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!

@Gentleness ah don't mind me, if I am honest, the op annoyed me by bringing the rinsed spaghetti hoops into it.

Anyone who followed that whole online conversation this weekend should know it was a specific tip from Jack Monroe for food bank users that don't like spaghetti hoops to ensure they can still eat it. Bringing it up without context is goady to those of us who have actually been on the bones of their arse and appreciated advice from people like Jack who actually costed out their cheap recipes and tips to ensure they were actually going to save you money.

When we were a very skint family (we are not anymore) there was lots of crap advice online and on TV about avoiding food waste and saving money by making your own stock and other recipes that were actually no more cheaper than average to make. Perhaps a step down for people used to paying £10 per family dinner, but no cheaper for anyone who was already thinking hard about how that could get food into their family for the minimum amount of money.

It was like watching people play at being poor. And we wasted money trying some of these tips and recipes written by people who had never actually had to consider that pennies wasted on stock could be pennies spent on fruit and veg or protein.

So I will always pop up and say it's cheaper not to make your own stock. Just in case there is anyone in the same situation we were reading. also Jack Monroe's books are very good. You can get them from the library.

Save money on an expensive butterfly tattoo by getting one of a caterpillar and waiting.

Of course it’s cheaper to make your own chicken stock. 500ml costs £2 at my local supermarket!

I cook my chicken carcase in the slow cooker and use the result including the little bits of chicken as a base for soup with lentils and vegetables. It's definitely not pointless and stock cubes are a completely different thing.

But a flannel can just be washed with towels? Pretty much zero extra energy, water or effort?

Really good for saving water surely?

I agree about not buying cheap washing up liquid. I bought Aldi’s and not only is it rubbish but it smells horrendous too!

You get extra meals out of the chicken though. Less waste.

This!

Does the vinegar stop it going jelly-like?

😂😂

All these threads on MN about Gousto... I'm struggling to believe their subscriptions result in cheap calories the way people make out.

@Bellezza a stock cube costs about 5p. Yes, it's different, but these are tips for people who aren't spending £2 on Tesco's finest stock.

@Kanaloa fill the sink with warm water as you wash your hands/face. Soap the key areas. Use the flannel to rinse the soap of with the water in the sink.

No need for buckets. Uses a sink full of water, and doesn't get you as cold as a full shower.

These tips are for people on the bones of their arse, having to put up with a less pleasurable experience for the sake of economy. It's not about quality over quantity, it's about survival.

Although I do a lot of it to salve my green conscience.

@Holidaygirls the opposite! 😁 it draws the jelly out, which obviously looks ducking grim but it’s double the flavour and tastes divine. So the first batch I make is gelatinous, and the second time I boil the bones it’s just plain stock.

@ArcheryAnnie there are lots of savory oatmeal recipes where curry could be incorporated properly. You had naive beginner’s bad luck!

pipingpotcurry.com/masala-oats/

www.budgetbytes.com/savory-oatmeal/

www.eatingwell.com/gallery/7912043/savory-oatmeal-recipes/

www.tastingtable.com/686119/savory-oatmeal-recipe-ashram-california/

@Holidaygirls no, the jelly is a good thing! It's the gelatine from the bones. Very nutritious. Sign of a good stock.

@lljkk Gousto is not cost effective unless you are a wasteful kitchen planner! If you often bin food, or buy expensive food, then Gousto will help. If you are a decent housekeeper and buy/use up what's available, you'll not save money with Gousto. I get them when I've got a really busy week and need an easy life (the week after a holiday, and with my mother staying with us, for example).

Boiling chicken carcasses to make your own stock. It's vastly cheaper to just buy own brand stock.

Was about to say this one - fine if you have bought and roasted the chicken and don’t want to waste it, but you could buy about 50 stock cubes for the price of even a cheap chicken!

Yes, but stockpots /cubes. Or don't your local Waitrose sell them? 😆

@JingsMahBucket i was thinking with your username you’d be linking us to Scottish white pudding. An oatmeal, onion sausage of delight. 😁

I said this too last week - but apparently the threads were about offering a code for a free box (cancel afterwards).

The recent entirely free box available certainly cut my shopping bill. The regular full price boxes wouldn't be better value for people on a tight budget, and the jury is out on the boxes with a 30% discount depending on how many people you were feeding (there are 2 adults and a 1yo in my house so the box stretched much further than the 4 meals).

How would you need tips on washing in a sink ? Soapy flannel, rinse, dry, start at the top and make your way down. Not sure what needs explaining 🤷🏼‍♀️

The reason people are pushing the gousto boxes is for the referral code. Every time one of you signs up, they get £20. It’s not unadulterated altruism.

This isn't just about making the stock though, there's often loads of chicken left on the carcass and when you boil it it's comes off. Generally as well as the stock I get a load of shredded chicken which is great for bulking out a pasta meal or whatever. And more than anything I do it because I don't like waste, if we are going to kill animals for food I prefer not to chuck bits.

@Boybandfacedfannyfart hah! I’m a slight pretender. My husband’s Scottish and I’m American. We’ve blended our households and cuisines pretty well. That said, he's from the SW and that particular white pudding dish seems to be from the NE? Or am I mistaken? His cousins from Aberdeen mention eating it and cooking more often, especially at Christmas.