Batch cooking & secret sales | 5 frugal things I’ve done this week….

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We did our shopping at Iceland again last weekend which I’m really enjoying… AND I batch cooked on Monday too. We currently have at least 5 cottage pies in there and that’s from just one pack of mince. I chose to not freeze them in plastic tubs this time though as I find they are costly, take up room in the cupboards when not in use and take up a lot of space in the freezer. I’ve chose to pop them all in freezer bags. I fattened them out and next Monday I will get another double pack of mince from Iceland for just £2 and batch cook another meal.

https://themoneysavingmum.com/5frugalthings-ive-done-this-week-4

Batch cooking for beginners!

As I previously mentioned on this weeks Mondays meal planning post I purchased the Reduce My Food Spend course by The Frugal Cottage in the hope it will help me in my quest of reducing my weekly shopping. So far so good, it’s really opened my eyes to a few things and that’s before I’d even printed all the printables available so on with some more batch cooking !!

Must have Florida holiday purchases

I nipped to Home Bargains on the way home from work yesterday and besides the dog treats (cheapest place I’ve found them and believe me we have shopped around!) I got some plasters, tissues and (not don’t laugh because yes you read right)… some powder to stop chafing!!!

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A post shared by Kirsty | Family Travel 🐭🏝 (@hakzkirsty)

Random I know but Florida holidays are not all Mickey Mouse, tears at the castle, cuddles and kisses you know…. chaff-age is a real thing! Yes I’m maybe a little more over weight now than ever before but put it this way I don’t actually think my inner thighs have ever NOT had a gap between in my whole adult life and in the heat it just makes me feel so uncomfortable and unclean I don’t like it at all!

This talc like ‘stuff’ was just 99p so I’m going to give a go in the run up to Florida …if it doesn’t work I’ll just stick with roll on deodorant! Ideally I wanted some short cut cycling shorts type shorts but I was worried you’d be able to see the bottom of them under shorts so I’ve kind of given up on that idea.

How to save on lunches at work?

I’ve been back in my day job this week…. boo boo but hubby made my lunch ALLLL WEEK! I have been off the last couple of weeks for Easter with the children so I can’t really complain about heading back but the frugal element about it too is that I’m technically in money jail purely because I don’t have a lunch hour at work any more I save soooo much money! It’s a pain in a way because I don’t get to just nip out to fill up the biscuit tin or just pick something up from Superdrug or somewhere but honestly it saves me so much money not going until town on my lunch hour!

Matalan secret sale!?

And lastly… a super exclusive …. I went into Matalan literally only this morning (13 April!) and noticed there were hand written numbers on a few of the tags…. this means only one thing people!  A sale is a brewing !!  I wanted to finish up on my holiday clothes purchases today but knowing full well there is a sale imminent…. I took pictures and left!  9am tomorrow morning I will be back there finishing off my shopping, picking up a couple of the things i tried on this morning and purchasing no doubt for HALF the price they are today !!

I’m feeling now though that I should maybe try to increase what I make during the month, what do you think?  Not by a massive amount but maybe set my aim now to £200 just a little more than what I’m doing now?

So how frugal have you been this week?  I would love to hear in the comments down below and if you too would like to join in with us by sharing what frugal and thrifty things you’ve been up to this week – even it’s just a picture of one of your #5frugalthings over on Instagram  we’d love to see them!

You don’t have to share five things you’ve done though, anything thrifty or frugal that you’ve been working on would be perfect… small steps and all that!

Thanks for reading & be sure to go check out the ladies I mentioned at the very start of this #5frugalthings linky series for more hints and tips on saving money 🙂

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If you are looking for other ways to save on your grocery shopping then check out some of my previous posts below:

10 freezable foods to save time and money
How I’m Planning on Saving Money on My Food Shop
Some of my Favourite Supermarket Dupes
Meal Planning For Beginners