Household hints & tips to save money

[Cornish Cream]

Wonderful tip CP

[Cuilidh]

These are a couple of ideas that I came up with or saw recently (turns out I spotted them a little while later in various recipes and blogs so they are not as original as I thought!).  You may already know them, but I thought I would note them down here

If you are using a can or jar of tomatoes or sauce, etc. in your cooking and need to add stock or more liquid, measure it out in the can / jar as this then also serves to rinse out the extra tomato which can be incorporated into your cooking.  I used to always rinse the residue left in the cans out then throw it down the drain prior to putting the can / jar into my recycling bin.

Second tip I read recently.  If you use coconut cream or coconut milk from cans and you don't need or want the fluid, put the can in the fridge overnight then open the bottom up to drain off the fluid (for future use) and you are left with just the firm or hard coconut cream.

PS   It is also time this thread was bumped again as it is so full of great ideas!

[JulieO]

I do the first one but not the second, thanks Cuilidh. 

[thermilover]

Thanks Cuilidh for the tips, I love this thread too!
I ordered some Chef Aid can covers, I have been using coconut milk, corn and baked beans cans a lot these days and I hate it when I have to store them in the fridge without a proper lid and then they dry out eventually..

Hope these things stop that from happening

[judydawn]

I also do the first one but not the coconut one Marina although I had read that one too. 
Keep sharing your hints girls.

[Cornish Cream]

Like Julie and Judy I do the first one Marina but haven't heard of the second.But will do that now.

[achookwoman]

Good ideas, thanks Marina.

[Cuilidh]

Here are a couple more ideas that I have had recently.

I always struggle when I am vacuum sealing my food.  First I freeze anything that contains fluid or will not withstand the pressure of vacuum sealing then I put the frozen items into the sealing bag and have to be sure to wipe off any dampness / fluid around the seal area, otherwise I don't get a true seal ... or at least, this has been my method until I had an "AH HA" moment during the wee hours last night.  This has always been a frustrating and time wasting exercise so I came up with this bright idea.

I sacrificed one new bag, trimmed and sliced open both sides of the top open seam (about 3 - 5 cm each side) then cut off the sealed end of the bag so that I ended up with a bag, open at both end.  Then all you do is slip the 'sliced' end into the bag you are sealing, pop the frozen item into the cut open end of the cylinder bag and the food slips easily into the bag you are going to seal without any moisture touching the sealing area. 

I am so happy. I just transferred and sealed 7 bags of soups and stews in the time it would normally have taken me to prepare one bag!   

My second 'bright' idea was dicing onions. 

On the occasions when I hand slice onion, I top and tail the onion, cut the onion in half then slice each half vertically first, then horizontally and find that the final horizontal slice or two slips all over the place and I end up with all sorts of weirdly diced onion (and sometimes cut fingers).  What I have found is if I do a couple of horizontal slices then turn the onion 180 degrees and start slicing the root or top end and work towards the centre I end up with a much more even end product and haven't cut my fingers yet using this method.

[achookwoman]

Thanks Marina.   Both creative and practical.

[Cuilidh]

Here I am back with more (bright?) ideas.  Actually it is just a link that was in The Age's internet link to Good Food - it includes banana skin cake