What thrifty tips do you NOT recommend?

[ArcheryAnnie]

There's been discussion on other threads about some "thrifty tips" which don't seem all that sensible, like rinsing the sauce off spaghetti hoops to reuse the cooked pasta (wastes sauce and calories), or boiling soap to make shower gel (wastes electricity and soap - better just use the soap bar). What other thrifty tips have you either invented or tried, that you would warn other people off?

Here's mine: people have said a pinch of cheap curry powder helps elevate all kinds of dishes, including baked beans, tinned tomatoes, etc, and helps ring the changes in a monotonous diet. Here's what curry powder doesn't elevate, kids: porridge oats. Many, many years ago (pre DS), desperate for something other than plain porridge made with water, which had formed the bulk of our diet all week, we tried currying the porridge with an onion. Now, if I make or buy terrible food, I'll still usually eat it anyway, and just determine not to buy or cook it again. Not so this: oats, curry power and the onion all wasted. Don't ever repeat my mistake!

So not true, I got a few items in sainsburys yesterday and was shocked at some of the prices. Went to Lidl later that day and it was a LOT cheaper, eg. Mini marshmallows 95p instead of £2(!) and caster sugar was £1.90 in Sains for 1kg and it was about £1.30 ish in Lidl. They might price match on a few basics but other things are a lot more to make up for it.

Its rare that they have a foodbank collection where I live (as they mostly use what supermarkets donate) but when they do I always put in gluten free stuff as I remember the one time I was needing that extra help, my income support was delayed and all my social worker could suggest was joining the bread queue but I didn't go because I knew it would be pointless, it was literally a bread queue and you'd get bags of bread and other baked goods so I knew I wouldn't be able to eat any of it.

Of course thriftiness isn't only for bones of their arse people. I'm thrifty too partially because I'm accustomed to it from hard times, Eco considerations and generally dislike waste.
But some of the 'tips' are only for use when desperate- like rinsing sauce off tinned spaghetti hoops.
Sneering at those because they are yuck or stupid (as some have) means you aren't that level of desperate- bones of the arse desperate.

I curled my lip at the donated tinned goblin pies, tinned hamburgers in lard... people who knew corrected me. They are popular with clients because they are high calorie, precooked, and the fat can be used on other things- bread and dripping etc. Those donating them clearly knew far better than I what would be useful to the clients.

I donate the pre made up bags specifically for the purpose from Morrisons.

I don't actually pay much attention to what's inside as I assume- perhaps wrongly- that they have liaised with the charity and know which food donations are appropriate.

These are really good.
I rarely go to Morrison’s as there isn’t one close to me but if I do I always do this

It really depends on what you are buying.
Decades ago when I was on a very tight budget a lot of the things I would buy were actually cheaper in Waitrose than Asda. That’s because I was vegetarian, which was not nearly as mainstream as it is now, and things like cous-cous, butternut squash and pesto were harder to come by.

I always rinse my shampoo'd hair in the bath and it is shiny and lovely <flicks>

Our local Asda were giving out a list of items requested by the local food banks which I found useful.

I think finding my plumbing skills in time for my 70th birthday might be a bit late but still worth it. I felt ridiculously proud of myself.

That's impressive!

Aldi/lidl are significantly cheaper than any other supermarket and it’s pointless trying to argue otherwise, especially when comparing to sainsburys which is one of the more expensive supermarkets. It’s a shame aldi aren’t online fully yet because I’d love to do a comparison website with aldi, there’s no way you’d ever spend more in aldi than in a bigger supermarket like sainsburys. The great thing about aldi is the fact their own brand stuff is just as good as branded stuff, if not better sometimes. Other supermarkets value ranges tend to be tasteless and shit. I like the fact I can safely buy a tin of beans for like 30p in aldi and I know they’ll taste great, a 30p tin of value beans from sainsburys (actually bet they cost more than 30p!) will taste like crap. No real argument to be had there, sainsburys will never be cheaper than aldi!

Thank you.

I think going to a plumbers merchant and getting some advice is well worth it.

You’re absolutely right, it’s the same in any of the bigger supermarkets. Morrisons seems to be one of the worst for it, their cheapest squash in my local store is 85p for 1L, I get 1.5L from aldi for 89p. We get through a lot of squash so that sort of thing makes a difference to us.

Charity shops are not always cheaper, in London some charity shops charge £5-6 for a primark t-shirt. £15 for a jumper is not unusual

Boiling a chicken carcass after eating all of the chicken is a LOT cheaper than buying stock.

However, if you don't know how to do gardening, it is an expensive hobby - nothing more.

But don't you have to have it on the hob for hours, using gas, along with fresh vegetables that you then discard?

Don't drive any distance for cheap fuel until you've done the maths. You have to be saving a lot to make the extra mileage and the time worthwhile.

On a related note. It's often cheaper to pay the delivery charge if you're buying something than collecting it. If you work out the cost per mile of driving - and that's without including anything for depreciation- £2.50 to save a 10 mile round trip is a bargain.

i find the same although it is Lidl for me. Such a revelation when it opened about 3 years ago and I suddenly had a supermarket I could walk to and it was cheap. Unfortunately I like their bakery which isn't such a good thing to have in walking distance.

I keep my online shopping with Sainsburys going as it was a God send in lockdown and I don't want to go on the naughty list so I do a £40 shop every couple of weeks but I am really careful about the prices and some things I just won't get there. It often looks like I'm only buy stuff on offer.

I've found the fruit and veg different to others as it is Sainsbury's that seems to have the rotten fruit and veg, the stuff from Lidl is great but I understand that varies alot.

Ah, but get a very large plastic bowl in your shower cubicle, stand in it and shower yourself wet, catching the water. Switch off shower, use flannel or other scrubby thingy and soap to wash yourself. Use plastic cup to rinse yourself off. Saves loads of water and power.

@picklemewalnuts goblin pies are, well, not excellent (I started to type excellent and had to delete it as patently untrue), but certainly enjoyable. They were our after-school tea when my mum was at work, in the jurassic era when I was a latchkey kid. 10 p for a little tin of mystery meat and rubbery "pastry" that nonetheless hit the spot!

The whole point of making your own stock is to use every bit of the meat you have cooked. Don't waste anything. Or "waste not, want not" as my DF used to say. No one is suggesting you go out and buy a chicken just to boil it up to make stock!
if you are roasting a chicken/beef/lamb have it hot day 1, cold day 2 then instead of binning the carcase you pop it in a pan and bring to boil with whatever veg scraps you have or any manky looking veg... You then have options depending on what you have in your home. If you are cooking something else in the oven you can put the covered pan or casserole dish in with that at the same time. If you can afford the luxury of a slow cooker put it in that. if you have a haybox, improvised or otherwise, use that. Once its had a good old simmer away you can strain it off, pick out the leftover bits of meat ( often a surprisingly large amount) to use in another dish and freeze the resultant stock or make it into a cheap and easy soup with some lentils.
Its only costing you a small amount of your time, is delicious and nutritious. Probably little more effort than putting it in the bin. I cant believe anyone thinks it is expensive - its free food!

The only goblin pies I've ever heard of were in Harry Potter I think.

I put the plug in, wash and condition hair etc. The level rarely gets above my ankles. Having a shower is still more economical.

So the water that’s run over you before you’ve washed is then used to rinse you? I don’t know. How much money would that save to be worth having such a poor shower?

This is the thing for me - obviously I do get it if you’re on the very rock bottom and can’t afford to live, but for the average person I take ‘thrifty’ to mean little ways to save a bit more. I think if it actively damages your quality of life (having to rinse yourself with used water in the shower, not being able to afford a hot shower each day) then to me it’s not ‘thrifty’ it’s living in poverty. Maybe that’s just a difference in the way the word is used.

Another one I saw was ‘always adding an extra bread roll at the self checkout.’ So, stealing? Hardly a thrifty tip!