Your Cheapskates Club Newsletter 09:22
In This Newsletter
1. Cath's Corner
2. From the Tip Store - MOO Strawberry Vinegar; MOO Instant Custard; MOO Peanut Butter Cups
3. Share Your Tips
4. On the Menu - Chicken Broccoli Pasta Bake
5. The $300 a Month Food Challenge - If I Can MOO it, You can Too!
6. The Weekly MOO Challenge - March is MOO Month
7. Cheapskates Buzz
8. The Cheapskates Club Show
9. Ask A Question - Have a question? Ask it here
10. Join the Cheapskates Club
11. Frequently Asked Questions
12. Contact Details
1. Cath's Corner
2. From the Tip Store - MOO Strawberry Vinegar; MOO Instant Custard; MOO Peanut Butter Cups
3. Share Your Tips
4. On the Menu - Chicken Broccoli Pasta Bake
5. The $300 a Month Food Challenge - If I Can MOO it, You can Too!
6. The Weekly MOO Challenge - March is MOO Month
7. Cheapskates Buzz
8. The Cheapskates Club Show
9. Ask A Question - Have a question? Ask it here
10. Join the Cheapskates Club
11. Frequently Asked Questions
12. Contact Details
1. Cath's Corner
Hello Cheapskaters,
A lot has happened in just a week. I hope you are all well, and safe. It's easy to become overwhelmed and worried, abut we need to keep living our lives, as best we can, for ourselves, for our children, for society as a whole.
When life gets tough, we buckle down and dig in, and keep on Cheapskating, knowing that we are doing the best we can, with what we have, and that nothing lasts forever.
So I'm going to leave you with this - keep calm, and Cheapskate!
Happy Cheapskating,
Cath
PS: Love our site? We love referrals! Send a note to your favourite newspapers, magazines, radio stations, TV stations, friends and relatives, and tell them about us!
2. From The Tip Store
MOO Strawberry Vinegar
I once had a really lovely green salad topped with strawberry vinegar and cracked black pepper. I asked my friend about the vinegar and was amazed to find it cost $19.95 for a one litre bottle! So in the interests of saving.....
I bought 2 cheap punnets of strawberries for $2.00 each and a 2 litre bottle of white wine vinegar for $2.50 (you could even make your own white wine vinegar).
Then I washed the strawberries, no need to hull them, and put them to soak in the vinegar for 18 days. You can do it in 14 days but I wanted a good strong flavour and colour. The vinegar turned red, I strained and used the strawberries in my pickled collection, and I finished the vinegar by adding sugar syrup. This was 1 cup of sugar, and 1 cup of water boiled till dissolved. Add the syrup to taste. I like mine with only a little. Serve on fresh salads with cracked black pepper or even add to some Asian dressings for something different.
Contributed by Janie-Lee
MOO Instant Custard
I make this up to use at home, but mostly for when we go camping. It's similar to the Bird's or Foster Clark instant custard packets, but a lot cheaper, and nicer.
Ingredients:
4 cups powdered milk (skim, low fat or full cream)
1 cup cornflour
1 cup sugar
2 tbsp vanilla sugar
Combine all dry ingredients. Whisk well to combine. Store in a clean, dry jar or canister.
To make 1 litre custard put 1-1/2 cups mixture into a dish. Pour in 900ml boiling water and whisk well until mixture is smooth and thick. This makes a medium weight pouring custard. If you like a very thick custard you can cook for 1 minute in the microwave, then whisk well.
To make 1 cup of custard use 1/3 cup MOO Instant Custard Powder to 3/4 cup boiling water. Whisk well.
MOO Peanut Butter Cups
Ingredients:
24 foil chocolate cups*
375g milk chocolate melts
1 cup peanut butter
1/2 cup icing sugar
1/4 tsp salt
Step 1. Melt the chocolate melts over a double boiler or in the microwave.
Step 2. Using a teaspoon, pour some chocolate into a foil cup and swirl around so it covers the entire inside of the foil chocolate cup. Repeat with the remaining foil cups. Put them in the fridge for the chocolate to set.
Step 3. Combine the peanut butter, icing sugar and salt in a bowl.
Step 4. When the chocolate cases have hardened, microwave the peanut butter mixture on half power for 30 seconds to soften.
Step 5. Using a teaspoon, spoon a small portion of the peanut butter into each chocolate cup. Leave room for another layer of chocolate. Chill until the peanut butter has hardened.
Step 6. Melt remaining chocolate. Spoon over the top of the peanut butter, making sure it is completely covered. Chill until firm.
*You'll find the small foil chocolate papers at kitchenware shops and in some supermarkets in the baking aisle with the cupcake papers etc. Spotlight and Lincraft sometimes keep them with the chocolate making supplies too.
There are more than 12,000 great tips in the
Tip Store
Add a Tip
3. Share Your Tips
The Cheapskate's Club website is thousands of pages of money saving hints, tips and ideas. There are over 12,000 tips to save you money, time and energy; 1,600 budget and family friendly recipes, hundreds of printable tip sheets and ebooks.
Let's get together and make the Cheapskates Club Australia's largest online hint, tip and idea library. Share your favourite money saving, time saving or energy saving hint and be in the running to win a one-year membership to The Cheapskate Club.
Share your favourite hint or tip that saves money, time and energy and be in the running to win a one-year subscription to The Cheapskate Journal.
Remember, you have to be in it to win it!
Share Your Tip
4. On The Menu
Chicken Broccoli Pasta Bake
This is a delicious pasta dish with a bit of a twist. Serve with a salad and bread. The list of ingredients makes it look complicated, but it's not - just good, tasty, hearty food that everyone will love. Even with the "green stuff" in it, no one will complain!
Ingredients:
2 tbsp olive oil
1 large brown onion, finely chopped
3 garlic cloves, crushed
1 tin cream of chicken soup
1/2 tin water
2 chicken fillets, skin off and diced
200g mushrooms, sliced
1 head broccoli, steamed
300g dried macaroni
125g butter, chopped
2/3 cup plain flour
3 cups water
3/4 cup skim milk powder
200g grated cheese
Method:
Heat oil in a large heavy-based saucepan over medium heat. Add onion, mushrooms and garlic. Cook, stirring occasionally for 5 minutes or until soft. Increase heat to high, add chicken and cook, for 5-7 minutes, stirring often or until browned. Add cream of chicken soup and half tin of water and bring to the boil. Reduce heat to medium-low, add broccoli florets. Simmer, uncovered, for 15 - 20 minutes or until broccoli is tender. Preheat oven to 200 degrees Celsius fan forced. Meanwhile, cook macaroni in a large saucepan of boiling, salted water following packet directions until al dente. Drain. Mix water and skim milk powder. Melt butter in a saucepan over high heat. Add flour and cook for 1 minute. Remove from heat. Add milk to flour, stirring constantly until smooth. Return pan to heat and cook, stirring constantly, until sauce comes to the boil. Add the macaroni. Stir in the sauce and half the cheese. Spoon chicken and broccoli mixture into a lightly-greased 12-cup capacity baking dish. Spoon over the macaroni mixture, top with remaining cheese and bake for 15-20 minutes or until cheese is melted and sauce bubbling at edges.
Notes: If the chicken fillets are very large, use one or one and a half, depending on the number you are feeding. Cut into small dice and it will go further.
MOO Cream of Chicken soup can be used instead of a tin.
Reduce the amount of cheese by half, adding cheese to the white sauce and using breadcrumbs dotted with butter for the topping.
Next week we will be eating:
Sunday: Roast Lamb
Monday: Quick Rice Patties & Veggies
Tuesday: Chicken Broccoli Pasta Bake
Wednesday: Sausages in onion gravy, mash, veggies
Thursday: MOO Pizza
Friday: Fish, Wedges, Coleslaw
Saturday: Tacos
There are over 1,800 budget and family friendly recipes in the Cheapskates Club Recipe File, all contributed by your fellow Cheapskates, so you know they're good.
Add A Recipe
Recipe File Index
5. The $300 a Month Food Challenge
If I Can MOO it, You can Too!
It's MOO month, and in case you weren't aware, MOOing can really help you stick to your $300 a Month Food Challenge, even in these trying times of rising prices and product shortages.
We've been brainwashed into believing that we don't have time to Make Our Own. Or that we do't have the skills to Make Our Own.
Well that is just marketing and it is designed to part your from your hard earned money and dumb you down!
Don't believe it.
There are very few things we would normally eat, drink or use that I don't, couldn’t or won't MOO.
Washing powder- MOO it.
Soap - MOO it.
Biscuits - MOO them.
Crackers - MOO them.
Sauces - MOO them.
Bread - MOO it.
Pasta - MOO it.
Toothpaste - MOO it.
Deodorant - MOO it.
Floor cleaner - MOO it.
Cereals - MOO them.
Taco seasoning - MOO it.
Breadcrumbs - MOO them.
Pastry - MOO it.
Pizza - MOO it.
Crumpets - MOO them.
Cordial - MOO it.
Flavoured coffee - MOO it.
Dish cloths - MOO them.
There are thousands of everyday things I MOO. And you can too.
If you can't find your favourite sauce or biscuit or shampoo or washing powder at the supermarket MOO it!
The $300 a Month Food Challenge Forum
The Post that Started it All
6. The Weekly MOO Challenge
March is MOO Month
The month when we Cheapskaters do our very best to make our own cleaning products, treats, meals, cosmetics, clothes, garden products and anything else we use day-to-day.
When we make our own we don't just save money. We know exactly what goes into our food and cleaning products. We cut down on the amount of packaging going to landfill. We put things that would otherwise be sent to landfill to use by recycling them into something new.
Think back to what life was like just 60 years ago. Most grocery shopping was for ingredients (because ingredients give you options!). There were very few convenience products on the market. Meals were cooked from scratch. Most women could knit and sew for their family. Men knew how to do simple home maintenance tasks like changing a washer, replacing broken windows, servicing the lawn mower and the car if they had one. Even medicines were made at home instead of bought from the Chemist.
Many of you are already dedicated MOOers. Some of you haven't attempted MOOing yet. And some of you are taking baby steps towards complete MOOing. Wherever you are on the pathway to MOOing, let's all focus on Making Our Own and see where it takes us.
Get in on the fun and discussions here.
7. Cheapskates Buzz
From The Article Archive
Cupcake Crazy
Facing an Uncertain Future
Learning to Spend Less
This Week's Hot Forum Topics
MOO Month 2022
MOO Condensed Milk Caramel in the Microwave
Self Care - What Special Things do You Like to do Just for You?
8. The Cheapskates Club Show
Join Cath and Hannah live Tuesdays on You Tube at 7.30pm AET
Show Schedule
Tuesday: join Cath and Hannah for a cuppa and a chat around the kitchen table as they talk about living the Cheapskates way.
Latest Shows
Hello Cheapskaters,
A lot has happened in just a week. I hope you are all well, and safe. It's easy to become overwhelmed and worried, abut we need to keep living our lives, as best we can, for ourselves, for our children, for society as a whole.
When life gets tough, we buckle down and dig in, and keep on Cheapskating, knowing that we are doing the best we can, with what we have, and that nothing lasts forever.
So I'm going to leave you with this - keep calm, and Cheapskate!
Happy Cheapskating,
Cath
PS: Love our site? We love referrals! Send a note to your favourite newspapers, magazines, radio stations, TV stations, friends and relatives, and tell them about us!
2. From The Tip Store
MOO Strawberry Vinegar
I once had a really lovely green salad topped with strawberry vinegar and cracked black pepper. I asked my friend about the vinegar and was amazed to find it cost $19.95 for a one litre bottle! So in the interests of saving.....
I bought 2 cheap punnets of strawberries for $2.00 each and a 2 litre bottle of white wine vinegar for $2.50 (you could even make your own white wine vinegar).
Then I washed the strawberries, no need to hull them, and put them to soak in the vinegar for 18 days. You can do it in 14 days but I wanted a good strong flavour and colour. The vinegar turned red, I strained and used the strawberries in my pickled collection, and I finished the vinegar by adding sugar syrup. This was 1 cup of sugar, and 1 cup of water boiled till dissolved. Add the syrup to taste. I like mine with only a little. Serve on fresh salads with cracked black pepper or even add to some Asian dressings for something different.
Contributed by Janie-Lee
MOO Instant Custard
I make this up to use at home, but mostly for when we go camping. It's similar to the Bird's or Foster Clark instant custard packets, but a lot cheaper, and nicer.
Ingredients:
4 cups powdered milk (skim, low fat or full cream)
1 cup cornflour
1 cup sugar
2 tbsp vanilla sugar
Combine all dry ingredients. Whisk well to combine. Store in a clean, dry jar or canister.
To make 1 litre custard put 1-1/2 cups mixture into a dish. Pour in 900ml boiling water and whisk well until mixture is smooth and thick. This makes a medium weight pouring custard. If you like a very thick custard you can cook for 1 minute in the microwave, then whisk well.
To make 1 cup of custard use 1/3 cup MOO Instant Custard Powder to 3/4 cup boiling water. Whisk well.
MOO Peanut Butter Cups
Ingredients:
24 foil chocolate cups*
375g milk chocolate melts
1 cup peanut butter
1/2 cup icing sugar
1/4 tsp salt
Step 1. Melt the chocolate melts over a double boiler or in the microwave.
Step 2. Using a teaspoon, pour some chocolate into a foil cup and swirl around so it covers the entire inside of the foil chocolate cup. Repeat with the remaining foil cups. Put them in the fridge for the chocolate to set.
Step 3. Combine the peanut butter, icing sugar and salt in a bowl.
Step 4. When the chocolate cases have hardened, microwave the peanut butter mixture on half power for 30 seconds to soften.
Step 5. Using a teaspoon, spoon a small portion of the peanut butter into each chocolate cup. Leave room for another layer of chocolate. Chill until the peanut butter has hardened.
Step 6. Melt remaining chocolate. Spoon over the top of the peanut butter, making sure it is completely covered. Chill until firm.
*You'll find the small foil chocolate papers at kitchenware shops and in some supermarkets in the baking aisle with the cupcake papers etc. Spotlight and Lincraft sometimes keep them with the chocolate making supplies too.
There are more than 12,000 great tips in the
Tip Store
Add a Tip
3. Share Your Tips
The Cheapskate's Club website is thousands of pages of money saving hints, tips and ideas. There are over 12,000 tips to save you money, time and energy; 1,600 budget and family friendly recipes, hundreds of printable tip sheets and ebooks.
Let's get together and make the Cheapskates Club Australia's largest online hint, tip and idea library. Share your favourite money saving, time saving or energy saving hint and be in the running to win a one-year membership to The Cheapskate Club.
Share your favourite hint or tip that saves money, time and energy and be in the running to win a one-year subscription to The Cheapskate Journal.
Remember, you have to be in it to win it!
Share Your Tip
4. On The Menu
Chicken Broccoli Pasta Bake
This is a delicious pasta dish with a bit of a twist. Serve with a salad and bread. The list of ingredients makes it look complicated, but it's not - just good, tasty, hearty food that everyone will love. Even with the "green stuff" in it, no one will complain!
Ingredients:
2 tbsp olive oil
1 large brown onion, finely chopped
3 garlic cloves, crushed
1 tin cream of chicken soup
1/2 tin water
2 chicken fillets, skin off and diced
200g mushrooms, sliced
1 head broccoli, steamed
300g dried macaroni
125g butter, chopped
2/3 cup plain flour
3 cups water
3/4 cup skim milk powder
200g grated cheese
Method:
Heat oil in a large heavy-based saucepan over medium heat. Add onion, mushrooms and garlic. Cook, stirring occasionally for 5 minutes or until soft. Increase heat to high, add chicken and cook, for 5-7 minutes, stirring often or until browned. Add cream of chicken soup and half tin of water and bring to the boil. Reduce heat to medium-low, add broccoli florets. Simmer, uncovered, for 15 - 20 minutes or until broccoli is tender. Preheat oven to 200 degrees Celsius fan forced. Meanwhile, cook macaroni in a large saucepan of boiling, salted water following packet directions until al dente. Drain. Mix water and skim milk powder. Melt butter in a saucepan over high heat. Add flour and cook for 1 minute. Remove from heat. Add milk to flour, stirring constantly until smooth. Return pan to heat and cook, stirring constantly, until sauce comes to the boil. Add the macaroni. Stir in the sauce and half the cheese. Spoon chicken and broccoli mixture into a lightly-greased 12-cup capacity baking dish. Spoon over the macaroni mixture, top with remaining cheese and bake for 15-20 minutes or until cheese is melted and sauce bubbling at edges.
Notes: If the chicken fillets are very large, use one or one and a half, depending on the number you are feeding. Cut into small dice and it will go further.
MOO Cream of Chicken soup can be used instead of a tin.
Reduce the amount of cheese by half, adding cheese to the white sauce and using breadcrumbs dotted with butter for the topping.
Next week we will be eating:
Sunday: Roast Lamb
Monday: Quick Rice Patties & Veggies
Tuesday: Chicken Broccoli Pasta Bake
Wednesday: Sausages in onion gravy, mash, veggies
Thursday: MOO Pizza
Friday: Fish, Wedges, Coleslaw
Saturday: Tacos
There are over 1,800 budget and family friendly recipes in the Cheapskates Club Recipe File, all contributed by your fellow Cheapskates, so you know they're good.
Add A Recipe
Recipe File Index
5. The $300 a Month Food Challenge
If I Can MOO it, You can Too!
It's MOO month, and in case you weren't aware, MOOing can really help you stick to your $300 a Month Food Challenge, even in these trying times of rising prices and product shortages.
We've been brainwashed into believing that we don't have time to Make Our Own. Or that we do't have the skills to Make Our Own.
Well that is just marketing and it is designed to part your from your hard earned money and dumb you down!
Don't believe it.
There are very few things we would normally eat, drink or use that I don't, couldn’t or won't MOO.
Washing powder- MOO it.
Soap - MOO it.
Biscuits - MOO them.
Crackers - MOO them.
Sauces - MOO them.
Bread - MOO it.
Pasta - MOO it.
Toothpaste - MOO it.
Deodorant - MOO it.
Floor cleaner - MOO it.
Cereals - MOO them.
Taco seasoning - MOO it.
Breadcrumbs - MOO them.
Pastry - MOO it.
Pizza - MOO it.
Crumpets - MOO them.
Cordial - MOO it.
Flavoured coffee - MOO it.
Dish cloths - MOO them.
There are thousands of everyday things I MOO. And you can too.
If you can't find your favourite sauce or biscuit or shampoo or washing powder at the supermarket MOO it!
The $300 a Month Food Challenge Forum
The Post that Started it All
6. The Weekly MOO Challenge
March is MOO Month
The month when we Cheapskaters do our very best to make our own cleaning products, treats, meals, cosmetics, clothes, garden products and anything else we use day-to-day.
When we make our own we don't just save money. We know exactly what goes into our food and cleaning products. We cut down on the amount of packaging going to landfill. We put things that would otherwise be sent to landfill to use by recycling them into something new.
Think back to what life was like just 60 years ago. Most grocery shopping was for ingredients (because ingredients give you options!). There were very few convenience products on the market. Meals were cooked from scratch. Most women could knit and sew for their family. Men knew how to do simple home maintenance tasks like changing a washer, replacing broken windows, servicing the lawn mower and the car if they had one. Even medicines were made at home instead of bought from the Chemist.
Many of you are already dedicated MOOers. Some of you haven't attempted MOOing yet. And some of you are taking baby steps towards complete MOOing. Wherever you are on the pathway to MOOing, let's all focus on Making Our Own and see where it takes us.
Get in on the fun and discussions here.
7. Cheapskates Buzz
From The Article Archive
Cupcake Crazy
Facing an Uncertain Future
Learning to Spend Less
This Week's Hot Forum Topics
MOO Month 2022
MOO Condensed Milk Caramel in the Microwave
Self Care - What Special Things do You Like to do Just for You?
8. The Cheapskates Club Show
Join Cath and Hannah live Tuesdays on You Tube at 7.30pm AET
Show Schedule
Tuesday: join Cath and Hannah for a cuppa and a chat around the kitchen table as they talk about living the Cheapskates way.
Latest Shows
9. Ask A Question
We have lots of resources to help you as you live the Cheapskates way but if you didn't find the answer to your question in our extensive archives please just drop me a note with your question.
I read and answer all questions, either in an email to you, in my weekly newsletter, the monthly Journal or by creating blog posts and other resources to help you (and other Cheapskaters).
Ask Your Question
10. Join The Cheapskates Club
For just $25 you can join the Cheapskates Club and get exclusive access to the Cheapskate Journal, the monthly e-journal that shows you how to cut the costs of everyday living and still have fun for a full year.
That's unlimited 24/7 access to EVERYTHING in the Member's Centre!
Click here to join the Cheapskates Club today!
11. Frequently Asked Questions
How do I change my email address?
This one is easy. When you login to the Member's Centre just click on your name at the top of the page to go straight to your profile page where you can update your details, change your password and find your subscription details.
Not a Cheapskates Club member? Then please use the Changing Details form found here to update your email address.
How do I know when my membership should be renewed?
Memberships are active for one year from the date of joining. You will be sent a renewal reminder before your subscription is due to renew. You can also find your membership expiry date on your profile page.
When you login to the Member's Centre just click on your name to go straight to your profile page where you can will find your join date and your expiry date.
What will you do with my email address?
We never rent, trade or sell our email list to anyone for any reason whatsoever. You'll never get an unsolicited email from a stranger as a result of joining this list.
How did I get on this list?
The only way you can get onto our newsletter mailing list is to subscribe yourself. You either signed up to receive our Free Newsletter at our Cheapskates Club Web site or are a Platinum Cheapskates Club member.
12. Contact Cheapskates
The Cheapskates Club -
Showing you how to live life
debt free, cashed up and laughing!
PO Box 5077 Studfield Vic 3152
Contact Cheapskates
We have lots of resources to help you as you live the Cheapskates way but if you didn't find the answer to your question in our extensive archives please just drop me a note with your question.
I read and answer all questions, either in an email to you, in my weekly newsletter, the monthly Journal or by creating blog posts and other resources to help you (and other Cheapskaters).
Ask Your Question
10. Join The Cheapskates Club
For just $25 you can join the Cheapskates Club and get exclusive access to the Cheapskate Journal, the monthly e-journal that shows you how to cut the costs of everyday living and still have fun for a full year.
That's unlimited 24/7 access to EVERYTHING in the Member's Centre!
Click here to join the Cheapskates Club today!
11. Frequently Asked Questions
How do I change my email address?
This one is easy. When you login to the Member's Centre just click on your name at the top of the page to go straight to your profile page where you can update your details, change your password and find your subscription details.
Not a Cheapskates Club member? Then please use the Changing Details form found here to update your email address.
How do I know when my membership should be renewed?
Memberships are active for one year from the date of joining. You will be sent a renewal reminder before your subscription is due to renew. You can also find your membership expiry date on your profile page.
When you login to the Member's Centre just click on your name to go straight to your profile page where you can will find your join date and your expiry date.
What will you do with my email address?
We never rent, trade or sell our email list to anyone for any reason whatsoever. You'll never get an unsolicited email from a stranger as a result of joining this list.
How did I get on this list?
The only way you can get onto our newsletter mailing list is to subscribe yourself. You either signed up to receive our Free Newsletter at our Cheapskates Club Web site or are a Platinum Cheapskates Club member.
12. Contact Cheapskates
The Cheapskates Club -
Showing you how to live life
debt free, cashed up and laughing!
PO Box 5077 Studfield Vic 3152
Contact Cheapskates