Soft Soap Your Friends To Save Money

Bizarre tip of the day:

Here's a real cheapskate tip you could try if you have enough cheek! I'm much too honest to try it myself but I know someone who briefly got away with this.... Pretend that your washing-machine has broken down and ask family and friends in turn whether you can use their machine. It should work at least once with each person.

Sensible tip of the day:

Pause for thought if you are tempted to buy an item that isn't an absolute necessity. Wait a week, during which time decide whether you really want it and, if you do, it gives you time to compare prices or come up with a cheaper alternative.

If you have any tips you want to share, leave a comment or email me by clicking here.

Tips For Cutting Food Waste

I’VE written before about food waste here. Since then I have gathered a few more tips from family and friends. Readers have also e-mailed me with their own tips (click here if you want to share your ideas) or left comments.

1 Before you go shopping take a good look at your stocks of food and write a list of what you need. Then resist the temptation to buy anything that’s not on your list, unless it’s a really good bargain and will not go off before you’ve had chance to eat it.

2 Once a week, do a stock check and see what’s close to its ‘use by’ date. If you have too much veg, make soup and freeze it. Chop up fruit that’s near the end of its life and marinate in something fruity or boozy for a fruit salad or cook it for the base of a crumble. Old fruits are great for making ice cream or sauces, while black bananas are perfect for smoothies.

3 If you have soft left-over tomatoes, remove stalks and place whole into freezer bags. Add the frozen tomato to dishes where you would normally use tinned tomatoes, like bolognese sauce.

4 Make sure you rotate your tins and packets so that the oldest items are always near the front of the shelf.

5 Don’t stockpile spices and dried herbs. They start to lose their flavour after a while. It’s better to buy little and often.

6 Boil a chicken carcass or left-over meat from a joint in the vegetable cooking water to make stock. You can freeze this if you want.

7 Always use fish within a day of cooking. If you have left-overs you can flake it and add it to scrambled egg or make into a pate by mixing with cream cheese.

8 We never get left-over cake in my house, but some people do! Cake freezes well so don’t let it go stale or mouldy.

9 Never cook more food than you need. Get some kitchen scales so that you don’t end up with lots of left-over pasta, for example.

10 ‘Best before’ dates refer to quality not food safety and can still be used if they look and smell fine. ‘Use by’ dates are more serious and you should not eat products after this date. If you’re feeling brave read this article click here. but take it all with a pinch of salt!