Your number 1 money-saving tip

[PupInAPram]

What is your number 1 tip that saved you the most money on regular household spending?

Frozen onion - I buy a bag in Tesco for £1 for 500g. That's £2 a kilo and a lot more expensive than fresh. The cheapest fresh brown onions are 50p for for a kilo. However the cheap ones are small so you some of the weight by getting rid of the peel. The 'normal' brown onions are 85p a kilo.

However, frozen veg is often fresher than the fresh stuff as frozen quickly after picking. It doesn't have waste from peeling or cutting off manky bits. And I can use just what I want or need, so half an onion's worth or less, perhaps, or one and a half onions, without worrying about wasting any left over. It also doesn't go off if forgotten. I always had at least one soggy one in a bag and I've thrown out far too many onions that I hadn't used in time.

I use a lot of frozen veg.

@tararabumdeay

Work as best you can. Stand tall. Fuck the tories.

@tararabumdeay

Fuck a Tory?

No, I wouldn't stop so low, however down on my luck

Dh is a spreadsheet king , in as much that he logs everything ( I couldn't be arsed ) so it all has it's groups , shopping , gas , electricity , Pet expenditure etc.
Pre covid we are spending around £150 a month on trips to cafes / coffee shops . That has been cut right down .
We also have a big floor to ceiling / wall to wall cupboard in the utility . We buy if long life items are on special such as washing powder / pet food / dry goods and will bulk buy and store . I haven't bought washing powder in more than a year due to Amazon having an offer on the really big boxes of washing powder and extra off if taking up a subscription , which we took out and multi purchased then cancelled.
I realise you have to have the cash to do that in the first place so for some not feasible , but over the years we have saved lots.

Didnt know that about the microwave - thanks just turned it off

@velvet24

Or save £4.99 and grab the scissors and just cut the tube .....

Doesn’t work so well with the tomato purée

Just use your hand and squeeze the tube !

@PupInAPram

Thanks *@VelvetChairGirl* I'll do that. I haven't noticed one, but have been so busy at work lately I could have missed it. I didn't get an email for the electric DD change. The new amount popped up when I logged in to enter a reading.

I dont know how that works, I refuse to have DDs and I dont want a smart meter I dont trust them for several reasons.

so I have 2 old meters and pay my bills quarterly after submitting a reading.

Doesn’t work so well with the tomato purée

press them against the edge of a table and roll them up tightly

@Eucalyptusbee I prefer minestrone-style soups so I tend towards something in that vein, but I do mix it up a bit depending on what I’m in the mood for and/or what’s available and needs to be used. I don’t make blended soups often although once in a while I’ll do carrot and coriander, squash/pumpkin or broccoli/Stilton.

I just do a simple basic recipe: fry any bits of bacon/pancetta (if there’s a bit needing using) in olive oil. Remove and set aside, add onions/leeks/garlic/celery/shallots/peppers/courgette/potato/carrot and other root veg (a mix of whatever is to hand), some dried mixed herbs, and sweat down. Then if I’m making a tomato based soup I’ll add some tomato purée and cook that down for a few minutes. Add stock and tinned tomatoes (I never throw tinned tomatoes away - if I don’t need all of it for a recipe I’ll save it and use for soup in the next few days. Same with a tin of beans or lentils or whatever although nowadays I mainly use dried so I don’t end up with many leftovers).

Then it’s just a matter of letting it simmer for a while. After about 20 min I’ll add anything else I’ve got that doesn’t need a long cooking time (mushrooms/cabbage/greens/lettuce/mixed salad/spring onions/beans/legumes/anything, really!) and it’ll simmer for another 20 min or so. Veg that is well past it’s best will still be absolutely fine in a soup or stew.

If I’m adding pasta I’ll pop that in for the last 10 minutes but I only do that if I’m making a small batch that will all be eaten in one sitting as otherwise the pasta won’t be great the next day. If I have leftover chicken I’ll add that too at this point so it can warm through.

If you wanted it to be a thicker soup you could blend it at this point.

I add the bacon/pancetta back in as crispy bits on top of individual servings.

If I make it without tomato purée/sauce then it’s usually just a simple chicken stock base. I vary aromatics by using different herbs/spices/condiments to mix it up.

I then divide it up into portions and freeze what we don’t need on the day, that way I’ve got an easy lunch or dinner on a day where I don’t want to cook.

If you buy something e.g clothes, accessories or something household, keep the labels on and keep the receipt and don’t use it for a couple of weeks. If you are like me, you wanted it, but after you got it the novelty wore off. Take it back. I’ve gone nuts over clothes but then not worn them and lost interest.

I NEVER buy anything without googling a discount code first or asking on MN forum for code. 9/10 times I get a working code.

*its best (I HATE it when the autocorrect thinks it knows better than me!

On frozen veg, I always have onion (in case I’ve not got any fresh left), spinach, Brussels sprouts, peppers, mushrooms, butternut squash, and petit pois. Mirepoix is very useful as well but I’ve not been able to find it lately.

If I only use half an onion or shallot I wrap the rest in clingfilm and it’ll keep well in the fridge for another few days.

@5128gap

Going vegetarian or vegan will not save you money if you buy substitute products like fake chicken etc. Plus they're not that healthy, and not that nice imo. It only really works if you embrace a new way of eating and base your meals around vegetables and pulses, eating entirely different meals rather than trying to recreate your meat based ones with substitutes.

I agree. Make your own food based on veggies, salads, soup, casseroles, curries; there's no need for fake meat products. I used to make my own tofu but tbh it's as cheap to buy as to make.

Visit some of the vegan/veggie cookery sites for ideas and recipes - totally worth it.

I just bought a book by Sam Turnbull with 150 recipes for under $10 using 10 ingredients or less that take 20 minutes or less to prepare/cook - got some brilliant ideas from that.

Ham fries just like bacon and is cheaper.

[quote PersianStar]@Nnique I would like to be you when I grow up (I’m nearly 40)
I always have a plan like yours in my head but I have 3 under 4 so we end up with beans on toast a lot of the time
Food waste is definitely my biggest issue, I hate throwing anything away especially with increased costs so I really need to pin down our meal plans and tighten it up a lot.[/quote]

Nothing wrong with beans on toast!

I wasn’t that on top of things when I was a single mum, working, with young children!

What I would suggest is get a book like The Roasting Tin and do that kind of cooking as much as possible as it’s simple, delicious and you can pop it into the oven and not have to stand at the stove for ages.

Any little bit that’s left over, have for lunch the next day - means you don’t have to come up with a big plan to do something with it! And it won’t be put into the freezer and left there for months.

@Nnique

If I only use half an onion or shallot I wrap the rest in clingfilm and it’ll keep well in the fridge for another few days.

I just put it cut side down in a cup (beside the cooker so I remember) and it keeps for several days. There's always something an onion can go into.

I love a nice warm relaxing bath but will be my once a week treat now, 1 minute showers once a day only (will be interesting telling the teenagers that one !!)

@LydiaGwilt oh that’s a great tip as I don’t like having to use the clingfilm! Thank you!

@Nnique

If I only use half an onion or shallot I wrap the rest in clingfilm and it’ll keep well in the fridge for another few days.

why not just put it in a plastic box and not waste clingfilm?

I am at the tips to save half and onion and not to throw away half a tin of tomatoes. I can't believe people need to be advised to keep either; tbf I can't quite imagine using less than a tin of tomatoes.

I might occasionally chuck put a bit of lettuce and a mangy carrot from the back of the chiller but that's it.

I know! But I’ve seen a lot of people say that one of their new strategies for saving electricity is don’t boil the full kettle for every cup of tea! I’ve always boiled only the minimum...And there are people who cook a whole chicken just for the breasts and then discard the rest of the bird!! Many people don’t even know that use by/best before is only a guideline. Or that things can safely be kept and used days later. It’s a matter of course for me but it’s not for many people, so I always mention it on threads like this.

I always buy a whole chicken and either joint it or roast it. I use the bones for stock and feel incredibly guilty if I don’t. I’m not saying it’s a mumsnet chicken but I can definitely get more than one meal out of it for me and DD

@VelvetChairGirl I only have a few containers and the ones I have are usually already being used for leftovers. My fridge is also small and usually absolutely full as we only do one big shop per month so being able to wedge an onion in somewhere is good. But I’d never thought of just upending the onion onto the open side which is such an obvious solution, and it’ll keep outside the fridge so I don’t need to worry about space.

I’m also not going to apologise for using a little bit of clingfilm here and there. I use very little of it anyway - I cook big batches and don’t have multiple bits of onions dotted throughout my fridge all using vast amounts of clingfilm...Perhaps by the time I would have bought another roll I’ll have decided not to bother anymore but at the moment I have one and since I’ve already got it I’m going to use the roll for however long it takes me to finish it. Probably another year or so!

@SpringLobelia

Never go on Amazon or ebay when drunk.

( posted under another user name once how DH and I bought a baby grand piano once when shitfaced on pink champagne. neither of us play the piano. Nor do we have room for a piano).

😂😂😂

A jointed chicken is fab. For two: Breast for a roast. Strip the rest, legs for curry, bits for a butty to have with chips and salad, carcass for stock. That’s a fiver for eight meals!