Meal planning is probably the single biggest change I made when I started out on my frugal journey and it's something that I continue to do (almost) every week. I'm not perfect though and if I'm honest, there are plenty of times when we don't stick to the plan for one reason or another but on the whole, we do quite well and have managed to reduce our food shopping bill by a fair bit.I'm not going to insult your intelligence by telling you what meal planning is or how to do it but I will tell you how I do it and hopefully, if you meal plan too, you might share how you plan your meals in … [Read more...]
Family Friendly Frugal Meals – Sausage and Bean Casserole….
I didn't do too well at sticking to last weeks meal plan I'm afraid.... I *may* have even substituted one night for a takeaway and another for egg, chips and beans ;-)I've had a stern word with myself and am ready to go again so here's what we'll be eating this week:Monday - Fray Bentos pies with chips and peas. I love Fray Bentos pies so I stocked up when I found them on offer last week.Tuesday - Chicken and egg fried rice for the adults and fish fingers, mash and beans for the kids.Wednesday - Macaroni CheeseThursday - Mussels with crusty bread and french fries. Pasta … [Read more...]
Change the way you shop – savings at the supermarket….
Tonight I got some very odd looks while I was doing my shopping - It may have been because my trolley was filled with this little lot:It's for a community project at work where we're donating toiletries to some local homeless charities. We've all been asked to take in a few things and encouraged to buy value products so we get more for our money, which ultimately means that we're donating more to the charities. I bought 5 cans of shaving foam, 10 tubes of toothpaste, 5 packs of 4 toothbrushes, 8 bottles of deodorant and 8 packs of 10 razors - all things we've been told are … [Read more...]
Family Friendly Frugal Meals – Microwave Sponge Pudding….
Another lazy week this week as I've just been signed off on work for another week with this stupid chest infection.Monday - Left over Pork from yesterdays roast - sliced cold with chips.Tuesday - Home made fish pie.Wednesday - Chicken Curry with naan bread for the grown ups and naan bread pizza's for the kids.Thursday - Pasta Bolognaise - recipe next week.Friday - Macaroni cheeseSaturday - Chicken fried riceSunday - Some sort of roast - whatever meat is on offer with yorkshires, roasties and vegI've heard a rumour that the weather's going to turn a bit nasty … [Read more...]
Earn money while you spend….
To me, being frugal isn't all about saving money (although that's a definite plus ;-)), it's about maximising what we already have and increasing our income by making a bit of extra money wherever we can. There are lots of ways to do this but one of my favourite ways, and quite possibly the easiest is by earning cashback on a website called Quidco. Quidco is an online company who work with over 3000 retailers to give you the opportunity to earn cashback on your spending. It works because when you click through to a retailers website from Quidco, they earn a commission, based on the amount … [Read more...]
I know it’s only October, but….
There's only 78 Sleeps to go which is just 3 pay days. I now it's only October but I'm going to start my 'How to have a Frugal Christmas' series now because if I wouldn't be a good Frugal blogger if I didn't tell you that you should have started shopping (or at least planning) by now. Christmas happens at the same time every year so there's no excuse - it's not like we don't know it's coming or anything. The first of my 'How to have a Frugal Christmas' is all about presents - don't panic though I'm not about to send you all out shopping or anything but I hope that I can help you plan what … [Read more...]
