Money savng tips? (non horsey...)

scrunchie said:
Will your daughter eat rice pudding? You can use brown rice instead of pudding rice. It takes a bit longer to cook but is more healthy. Just put rice in an oven dish, cover with plenty of milk and a couple of table spoons of sugar and let it simmer away in the bottom of the oven while you cook other things. Serve with some grated nutmeg and a dollop of jam.

Banana icecream. Freeze bananas (minus their skin) and then throw in a food processor when they are wanted. Instant banana icecream! Cheap pudding.

Baked sweet potato. Goes lovely with chicken and bbq sauce! Just bake it like you bake a normal potato. She might like it because it's got a sweet, carrot-like taste.

Porridge oats are always good and cheap. And you can make flapjacks out of it.

Rice Crispy/ cornflake cakes. The cheat's way is to use golden syrup and cocoa powder instead of chocolate. I never make them because I ate so many in my childhood but I can ask my Mum for the recipe.

Chickpeas. Soak overnight if using dried, drain then fry them in olive oil and some garlic. Cheap grown up alternative to crisps.

Oat milk. Use the foot of a new pair of tights, fill with porridge oats, place in a jug of water for 24 hours, squeeze the liquid out of the oats and then voila! The water has now turned into oat milk! I only discovered this because I was buying oat milk at £1.60 for a carton before I found how to make it on the internet. The kids like it when made into banana smoothies (banana, oat milk and a tablespoon of golden syrup whizzed up in the food processor).

I can probably think of some more. There is a website somewhere that is aimed at students. That's got a lot of good ideas for cheap dinners. I can't remember what it's called though but it would be worth a google.
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That's amazing! Thank you! I reckon she might eat most of those (except chickpeas) because they're all sweet! ;):) She does love sweet potato, I usually use them instead of normal potatoes when making her dinners because I think they have more nutrients?
 
Ladylina83 said:
as long as I've got mushrooms and peppers in the house I can make anything :-)

Mixed bean chilli I'm living on at the moment - beans are 53p from asda a lloyd grossman tom and chilli sauce £1, chilli powder mushrooms peppers lol and some rice about £1 a portion all together
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Be even cheaper if you switched the lloyd grossman sauce for an own brand economy one, and cheaper again still if you used a tin of tomatoes, some chilli power and a stock cube!

Tinned tomatoes are your friend, buy the value ones for 33p (Aldi and Lidl ones are better than supermarket cheapest own brands). I buy about 10 tins a week and they make lots of meals. They can be used for a pasta sauce, a chilli, a stew, a curry, ratatouille, or just eaten on toast for a lighter meal. Add different stuff each time to keep your diet varied.
 
Shampoo! Alberto bsalm is better than some of the more expensive brands in my eyes and only costs £1! Same goes for boots natural collection make up.
 
Oh and I'm one of those people that are allergic to most things but neither of those make ne itch, infact they have improved ny hair and skin!
 
Did anyone see that prog on Ch5, called Pennypinchers? Mainly about people who get their supermarket shop for next to nothing, using vouchers. One woman did £65 worth and paid about £5.50!! But there was also this guy who drives around the country lanes, collecting roadkill, reckons it saves him a fortune! He had a freezer full of dead beasties, including seagulls and squirrels, which he then barbied and served up to his unsuspecting friends :D
I just wondered how he knew the age of these dead animals, they could've been there for ages and crawling with bacteria! Ewwwww! Bluebottles!!
 
Ella19 said:
Shampoo! Alberto bsalm is better than some of the more expensive brands in my eyes and only costs £1! Same goes for boots natural collection make up.
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I use that now too. Used to buy more expensive stuff for my very long hair, and started buying this for DH, he has so little hair it seemed pointless buying decent stuff. One day I ran out of mine and tried the alberto balsam and I've been using it ever since :D love the smell of the different types too.

I tend to find that the conditioner isn't rich enough so I don't get that. I find that the cheapest conditioner is a false economy as you need to use loads. So I tend to go for VO5 or Herbal Essences fairly cheap but does the job.
 
Kat said:
Be even cheaper if you switched the lloyd grossman sauce for an own brand economy one, and cheaper again still if you used a tin of tomatoes, some chilli power and a stock cube!

Tinned tomatoes are your friend, buy the value ones for 33p (Aldi and Lidl ones are better than supermarket cheapest own brands). I buy about 10 tins a week and they make lots of meals. They can be used for a pasta sauce, a chilli, a stew, a curry, ratatouille, or just eaten on toast for a lighter meal. Add different stuff each time to keep your diet varied.
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I know but I am happy to admit that I am a bit of a food snob... In fact I am a total tinned tomato snob - FACT ! The quality is just not as good Tomatoes are supposed to be red ! When the good ones are on offer I buy in bulk, I won't use value sauce either because of the amount of sugar in them.

Up until recently I have always made sauce from scratch when i was living on my own but I am going for speed as I am the only vegi in the house of 4 ppl with 2 horses a full time job and 3 yoga classes a week to squeeze in for my training + homework and I do all the cooking so the meaties get all the time and attention - We have moved into my OH's parents to save for a house deposit, I can get a sauce version on the table in 15 mins for myself. I just find it easy and for saving 25p a meal its worth it in my eyes - but I completely agree with you
 
Give the aldi/lidl tomatoes a go, I buy those as they cost the same as supermarket value but taste and look much more like the napolina ones. They are in decent looking packaging but are foreign brands. I find that generally you can get good quality stuff from aldi and lidl for the prices of low end stuff at the other supermarkets. If you have the time and the inclination it works well to do your weeks shopping in two trips. Take your list and get as much as you can from aldi/lidl then go and get the things you couldn't pick up from your normal supermarket. They don't have the range and the brands for you to get everything but you can get some real bargains.
 
Loads of good advice and suggestions given already but I am another suggesting look at money saving expert. The people on the Debt Free forum, old style moneysaving and a couple of others are inspirational! From their tips, help and advice I managed to kill off all my credit cards last year. Agree with the topcashback site too - even if you dont need it now remember it for renewal - I got £150 cashback for renewing my new mobile contract through them in August last year. Survey sites are slow but you can get vouchers and in some cases paid into paypal - wont be instant cash but money for sitting on internet and giving your opinion is not bad. :)
 
Had a reasonably productive and cost cutting weekend - made chilli in the slow cooker on saturday, enough for 4 so froze two portions. Made flapjacks for other half to have with packed lunchs this week, instead of buying chocolate bars etc. (had all the stuff int he pantry anyway)

Made soup, and also rice pudding for dessert yesterday!! Yum!

Also, instead of both of us eating the leftovers from yesterdays roast, made an extra plateful up and put in fridge so other half can have it for his tea tonight - he usually has a ready meal whenI am home late as he can't cook/won't cook!

Total spend - £0!!

Finding I am getting much better at not throwing food away - used ot be very concious of best before dates. This mornign I had yogurt that I normall would have binned - large pot that had been open about a week - says to use within 3 days, It was fine. :D
 
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