Italy on a Shoe String - Living ‘La Bella Vita’ Inexpensively

[nigelaxis]

I was posting on the thread 'Cost of living... who is saying is so much cheaper' and an idea for a thread arrived.

Italy on a Shoe String - Living ‘La Bella Vita’ Inexpensively

This thread is for ways of living good but inexpensively in Italy. I encourage people to post deals, ideas, recipes and anything else on this thread.

I personally will be adding some traditional recipes from my Neapolitan mother-in-law. Inexpensive but delicious!

[Iona]

Great idea, Nigel!

Made it a 'sticky' thread, meaning it stays at the top!!

Cheers,
S :)

[Relaxed]

One aspect of Italian retailing which I find very comfortable and economical is that if you are a single, or small couple, you are never forced to buy ten overpackaged peaches or tomatoes, or a whole lettuce, or a whole loaf! It is entirely acceptable in most places - including quite large supermarkets - to ask for two slices off a loaf, a couple of slices of prosciutto, one tomato, two potatos - etc etc. So there is no waste. I use one wonderful supermarket where they have "salad" - green leaves, all the same price, so you can pick yourself a green salad of seven or more different varieties of leaf, and if you have only bought seven leaves - fine. That is allowed. If I want one thin slice of pork loin to do a fancy Chinese recipe with, my meat will end up costing something like 1/2 a euro. If I want to do something elaborate which calls for 200g of minced pork, 150g of minced beef, 50g of chicken liver, I can buy these ingredients in these quantities - at the same price as if I were buying a kilo of each
Steel wool - (is anybody young enough to have heard of this stuff?) - in the UK is an overpriced box of 12 Brillo pads - (I guess that is a couple of euro expenditure:) no - you just go to the ferramenta who sells it by the kilo, and if you just need 20grams it costs a few centesimo. I agree it is a bit of a culture shock to pay for heavyweight polythene rubbish bags by the kilo - but you get used to this!
So - this is one small aspect of doing Italy on a shoestring - remember: almost everthing is sold by weight, and there is not a minimum weight :) (My huge local coop often has offers on crockery....sold by the kilo!!)

[shas]

yes I agree with you ,Relaxed.At my local bar/alimentari its totally normal to ask for half a loaf of bread and they cut it.That wouldnt neccesarily mean they could sell the other half so its a potential waste for them,but no problem!Who/where in the uk would you get this?? Incidentally,if anyone has any ideas as to how to keep italian bread fresher for longer than half a day...?
shas

[Tanny]

I agree with all the above - it's a great system. The 'trading' (possibly the wrong word!) between people is also useful. Last year during the mushroom season we met an old lady while we were working on the olive trees and, being the local expert (unknown to us at the time) we asked her about the different types we had growing on the property and gave her a free hand to come up and pick them. She duly did so and went off very happy with a large basket full. A couple of days later we came home to find a huge bag of cachi fruit on the doorstep! A week or so later through another chance meeting we ended up at her house for a coffee. An hour or so later we went home with two bottles of homemade wine, grapes, various leaves to make tisanes, more fruit, instructions on what to do with our olives to 'cure' them and an insight into how local people swap goods. Wonderful. Also some veg are very easy to grow over here, so an orto can save euros too. One thing I miss is the second-hand shops, but did eventually find one that sells everything imaginable. We picked up a few items of furniture and several rugs at reasonable prices, though perhaps not as cheaply as one could have done in UK. We often see the older people out picking wild greenery and I would love to know what this is all about. I'm sure that there is a lot of wild veg and herbs amongst it - all free! There are also excellent 'special offers' in one of the big supermarkets near Imperia where I have bought most of the bedding and some clothing at ridiculous prices. The major expenses are electricity, gas and telephone. For the electricity we are on a two band rate to get 10% off, we are swapping the gas central heating and water for a wood burning system (which we anticipate covering the cost of in the first year!) and finally have switched to the flat rate of 15euros per month for all international telephone calls thus cutting the cost of that bill considerably. All in all we are finding Italian ways of economising. It's all good fun and a lovely way of getting to know the people and culture!

[Anastasia]

Shas..

Wrap the bread in a clean tea towel to stop the air getting to it and it will stay 'fresher' longer.. but why would you want to do this? The harder Italian bread gets.. the better it is in my opinion. If you find after a few days the bread has gone too 'hard' - use it for making bruschetta by toasting it.. or soak it in milk to soften it and use it when you make polpetti.. or make breadcrumbs.. just bake it in the oven for a little while to really dry it out - then put it in a plastic bag and bash with a rolling pin and store in an airtight container.. or give it to me. :D

Tanny..

The 'wild greenery' is probably wild asparagus.. :)

[chillout]

If you are a smoker in italy and you think that the prices are cheaper than the uk then you are right. Do you still want to save money legally? then buy your cigs from www.k2smokes.ch see the website for more details but a stick of marlboro in italy is around 40 euro's a stick (200 cigs) from the website you pay 20 euro's. if you really want to save money its better that you give up for those of you that still smoke you save 20 euro's on every stick!

I will add some more money saving tips soon.

[chillout]

When paying your utility bills try to use a credit card as you save the 1 or 2 euro commision fee for each bill. If you dont have a credit card then you can purchase a top up credit card for 10 euro's from the post office (postpay)which includes 5 euros credit. just need your uk passport and italian id card.

[Sally Donaldson]

And of course even better, give up smoking completely!!!

[shas]

Tanny-have you discovered the Emhaus "mercato de usato"(I hope thts right?)stores -theres two in Toscana at Prato and Quarrata,I dont know about Liguria.They sell second hand everything at reasonable prices and also do a good job for the community by employing people who have fallen out of the mainstream system for one reason or another(check out the origins of the movement on the web).Lots of it is tat but its the nearest Ive seen to a uk junkshop/carboot..good for recycling -marble-wine making gear etcetc and if your lucky you can spot a real find.(Although on a recent visit I noticed the Firenze antique dealers hauling of a van load- got there too late).Theyre only open wednesdays and saturdays and of course the obligatory 3-4 hour lunch break..
happy hunting
shas