Frugal Food-al

[The Reverend]

Had to get rid of my old freezer when I moved last November, it was too wide for a cupboard where I wanted it. Managed to buy a table top freezer from Curry (£89) I can use instead. Time to check out the reduced sections and bulk cook so I can freeze stuff!

I used to rent somewhere without a freezer. I saddened me when I went past the reduced isle and didn't have anywhere to store it. I then bought a small chest freezer and put it in a cupboard. I loved it!

I look forward to seeing some of your bulk recipes

 

[RickyRaj]

Had to get rid of my old freezer when I moved last November, it was too wide for a cupboard where I wanted it. Managed to buy a table top freezer from Curry (£89) I can use instead. Time to check out the reduced sections and bulk cook so I can freeze stuff!

I used to rent somewhere without a freezer. I saddened me when I went past the reduced isle and didn't have anywhere to store it. I then bought a small chest freezer and put it in a cupboard. I loved it!

I look forward to seeing some of your bulk recipes

Thanks Reverend.

Soups, currys, pasta dishes lots more. Make in bulk and then freeze into one person size compartments. I then take what I fancy out of the freezer the night before so I can have it for lunch. Jamie Oliver soup recipes are a particular favorite with base ingredients being 2 carrots, 2 onions and 2 celery sticks, everything else is up to you!

 

[paul65]

I used to rent somewhere without a freezer. I saddened me when I went past the reduced isle and didn't have anywhere to store it. I then bought a small chest freezer and put it in a cupboard. I loved it!

I hate missing out on reduced price food bargains, love the feeling of getting good food at a fraction of the original price 8)

 

[Cjschofield]

Cheap version of pizza.
Bread slightly toasted add ketchup and cheese and microwave

 

[The Reverend]

Cheap version of pizza.
Bread slightly toasted add ketchup and cheese and microwave

For me a cheap version of pizza is homemade pizza!

But you could improve your recipe by using the grill of your oven.

Use the grill to toast one side of the bread. When it is brown flip it over, ketchup then cheese. Now you have the option to add store cupboard items such as Italian mixed herbs and fresh pepper but I find some finely diced onion helps add to the flavour.

Whack under the grill and when the cheese is melted, dinner is served.

 

[katykicker]

Cheap version of pizza.
Bread slightly toasted add ketchup and cheese and microwave

So basically pale cheese on toast?

I make homemade pizza, but probably not the cheapest seeing as I use a £100 breadmaker to knead the dough for me LOL.

 

[The Reverend]

Cheap version of pizza.
Bread slightly toasted add ketchup and cheese and microwave

So basically pale cheese on toast?

I make homemade pizza, but probably not the cheapest seeing as I use a £100 breadmaker to knead the dough for me LOL.

How the other half live! I have to knead my own dough!

 

[Zzil]

I picked up a bread maker for free on Freecycle, plus they are ALWAYS in charity shops for £8-£15. I wouldn't bother buying new. Mine was originally a John Lewis special and would've cost a fortune. Most people seem to buy them, use them for a while and then put them in the cupboard- before giving them away. Mine works like a dream and the manual was available for free on the internet.

 

[The Reverend]

I picked up a bread maker for free on Freecycle, plus they are ALWAYS in charity shops for £8-£15. I wouldn't bother buying new. Mine was originally a John Lewis special and would've cost a fortune. Most people seem to buy them, use them for a while and then put them in the cupboard- before giving them away. Mine works like a dream and the manual was available for free on the internet.

I have had a breadmaker before. I made fresh bread with it every other day. When it broke, I didn't replace it as I found that the loaf tins were never the best shape to make a loaf to slice and the paddles in the bottom made the middle slices unuseable. For me, my next big kitchen purchase will be a kitchenaid mixer.

 

[RickyRaj]

Anyone tried Quesadillas instead of pizza? I find them lighter than pizza and easy to make with tortilla and whatever else you have lying around.

Filling usually involves cheese to melt with whatever other ingredients you want to add. Once you've mixed the filling you sandwich that between two tortilla and dry fry them in a frying pan.

 

[paul65]

[member=1122]RickyRaj[/member] Quesadillas are great and really quick to make aren't they? So many different fillings work well in them. Last ones I made had cheese, potato, chorizo and fresh thyme.

 

[RickyRaj]

Now that I have extra freezer space and in light of recent pasta sauce revelations, I will bulk make and freeze my own pasta sauces.

 

[rrobson]

I've been having a great run with Co-op lately.

About once a week, I either forget to take my packed lunch to work or can't be bothered making one the night before, so I go to the local Co-op for lunch.

I go for the meal deal, sandwich, snack and drink for £3.25.

I'm a part-time student, so I swipe my NUS card for a 10% discount*, down to £2.92. Not a terrible price in itself.

Then every week, the checkout spits out between £1.50 and £2.50 of vouchers.

I always get a 50p off when you spend £4 and the other is either £1 or £2 off a specific category (eg fruit & veg, or meat and poultry) with no minimum.

So I tend to go to a different branch, one near home that I know does a lot of reductions to spend them.

The other week I had a £2 off meat and poultry and a £1 off the "loved by us" range, found a few packs of chicken breasts from the loved by us range marked down from about £10 total to £4 total.

Went to the checkout:

everything rung through, total: £4.00
Loyalty card swiped (did this first to get £4 worth of points)
50p off £4 voucher, total: £3.50
10% student discount, total: £3.15
£2 off poultry, total: £1.15
£1 off loved by us, total £0.15

Checkout girl looked a little confused, but still gave me the 5p change from my 20p coin... and a 50p off £4 voucher.

That's the best one I've had, but I'm regularly getting big piles of stuff for very little money this way.







* The NUS discount works on everything at Co-op, even reduced items.

 

[rrobson]

Cheap beer!

The local Morrisons obviously has some very careless staff, as I frequently find reduced beers, usually 9 bottles out of a 10-pack, where the last one got smashed.

Most supermarkets do this, but not on this scale and usually the discounts are very small. If a pack of 10 is £10 and you want to sell me the remaining 9 for £8.50, I'm not really interested, but this branch always marks beers down to 50p a bottle/can.

This is terrible when it's the own brand lager that's usually £1.50 for 4, but when it's usually over a pound a bottle, I'll take whatever they have.

Last night I hit the jackpot:

12 bottles Kronenbourg
11 bottles Carling Zest (don't judge me, I like it)
1 can Kronenbourg
41 bottles San Miguel

Total price: £32.50

 

[Topaz]

I've just bought my yearly living salad for a quid from the supermarket. I transplant the individual plants into troughs and put them on the patio. The use by date is normally about a week, (because the little darlings are all crowded in a little pot) but by re-potting them, they carry on growing healthily and I get fresh salad leaves until the first frost.

 

[rrobson]

I've just bought my yearly living salad for a quid from the supermarket. I transplant the individual plants into troughs and put them on the patio. The use by date is normally about a week, (because the little darlings are all crowded in a little pot) but by re-potting them, they carry on growing healthily and I get fresh salad leaves until the first frost.

I love that idea, but I don't trust the neighbour's cats.

 

[RickyRaj]

I've just bought my yearly living salad for a quid from the supermarket. I transplant the individual plants into troughs and put them on the patio. The use by date is normally about a week, (because the little darlings are all crowded in a little pot) but by re-potting them, they carry on growing healthily and I get fresh salad leaves until the first frost.

I love that idea, but I don't trust the neighbour's cats.

Those plastic greenhouses are pretty good. I'm currently growing 'cut and grow again' salads along with carrots, chilies, tomatoes and peas in the one I have in my garden.

 

[katykicker]

I've just bought my yearly living salad for a quid from the supermarket. I transplant the individual plants into troughs and put them on the patio. The use by date is normally about a week, (because the little darlings are all crowded in a little pot) but by re-potting them, they carry on growing healthily and I get fresh salad leaves until the first frost.

I love that idea, but I don't trust the neighbour's cats.

Those plastic greenhouses are pretty good. I'm currently growing 'cut and grow again' salads along with carrots, chilies, tomatoes and peas in the one I have in my garden.

I second this - we have one at our allotment. We've managed to start off various herbs, runner beans, peas, corn, courgettes, tomatoes and lots more lovely things I'm forgetting right now! Ours was about £25 too! We've secured it with stakes and concrete blocks in the bottom and we have an old storage unit in there to help increase the storage that we have

 

[drcee]

I've just bought my yearly living salad for a quid from the supermarket. I transplant the individual plants into troughs and put them on the patio. The use by date is normally about a week, (because the little darlings are all crowded in a little pot) but by re-potting them, they carry on growing healthily and I get fresh salad leaves until the first frost.

I saw these in my local supermarket and I thought I would kill them. What a fantastic idea re. repotting. How much do your little plants yield? Do they regrow quite quickly? Would they grow on a sunny windowsill? Sorry if these are silly questions - can you tell I am not a gardener?

 

[Topaz]

They need to be outside really, or they tend to die off or go leggy. The 'wall fruit' A.K.A snails do love it, so I put the trough on the stone chippings on the patio, which they don't like crawling over.

It grows really quick once its been spread out and given room. Him indoors has enough for his sandwiches most days. If it gets a bit sparse, we leave it for a few days and it bushes back up. You can do the same with herbs as well. The living pots in the supermarket are cheaper than the garden centre - especially if they get near their use by date and are sold cheap