This Week's Frugal Tasks Saturday 13th July 2019

This week we made a conscious effort to use up what we have and to make sure we didn't waste a thing in the kitchen.  Next week I'll be doing my first monthly shop with the $100 budget for three people plus our cat.  So far I only have 16 items on the shopping list.  All are ingredients and the cheapest brands available.  I'll be researching cheaper baking recipes especially ones that use less butter ( which is so expensive these days ).

Here's our frugal list -

*  Made 14 bars of coconut oil and olive oil soap.  Most will be used by Darren and I and a few will either be sold or given as presents.  This pays for all of the ingredients.

*  Made pita chips for snacking on.

*  Darren bought a few shirts using gift cards he received through Velocity points ( Midas car services ).  A couple of the shirts were on clearance so the gift cards went further than we thought.

*  Made pumpkin scones using pumpkins bought for 99 cents a kilo.  I've cooked,  drained and frozen the rest of the pumpkin to make more scones later on.

*  Wrote another cheap menu plan and focused on using up bits and pieces in the freezer.

*  Gratefully received more lemons and mandarins from a friend.

*  Cooked up a roast beef in the slow cooker.  The three of us had it for dinner that night.  The leftovers were carefully portioned out for another two meals in gravy and the rest went into a Massaman beef curry.  In total I got 15 portions from the roast beef.

*  Stocked up on choc bits on sale at half price in Coles.  I'll be looking for cheaper biscuit recipes that use less butter.

*  I drove my Dad into the city on Thursday for a doctor's appointment.  Our usual car park has changed it's rates and conditions of entry making it impossible to park there for a couple of hours.  We found a much cheaper option that charges $5 an hour instead of the usual $16 + per hour.

*  This week I only needed to buy milk,  potatoes and carrots.  My local fruit and veg shop had a managers special on brushed potatoes for $2 a 5 kilo bag.  I also purchased a 5 kilo bag of juicing carrots for $5.99 instead of the usual 1 kilo bag for $2.  I guess we are eating more carrots for the next few weeks.  I was quite surprised at the quality of the carrots.  They are just as good as the usual carrots.

*  Jessica bought a roast chicken to help out.  I made a big pot of chunky chicken and veg soup ( 7 portions ).  A container of chicken stock went into the freezer for more soup making later on ( will make 8 portions of soup ).  The rest of the meat was made into a chicken pasta bake and frozen ( 7 portions ).  In total I made the chicken stretch to 22 portions.

*  Froze leftovers of chop suey for 2 people.

*  Topped up our cars with petrol while the price is still reasonable.

*  Turned lights and standby lights off where and when possible.

*  Dried clothes on clothes horses over the vent in the bathroom ( and closed the door )

Do you freeze the leftovers from dinner ?

How did you save money this week ?