What do you not buy anymore because you’ve found a cheaper/better alternative?

[fateisdestined2025]

Cakes for me. Homemade cakes taste better.

I subscribe to Which? consumer magazine and their 'Marmite' scored higher and was actually preferred by a panel tasting blind - same with Aldi's Norpak over Lurpak.

You can stick lemon / orange / grapefruit rinds in the vinegar for a few days before sieving them out and it will smell lovely and much less vinegary. Pink grapefruit is lovely. You can reuse the rinds a few times - just whack them in a jar and fill with vinegar for when you next want more cleaner. Love Nancy Birtwhistle and wondering how I’ve spent so much cash on unnecessary stuff over the years!

This is a great tip, thanks!
My kids love snacking on nuts and it gets so expensive

What’s the ratio for the vinegar and water for spray?

I currently have a big bottle of all purpose cleaner from Aldi which I’ve mixed one part to 3 parts water in an empty astonish bottle. Reused the bottle so win win but will be doing the vinegar ratio once they’re all gone.

how do you make your own pasta sauces? I try to use the cheapest can of tomatoes and it tastes tangy. Shall I buy the one up or use passata?

pizza dough recipes please. Quick and easy.
for the sauce I just use tomato puree mixed with ketchup and sometimes bbq sauce (if we have any) works a treat…

Agreed!!! I'll be keeping with my regular who sells hers for way less. As PPs have said for that money you pay for the packaging and the fancy logo rather than the product.

how do you make your own pasta sauces? I try to use the cheapest can of tomatoes and it tastes tangy. Shall I buy the one up or use passata?

Do you add sugar? I always add a little bit of sugar when I cook with tinned tomatoes

Yes or a splash of balsamic vinegar. But tomatoes are tangy. It might be an adjustment if you’re used to shop bought . Make sure you sweat the onions and garlic down and add tomato purée for depth . The onions become sweeter.

For me was the opposite. I first started using pampers (lots of leaking) so I tried a bigger size, same thing happened. Then I started trying different brands, tescos one is also good.

The Aldi tinned plum tomatoes are also excellent for making a basic tomato sauce.

High street clothing, now shop in Sainsbury’s and F&F to be honest even those prices have climbed

What does everyone use in their cakes? Normal block of butter or something else like the spread…

I might just stop buying caster sugar and blending normal sugar to make it…

I use Aldi’s version of Utterly Butterly in cakes, & often I just use normal granulated sugar as well instead of caster. Haven’t noticed any difference! The only time I use proper butter is in shortbread or those non-bake cakes like Rocky Road or biscuit bases for puddings, eg cheesecakes (when it’s just butter & crushed digestives).

a little tomato puree takes away tangy taste

easy recipe for basic tomato pasta sauce - chopped onions, garlic (if you like garlic), chopped tomatoes, a squirt of tomato puree, basil, oregano and a two bay leaves

I use frozen chopped onions, garlic and basil. saves a lot of time and frozen herbs are great (so is chilli and ginger)

sainsburys digestives are nicer than mcvities they are not as sweet

I only buy caster sugar....never bother to buy granulated. I use caster sugar in teas and coffees and whatever needs sweetness. But to be honest I think neither makes a huge difference

This makes sense.

Could you tell me who the seller is please.

@Sarahpainting yes of course! Just remove the space between the . and etsy.

battlefragrance. etsy.com

I use block margarine in the cake but proper butter if there's icing. I keep seeing adverts for a whipped topping with real butter, Nestles condensed milk and a teaspoon of vanilla - it looks very smooth but would be quite rich (and not cheap so scrub this thought!)

Thank you

It’s more expensive than granulated though.

I stopped buying a variety of cleaning products quite a while ago. I mostly use washing up liquid for everything and some viakal (because I live in an area that gets quite a bit of limescale).

I had a distinctive clothing brand some years back that was destroyed by Chinese marketplace sites. They listed our images and then sold a really poor quality copy. It got so bad that we had people tagging us on our insta account with their images and it was obviously the fake (as it didn't fit correctly and was manufactured from some cheap polyester bi-stretch). We would remove their images but message them to let them know why.
A google image search just gets up an identical image. Doesn't mean it's the same product.