On being mean with money

[Decaff]

Many thanks all. I like the idea of several plastic crates that could be rotated, that would make sure that nothing went out of date. I was digging around in my pantry yesterday and found a pack of dried chick peas, sell by date Jan, 2011. < sigh > I must get organised. Again, thanks.

Dicon

I would try some before discarding them, they could still be fine. I tend to ignore sell by dates and use the look, smell, taste a tiny bit first method. Strangely I had a tin of rogue chick peas in my cupboards that had missed the rotation and were a good few years out of date, opened them and all looked and smelt fine so I added them to a curry and they were delicious! I am much more wary of meat products however but again I ignore the dates on tins. You know when you open a gone off tin as it smells strange and contents ferment which is a big clue.

[jansman]

Food industry hat on here! the phrase 'Sell By Date' is still widely used. No such thing anymore.
'Best Before' which is what it says, and still edible after date expiry.
'Use By' , means just that. Usually applies to high risk foods and is generally applied to cooked and chilled products. I would never personally eat beyond use by dates. I have done the courses!
This is where we could do with an emoticon that pukes!

[undomesticdiva]

I agree fully . Just be careful with some foods as you can't smell, taste or see botulism, but then again, it's all down to common sense, the recommended cook time to "kill off" botulism bacteria is high heat for 20 mins

[Decaff]

Food industry hat on here! the phrase 'Sell By Date' is still widely used. No such thing anymore.
'Best Before' which is what it says, and still edible after date expiry.
'Use By' , means just that. Usually applies to high risk foods and is generally applied to cooked and chilled products. I would never personally eat beyond use by dates. I have done the courses!
This is where we could do with an emoticon that pukes!

Totally agree with use by dates, like you say, its normally on cooked/chilled products and not worth the risk.

My tin was a best before, not a use by or it would have been thrown out.

[izzy_mack]

Being careful with money is not being mean, just having common sense. Why spend £5 on tins of soup to feed everyone when you can make more and probably better for £2 and if you can grow your own veg even less.

We often have meals that cost almost nothing as I have hens for eggs and own veg. Homemade soup followed by omlettes and homemade apple crumble, cost about 50p - £1 for 4-5 people.

A special treat is a chippie takeaway about twice a year and the cost makes me reel!

[metatron]

The best way to save money and have stuff stored away is to use a mix of fresh and dried, also there is something to be said for multivitamins with iron (cheap and everything you need in a pill, while being longish lasting).

Learn to use a pressure cooker, it will save you time and money. Rice, Beans, Lentils and Peas are all filling and cheap and when cooked with the right spices very tasty. You can also combine them with cheap cuts of meat in a pressure cooker and have a one pot meal that's not wasting money on energy. If you've ever watched that Jamie Oliver cheap food show, it always made me think wtf, when he has his oven on for 7 hours to cook a cheap cut of meat, electricity or gas issn't free.

I avoid tinned food as its normally got a lot of added salt and the processing method adds a lot to cost, better to buy dried in my opinion. Something may only be 20p a tin, but its mostly the tin, label, and canning process in that price and most its weight is the tin and water.

[Mad Scientist]

Hooray for all skinflints! I buy several tins of good soup from the reduced aisle and bulk them up with leftover roast meat or sausages to make a casserole. Another good standby is fish fingers and baked beans.

[Decaff]

Hooray for all skinflints! I buy several tins of good soup from the reduced aisle and bulk them up with leftover roast meat or sausages to make a casserole. Another good standby is fish fingers and baked beans.

Fish finger sarnie.... its about the only fish I eat, only the cod ones mind, grilled to be extra crispy with a squirt of ketchup on fresh crusty homemade bread, yummmmmm!

[Brambles]

Fish finger buttie...oh lordluvaduck I need to go see if I've any fishfingers now!

[BaseOne]

Fish finger sarnie.... its about the only fish I eat, only the cod ones mind

Also consider whether it's fillet or "pieces" or "mince". The cheap ones use up the "fish sawdust" that falls into boxes below the bandsaws when they are sawing the large fish fillet blocks into rectangles, to make the fish fillet fingers. It takes a while to fill those boxes and it does start to smell after a bit Cook them well

But the problem is that the decent fish fingers cost around £6/Kg...but they only contain between 45-55% fish, the rest is cheap breadcrumb, flour, water and oil (picked up during the flash frying during processing). That means you're paying quite a bit for the "fish protein" part of your crunchy finger.

I can't deny that fish fingers taste great. If someone is looking for convenience, they are an easy choice. But if you're looking to be "mean with money" and get maximum quality and value for your cash, they are an incredibly poor choice.