You're right Sheal, but there's still all the other costs associated with car ownership that need to be taken into account. When finances permit, I intend to look for a late diesel 850 or early diesel V70. Both Volvo estates, both close relatives of the 940, but being diesel, will deliver better fuel economy. I can't do that now though. It's easy to think that, but its a popular misconception. Yes the old Volvos are built like tanks, and are quite sizeable, but a lesser known fact is that Volvo were all too aware of that when they designed these motors. That's one of the reasons why the kept the interior simple, avoid a lot of superfluous mechanical features (which just add weight and complexity), and were very selective in their choice of steel sheeting for the different panels, making parts that take an impact thicker, and parts that typically don't thinner. The net result is that Gothilda weighs in at just 200kg more than my little French 1.6 Laguna that she replaced. She weighs about 300kg less than newer cars in her class. Quite a marvel of engineering really. Its just a shame they did all that then still gave her a cast iron engine
Just wondering how far you live from work, could you cycle? Plus it would help keeping fit and save on fuel only a idea
Okay, we'll close the car subject, it's obviously a no-no. Referring to shopping, you are obviously aware home brands are cheaper, but recently I've been studying the back of packaging and making comparisons, triggered by hospitalisation in Northern Ireland five years ago. While I was 'incarcerated' I suffered a bout of heart burn and was given Gaviscon from a Tesco bottle. I was told by a nurse that it was cheaper to buy and it was Gaviscon but bottled for Tesco. More recently I have discovered various items that are the same. For years I used Ariel laundry products and more recently the gel form, having compared the contents Tesco's brand is identical even in content percentages and is less than half the price. Yes, it's a bit of a bind studying the packaging but you can guarantee many items are being sold on the strength of the brand name attached and not what's inside, which adds pounds to the product.
I completely agree with what Sheal is saying about comparisons of contents .. in medicine terms the generics as opposed to 'name brands'. Pharmacists here actually direct you toward generics rather than name brands. @Sheal, I did not know about the Gaviscon generic so will investigate that, thank you as it is €5,90 a bottle here for the brand name. When products (particularly cleaning, laundry products and such like) are on 50% off, I always buy two as I would have paid the full price for one so now I have one spare. @clueless, I hope and trust you have quit smoking again ... ????
Erm, yesss.... sort of Ok, I confess. I've had a couple of minor blips, and am in one now, in that I have some cigarettes. But it is just a blip. I came off the patches at the wrong time. Back on the patches tomorrow, and this time I'll time it so they run out at the beginning of a work week so I'll have time to get used to being off everything before a weekend.
I've started working on my meal plan / shopping list. See what you think: Tea time Bean and Chorizo stew ・ Mixed beans ・ 1 Tin of chopped tomatoes ・ 1 onion ・ Lemon juice ・ Chorizo ・ Green peppers OR celery ・ Garlic puree Fresh fish with veg ・ Cod or Haddock ・ Peas ・ Carrots Chicken, wedges and peas ・ Chicken thighs/drumsticks/breast fillets ・ Spuds ・ Peas ・ Lemon juice ・ Garlic puree ・ Chinese 5 spice mix Spaghetti bolognese ・ Spaghetti ・ Mince ・ Half an onion ・ Mushrooms ・ Tomato puree ・ Garlic puree ・ Oxo cube ・ Celery or peppers or courgettes Pasta with Cheese and Mushrooms ・ Pasta ・ Cheese ・ Milk ・ Onion ・ Mushrooms ・ Spices Fruity Fish curry ・ Rice ・ Sharon fruit ・ Pineapple (from a tin) ・ Tomatoes (or tinned matos) ・ Spring onion ・ Peppers ・ Fish ・ Lime (or lemon juice) ・ Madras powder ・ Garlic puree Mince and Taties ・ Mince ・ Spuds ・ Oxo cube ・ Tomato puree ・ Garlic puree ・ Carrots Salad ・ Lettuce ・ Cucumber ・ Tomatoes ・ Cheese OR ham OR tuna ・ Garlic bread Chops and Chips ・ Pork chops ・ Spuds ・ Peas Sunday Dinner ・ Chops OR some other cheap roast eg gammon or brisket ・ Carrots ・ Broccoli and/or cauli and/or sprouts ・ Yorkshire puddings ・ Gravy ・ Spuds Saturday Sandwich Day ・ Proper bread (either baguettes or uncut bloomer) ・ Tuna ・ Ham ・ Cheese ・ Salad ・ Dips (humous etc) ・ Olives Pizza ・ Cheapo margurita pizza ・ Mushrooms ・ Pineapple (tinned) ・ Ham OR spicy meat like chorizo or salami ・ Cheese Noodle Stir fry ・ Cheapo noodles ・ Onions (or spring onions) ・ Tomato puree ・ Garlic puree ・ Spices ・ Peppers ・ Carrots and/or courgettes and/or celery or any other chunky veg ・ Mushrooms Lunch (School/Work days) Beans on Toast ・ Baked beans ・ Bread ・ Butter ・ Cheese Noodles ・ Cheapo noodles ・ Curry powder ・ Tomato puree Tinned Spaghetti ・ Tin of filthy dirty spaghetti Pasta and Sauce ・ Pasta ・ Tomato puree ・ Garlic puree ・ Rosemary ・ Coriander powder ・ Spices Tuna and Cucumber sandwich ・ Tuna ・ Bread ・ Mayo OR salad cream ・ Cucumber OR sweetcorn Cheese and Onion sandwich ・ Bread ・ Butter ・ Cheese ・ Onion Eggy Bread ・ Eggs ・ Milk ・ Bread Lunch (weekends and hols) Eggy Bread ・ See above Waffles and fingers ・ Potato waffles ・ Fish fingers OR chicken nuggets ・ Cucumber Beans on toast ・ See above Semi English ・ Baked beans ・ Bread ・ Butter ・ Mushrooms ・ Egg Noodles ・ See above Breakfast Cereal ・ Fruit and Fibre / Oaty clusters with fruit/ Cornflakes/ Rice crispies Porridge ・ Porridge oats ・ Milk ・ Sugar Fruit ・ Bananas/ apples/ oranges/ grapefruit Scrambled egg on toast ・ 1 egg ・ 1 slice of bread, toasted ・ Butter ・ Milk Toast ・ Bread, toasted ・ Butter Supper Carrot ・ One carrot Jam on toast ・ Jam ・ Bread, toasted ・ Butter Yogurt ・ A pot of yogurt / Fromage frais / Mousse Fruit ・ Apple / Banana / Orange Fruit medley ・ Various fruits chopped up and mixed up Smoothie ・ Milk ・ Honey ・ Banana ・ Any other fruit or veg that takes our fancy Snacks Various fruit or veg Treats Chocolate or biscuits Rare treats Tiramisu, cheesecake, wine Drinks ・ Tea bags ・ Milk ・ Sugar ・ Fruit cordial ・ Real fruit juice ・ Beer
Wow. When you write it all down it seems such a lot doesn't it? Have you got mixed salad leaves growing? Your boy would enjoy growing that too if you grew it in the shape of his initial or something. Do you make your own wine/beer? How about making biscuits/bread etc? Sorry, I can't sleep so I'm up making stuff myself.
I got my slow cooker over a year ago and it is constantly in use. We used to spend about £14 on a takeaway curry every week because we preferred the taste over the jar sauces which have too strong a flavour. In the end I had a stab at slow cooking a curry with a curry paste and it tastes far superior to what you would buy in the shops. It obviously doesn't compare to the real deal but I like to think it's much healthier as I don't put any salt in it at all. I make this once a month along with stews and sometimes a casserole and make 4 meals out of each. Each batch of 4 costs less than £5 to make each. I then freeze them and defrost them a day before cooking, although they can be defrosted in the microwave as the meat is cooked through. Which adds to the convenience of it. You would need to invest in some boxes though to freeze them in if you don't have any already. It's only a couple of quid for a set, pound shops usually sell them and you would need a casserole dish too to cook them in but everyone has one of these. All my leftover ends from loaves of breads go into the blender to make up breadcrumbs which are then frozen and used to thicken up my stews and soups too. You're not really saving money by doing this but it stops them going to landfill which I see as a good thing. Make friends with your freezer and you will find that you won't waste any food. I make stuff up in batches to freeze, even cakes, muffins and flapjacks freeze well. I also make my own ice cream with the left over double cream I have from making my curries which only asks for a drop or two so I would have nearly a whole packet of double cream to use up. Just whisk it with some condensed milk and you've made yourself some ice cream. I flavour it with things I have in the store cupboard like raisins. My recent batch was cinnamon and raisin ice cream with a drop of honey mixed in and it tastes far superior than the cheapo stuff. Most vegetables can be frozen too or if you are making something and have half an onion left over chop it up and freeze it for later. Most of these leftover vegetables go in a soup that I make once a week for the other half to eat at the weekend. Usually it works out that I can make up 4 tins worth for what it would cost to buy 1 and a half tins worth from the shops. Also left over roast potatoes and parsnips and potato mash all get frozen too. They only take 20 minutes to cook from frozen. Also don't use supermarkets. Most of there fruit and vegetables are more expensive than you can get at the market stalls. I go roughly twice a week to mine and usually pay less than a fiver for my entire veg supply for that week. Sometimes they sell me veg that has gone a bit as they know it won't be eaten raw at a massive reduction because it wouldn't sell otherwise. Local butchers are amazing too and our local one sells massive freezer packs of meat like chicken breasts for a tenner that would last us a month.
Tomato puree is one of the biggest waste of money going. I never use it and whenever a recipe asks for it I just substitute it with ketchup. You get much more of it as a result and there's no real difference. Also that meal does seem a tad bland and not much sauce to it. May I offer you my cheapo pasta sauce recipe that I make? Costs me less than a pound a time I think and have received no complaints and most of it is store cupboard ingredients I have knocking around. Sounds intriguing.....
We've gone into Tesco to buy a single item and come out with 2 trolley loads of stuff, but it was all reduced dented tins, damaged packaging, etc. and stuff we actually use at knock down prices. Create multiple Tesco accounts and keep doing 'first shops' to take advantage of their money off codes and cashback offers (Topcashback/Quidco). Try and order stuff you need but think they wont have on the shelves and reject the alternatives to get the % saving up. Include 'Try Me Free' items to reach the minimum spend and then claim the money back from the manufacturers, but only one per shop if you need to send off the receipt (there's lists of TMFs on MSE). Search online for additional codes to increase the savings. Do the same with Asda and Waitrose Orcado. Also use all those Tesco accounts to do a load of first £60 Click and Collect shops and get £15 off each one (best if done during free collection promotions). Hundreds of pounds to be saved doing that. P.S. With Tescos products that are about to be reduced or become BOGOF, you can order a say £60 shop the evening before, get your £15 off a '£60' shop code accepted, then only pay the reduced price when your order gets processed the following day. That's 50% off a £30 shop!
Main shop is either Lidl, Asda or Morrisons, depending on where I happen to be near at the time. Spuds and eggs and some fruit direct from the farm, and most veg from the greengrocer.
Yes its horrible. Its one that the missus makes herself sometimes when I'm at work. She has done it occasionally when I've been in, which is how I know its horrible, but she seems to like it.
I can recommend a lot of the Sainsbury's Basics stuff @clueless1 - their tea bags are a prime example of how cheaper stuff can be really good; 80 fairtrade tea bags for 28p, and they make a really nice brew (we won't buy anything else now, as its just not worth it); I even did a blind taste test at work, and everybody enjoyed their cuppa, not knowing it was the cheap teabags! Their own brand coffee (not basics) is also really good and averages £3-£4 cheaper than the equivalent 'branded' coffee (Tesco's own brand is minging!) Jaffa cakes - 88p for a pack of 36 and they are better than McVities; the basics fruit and veg is generally top notch, as long as you accept that you may have the odd shaped one. Even their cleaning products are good - washing up liquid, 28p a bottle, works just fine. Dishwasher tablets - £2.50 a box, and as good as the branded stuff up to £10 more for the same quantity. Soft cream cheese (Philadelphia to you and me), tub twice the size of the branded one is around 80p in the Basics range and it is lovely. Onions - they do a big sack (5kg) for £2, which store just fine; as you get to the end of the bag, make some French Onion soup to use 'em up - - makes the other smaller packs look very expensive. Also, avoid veg that is pre-packed - go for the loose stuff as it is invariably cheaper (especially staples such as carrots and broccoli etc) Small gammon joint - £3-£4: Simmer it in a large pot with a couple of bay leaves, peppercorns and a couple of quartered onions; use whatever meat you want for a dinner (bread sauce, cauliflower and whatever other veg for example). Strain the stock into another pot to get rid of the bay/onion/peppercorns, and shred any remaining meat into the stock. Finely chop an onion or two, a leek and a few celery sticks, sauté in a wee bit of oil or butter until softened and then whack into the stock pot; grate in a couple of carrots (if you don't have celery but want to use celeriac instead, grate it in at this point), put in some diced swede if you wish, add a couple of vegetable stock pots (the Knorr ones are not cheap but they are really good and considering you will get two or three days eating out of this it works out pretty cheap), add some diced potato or lentils if you prefer and simmer for a wee bit before serving with crusty bread. Tastes best on the second and third day. I reckon, all in, we get three days good eating out of the above for less than £10 If you don't have a breadmaker, consider getting one - not only is the bread tastier and healthier, but it is also cheaper (I make it roughly a third of the cost of a shop loaf).
