Five frugal things for February half term

Otto and flowers

With our new puppy, Otto, joining the family shortly before half term, we haven’t strayed too far from home. We’re counting down the days after his second set of injections before we can take him for walks out in the big wide world.

In the mean time, he’s been bouncing around our kitchen and garden with the kids, pouncing on leaves, chasing sticks and savaging soft toys.

So during half term we’ve been taking advantage of local discounts and deals.

Here are my five frugal things this week:

Saving with soup

Welcomed weekend visitors

If we can’t go too far from home, we can invite people over for puppy cuddles. One family came to stay last weekend, so I did a bunch of cooking to make food costs more manageable. I bunged soup in the slow cooker to eat with sandwiches for lunch, made some of the best ever brownies for the afternoon, and did lasagne with salad and garlic bread in the evening.

I also made a roast meal with a couple of chickens for Sunday lunch. I’m trying to resist sweet stuff right now, so it was a great opportunity to use up a panettone we were given for Christmas as bread and butter pudding. I was also able to transform leftover roast chicken in a chicken, bacon and mushroom pearl barley risotto when my mum and cousin came round for dinner the next day.

Free book from EACH

Picked up a free children’s book at the hospice shop

During the school holidays, our local East Anglian Children’s Hospice (EACH) shop has started giving away free books to children. They offer one book per child, up to the age of 14, for every week of the school holidays. I nipped in with my 12-year-old and she found a Tom Gates hardback she hadn’t read before – which would have cost £11.99 brand new!

Pin for later:

Took advantage of free swimming

Our local pool here in Hadleigh also offers free swimming for under 17s during fun sessions in the school holidays, as part of a Suffolk-wide scheme. I signed the kids up for membership cards last summer, so they just have to rock up, scan the cards, and dive in. We arranged to go at the same time as friends from school, so I even had adult company to chat with by the side of the pool!

Gratuitous sleeping puppy pic

Booked bargain tickets to an IMAX film

Our nearest cinema, the Cineworld over in Ipswich, is running an IMAX film festival on Saturday, with tickets for just £3.75 a head, or £3.45 if you fork out a fiver a year for My Cineworld Plus membership. There’s a choice of four films: The Joker, Avengers: End Game, The Lion King or Spiderman: Far From Home. The kids were keen to see Spiderman, so I’ve booked tickets for just £13.80 for our family of four, a third cheaper than a normal family ticket at £21. 

Snapped up a £1 kids meal at Prezzo

My daughter and I also headed to Ipswich earlier this week, to replace her swimming costume and school uniform tracksuit trousers (hole in one, growing too tall for the other). She’s a big pizza fan, so like last year we treated ourselves to a meal out at Prezzo, who are running a half term offer of a £1 Kids Meal with every adult main meal purchased. The promo lasts until February 25, apart from on Saturday. It’s a good deal, as Prezzo have a Kids menu with larger helpings as well as a Tots menu, and it includes three courses and a drink. Just make sure you get a code beforehand from the Prezzo website.

Now – over to you. How are you surviving half term? What’s your best frugal tip this week? Do share in the comments, I’d love to hear!

Want more frugal inspiration?  Do head over and join the Much More With Less #MoneySavingYear Facebook group, to share thrifty tips and support. It’s a private group so your comments won’t be splashed all over your friends’ Facebook feeds.

I’m linking up with Cass, Emma and Becky in this week’s ‘Five fabulously frugal things I’ve done this week’ linky