Saturday 31 March 2018

This Week's Frugal Tasks Saturday 31st March 2018

My kitchen has had a good workout with lots of baking and cooking this week.  A wonderful side benefit is all the home cooked food we'll be enjoying over the Easter weekend. Here's my frugal list -


*  Jessica baked a big batch of raspberry and white choc muffins and choc chip biscuits for Uni snacks. She's trying to cut her costs down and avoid the cafeteria ( which is so over priced ).

*  Fed the compost bins with kitchen peelings,  tea leaves and tea bags.

*  Used lots of bread bags to lines the bins.

*  Took snacks and water when Jessica and I were out and about for wedding appointments.

*  Bought chicken drumsticks for $1.99 kg.  Darren and I only eat one each if they are a decent size.  The drumsticks cost approximately 60 cents per meal.

*  Collected bean seeds from our dying plants.  These will be used for next Spring's planting.

*  Picked the last of the raspberries.

*  Made 12 hot cross buns from scratch.  Although they are not cheap to make,  I know exactly what's in them.  That has to be an investment into our health.

*  Baked a chocolate cake and cranberry hootycreek biscuits for the holiday weekend.

*  Dried the washing on the line.

*  Bought roast beef for $7.99kg.  All of them went into the freezer and I'll cook them in ter slow cooker in the next few months.

*  Stayed home as much as possible to save the cheap petrol I bought last week.

*  Cooked a roast beef on Wednesday and carefully portioned it out into 11 serves with lots of gravy.  Darren and I ate it fresh that night and the rest went into the freezer.

*  Bought packets of 20 white craft bags for $1 a packet.    I used some for Easter treats.

*  Saved the washing and shower water to pour into the washing machine.

*  Bought more snacks for the engagement party at half price from Coles.

Homemade hot cross buns

Cranberry Hootycreek biscuits

Collecting bean seeds

Chocolate cake.

How did you save time,  money and energy this week ?

Have you done special baking or crafts for Easter ?

11 comments:

  1. I hope you are having a lovely Easter weekend, Wendy. Your baking looks delicious. Here we've been busy in the garden:
    * chopped lemongrass plants & spread trimmings around mandarin and avo trees as free mulch
    * finished sewing up a new mustardy-yellow sailor top
    * ate meals from freezer two nights in a row
    * topped up with cheapest fuel I could find ($1.33 as opposed to $1.47pL)
    * making Easter lunch and dessert here at home for family Easter lunch
    * decluttered cds, children's dvds and books and made little pile to give away and little pile to sell
    * bought some seed potatoes to plant in planter bags and few edible perennials. Received a free plant (I chose an edible spinach.)
    * foraged 3 juicy limes that had fallen from a neighbourhood tree when out walking dog. Juiced and froze for later use.
    We are having a very quiet Easter, no plans to go anywhere. Enjoying happy and free days at home. Meg:)

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    1. Petrol is so dear isn't it Meg. Great that you were able to get a better price.

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  2. Looks like your house was a delicious place to be this week, Wendy!!
    I made hamburger stroganoff for dinner the other night and made sure to portion out the leftovers along with the green beans we had with it into 3 individual lunchtime containers.
    But, wait, that’s not all!!!
    I took your “Use it up” challenge to heart and since I had more leftover cooked noodles than stroganoff sauce, I “recycled” the noodles into a taco casserole bake the next night and no one was the wiser!! The taco casserole also used some of my “everlasting” green onions that I sprouted from a bunch that I bought a few weeks ago that are now in a jar on my window sill!
    I made some of the eyeglass cleaner that was in the MOO section of the Cheapskates newsletter and I am over the moon with how well it works!!
    Our chickens are still laying like crazy- we are getting 4 dozen a week! We just sold 4 dozen on Monday but with this week’s production, we are still up to 26 dozen eggs!! Good thing we’re bringing deviled eggs to our Easter family dinner with the 35 of us!
    I was able to use flannel from my stash to make up 130 flannel Kleenex that I will sell and give as gifts.
    I made 2 soup cozies using my stash for an order for a friend. The benefits from making these is two-fold- it uses up some of my stash which helps me clear out drawers in my sewing room and have more space PLUS it’s been a moneymaker at the same time! Have already sold 30 of the Kleenex this week!

    We have been eating mostly from our pantry and fridge and freezer since the beginning of the year with just a small amount of purchases of things that are an exceptional price that are basic things we use! We got our Zaycon chicken order - 40 pounds of BLSL chicken breast for 99 cents/pound! So this week I’ve been cooking up and cutting up chicken for future meals!
    Been really concentrating on “using it up” so thanks for the inspiration and motivation!!!
    Happy Easter!!

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    Replies
    1. Bet you love having a food stockpile to live off. We are doing the same thing at the moment and only buying what we really need.

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  3. Your baking looks wonderful!!!
    I took your “Use It Up” challenge seriously this week! I made ground beef stroganoff one night and after we had dinner, I packaged up 3 individual containers with leftover stroganoff and green beans to be enjoyed as lunch or dinner. Because I still had additional noodles left, I found a recipe for a taco bake casserole dinner dish. I used up the noodles in that and my family didn’t even notice that they were eating “recycled” food! Lol!
    I made up more plain yogurt I had into individual strawberry yogurt, raspberry yogurt and caramel apple yogurt for us to enjoy as easy grab and go snacks, breakfasts, etc. I bought 9 individual quarts of plain yogurt for $2 total a couple weeks ago and I’ve been turning them into flavored yogurts as well as using it in the stroganoff and in mashed potatoes as a sour cream substitute!
    I made up several jars of dry “convenience” dinners including 12 quarts of beef and barley soup, 6 pints of Texas 2 Step chili and 3 quarts of Country style hamburger stew. I plan to make more varieties in the next couple weeks!
    I made a total of 130 flannel Kleenex out of flannel scraps and stash I already have! I’ve sold 30 of them already! Double benefit- helps me have more space and more organized sewing room + some side income!!
    We sold another 4 dozen eggs this week! We get over 17-1/2 dozen eggs a month from our 8 hens!
    Now that we had a warmer, non-rainy or snowy day today, I continued making our brick walkway this afternoon! I only placed about 2 rows (26 bricks) before it started sprinkling outside! But, at least that’s 26 more bricks in the walkway than there were this morning! If I just keep doing a row or two each day, soon it will get finished or I will run out of the 500 bricks I got for free!

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  4. Happy Easter. Home baked goods not only save a ton of money but they taste so much better. I got some clearance meat this week and some of it was chicken legs. We BBQ some and they were delicious. Youngest daughter and I eat one each but Hubby and son eat 2 each. I have plenty more for future meals. Bread bags are good for so many things. I always save them and my sister gives me hers. The rest of my frugal week is at https://mcoia.blogspot.com/2018/04/my-frugal-list-week-of-march-25-2018.html

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. We reuse all bread bags at least a few times over. How do you reuse yours ?

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  5. caught up on washing, went to church, made honey almond biscotti, saw family, cleaned out both fridges. Chest freezer all but empty waiting for school holidays to meat shop and food prep. Hope you had a lovely easter.
    Ideas for left over chocolates would be good!
    Cathy

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. When our girls were little and the received too much chocolate, we broke them up and stored it in a container. Great for putting on top of icecream.

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  6. We had a quiet Easter at home this year. Hubby helped our son pull down and replace the ceiling in his (son's) house. This took all weekend. I just pottered around home catching up on some chores, visiting with my parents and daughter also. It was nice to relax for a few days and switch off from all the busyness that is everyday life these days.

    I only bought chocolate eggs for the three grand babies, and made healthy cocao date balls for my daughter instead of chocolates. I don't believe in spending needlessly anymore.

    Your hot cross buns turned out well. I made hot cross muffins one year and they were very nice, must make them again.

    xTania

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    Replies
    1. Tania, I can't eat store bought hot cross buns any more. They don't taste right.

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