Your Cheapskates Club Newsletter: 11:15 Bright ideas to save you money
1. Cath's Corner
2. In the Tip Store - Deep Freezer Storage, Chemical Free Fire Starter, Baking Blind
3. Cheapskate's Winning Tip -
4. Submit Your Tip -
5. On the Menu with Anne - It's Apple Season
6. The $300 a Month Food Challenge with Wendy -
7. Cheapskates Buzz - Cheapskaters are talking in the Forum and on Cath's blog
8. Member's Featured Blog - MOO March by Bluebell234
9. Last Week's Question - Where can I buy cheap wool?
10. This Week's Question - Advice for owner builders?
11. Join the Cheapskates Club
12. Gift Memberships
13. Frequently Asked Questions
14. Contact Details
1. Cath's Corner
Hello Cheapskaters,
Well after the last 12 days I am a little greyer, a little wrinklier, a little tired and a little bewildered. It has been a very up and down few days, in more ways than one. Our website has been up, down, up, down, up, down - it's up at the moment. We (meaning the wonderful tech crew - you all know I'm technologically incompetent) have been working around the clock to find the glitch, bug, broken bit - whatever it is - to get our website back into working order for you.
It is. And all this up, down, up, down, up, down has helped me make a sad decision.
It is time to say goodbye to this faithful old website. It has served us well over the years. It has had a couple of facelifts and some hefty renovations but I think it has come time to lay it to rest.
That means a brand spanking new website. A nice, new, exciting one with lots of new features just for you. Our new website will have the Tip Store and the Recipe File and all the tip sheets and ebooks and meal planners and of course the Journals you all love, along with some new tools that will make your Cheapskating even easier.
The downside is of course that it is going to take time. I've been quoted six weeks, so I'm hoping for eight and thinking probably ten. Our website is huge - really huge. We have over 5,000 pages and each of those pages has images and links and text and other things that all have to be moved.
Moving a website as big as Cheapskates is a big job so please be patient with me and the team as we build a bigger and better Cheapskates Club for you. The wait may be long but it will be worth it in the end.
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!
PPS: You can read this newsletter and past copies on the website in the Newsletter Archive.
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2. From The Tip Store
Deep Freezer Storage
Chest freezers are great for storage but hard to keep organised. I purchased a number of green shopping bags. I purchased mine from Coles in different colours for $1 each. Each bag is loaded with different foods. For example one bag beans frozen from the garden. Meat in another. Chicken in another and so on. This makes getting to what I want easier as I just lift each bag out using the handles. Colour coded bags can make it easier to identify each product. Also easier for cleaning as the freezer does not have to be empty, just take out the bags, cover with an old blanket to stop food defrosting and wipe out.
Contributed by Carmelo Cutroni
Editor's note: This is how I organise my chest freezer. I use red bags for red meat, yellow bags for chicken, green bags for vegetables, orange bags for fruit and blue bags for baked goods. The bags are labelled too, to make identifying the contents easy for anyone who doesn't know my colour code. You can read more about how I use bags to organize the freezer here: Organize Your Freezer with these Freezer Labels. Cath.
Chemical Free Fire Starter
We have a wood burning stove that keeps us warm amongst other things. When we need to get a fire going we use orange peel along with some kindling in the stove. When we eat whole oranges we place the fresh peel on the fire box and let it dry out. This has the dual purpose of making fire starters and making the room smell like biscuits baking as the peel dries. Once the peel is dry we put it in an old Dutch oven and when it's needed we pull out a small amount and place it in amongst the kindling to get the fire going and it works, brilliantly. This is great during the winter when oranges are cheap and plentiful.
Contributed by Naomi Silver
Baking Blind
Approximate $ Savings: $5.00 plus baking time
Save yourself the hassle of buying and using beans etc. for baking blind. Select your baking dish, grease the bottom as well as the inside and drape pastry over the bottom, put in oven. The pastry will shape to required shape draped over bottom of the dish, cook for 5mins as it cooks quicker, take out and put pastry into baking dish, it will fit easily, bake 10 mins as per normally.
Contributed by Margaret Owens
There are more than 11,000 great tips in the Tip Store
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3. Cheapskate's Workshops
The Let's All MOO Workshop
***This is going to be a fantastic workshop that you won't want to miss. Lots of new MOOs and an extra special surprise for everyone who attends on the day.**
Cheapskates just love to Make Our Own! Cheapskaters just love to save money! Cheapskaters just love to be the first!
Early bird bookings for this workshop on Making Our Own end on Saturday, when bookings for this workshop will be open to everyone and the price will go up to $35 per ticket.
Come along and join us for a morning of fun, frivolity and frugality as we refine the Art of Living the Cheapskates Way and try to put the supermarkets out of business as we learn to Make Our Own cleaning products, convenience products, favourite foods and more.
When: Sunday 29th March 2015
What time: 1:30pm - 4pm
Where: Orana Neighbourhood House, 62 Coleman Street, Wantirna South (Victoria)
Cost: $35 per person (includes refreshments, samples and handouts)
Click here to book your ticket
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4. Submit your tip
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!
Submit your tip
========================================
5. On the Menu with Anne
It's Apple Season
Autumn is apple season. You get the best, freshest, juiciest, crispest apples during autumn. And because they are in season they are cheaper than at other times of the year. When apples are at their best and cheapest I buy a box or two and make apple sauce, apple pie, apple crumble, apple cake and dried apple.
I use an apple slinky to peel, core and slice the apples. It cost $15 a few years ago, and it saves so much time. I can process a box of apples in around 20 minutes - much faster than a veggie peeler and apple corer. I'm sure they are still around in homewares type shops. I think it's one of the most useful gadgets I've ever bought.
Once the apples are peeled and cored I cut them into chunks (the slinky cuts them into spirals - hence the "slinky" name).
To make applesauce I put the apples into a large saucepan with 1/2 cup water in the bottom. I cook them over a medium heat, slowly, until they are very soft and turn to mush. I like my apple sauce smooth and thick so I mash them with a fork and that's about it. I don't sweeten the apples at all. I find they are usually sweet enough. Once cooled it is measured into one cup lots and bagged, tagged and frozen.
To make apple for pies I squeeze a lemon over the bowl of apples (helps to stop them going brown) and bag into two cup lots and freeze. When I'm ready to make a pie I prepare the shell, add the frozen apple, sprinkle with a little brown sugar, add the pastry top and bake.
To make stewed apple for apple cake, crumbles or breakfast I put the apples in a large saucepan with 1/2 cup water, 2 tablespoons brown sugar and 2 or 3 whole cloves and cook over a medium heat until they start to bubble. Then I turn the heat down and cook until the apple is soft but not mushy.
To dry apple I use the oven. Line baking sheets with baking paper, spread the apple in a single layer on the trays, with space between each slice. Then into the oven on the lowest heat. I prop the oven door open with a wooden spoon and let the apple dry. I swap the trays around every two hours. Depending on how juicy the apples are it can take up to 12 hours to dry them. I like them to be like soft leather, not completely dry. Once they have cooled they are stored in air-tight jars in the fridge.
An afternoon processing two boxes of apples gives me enough ready-to-use apple for a year for my family and saves a lot of money - tinned apple pie filling is around $8/kg, dried apple is around $22/kg and apple sauce is around $8.50/kg. MOOing costs around $3/kg - a huge saving.
This week we will be eating:
Friday: Hamburgers, chips, coleslaw
Saturday: BBQ sausages, potato salad, buns
Monday: Tandoori chops, rice, salad, MOO naan
Sunday: Roast lamb, baked potato, sweet potato, broccoli, corn, beans, gravy
Tuesday: Chicken Alfredo, green salad, rolls
Wednesday: Lamb in gravy, mashed potato, beans, corn, carrots, cauliflower
Thursday: Mexican Lasagne, salad
In the fruit bowl: apples, peaches, bananas
In the cake tin: Apple cake, ANZAC slice, chocolate coconut slice
There are over 1,300 other great money saving meal ideas in the Recipe File
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6. The $300 a Month Food Challenge with Wendy
Hello everyone and welcome to the food challenge. I hope you enjoyed having week off and were able to catch up on the previous challenges.
This week's topic is menu plans. To begin with, write out a list of everything you can cook that can be eaten as a main meal (of sorts). The list can include elaborate meals or very simple ones like fish fingers or toasted sandwiches. They all count. This is where you can get your family involved. It can be a bit hard to remember every meal you have cooked, so ask your family for their favourites Then go through your recipe books to see if you have cooked ( or could cook ) any meals from them.
Your list might start off small. Don't be alarmed. I started off with a very small a list of meals many years ago. Every now and then I remember one from long ago and add it on. My personal aim is to add one new meal a year to the list. I'm now up to forty five main meals (including fish fingers).
Once you have a list of sorts going, pick a time frame to write a menu for. I do a menu plan for the month as I shop once a month. If you shop weekly, then a weekly plan could work for you. Then work out how often you want to eat certain types of meats. For example my menu might be mince x2, chicken x1, fish x1, sausages x1, chops / lamb x1. We don’t eat meat or main meals on Sundays because we are quite often busy with church or family functions that involve big meals. I also see Sunday as my day off from the kitchen after cooking every other night of the week. Maybe you could include a lazy meal into your plan. Lazy meals for us are toasted sandwiches, pasta and tomato sauce, homemade soup and toast, tinned spag and baked beans etc., etc.
You could write your menu on paper, in a book or type it on the computer, whatever works for you. I write mine on paper and put it on the side of the fridge for the family to see. When they ask “what’s for dinner?“ I tell them to look on the fridge. With my monthly menu plan, I can slot in 26+ different types of meals. I also make sure I don't have the same type of meat two nights running. With this type of plan, my family looks forward to every meal I cook. Long gone are the days of standing in front of the pantry with no idea of what to cook. In those early days I would resort to spag bol or chop suey at least once a week. Now I'm lucky if I can fit those meals in once a month. Variety really does keep the family interested.
Here are some handy tips for successful menu planning -
* Write a different menu for summer and winter
* Keep old menus if they worked well and reuse them
* Write a menu with your calendar close by.
* Plan time consuming meals on days that you have more time
* Be flexible. Something comes up from time to time
* Defrost your meat in the fridge the night before. If you need to change you menu around, the meat should be safe for another day.
* If you have a veg garden, write the menu around the vegies you are picking
* Write in a night for having takeaway (homemade or store bought). When the family can see it coming up, they'll be excited
* Include items you already have on hand. If you have lots of mince in the freezer or it's on sale, then include a few mince meals into your plan.
Having a menu plan will save you so much time. No more standing in front of the pantry wondering what to have. You'll save lots of money by not wasting what you already have on hand. You'll eat healthier too as takeaway will be limited to allotted dates. Stress is eased as the meal is already planned.
Do you menu plan? How do you plan what to eat each night?
Have a great week and BE ENCOURAGED!!!!!
The $300 a Month Food Challenge
The Post that Started it All
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7. Cheapskates Buzz
This week's hot forum topics
Are there any other distance education/home schooling cheapskate families here?
http://www.cheapskatesclub.com.au/memberforum/showthread.php?2791-Are-there-any-other-distance-education-home-schooling-cheapskate-families-here
4 Week Rotating Menu
http://www.cheapskatesclub.com.au/memberforum/showthread.php?2792-4-week-rotating-menu
Mad Money
http://www.cheapskatesclub.com.au/memberforum/showthread.php?2788-Mad-Money
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8. Member's Featured Blog
Platinum Cheapskates Club members have their very own Cheapskating blogs, and they are wonderful and inspirational and encouraging and even funny. This week's featured blog is written by bluebell234.
Moo March
This is the month where Cheapskaters make things they would normally buy:- gifts, pet and gardening supplies, clothing, soft furnishings, bread, cakes, biscuits, pastry, ice cream, confectionery, yoghurt, custard, instant puddings, preservatives such as bottled fruit, jams, pickles, relishes, chutney and sometimes the really adventurous make cheese or milk cows and goats. Laundry and toiletry products and efficient cleaning products that can be made at home as well.
Depending where you're at with your Cheapskating goals the whole idea is to live abundantly through Cheapskating.
If anyone purchased the items mentioned in the previous paragraph they would find they would pay twice or even three to four times as much as they would if they made them from products that are already in the pantry or store cupboard. If anyone purchased those items all at once their general supply and pantry supply would not be as abundant as it would be if they were homemade or as we say MAKE OUR OWN or MOO.
All aboard the good ship Cheapskate lets pull up the anchor and head into MOO March with determination and enthusiasm.
Happy Cheapskating everyone.
Login to read more Cheapskates Club member blogs
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9. Last Week's Question
Marianne wrote
"Does anyone know where to buy wool for a reasonable price? Looking for 12ply wool to make a blanket. Thank you."
Susan McDowell answered
I buy all my wool from Bendigo Woollen Mills. They have a large selection of very good quality wool which knits up really nice. For 12 play you have several options ranging in price from $12.50 - $14.50 per 200gram ball depending on whether you want 100% wool or a blend. You can visit their warehouse in Bendigo or they can mail you purchases to you. Their website is www.bendigowoollenmills.com.australia. Shipping costs are free if you purchase over $50, or around $5 for under $50. If you go to the warehouse there is also a backroom of oddments and not full balls (<200grams) which are cheaper again. I highly recommend going if you are able as I have managed to buy a lot of my wool from the backroom.
Denise Fulton answered
You could try Wangaratta Woollen Mill. They have an online shop - millshop.com.au - as well as a shop at the mill.
Doreen Torr answered
There is not a lot of choice in 12 ply wool. 8ply or DK is much easier to find cheaply. Big W and Spotlight are the places to go for acrylic yarn. Spotlight often has sales so wait for those if you can. If you can use 8ply, Lincraft has the cheapest. They call it DK. Some of the $2 shops have 8 ply acrylic that is often hand wash only and often not as soft as the known brands.
Karen Johnson answered
The best place to look for cheap wool is in op shops. Their craft sections carry lots of oddments but I have been lucky enough to find whole packs of single dye lots and have brought these for as little as $10 for 20 balls. Of course you don't always get the colour you first wanted but there is often enough for a wonderful striped creation! I have knitted squares for Wraps with Love and beanies for the homeless from this source and on one occasion found enough beautiful pure wool to make my son a jumper, using a pattern from a "retro" 60s book from the same store. They are also a great source for needles and crochet hooks.
Do you have a question that needs an answer?
Send us your question and receive the combined knowledge of your fellow Cheapskates to solve your problem!
Ask Your Question
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10. This Week's Question
Kate writes
"We are getting a house built. We have almost paid off our block of land and have cheap housing for the next year. But what are other people's tips when organising a building, we are just at the estimates stage. We want a four bedroom, two bathroom country house on stumps."
Do you have the answer?
If you have a suggestion or idea for Kate let us know. We'll enter your answer into our Tip of the Week competition, with a one-year membership to the Cheapskates Club as the prize too.
Send your answer
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11. Join the Cheapskates Club
For just 10 cents a day 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.
Joining the Cheapskates Club gives you 24/7 access to the Members Centre with 1000's of money saving tips and articles.
Click here to join the Cheapskates Club today!
http://www.cheapskates.com.au/members/join_form.cfm?item_id=2271
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12. Gift Memberships
Your family and friends will thank you for a whole year when you give them a Platinum Cheapskates Club membership as a gift.
It's so simple: just select the number of gift memberships required, click the Buy Now button and complete the Gift Membership order form (you must use this form to order gift memberships) and we'll get in touch with you to confirm the gift subscriptions.
Click here to order a gift membership right now!
http://www.cheapskates.com.au/pages/default.cfm?page_id=43740
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13. Frequently Asked Questions
How do I change my email address?
This one is easy. Members can update their email address or any other details by clicking on "Edit Profile" directly under their membership number after they have logged in to the Member's Centre. Subscribers to our free newsletter can use the Change Your Address form (under Customer Service in the menu) and fill it out. Once you've filled it in click the send button and we'll do the rest. Please remember to include your old email address so we can find it in the list as well as the new one.
How do I know when my membership should be renewed?
When you login to the Member's Centre you will be told how many days of membership you have left once you have 30 days left. Just click on the link to renew and your membership will just continue on, uninterrupted.
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.
Read our privacy policy
How Did You Get on Our List?
You signed up to receive our Free Newsletter at our Cheapskates Club Web site or are a Platinum Cheapskates Club member
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14. Contact Details
The Cheapskates Club -
Showing you how to live life
debt free, cashed up and laughing!
PO Box 5077 Studfield Vic 3152
www.cheapskates.com.au
[email protected]
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2. In the Tip Store - Deep Freezer Storage, Chemical Free Fire Starter, Baking Blind
3. Cheapskate's Winning Tip -
4. Submit Your Tip -
5. On the Menu with Anne - It's Apple Season
6. The $300 a Month Food Challenge with Wendy -
7. Cheapskates Buzz - Cheapskaters are talking in the Forum and on Cath's blog
8. Member's Featured Blog - MOO March by Bluebell234
9. Last Week's Question - Where can I buy cheap wool?
10. This Week's Question - Advice for owner builders?
11. Join the Cheapskates Club
12. Gift Memberships
13. Frequently Asked Questions
14. Contact Details
1. Cath's Corner
Hello Cheapskaters,
Well after the last 12 days I am a little greyer, a little wrinklier, a little tired and a little bewildered. It has been a very up and down few days, in more ways than one. Our website has been up, down, up, down, up, down - it's up at the moment. We (meaning the wonderful tech crew - you all know I'm technologically incompetent) have been working around the clock to find the glitch, bug, broken bit - whatever it is - to get our website back into working order for you.
It is. And all this up, down, up, down, up, down has helped me make a sad decision.
It is time to say goodbye to this faithful old website. It has served us well over the years. It has had a couple of facelifts and some hefty renovations but I think it has come time to lay it to rest.
That means a brand spanking new website. A nice, new, exciting one with lots of new features just for you. Our new website will have the Tip Store and the Recipe File and all the tip sheets and ebooks and meal planners and of course the Journals you all love, along with some new tools that will make your Cheapskating even easier.
The downside is of course that it is going to take time. I've been quoted six weeks, so I'm hoping for eight and thinking probably ten. Our website is huge - really huge. We have over 5,000 pages and each of those pages has images and links and text and other things that all have to be moved.
Moving a website as big as Cheapskates is a big job so please be patient with me and the team as we build a bigger and better Cheapskates Club for you. The wait may be long but it will be worth it in the end.
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!
PPS: You can read this newsletter and past copies on the website in the Newsletter Archive.
========================================
2. From The Tip Store
Deep Freezer Storage
Chest freezers are great for storage but hard to keep organised. I purchased a number of green shopping bags. I purchased mine from Coles in different colours for $1 each. Each bag is loaded with different foods. For example one bag beans frozen from the garden. Meat in another. Chicken in another and so on. This makes getting to what I want easier as I just lift each bag out using the handles. Colour coded bags can make it easier to identify each product. Also easier for cleaning as the freezer does not have to be empty, just take out the bags, cover with an old blanket to stop food defrosting and wipe out.
Contributed by Carmelo Cutroni
Editor's note: This is how I organise my chest freezer. I use red bags for red meat, yellow bags for chicken, green bags for vegetables, orange bags for fruit and blue bags for baked goods. The bags are labelled too, to make identifying the contents easy for anyone who doesn't know my colour code. You can read more about how I use bags to organize the freezer here: Organize Your Freezer with these Freezer Labels. Cath.
Chemical Free Fire Starter
We have a wood burning stove that keeps us warm amongst other things. When we need to get a fire going we use orange peel along with some kindling in the stove. When we eat whole oranges we place the fresh peel on the fire box and let it dry out. This has the dual purpose of making fire starters and making the room smell like biscuits baking as the peel dries. Once the peel is dry we put it in an old Dutch oven and when it's needed we pull out a small amount and place it in amongst the kindling to get the fire going and it works, brilliantly. This is great during the winter when oranges are cheap and plentiful.
Contributed by Naomi Silver
Baking Blind
Approximate $ Savings: $5.00 plus baking time
Save yourself the hassle of buying and using beans etc. for baking blind. Select your baking dish, grease the bottom as well as the inside and drape pastry over the bottom, put in oven. The pastry will shape to required shape draped over bottom of the dish, cook for 5mins as it cooks quicker, take out and put pastry into baking dish, it will fit easily, bake 10 mins as per normally.
Contributed by Margaret Owens
There are more than 11,000 great tips in the Tip Store
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3. Cheapskate's Workshops
The Let's All MOO Workshop
***This is going to be a fantastic workshop that you won't want to miss. Lots of new MOOs and an extra special surprise for everyone who attends on the day.**
Cheapskates just love to Make Our Own! Cheapskaters just love to save money! Cheapskaters just love to be the first!
Early bird bookings for this workshop on Making Our Own end on Saturday, when bookings for this workshop will be open to everyone and the price will go up to $35 per ticket.
Come along and join us for a morning of fun, frivolity and frugality as we refine the Art of Living the Cheapskates Way and try to put the supermarkets out of business as we learn to Make Our Own cleaning products, convenience products, favourite foods and more.
When: Sunday 29th March 2015
What time: 1:30pm - 4pm
Where: Orana Neighbourhood House, 62 Coleman Street, Wantirna South (Victoria)
Cost: $35 per person (includes refreshments, samples and handouts)
Click here to book your ticket
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4. Submit your tip
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!
Submit your tip
========================================
5. On the Menu with Anne
It's Apple Season
Autumn is apple season. You get the best, freshest, juiciest, crispest apples during autumn. And because they are in season they are cheaper than at other times of the year. When apples are at their best and cheapest I buy a box or two and make apple sauce, apple pie, apple crumble, apple cake and dried apple.
I use an apple slinky to peel, core and slice the apples. It cost $15 a few years ago, and it saves so much time. I can process a box of apples in around 20 minutes - much faster than a veggie peeler and apple corer. I'm sure they are still around in homewares type shops. I think it's one of the most useful gadgets I've ever bought.
Once the apples are peeled and cored I cut them into chunks (the slinky cuts them into spirals - hence the "slinky" name).
To make applesauce I put the apples into a large saucepan with 1/2 cup water in the bottom. I cook them over a medium heat, slowly, until they are very soft and turn to mush. I like my apple sauce smooth and thick so I mash them with a fork and that's about it. I don't sweeten the apples at all. I find they are usually sweet enough. Once cooled it is measured into one cup lots and bagged, tagged and frozen.
To make apple for pies I squeeze a lemon over the bowl of apples (helps to stop them going brown) and bag into two cup lots and freeze. When I'm ready to make a pie I prepare the shell, add the frozen apple, sprinkle with a little brown sugar, add the pastry top and bake.
To make stewed apple for apple cake, crumbles or breakfast I put the apples in a large saucepan with 1/2 cup water, 2 tablespoons brown sugar and 2 or 3 whole cloves and cook over a medium heat until they start to bubble. Then I turn the heat down and cook until the apple is soft but not mushy.
To dry apple I use the oven. Line baking sheets with baking paper, spread the apple in a single layer on the trays, with space between each slice. Then into the oven on the lowest heat. I prop the oven door open with a wooden spoon and let the apple dry. I swap the trays around every two hours. Depending on how juicy the apples are it can take up to 12 hours to dry them. I like them to be like soft leather, not completely dry. Once they have cooled they are stored in air-tight jars in the fridge.
An afternoon processing two boxes of apples gives me enough ready-to-use apple for a year for my family and saves a lot of money - tinned apple pie filling is around $8/kg, dried apple is around $22/kg and apple sauce is around $8.50/kg. MOOing costs around $3/kg - a huge saving.
This week we will be eating:
Friday: Hamburgers, chips, coleslaw
Saturday: BBQ sausages, potato salad, buns
Monday: Tandoori chops, rice, salad, MOO naan
Sunday: Roast lamb, baked potato, sweet potato, broccoli, corn, beans, gravy
Tuesday: Chicken Alfredo, green salad, rolls
Wednesday: Lamb in gravy, mashed potato, beans, corn, carrots, cauliflower
Thursday: Mexican Lasagne, salad
In the fruit bowl: apples, peaches, bananas
In the cake tin: Apple cake, ANZAC slice, chocolate coconut slice
There are over 1,300 other great money saving meal ideas in the Recipe File
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6. The $300 a Month Food Challenge with Wendy
Hello everyone and welcome to the food challenge. I hope you enjoyed having week off and were able to catch up on the previous challenges.
This week's topic is menu plans. To begin with, write out a list of everything you can cook that can be eaten as a main meal (of sorts). The list can include elaborate meals or very simple ones like fish fingers or toasted sandwiches. They all count. This is where you can get your family involved. It can be a bit hard to remember every meal you have cooked, so ask your family for their favourites Then go through your recipe books to see if you have cooked ( or could cook ) any meals from them.
Your list might start off small. Don't be alarmed. I started off with a very small a list of meals many years ago. Every now and then I remember one from long ago and add it on. My personal aim is to add one new meal a year to the list. I'm now up to forty five main meals (including fish fingers).
Once you have a list of sorts going, pick a time frame to write a menu for. I do a menu plan for the month as I shop once a month. If you shop weekly, then a weekly plan could work for you. Then work out how often you want to eat certain types of meats. For example my menu might be mince x2, chicken x1, fish x1, sausages x1, chops / lamb x1. We don’t eat meat or main meals on Sundays because we are quite often busy with church or family functions that involve big meals. I also see Sunday as my day off from the kitchen after cooking every other night of the week. Maybe you could include a lazy meal into your plan. Lazy meals for us are toasted sandwiches, pasta and tomato sauce, homemade soup and toast, tinned spag and baked beans etc., etc.
You could write your menu on paper, in a book or type it on the computer, whatever works for you. I write mine on paper and put it on the side of the fridge for the family to see. When they ask “what’s for dinner?“ I tell them to look on the fridge. With my monthly menu plan, I can slot in 26+ different types of meals. I also make sure I don't have the same type of meat two nights running. With this type of plan, my family looks forward to every meal I cook. Long gone are the days of standing in front of the pantry with no idea of what to cook. In those early days I would resort to spag bol or chop suey at least once a week. Now I'm lucky if I can fit those meals in once a month. Variety really does keep the family interested.
Here are some handy tips for successful menu planning -
* Write a different menu for summer and winter
* Keep old menus if they worked well and reuse them
* Write a menu with your calendar close by.
* Plan time consuming meals on days that you have more time
* Be flexible. Something comes up from time to time
* Defrost your meat in the fridge the night before. If you need to change you menu around, the meat should be safe for another day.
* If you have a veg garden, write the menu around the vegies you are picking
* Write in a night for having takeaway (homemade or store bought). When the family can see it coming up, they'll be excited
* Include items you already have on hand. If you have lots of mince in the freezer or it's on sale, then include a few mince meals into your plan.
Having a menu plan will save you so much time. No more standing in front of the pantry wondering what to have. You'll save lots of money by not wasting what you already have on hand. You'll eat healthier too as takeaway will be limited to allotted dates. Stress is eased as the meal is already planned.
Do you menu plan? How do you plan what to eat each night?
Have a great week and BE ENCOURAGED!!!!!
The $300 a Month Food Challenge
The Post that Started it All
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7. Cheapskates Buzz
This week's hot forum topics
Are there any other distance education/home schooling cheapskate families here?
http://www.cheapskatesclub.com.au/memberforum/showthread.php?2791-Are-there-any-other-distance-education-home-schooling-cheapskate-families-here
4 Week Rotating Menu
http://www.cheapskatesclub.com.au/memberforum/showthread.php?2792-4-week-rotating-menu
Mad Money
http://www.cheapskatesclub.com.au/memberforum/showthread.php?2788-Mad-Money
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8. Member's Featured Blog
Platinum Cheapskates Club members have their very own Cheapskating blogs, and they are wonderful and inspirational and encouraging and even funny. This week's featured blog is written by bluebell234.
Moo March
This is the month where Cheapskaters make things they would normally buy:- gifts, pet and gardening supplies, clothing, soft furnishings, bread, cakes, biscuits, pastry, ice cream, confectionery, yoghurt, custard, instant puddings, preservatives such as bottled fruit, jams, pickles, relishes, chutney and sometimes the really adventurous make cheese or milk cows and goats. Laundry and toiletry products and efficient cleaning products that can be made at home as well.
Depending where you're at with your Cheapskating goals the whole idea is to live abundantly through Cheapskating.
If anyone purchased the items mentioned in the previous paragraph they would find they would pay twice or even three to four times as much as they would if they made them from products that are already in the pantry or store cupboard. If anyone purchased those items all at once their general supply and pantry supply would not be as abundant as it would be if they were homemade or as we say MAKE OUR OWN or MOO.
All aboard the good ship Cheapskate lets pull up the anchor and head into MOO March with determination and enthusiasm.
Happy Cheapskating everyone.
Login to read more Cheapskates Club member blogs
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9. Last Week's Question
Marianne wrote
"Does anyone know where to buy wool for a reasonable price? Looking for 12ply wool to make a blanket. Thank you."
Susan McDowell answered
I buy all my wool from Bendigo Woollen Mills. They have a large selection of very good quality wool which knits up really nice. For 12 play you have several options ranging in price from $12.50 - $14.50 per 200gram ball depending on whether you want 100% wool or a blend. You can visit their warehouse in Bendigo or they can mail you purchases to you. Their website is www.bendigowoollenmills.com.australia. Shipping costs are free if you purchase over $50, or around $5 for under $50. If you go to the warehouse there is also a backroom of oddments and not full balls (<200grams) which are cheaper again. I highly recommend going if you are able as I have managed to buy a lot of my wool from the backroom.
Denise Fulton answered
You could try Wangaratta Woollen Mill. They have an online shop - millshop.com.au - as well as a shop at the mill.
Doreen Torr answered
There is not a lot of choice in 12 ply wool. 8ply or DK is much easier to find cheaply. Big W and Spotlight are the places to go for acrylic yarn. Spotlight often has sales so wait for those if you can. If you can use 8ply, Lincraft has the cheapest. They call it DK. Some of the $2 shops have 8 ply acrylic that is often hand wash only and often not as soft as the known brands.
Karen Johnson answered
The best place to look for cheap wool is in op shops. Their craft sections carry lots of oddments but I have been lucky enough to find whole packs of single dye lots and have brought these for as little as $10 for 20 balls. Of course you don't always get the colour you first wanted but there is often enough for a wonderful striped creation! I have knitted squares for Wraps with Love and beanies for the homeless from this source and on one occasion found enough beautiful pure wool to make my son a jumper, using a pattern from a "retro" 60s book from the same store. They are also a great source for needles and crochet hooks.
Do you have a question that needs an answer?
Send us your question and receive the combined knowledge of your fellow Cheapskates to solve your problem!
Ask Your Question
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10. This Week's Question
Kate writes
"We are getting a house built. We have almost paid off our block of land and have cheap housing for the next year. But what are other people's tips when organising a building, we are just at the estimates stage. We want a four bedroom, two bathroom country house on stumps."
Do you have the answer?
If you have a suggestion or idea for Kate let us know. We'll enter your answer into our Tip of the Week competition, with a one-year membership to the Cheapskates Club as the prize too.
Send your answer
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11. Join the Cheapskates Club
For just 10 cents a day 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.
Joining the Cheapskates Club gives you 24/7 access to the Members Centre with 1000's of money saving tips and articles.
Click here to join the Cheapskates Club today!
http://www.cheapskates.com.au/members/join_form.cfm?item_id=2271
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12. Gift Memberships
Your family and friends will thank you for a whole year when you give them a Platinum Cheapskates Club membership as a gift.
It's so simple: just select the number of gift memberships required, click the Buy Now button and complete the Gift Membership order form (you must use this form to order gift memberships) and we'll get in touch with you to confirm the gift subscriptions.
Click here to order a gift membership right now!
http://www.cheapskates.com.au/pages/default.cfm?page_id=43740
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13. Frequently Asked Questions
How do I change my email address?
This one is easy. Members can update their email address or any other details by clicking on "Edit Profile" directly under their membership number after they have logged in to the Member's Centre. Subscribers to our free newsletter can use the Change Your Address form (under Customer Service in the menu) and fill it out. Once you've filled it in click the send button and we'll do the rest. Please remember to include your old email address so we can find it in the list as well as the new one.
How do I know when my membership should be renewed?
When you login to the Member's Centre you will be told how many days of membership you have left once you have 30 days left. Just click on the link to renew and your membership will just continue on, uninterrupted.
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.
Read our privacy policy
How Did You Get on Our List?
You signed up to receive our Free Newsletter at our Cheapskates Club Web site or are a Platinum Cheapskates Club member
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14. Contact Details
The Cheapskates Club -
Showing you how to live life
debt free, cashed up and laughing!
PO Box 5077 Studfield Vic 3152
www.cheapskates.com.au
[email protected]
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