Help need your money saving tips to help survive - you guessed it - the credit crunch (and can anyone think of another name for the credit crunch while we're at it?)

[JustineMumsnet]

All tips/ ideas very welcome folks - the Sunday Times interested...

Never throw any food out. I use our old wrinkly veg to make "Rotting Veg Pasta Sauce". It's actually one of Dh's favourite meals! Fruit that is past its best gets bunged in a crumble and frozen to have when we have guests.

Luby you are a very interesting hmm. I do not fancy coming for dinner though

DP wants a breadmaker off ebay to reduce our bread costs.

Sh'yeah like it is the bread not the wine that it bumping up the food bill.

This may have already been said but here goes...

Just say no to your kids sometimes you hopeless indulgers! It will make them better people in the long run and they will better appreciate what they do have.

I am guilty myself sometimes so not having a go just reminding others what I have to remind myself

Damn schneebly and I was just about to give my 4 year old their own pony as well. Gah. You saviour of sensibilty you!

Slur - it's not actually rotting. Just a bit soft.

Also be organised with birthdays, christmas cards and presents and sent everything second class. It's cheaper than first class and not much difference in the time it takes to get there.

slur - in my case it is more likely to be zeebeez or hot wheels but, yes the pony must be forgotten!! Just say NO!

Oh and often the 'posher' supermarets are better for the reductions because you have less people who are bothered about grabbing that sort of thing. I have filled my freezer with gorgeous stuff from Booths and Waitrose many times for fab prices! Chicken shish kebabs, tiger prawns, quiches, pies etc.

lol at you both.
I am only joshing of course.

Luby it is a good point, being disorganised leads to panicked buying of expensive gifts.

I suggest ebay!

Schneeb - aye aye I also agree, and suggest carboots as a way of getting new stuff for cheap. They don't notice anyway.

don't take loose change to Coin Star machine. they are a ripoff. bag them yourself and take to the bank. it also provides an evening of cheap ahem, entertainment, doing it yourself.

and it helps to develop your kids' maths / organisational skills. -

foxyticin - that reminds me of when my mum used to get us pairing mountains of socks for 2pence a pair We thought it was great

slur - my DH is king of the car boot! We have had some fab stuff including a never used Sony Navman for £30 The guy won it in a competition/got it as a gift or something but already had a better one The kids usually get £1 each to spend. I spent £1 at teh last one and got 4 books that I really wanted to read

Foxy that is a good tip, I thought that earlier when someone said about machines, they take a percent after all.

But so much of this smacks of poor parents pretending it is 'fun' to save.

"Look we can go to the tip and let's play scavenge your xmas pressies yay!"

Still I betcha we could include a bit of wildlife education in same trip thus redeeming parent points.

Oooh I am carboot novice as such.

In that I was taken to a lot as a child but need to work it out as an adult.

I think carboots may be even better than ebay, if you get there at say... 7am?

Does credit crunch make anyone else think of cereal?

I think we should go with 'Cap'n Crunch'.

After all its singalongtime. Yay.

dangerous? hmm , lets sing anyway!

Forage for wild fruit! dh and I have picked well over £100 worth of fruit (including apples, plums, blackberries, sloes, quince and rose hips) in the last few weeks and are in the process of making enough jams/syrup/fruit liquer/sauces/bottled fruit to last the year, some will go for xmas prezzies too.

Blimey Yaffle do yopu live in an HE Bates novel?

50 p a loaf is fine - I struglle to find any bread worth eating for less than 70p at the moment. The bought bread my children like best costs £1.30 a loaf ad we can get through a loaf a day in this house. So IMO, breadmaker pays for itself. Plus you can make fab pizza dough, rolls, seeded bread, even cakes in it.

I made £50 at car boot last weekend.

Keep a change pot and empty pockets into it. You can take it to the coin machines but they charge a premium, so to get all your money get bags from the bank and count it.

Batch cooking, definitely!

PLan menus and take a shopping list to the supermarket - don't end up throwing out food that you bought "to make something with" but it didn't fit the rest of your available ingredients and went off

Roast up veggies and freeze them, defrost to put in soups and sauces

Drive more slowly. We do a lot of motorway driving, and by keeping revs down to 2500 instead of up over 3000 we got an extra 100 kilometers out of a tank of fuel. Takes a bit longer but if you can plan it that way it makes a huge difference.

Present box. I buy pressies, especially kiddies ones, when I see them and stash them away. Saves panic buying and I often get things in the sales.

Capp - yes but our bank gets really sniffy about taking loads of change and I can't be arsed to count it so 7p per pound is worth it to save me loads of hassle [idle]

they have a decent loaf at aldi...it was 37p but has just gone up to 45p and is very nice

freezes well too

www.mirror.co.uk/advice/homes/2008/08/30/why-you-should-store-soap-by-your-undies-and-other-wartime- secrets-115875-20717558/

wartime secrets.

You may laugh at these but let's not forget people actually used these ideas because they were really poor and had the added terror of bombs dropping at any given moment(but somehow happier, how did that happen?)

I have myself, in days gone by used old vests for dusters!

Crikey who movedmychocolate, you can get a jam jar up your fanjo?

Move o wales- so much cheaper here (then the anywhere-but-wales house prices will plummet for when we can move back to Somerset Tee hee )

ask an older person. What we think of now as economising is really normality and has been for each and every generation bar ours. anyone over 50 knows exactly how to cope- the things our mums all did when we were little. using lefto vers, sitching organic couscous salads for potatoes, growing your own, etc etc etc. Compared to a generation ago, things are stll generally easier unles you are unfortunate enugh to be landed with a massive mortgage.

bu saver veggies and fruit if you are not organic dependant- a tomato is a tomato; savers just means it didnt pass a bizarre appearance test or might need 2 days ripening. wowee.

kids dont need 11 pairs f ahoes. they need one for school if theyre old enogh, one for play, and wellies. They dont need 3 different couloured pairs of trainers, combat boots and the like. Likewise coats: by a decent weight one and add jumpers and hats for coldest weather.

get your Nan to show you how to darn if you can.

go veggie one day a week- its much better for the envirnment too but isnt a massive pita for meat lovers.

plan n advance: winter always comes after autmn, so buy winter clothes n ebay etc in july when theyre cheap rather than October as prices rocket.

start planning Christmas now. It may be annying but it is inevitable and a present or two a week now makes for a much easier December. Include 'sensible' gifts- kids love character jumpers or sleeping bags, but theyre also damned useful for keeping warm / filling the wardrobe.

remember that whilst its nice to cook froms cratch its also often more costly- especially if you are ding things that needs lots of extras. Great for a plain sponge, reconsider though for pricier ingredients.

connie - I live in the only town in the UK which has no Netto, Aldi or Lidl...