May 5, 2023 – BREAKING NEWS, LIFESTYLE, LOCAL NEWS
EVEN before the cost of living drove her to it out of necessity, Waterford Mam Adrienne Sweetnam rarely left a hotel, restaurant, café or gas station without a pocket full of single-serving condiments and spreads, WWN can report.
“If I’m in a hotel and there’s a breakfast buffet, then that counts as our lunch of the day, too,” Ms. Sweetnam told us proudly, as she showed off her collection of sachets of condiments.
“Roll in your purse, a good handful of those packets of butter – the low low ones, not the real butter, they just keep longer. Some jam, maybe those detachable Nutella flakes if there are any… the kids would all say ‘ah mum, you’re embarrassing us’… I’m embarrassing you with a free lunch later in the day when are we at the beach? »
Mrs Sweetnam learned her thrifty approach to self-service stations from her mother, and as prices in supermarkets show no sign of abating, it has become more comfortable with each passing week.
“A sachet of sugar costs 2 euros. A handful of tiny sugar packets is free,” she explained, as she lifted a handful of wooden drink stirrers from the coffee dock of a Circle K, “just in case.”
Before we left, we were offered a plate of those biscuits you get after you donate blood with a thick helping of Colman’s mustard on top, which we politely declined.
