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Quote: Originally posted by dezzie on 22/6/2009

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We have a couple of those poundland sealed banks. We try and put at least a couple of pound coins in it every day. Its a nice surprise when it is opened (with a tin opener). That helps us save without being able to rob it every time we're a bit skint.

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I only ate out once during my recent 5-night trip in Norfolk, and that's because my friend and I went shopping and went for a KFC afterwards - we love KFC, as well as my dog!

I have a vacuum sealer, and made packs of single portion food and freeze them in advance:

Breakfast kit for 1 - 1 sausage, 3 strips of streaky bacon, and 2 slices of black pudding

Single potion of BBQ meat, e.g. burger, chicken, lamb, steak and port etc...

I added mushrooms, onions, an egg or two, and 2 slices of fried bread for breakfast, and that kept me going until the evening BBQ, where I had 2 piece of BBQ meat plus BBQ veg such as sweetcorn, mushroom and peppers, with a green salad on the side.

I did go and buy fresh salmon and veg to cook for my ex-husband when I cooked for him one evening, as he does not like BBQs

And some eggs and onions as I forgot to pack them, and mushrooms as I forgot I needed some for breakfast as well as the BBQs!

As for drinks, Lidl's has decent beer in a can at 73p for 500ml. Took the Pimms and 7Ups from home so no need to get more. Ribena was also taken from home stock.

So I spent hardly anything on food while I was there. Eating in and cooking yourself will definitely save money! You can easily feed 2 people for the price of a small donar kebab/6in Sub/fish supper etc...

I agree with the others about saving on fuel and camp near home instead.

DK

hen I've been skint and going on holiday I take a small budget notebook. In it I put the starting figure...the normal week (or two) budget for food, fares, school lunches etc. Then I add on any normal personal spending money, like papers, pub, carry out etc. The figure I end up with is what I would normally spend over this period of time.

The kids get their own spending budget, ie normal pocket money plus a few extra pounds from Granny and us.

Then, basically, we keep track of our spending and keep to the budget. Yes campsite fees will be over and above that, but in our case fuel usually is under the normal weekly spend as my Hubby commutes one hour each way to work in the car. We've been able to come out of the end of a fortnight away at a local-ish (usually down on the Borders) site for the cost of the campsite fees plus what we would spend anyway. We bike, have picnics, only go to sites we can use our Historic Scotland cards at, go to local events and self cater. Plus I sometimes think if I factored in what we would spend on extra entertainment for the kids if we stayed at home...well, might come close to breaking even!

Talking about supermarket discounts, I once got a hot roast chicken for 9p from my local Morrisons  I ate the skin (best bit of a roast chicken IMHO ), saved the meat for the cat and dog who love roast chicken, and used the carcass to make stock, magic!

I do my regular weekly shop on a late opening night, 30min before closing time, and pick up bargains. Borda the dog and Jess the cat are never without chicken/sausages/meat loaf etc...  Hot roast chicken can normally be picked up at less than half price. 4 big sausage rolls for 25p etc...! Bread rolls, eggs, etc... loads of bargains to be had.

Bewarned though, sometimes the hot food can be a bit dry and tough as nail, as they have been sitting in the heat for a while. Also, cooked chicken pieces tend to be of more exotic flavours that do not sell quite as well. Luckily the flavouring tends to be on the skin only, and I always have the skin, so the pets can still eat the meat later.

Another excellent buy, as recommended to me by one of the nice ladies who works behind the hot food counter when I told her I picked up reduced price stuff for my pets, is to ask for "off cut" cooked meat piece at 34p per 100g. I give this to the pets as a supplement to their normal food and they love it. These will also make good omelette filling for humans too!

DK