Oodles of noodles

I’ve not been very well this last week or so, and in the last 48 hours, my throat has been painful to the point that it’s pretty uncomfortable to eat solid food.

Today I headed along to my local Tesco to pick up the essentials for a poorly person (hubby was at work so I had to go it alone): paracetamol, ibuprofen, Strepsils, orange juice, smoothies, soup, noodles and ice cream.

Not the healthiest shop by a long shot, but when I’m feeling lousy, the last thing I want to do is cook proper meals. Juice, smoothies and soup are my vitamin boosts (along with a daily multivitamin) and noodles go down easily without hurting my wee throat too much.

The supermarket trip nearly wiped me out, bit the most tricky part was buying noodles! The cost of a packet of noodles varied from just 11 pence for Tesco Value brand and 69 pence for SuperNoodles. That’s more than 600% more! Okay, it’s just pennies, but if you’re buying more than one pack, it could really make a difference.

After much deliberation, I settled on buying four different types of noodles, with the intuition of establishing whether or not there truly is a difference.

Today I had the Tesco Value brand chicken flavour instant noodles, priced at 11 pence per pack. I followed the instructions on the pack easily. They softened well and were ready to eat in just three short minutes. They tasted fine and the texture was okay. They were close to the consistency of any other noodle I’ve tasted. The down side is that they only had chicken flavour; there was no alternative.

Tomorrow, I will try another of the four varieties of noodle, and report my findings here. Not the most exciting product in the world, but to any students out there, this could have a big impact on your weekly shop (I jest, please pardon the stereotype!)

You’d better not read this post!

Today I joined Twitter. I’m still to decide how I feel about it. After spending hours setting up an account and fluttering through the giant birdcage that is Twitter, I feel like I have achieved very little. I have wished Daniel Radcliffe a happy birthday in hopes of getting it to ‘trend’, gathered 3 followers and lost 1 already.

Not a very fruitful afternoon. And it’s sunny outside! Here in Scotland, sunny days are hard to come by, so I really should be making the most of it. At least I managed to get the washing hung out in the garden.

My money saving tip today was to talk my darling hubby out of going out to dinner. I’m sure we can find something good to make at home at just a fraction of the cost. I did my supermarket shop online today as well, so at least I’m practicing what I preach! It’s being delivered on Monday night. Also, we’re going fishing this evening (off the harbour), so if we catch anything, that’s free food!

Nobody has visited my blog today, I’m guessing it’s because it’s the weekend. So I thought I’d try a bit of reverse psychology and tell people NOT to read this post. Sorry if you thought it would be more interesting. A post like this is very much a result of a very sleepy me! Happy Saturday!

In other news… I had the best night last night, chilling with my bestest lady friends. Gossip and food fest are just the best Friday night activities…. This morning I tried Chocolate Sugar Puffs, they kinda just taste like Sugar Puffs but they turn the milk brown…. The chilli plant has been repotted and is settling into it’s new home nicely!… The big batch of soup from the allotment is nearly finished, fortunately father-in-law has kindly donated another turnip from his allotment to go into the next batch!

Ways to save money: work all hours!

I have spent £1 today. Mainly down to working a 12 hour shift, taking food to work and only taking 2 out of the 3 breaks that were due to me (2 coffees @ 50p each = £1!).

During my coffee break I chatted to an intern during about supermarket shopping and how easy it is to spend more than you planned. She told me she usually shops in the convenience stores ie. the ones that hike the prices up just because they’re in a busy area. She does this because she doesn’t have a car. Isn’t that ridiculous?! She has to get 2 buses to the nearest supermarket so instead she just accepts that she has to pay more for her groceries than everyone else- crazy talk.

Before we had a car, my husband and I would catch the bus to the supermarket and rush around trying to get everything we needed before the bus home. Most of the time we’d end up missing it as we’d get distracted by products on offer or freshly baked cookies… Or anything really. Supermarkets are clever. They make you spend money that you don’t want to spend. They make you buy products that you really know you shouldn’t (hands up who’s bought Ben & Jerrys ice-cream because it was on offer or it was conveniently placed? Heck, I have 3 packs of Sugar Puffs at home just because they were in offer, buy 1 get 2 free?!? Go figure.).

Have you thought about buying your weekly shop online? The idea seems quite indulgent. Choosing all your shopping online and then someone else selects it for you, packs it and delivers it to your door. Yes, there is a delivery charge, usually about £3. Chances are, if you get a bus to the supermarket and back you’ll already have spend close to that anyway. The intern I was speaking to told me it was £5.60 for her & her boyfriend to take a trip to Asda. Not so indulgent now, huh?

There’s another reason why online supermarket shopping could save you money though, even with the delivery charge. If you shop in the supermarket, you might go with a list and a budget in mind. Inevitably, you’ll leave with extra stuff and having spent more than intended (you might even forget to pick up stuff you wanted but going home with things you didn’t need – how annoying!). If you get to the check-out and the nice lady say £38.70 but you only planned to spend £30, you don’t put things back. That would be awkward, especially with the people in the queue sighing, huffing and giving you the evil eye. Instead you just accept that you have overspent. We’ve all been there.

Online you can pick up what you want, but also put back as much as you like! It’s never embarrassing because you can faff about as much as you like at the check out. Nobody’s watching! Everything is easy to find and its not a problem if you change your mind. You can be as frugal as you want and nobody’s looking over your shoulder as you count those pennies back into your purse. Try it, you might just surprise yourself as to how sensible you can be!