We've still enjoyed our frugal life with lots of cooking and baking from scratch. Our list for this week isn't as long as it usually is but every little bit helps.
* Made mini quiches for a cleaning client.
* Dried all the washing on the line.
* Had four single serves of chicken curry leftover. I've frozen them for future use.
* Darren made pita chips.
* Gratefully received two cos lettuces from my friend Cath Armstrong from The Cheapskates Club.
* Made some cranberry hootycreek biscuits. Cath and I enjoyed them for morning tea as well as the rest of my family. Everyone gets excited when they know I'm baking them.
* Found some very cheap pillow cases at the Savers op shop. These will be cut up and used to decorate hand towels for presents.
* Planted out four more tomato plants that my Dad grew.
* .Baked a double batch of raspberry and white chocolate muffins for us to eat. They are now in the freezer ready to be enjoyed. If I'm home or at a cleaning job I heat them up in the microwave and they taste like they are just out of the oven.
* We've started picking strawberries - YAY !!!. Just a few every couple of days but there will be plenty to come. What we can't eat will be frozen to make jam and fruit icecream.
* Gratefully received a few bread rolls and a block of cheese from a friend.
* Used up all the bits and pieces in the fridge before they went off. It's a great to know that the money I spend on food is used wisely.
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| Strawberry flowers growing in guttering on the fence. |
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| Magpie scratching around in the sliverbeet we gave her. |
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| Iceberg roses growing in the chicken enclosure. |
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| Free ranging the chickens for a while. |
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| Our first raspberry. I ate it a few days later. |
What frugal tasks have you completed this week ?
Hi Wendy, i had a very busy week this week with lots of cleaning out of wardrobes and cupboards. This week i made:
ReplyDeleteWendy's Brownies for a family BBQ we attended on Sunday and they were a great success. Also a butter cake, Anzac muesli slice, Peanut butter choc chip biscuits, Double batch of Banana cake, Noodle pasta sauce mix (like the continental pasta sauce packet mix) as potatoes are getting expensive and we are eating more rice, so this is nice for a change. All meals were made from scratch and i saved bread crusts for breadcrumbs.
As i has done so much baking this week, i used the butter wrappers as baking paper and washed and reused the normal baking paper to use again.
Saved water as usual, reused envelopes as note paper and for shopping lists and darned some socks which had small holes in them.
Picked up a few bargains for socking fillers like mens deodorants and bought dishwashing liquid on special for half price.
Wendy,Will you posting some info on your decorated hand towels?
Regards, Maureen
Yes, there will be a post coming soon on decorated hand towels and face washers.
DeleteHi Wendy. This week was a little more productive than last week which I am happy about. I made all meals from scratch, made muesli bars which were so much cheaper and more tastier than store bought bars. My only concern was that they fall apart a bit more. Do you have any ideas as to how to keep them more together? The recipe called for half a cup of honey. Am wondering whether to put more? I made about four portions of bolognase sauce which I froze for later use. My daughter Cynthia also made biscuits which was a real treat. I made laundry powder and pre-wash stain remover and have been busy cutting into smaller fragments, branches that we had cut and stored to gradually fit in our greens bin to avoid hiring a skip. We are on half an acre and have an established garden. I will also be grocery shopping with my Coles voucher that I redeemed my credit card points with. Actually I'm very excited as my last week grocery bill came to $58 so I am very happy that I am seeing the fruit of all my baking, cooking and meal organising. Thank-you Wendy for your weekly posts and for your readers input with handy tips. Blessings, Liz.
ReplyDeleteHi Liz, I roll the muesli bars in the cake tin with a very old, very small Vegemite jar and press the mixture down really hard, so it is compacted. Then I lightly score the top into bars before I bake them. I found they were a little crumbly too so rolling and compacting works for me. If you were going to increase an ingredient the butter would probably be better than the honey for binding. Crumbly or not my family always devoured them and sometimes I used the crumbs for ice cream topping so they weren't wasted.
DeleteYes I squish my muesli bar slice into the tin. I use a metal potato masher.
DeleteHi Wendy,
ReplyDeleteMy frugal tasks this week are:
- Dried all clothes on Line
- Made spray for Powdery Mildew that's on some of my roses.
- Diluted my dish washing liquid and hand wash
- Made yoghurt
- Made cauliflower fried rice for healthy alternative
- Made Wendy's icecream with banana , and some left over cream
- Bought some moccona coffee, Lipton tea bags, peanut butter and beet root on sale for my stockpile.
Wendy I wanted to know how long did it take you to get your stockpile together?
Thanks for the lovely posts.
Kathryn
It must be warmer where you are. Up near Canberra our raspberries and strawberries are still in full flower no fruit yet.
ReplyDeleteJust like maureen I am also keen to find out how you make the hand towel gifts.
Keep the recipes coming the pumpkin scones were delicious, can't wait for the next recipe to appear on your blog
I love chickens yours look very healthy and happy.
Kathleen
Lovely photos Wendy! I have had a busy week too with everything- but thought i would mention a couple of things i did. Decided to have the meat free night tonight and have omelettes for dinner as i needed to use up some eggs, so put into them just bits and pices like tomates that required using up. This week i found some old display books kids had leftover at the end of last yr, and used them to put all my loose recipes in, as i write down friends great recipes or rip them out of old mags, so this gets them organised. Made a pile of cupcakes from scratch for liittle school paries, froze some too for lumches. Incorporated leftovers into new meals. Found xmas presents on special and put the, away. Borrowed the novel from the library instead of buying for my child from the shops. Hung all washing outside. Home vegie patch doing well! Rosie
ReplyDeleteI love your chooks and the Iceberg roses they are beautiful. I had a good week.It seems to get busier every week at this time of the year. I found some fantastic supermarket specials that I grabbed including cucumbers and today I made pickles with them which my husband loves. I have quite a few Christmas presents to post. All year I save up boxes and postage packs and use them at Christmas so I dont have to buy any. They are easy to re use.We almost needed a plumber but today my husband attempted the job and success! He fixed the problem himself. Also today I started a new present to make with leftover yarn I have so I got started. So quite a few savings all up.xxx
ReplyDeleteHi Wendy
ReplyDeleteWhat great posts on here! I enjoying reading them and finding out what other people have been doing during the week. I've continued on with my baking that I can't keep up with having teenage children in the house - chocolate cake, muesli bars, muffins and cupcakes. My bread making needs a bit more work and will use my bread maker to help as I am unable to knead the dough. My shopping has become so controlled and I am extremely happy with this. I am attempting to commence my first monthly shop in the next week after becoming shop wise and spend wise with Cath and your tips Wendy. I always welcome handy saving tips. My vege garden is coming along fine and the compose certainly helps with new seedlings coming up which will save me money not having to purchase new ones.
With this busy time of year approaching, I am planning on making chocolate truffles for Christmas presents for neighbours and friends, and will present these in little Christmas gift boxes which I hope to find in a $2 shop.
I have got into full swing with sewing and managed to land myself a light industrial sewing machine. I am so thankful to have received this and ensured the lady it was going to a good home. This saved me thousands of dollars. Good things come to those who wait! I am also doing casual sewing jobs to help those out who can't sew and need alterations done. Its challenging and I get to meet new people in the area.
I don't have a drier and find in this warmer climate in the north, there is no need for one and so the clothesline gets a workout. I also have racks that I use indoors to air washing overnight ready for the next morning.
I am also thankful for my handy husband Phil who is able to do jobs around the house. He built our side gate which looks fabulous! Also did the paving and built our vege garden. If I could post pics to share I would. I'm very new to this blogging.
Have a great week everyone and thanks again for sharing!