This thread that I've started now in here as well, is a lifetime project close to my heart.

For many years, I have been sharing Saving Tips and such like in my Budget Blogs.

Ideas of how to make the most of many things and live a life more sustainable with less waste and garbage.

All, well most of the things I share/d, I am doing or apply at home too, so they have been tried and tested to boot. Others are ideas I have found online and thought to be quite good.

Regardless, if those ideas concern food, daily life at home, gardening, cleaning tips et al.

I am certainly not better than other people, but I try to (in my housewifely way) to do my share to help save the planet without using a bullhorn to tell the world………

I am certain in the EF; with so many people from so many paths in life and backgrounds / cultures and what not, this knowledge is a gold mine we should tap into and share with everyone.

I hope that many of you Forum members will contribute with YOUR ideas/tips/experiences etc. because, I for one am keen to learn more about this topic.

Cheerio

EE

Nice idea EE!


My first one: put lemon or orange peels in a bottle, fill it up with vinegar, let it steep for a couple of weeks and you will have a nice cleaning fluid.

I love candles, and especially scented candles, but I am very very fussy and particular in regards to the scent; for one, you can chase me out of a house with vanilla scented candles.....shudder.

Candles actually do help me in more ways than one. For one, because of my handicap it often happens that after a day out, especially after meeting people and having had to concentrate a lot to lip-read........

I am (respectively my senses are), totally overwrought in the evening and I can’t have bright lights on. It does help me tremendously to ‘come back down’ by simply lighting candles only.

Normal candles in any shape, colour or form, I buy by the kilo or more, when shops such as OTTO’s or LANDI sell them in large bags for, or even less than, a fiver a bag. ( 5.-CHF)

Furthermore I collect all the candle stumps. Some are left over from table decorations from ‘those’ family meals, others have a funny wick that has ‘drowned’ and makes lighting the candle a chore and I also have various candle holders or glasses on display and in them they also don’t burn down entirely. All the various candle stumps get collected in a box, until I have enough to make a new candle out of them.

Making your own scented candle is really a doodle!

Using a pan with some water in it and an aluminium tray is then placed into the pan. The candle stumps are put in the aluminium tray as they are and the heat is turned on to medium. The wax will melt quite quickly and all the other stuff......old wicks, decorations will sink to the bottom of the (re-useable!!!) tray.

In the meantime make 2-3 knots into one end of wick to get a large knot, place it into the fireproof receptacle (glass or similar) so that the knot touches the bottom. You can buy wick on a spool quite cheaply in any DIY store or craft store.

Place a wooden skewer over the rim of the receptacle and roll the top end of the wick around it (you can cut the wick to size as soon as the wax has hardened and this way you don’t waste any material)

All that remains to do, is to add a few drops of your favourite scent; in my case anything lemony or lemongrass, to the liquid wax. You can also use a few drops of your favourite perfume. Then carefully pour the wax into the prepared receptacle.

Carefully, so that all the old wicks and other material remain in the aluminium tray and also so that the wick remains as straight as possible.
Voilà, from old make new and at almost no cost at all! ��







©sylv1999-2022

You bought too many fresh mushrooms and now they are starting to wrinkle and you don't fancy mushroom soup or risotto or some such thing.

Of course driyng/dehydrating them is a good idea to make them last longer.

I also make mushroom ketchup. Agreed, it doesn't look particularly appetizing once done, but it is such a lovely ingredient to add to dark gravies, soups etc and gives that umami flavour like not many other ingredients do.






I make mine more or less after this recipe, more often than not with the plain white champignons, I don't shop extra for this. Use what I have got in stock and needs to be used up.


https://www.greatbritishchefs.com/re...ketchup-recipe

It keeps well stored in the fridge (I keep mine even longer than what they mention in this recipe)

©sylv1999-2022

When life gives you lemons.....��

This is NOT a SAVING TIPP per se, but I consider this still a good idea to prevent food waste and as an every day tip.

When lemons in my household are about to go dry and I don't have anything planned to use them soon.

Then I cut them into slices, some left whole - some halved, and freeze them on a baking tray or similar, once frozen tip them into a bag.

Those slices then get added to the 3litre jug of herbal tea I make everyday or the halves get added to a G&T or other cocktail requiring lemon, no additional ice required to cool down whatever drink.

Once the tea in the jug/cocktail is drunk, the slices get further used by adding them to the dishwasher to help against limescale and give a nice scent or for cleaning/decalcifying and only once they are really used to the max they get chucked onto the compost heap.

When I only need to use the fresh juice for a recipe, then I grind the zest before I squeeze the lemon.

I have very tiny tupperware like containers where I put that grated zest into and freeze that.

In the event I need to bake spontaneously and I haven't got fresh lemons, i can just tip one such mini jar into the dough mixture.

I also make, in a small container, lemonscented sugar with the dried peel.

Mixed with icing sugar, water or lemon juice, you get a simple but refreshing icing for any sweet bakes.









©sylv1999-2022

Home made Vanilla Sugar

If you, like me, have got a few family members with a sweet tooth and the demand for desserts is big, this is a clever cheap staple to have handy and it keeps for years, stored in an airtight container.

This Vanilla sugar can not only be used for baking purposes, but 1/2 to 1 teaspoon of it, sprinkled over a fruit compote, joghurt, porridge or müesli jazzes up the flavour quite a lot.

Standard is 15grams of it, when a baking recipe calls for 1pck of vanilla sugar.

it is dead easy to make.

When a recipe calls for a vanilla pod, just don't throw it away after use.

If used in a liquid, rinse it very quickly with water and then let it dry over night on paper kitchen roll, before adding it to a container 2/3 filled with plain normal sugar. At first, shake occasionally and continually add used pods, discarding of the old ones, after they have definitely lost their scent.
Over less than a month you will have started your endless own supply of vanilla sugar.

No need to buy it ever again.



©sylv1999-2022

I just love sun-dried tomatoes in oil, when the harvest was good in my allotment garden........ I make them myself if not, well then I get by on shop bought ones .

Usually when the jar is empty of tomatoes, there is a lot of oil remaining.

I fill that oil into a small bottle, add a few crushed cloves of garlic and maybe some dried herbs or chilliflakes and hey presto, I got a flavoured oil to drizzle over pizza or use for salads etc. at no additional cost.



©sylv1999-2022