the queen of thrifty bargain hunting. She couldn't drive but she used to make my grandad, and later my dad, trawl about 4 different supermarkets for her weekly shop because 'well cat food is 2p cheaper in Morrrisons than in Asda but the washing powder is dearer'
She had a notebook to keep track of it all and figure out the best deals on all her regular items. It never appeared to trouble her that the petrol costs probably wiped out any savings she had made.
I remember my dad completely exasperated trying to give her the 20p difference out of his own pocket to avoid having to drive to the next shop but she was not having any of it. 'look after the pennies and the pounds will look after themselves' was the mantra she lived by
She died in her 90s still with plenty of cash in the bank despite having paid years of care home fees. She would have considered that an awful waste but fortunately she had dementia and wasn't aware of it.
It might have been better for her son and heir if she had actually spent some money on the house he inherited in her lifetime as it required completely gutting rewiring etc to make it fit to sell. He finally got rid of the sofa she'd had since the 1950s. When the springs started to poke through in one side she had forbidden him to buy another one for her. Her solution was 'I'll just sit on the other end'
She grew up in rural poverty, one of 14 children of a farm labourer, went into service as a teenager and then lived through rationing in the war and I guess that instinct to save every penny never left her. She was a lovely kind lady. God rest her soul.

Seemslikeagoodidea · 08/02/2022 00:48

I love this thread. My nan was quite a hoarder, and when we cleared out her home we found things she had stored since the 50s. I think lots of people who lived through WW2 and rationing in the 50s had a "waste not, want not" attitude, which was quite entrenched in them.

Anyway, nothing wrong with stocking up when something you like is on offer - just common sense really. Also, bargains like that would be welcome donations to food banks, as tinned foods keep for ages. You could buy a pack and split it, then donate a few to the food bank and still have a bargain. Win win.

dipdye · 08/02/2022 01:27

Beautiful post, covoid

RobertaFirmino · 08/02/2022 01:36

I will admit that I split my shopping over several stores, to get the best price but I do live off one 'High Street' and am 5 minutes walk away from another. I make my list then spend 10 mins or so looking at the websites for the shops I can easily walk to, to see where the best price is. I'll also buy extra if there's a good offer - there are currently 24 of the yoghurts DH has in his packed lunch in the fridge because they are on offer at Sains right now.

I'm not that badly off but I have been in the past, so skint that I once stole a bag of spuds from outside the greengrocer, so I really cannot bear paying £1.16 for something if it's only 99p up the road. I suspect that by next winter, when heating will be extortionate, I'll be glad of my penny pinching habits.

Sheilaroundthefountain · 08/02/2022 01:37

@Cailleachian

I dont know if anyone here ever used Approved Foods, but I used to end up with cupboards of stuff, cos cheap, three kids and little cash

I can never ever ever eat cous cous again because I bought a tonne of it thinking it was 1p a packet, and it turned out it was 1p a box, garlic cous-cous, mushroom cous-cous, vegetable cous-cous, for breakfast lunch and dinner. The kids used to groan if they so much as saw the packets.

Then there was the time we all lived off rivita for a month, (it was really posh fancy rivita quite nice really), and the bread making extravaganza cos there was loads of cheap bread mix....then the time that we ate these gorgeous mini pear cheeses with a walnut on top for a week. Or when we had to eat sushi for a few months because I accidentally ordered 3 boxes of Nori.

The kids remember those days with fondness, coming home from school seeing the boxes and finding out what our diet would be for the month.

Where is this cheap tuna place again?

Yes!!!! We had the cous cous too in fact I think we still do even though it was years ago.

More recently my husband discovered Cheap Foods and we and our 20 year old daughter went a bit mad in the first lockdown. The white chocolate twixes went down well, and my husband liked the Walkers sriracha (sp?) crisps (48 packets for £2), but I think the Heinz bbq sauce (12 bottles for £1) will last us for life.

Catra · 08/02/2022 01:39

I don't see the problem - I'd say they're being savvy.

I wasn't one of those toilet roll grabbing buyers during the pandemic that deprived others, but if buying in bulk lowers the price then I'm all for it.

Today, for example, I ordered enough pad Thai noodles on Amazon to last me a year. They're rarely in stock in my local supermarket and they cost far more buying a packet a week, so I'll just stick them in the loft until I need them. I did the same with bulk buy kitchen roll 5 years ago – I'm still using it and don't have to worry about running out any time soon.

I'm not hard up or a penny pincher but why pay more if you don't have to? I'd rather spend that money treating my daughter.

expat101 · 08/02/2022 02:51

Has their local paper recently run an article on what you need in your pantry in case of COVID lockdown and having to isolate?

Ours did, everything on the list was canned, nothing fresh or frozen. dried beans/lentils featured heavily. I showed DH and he suggested the list came from a preppers site (the ones that don't have electricity and are planning on the world economy and infrastructures collapsing).

TheMaddHugger · 08/02/2022 03:08
Pyewhacket · 08/02/2022 03:17

@Indoorcamping

Missing the point a bit....but what shop was this?

We get through a lot of tuna.

Exactly what I was thinking 🤔
1forAll74 · 08/02/2022 03:42

I love tuna, I have it in sunflower oil. I ran out of cat food last week,i have three cats, so opened a couple of tins of tuna for them, and all three cats sniffed their dishes of tuna,and walked away in disgust ! so I had to make some tuna sandwiches for myself.

User0458832 · 08/02/2022 04:23

I don't particularly like tuna but I would have done the same if it was mackerel fillets, the tinned fish lasts ages and as long as you have somewhere to store it out of the way its a good idea.

WildRosie · 08/02/2022 05:13

Your parents are cats. They must be cats. Or they think they are cats.

PandorasMailbox · 08/02/2022 05:23

@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.

Your post made me smile and cry at the same time Smile
QuantumHypothesis · 08/02/2022 05:24

@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.

My DH will take them off her hands. That’s his work lunch. Every. Single. Day.
UsernameInTheTown · 08/02/2022 05:31

Sounds like you have bargain envy OP.

stayathomer · 08/02/2022 05:53

When I was in my teens I discovered pound shops did garnier tan, and stocked up for enough so that it probably lasted me over 2 yearsGrin I also remember when aldi and lidl were beginning to spring up in Ireland, and my parents arrived to visit me in college, with enough soap, toilet rolls (the irony now!) and beans to sink a ship!!

Quirrelsotherface · 08/02/2022 05:54

Absolutely ridiculous. runs to Lidl

stayathomer · 08/02/2022 05:57

1forAll

I love tuna, I have it in sunflower oil. I ran out of cat food last week,i have three cats, so opened a couple of tins of tuna for them, and all three cats sniffed their dishes of tuna,and walked away in disgust ! so I had to make some tuna sandwiches for myself.

They didn't like the tuna?!?! Wow!!! (I adore tuna and the cats go wild for the odd little bit I let drop out!)