Your Cheapskates Club Newsletter 16:18
In this Newsletter
1. Cath's Corner
2. In the Tip Store - Less Oven Mess; Squirt it Clean; End of Season Peaches
3. Share Your Tips - Have a favourite money saving tip? Share it here!
4. On the Menu - Slow Cooker Chilli and Cornbread
5. The $300 a Month Food Challenge - Trim the Meat Budget by 30%
6. Cheapskates Buzz - Cheapskaters are talking in the Forum and on Cath's blog
7. Member's Featured Blog - Dating: a time to establish favourite meals
8. Last Week's Question - Slow cooker help needed
9. This Week's Question -
10. Ask Cath
11. Join the Cheapskates Club
12. Frequently Asked Questions
13. Contact Details
1. Cath's Corner
Hello Cheapskaters,
Welcome to another Bright Ideas newsletter.
As usual, it is chock full of innovative and fun ways to save you money, time and energy.
Have a great week everyone.
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
Less Oven Mess
If you have a bad spillage in a hot oven, just sprinkle the spilla with salt and leave it (if you can) for a couple of days. With a wee bit of elbow grease, the burnt mess scrubs off quite easily.
Contributed by Caroline Marryatt
Squirt it Clean
Like many Cheapskaters I make my own 'Spray and Wipe'. I use a 2-litre bottle with a squirt of dishwashing liquid, big splash of vinegar and topped up with water. But did you know you can take it out and about? Squirt it on picnic tables, seats etc. to remove dirt, bird poo and goodness knows what! Squirt on kids’ hands, or yours, if you're without water for a quick clean up. Squirt on used picnic dishes and a quick wipe leaves them clean. Squirt on stains to remove it while out. Because its dishwashing liquid and vinegar I'm not worried about the chemicals from baby wipes or them drying out in the car.
Contributed by Sharon Marriott
End of Season Peaches
The other day we came across peaches for sale. They were large and heavily marked from resting against tree branches etc. Whilst filling my huge shopping bag (4 kilos I took home) the lady next to me complained because they were not perfect to look at. I smiled nicely and told her I didn't mind. She gave me and odd look and walked away. For less than $4 we now have a fruit draw full of peaches, eight bottles of peaches for desserts later in the year and from the left-over syrup from the bottling process we have a large jar of peach flavoured syrup (1 kilo jar) for flavouring yoghurts etc.
Tip: don't judge a peach by its appearance, judge it for what you can get out of it.
Contributed by Linda Stapleton
There are currently more than 12,000 great tips in the Tip Store
3. Submit Your Tip
The Cheapskate's Club website is over 3,000 pages of money saving hints, tips and ideas. 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. We publish a Winning Tip each Thursday, so enter your great money, time or energy saving idea now.
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
4. On the Menu
Slow Cooker Chilli and Cornbread
This is a great slow cooker recipe - tasty, frugal and easy. The cornbread cooks on top of the chilli and it's all done in your slow cooker, so washing up is minimal.
Slow Cooker Chilli and Cornbread
Ingredients:
1kg minced beef* (you can use chicken or turkey mince if you prefer)
1 can kidney beans, drained and rinsed
2 cans diced tomatoes
1 tbsp chilli powder (more or less to taste)
1 cup water
1/2 cup grated tasty cheese
1 cup cornmeal
1 cup plain flour
1/4 cup sugar
2 large eggs
1 cup milk
1/4 cup butter, melted
Method:
Brown the ground beef, drain and add to crockpot. Add the crockpot the beans, tomatoes, green chilies and the chili powder, stir. Cover and cook on low for 5 to 6 hours.
Prepare cornbread: Combine polenta, plain flour, sugar, eggs, milk and melted butter in a large bowl until just combined. Mix with electric mixer on medium speed for one minute. Drop the batter in little piles around the top of the hot mixture in the slow cooker to form 'biscuits.'
Cover and continue cooking on LOW for 30 more minutes or until the cornbread is cooked through.
When fully cooked, uncover and sprinkle the grated cheese on top. Serve immediately in bowls with a couple cornbread 'biscuits' on top of each serving. Will serve 4 to 6.
*To make this a meatless meal, substitute two tins of baked beans and another tin of kidney beans for the mince.
This week we will be eating:
Sunday: Roast Chicken
Monday: Chilli Con Carne, corn bread
Tuesday: Penne with Creamy Pesto
Wednesday: Homemade pie, mashed potato, peas, gravy
Thursday: MOO Pizza
Friday: Swedish meatballs
Saturday: Spanish rice, salad
In the fruit bowl: apples, bananas
In the cake tin: Lemon Ginger Slice
There are over 1,600 other great money saving meal ideas in the Recipe File.
5. The $300 a Month Food Challenge
Trim the Meat Budget by 30%
I'm sure you are all aware of just how expensive meat is getting, almost beyond even an "average" grocery budget, let alone the $300 a Month Food Challenge budget. And when you have a husband like mine, who thinks a meal is a snack if there's no meat on the plate, it can cause grocery budget stress.
The answer to this dilemma is simple – buy less meat! Of course, it's not quite that simple - the trick to serving less meat is in the vegetables and other protein choices on the plate. Vegetarian options can stretch your grocery dollars while providing filling, healthy meals your family will love, and they don't have to be boring.
On my meal plan for next week (above), four of the seven meals are meat "less", and the troops always gobble them down and ask for seconds (I must be quick to get the extra serves into the freezer or the fridge fairies find them, and they disappear).
If you think you can't serve less meat, the next time you plan your menu for the week, instead of planning on enough meat to feed your family for seven days, substitute 2-3 vegetarian, or meat "less", meals for your dinner.
This one change can save you 30% to 50% on what you normally spend for meat! That's a budget saver that's hard to ignore.
Here are some meatless menu ideas:
Grilled cheese sandwich with tomato soup and your favourite salad.
Quesadillas: Grilled tortillas with cheese, tomato and bits of taco meat if you like.
Cheese enchiladas, Spanish rice, and refried or baked beans
Mexican style baked beans, corn bread, and a fresh garden salad
Chef salad with lots of different vegetables, boiled egg and cheeses. Add bits of ham, bacon or chicken to suit your tastes.
Mini pizzas, home-made with a variety of grated cheeses, Italian spiced tomato sauce, and other toppings as desired. Some great ideas include fresh tomatoes, chives, walnuts and spinach. Let everyone design their own concoctions.
Tortellini stuffed with cheese and mixed with herb and garlic flavoured feta cheese, chopped tomato, kidney beans and a bit of olive oil. Serve on a plate of baby spinach.
Pasta with a creamy pesto sauce.
Roasted vegetable casserole with potatoes, broccoli, cauliflower, cream of mushroom soup (MOO or bought), carrots and cheese. Add some left-over chicken if desired.
Fried rice with onion fried off in a little sesame oil (if you have it, otherwise vegetable oil is fine), a scrambled egg, peas, corn, and shredded carrot. Add some kecap manis or a drizzle of soy sauce, a little garlic and ginger to season Serve with spring rolls.
For a fun change, make omelettes for tea using eggs, cheese, mushrooms, tomatoes and spinach. Bits of ham or bacon flavour it nicely while using only a small amount of meat. Put out a variety of condiments for everyone to choose from.
When you put your thinking cap on, it's quite easy to come up with tasty, cheap, meatless meals, and keep to your grocery budget.
So what are your favourite meat "less" meals?
The $300 a Month Food Challenge
The Post that Started it All
6. Cheapskates Buzz
Most popular forum posts this week
Okay, I Finally Bought a Slow Cooker, now what?
http://www.cheapskatesclub.com.au/memberforum/showthread.php?503-Okay-I-finally-bought-a-slowcooker.-Now-what
Question: Why are You a Cheapskate?
http://www.cheapskatesclub.com.au/memberforum/showthread.php?3701-Question-Why-are-you-a-Cheapskate
Help - What to Feed My Elderly Mum
http://www.cheapskatesclub.com.au/memberforum/showthread.php?1884-HELP-what-to-feed-my-elderly-Mum
Most popular blog posts this week
Buying Produce Locally and in Season is Green and Saves You Money
http://www.debtfreecashedupandlaughing.com.au/2016/09/buying-produce-locally-and-in-season-is.html
Good Gravy
http://www.debtfreecashedupandlaughing.com.au/2015/12/good-gravy.html
Old-Fashioned Household Products for Your Spring Cleaning Project
http://www.debtfreecashedupandlaughing.com.au/2016/09/old-fashioned-household-products-for.html
7. Members 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 thalawest.
Dating: a time to establish favourite meals
Warning: slightly soppy post.
My BF, while certainly not a stranger to working on a budget, is newer to the whole Cheapskating thing than I am. (I think he thinks I worry about money too much.) But since we're hoping to end up married, we are thinking ahead to saving for both a wedding and a house, so we're being economical with our dates. That means a lot more eating at home, one home or the other.
I'm finding this has the distinct advantage of finding out what meals we both like. One recipe I'd been wanting to try, collected from another forum many years ago, was eggplant parmigiana, and when eggplants were cheap at the market one week, he and I made it for dinner that Sunday at my place. It turned out well (my cooking is always better if I follow an actual recipe instead of trying to make it up). Then, last week when I visited him, I brought all the ingredients I wasn't sure of already being at his place and suggested we make it again. Apparently, the news that I'd brought ingredients required that he kiss me.
(He likes it when I'm practical. I'm still not sure why tapping out the milk carton to get the last drop is such an appealing thing, but he says it is. I'm glad because it's something I do anyway.) So, we enjoyed the recipe for another dinner, and I commented that it had better go in our regular meals together.
Cooking together has also been great for practising teamwork. I do well at the organising part, and he does well at the keeping-a-nose-open part, so nothing burns. (Let it never be said that men can't multitask, because he can keep a nose on the cooking even while we're kissing!)
We barely modified the recipe in the above link. We simplified it to ordinary tasty cheese and used dried basil, since that was what I had on hand, and we substituted I forget what tomato-based sauce the first time but made a simple marinara sauce from a Google search the second time (another great recipe find - easy to make and very tasty!). Apart from the two types of cheese, all the ingredients are simple and cheap already. It's a bit of work - I don't usually do two-stage cooking - but definitely worth it, and I'm sure I'll learn to manage cooking time with prep time after a couple more goes. Must make that sauce in advance, too.
Finding favourite recipes together, especially since DBF is something of a foodie, is fun and gives quite a sense of triumph. I love that we're not just being economical - we're preparing for a potential future, Cheapskates-style!
Login to read more Cheapskates Club Member blogs
8. Last Week's Question
Last week's question was from Rachel who wrote
"I'm interested to know what's a good, reliable slow cooker to purchase? I'm a single parent, have recently increased my hours from part time to full time and am looking for no fuss quick and easy dinner options, so keen to get into slow cooking...just don't want to buy a dud brand!"
Pat Parkin answered
Your Slow Cooker MUST have a removable bowl. Always brown your meat before putting it in the Slow Cooker.
Sarah Wise answered
I don't have a specific slow cooker to recommend, but if you join your local Buy Nothing group on Facebook, you can ask if someone has one to give away. Frequently they will be much better quality than you could afford yourself, or an oldie but a goodie that will last forever.
Jenny McManus answered
Try your local op shop, they usually have a few to choose from at a much better price. The option of an "auto" setting is great as it will turn down and simmer until you get home from work. Yes, some of the more expensive cookers have fancy options, but they are not necessary. I've had my cheap brand for years. Think about the size that will suit you best, if you have the freezer space I'd recommend a larger size cooker.
Desina Hatzis answered
Big W sell a great 5.5 litre for $20 with a 2-year warranty. Contempo is the brand (made for Big W by a well-known brand). It's great value!
Tracy Cobb answered
My best advice is broaden your horizons and consider an all-in-one cooker. Not only are they an awesome slow-cooker, they are also a pressure-cooker, rice-cooker, pasta-cooker, steamer, and baker! You can do everything from ribs to risotto, cakes to casseroles, and soups to slow-cooked anything! Best thing is, the included recipe book (and online resources) will give you the slow-cook AND the pressure-cook option for relevant recipes. So, if you are prepping in the morning, you can select the 8-hour slow-cook option, and if you didn’t have time in the morning and need to whip up dinner after work, you can select the 20-minute pressure-cook option. Same-same! Plus, everything becomes a one-pot meal due to the sauté/sear functions. I have the Philips All-in-one and LURVE it! If you have littlies that are likely to try to open a pressure cooker, then perhaps worth paying the extra for the Pro version, but otherwise save your money and get the original. You’ll wonder what you used to do without it!
Mandy Spink answered
I have had a large Breville slow cooker for 8 years and it is still just as good as when new. I also have a Breville stick blender that is over 10 years old and still going, so I would recommend that brand. Slow cookers warm the house, make it smell delicious and ensure there is a home-cooked meal for dinner, even when you've been out at work all day.
Even the simplest combinations of veggies/meat/lentils and some stock, cook down nicely in the slow cooker. Good luck with experimenting!
There are more great suggestions in the Slow Cooker Tip Store and on the Cheapskates Club Facebook page.
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
9. This Week's Question
Leesa writes
"Does anybody know of a way of storing meat and leftovers in order to prevent freezer burn, other than vacuum packaging, on a tight budget? I'd like to avoid the expense involved with purchasing a vacuum packaging appliance and the ongoing expense of buying plastic sleeves, but even if this were not a concern, I worry about putting even more plastic into the environment and would prefer to use reusable containers (i.e. Tupperware or other suitable containers). ny suggestions would be appreciated. Cheers."
Do you have the answer?
If you can help Leesa., 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
10. Ask Cath
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
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!
12. 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.
How Did You Get on Our List?
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13. Contact Details
The Cheapskates Club -
Showing you how to live life
debt free, cashed up and laughing!
Contact Cheapskates
1. Cath's Corner
2. In the Tip Store - Less Oven Mess; Squirt it Clean; End of Season Peaches
3. Share Your Tips - Have a favourite money saving tip? Share it here!
4. On the Menu - Slow Cooker Chilli and Cornbread
5. The $300 a Month Food Challenge - Trim the Meat Budget by 30%
6. Cheapskates Buzz - Cheapskaters are talking in the Forum and on Cath's blog
7. Member's Featured Blog - Dating: a time to establish favourite meals
8. Last Week's Question - Slow cooker help needed
9. This Week's Question -
10. Ask Cath
11. Join the Cheapskates Club
12. Frequently Asked Questions
13. Contact Details
1. Cath's Corner
Hello Cheapskaters,
Welcome to another Bright Ideas newsletter.
As usual, it is chock full of innovative and fun ways to save you money, time and energy.
Have a great week everyone.
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
Less Oven Mess
If you have a bad spillage in a hot oven, just sprinkle the spilla with salt and leave it (if you can) for a couple of days. With a wee bit of elbow grease, the burnt mess scrubs off quite easily.
Contributed by Caroline Marryatt
Squirt it Clean
Like many Cheapskaters I make my own 'Spray and Wipe'. I use a 2-litre bottle with a squirt of dishwashing liquid, big splash of vinegar and topped up with water. But did you know you can take it out and about? Squirt it on picnic tables, seats etc. to remove dirt, bird poo and goodness knows what! Squirt on kids’ hands, or yours, if you're without water for a quick clean up. Squirt on used picnic dishes and a quick wipe leaves them clean. Squirt on stains to remove it while out. Because its dishwashing liquid and vinegar I'm not worried about the chemicals from baby wipes or them drying out in the car.
Contributed by Sharon Marriott
End of Season Peaches
The other day we came across peaches for sale. They were large and heavily marked from resting against tree branches etc. Whilst filling my huge shopping bag (4 kilos I took home) the lady next to me complained because they were not perfect to look at. I smiled nicely and told her I didn't mind. She gave me and odd look and walked away. For less than $4 we now have a fruit draw full of peaches, eight bottles of peaches for desserts later in the year and from the left-over syrup from the bottling process we have a large jar of peach flavoured syrup (1 kilo jar) for flavouring yoghurts etc.
Tip: don't judge a peach by its appearance, judge it for what you can get out of it.
Contributed by Linda Stapleton
There are currently more than 12,000 great tips in the Tip Store
3. Submit Your Tip
The Cheapskate's Club website is over 3,000 pages of money saving hints, tips and ideas. 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. We publish a Winning Tip each Thursday, so enter your great money, time or energy saving idea now.
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
4. On the Menu
Slow Cooker Chilli and Cornbread
This is a great slow cooker recipe - tasty, frugal and easy. The cornbread cooks on top of the chilli and it's all done in your slow cooker, so washing up is minimal.
Slow Cooker Chilli and Cornbread
Ingredients:
1kg minced beef* (you can use chicken or turkey mince if you prefer)
1 can kidney beans, drained and rinsed
2 cans diced tomatoes
1 tbsp chilli powder (more or less to taste)
1 cup water
1/2 cup grated tasty cheese
1 cup cornmeal
1 cup plain flour
1/4 cup sugar
2 large eggs
1 cup milk
1/4 cup butter, melted
Method:
Brown the ground beef, drain and add to crockpot. Add the crockpot the beans, tomatoes, green chilies and the chili powder, stir. Cover and cook on low for 5 to 6 hours.
Prepare cornbread: Combine polenta, plain flour, sugar, eggs, milk and melted butter in a large bowl until just combined. Mix with electric mixer on medium speed for one minute. Drop the batter in little piles around the top of the hot mixture in the slow cooker to form 'biscuits.'
Cover and continue cooking on LOW for 30 more minutes or until the cornbread is cooked through.
When fully cooked, uncover and sprinkle the grated cheese on top. Serve immediately in bowls with a couple cornbread 'biscuits' on top of each serving. Will serve 4 to 6.
*To make this a meatless meal, substitute two tins of baked beans and another tin of kidney beans for the mince.
This week we will be eating:
Sunday: Roast Chicken
Monday: Chilli Con Carne, corn bread
Tuesday: Penne with Creamy Pesto
Wednesday: Homemade pie, mashed potato, peas, gravy
Thursday: MOO Pizza
Friday: Swedish meatballs
Saturday: Spanish rice, salad
In the fruit bowl: apples, bananas
In the cake tin: Lemon Ginger Slice
There are over 1,600 other great money saving meal ideas in the Recipe File.
5. The $300 a Month Food Challenge
Trim the Meat Budget by 30%
I'm sure you are all aware of just how expensive meat is getting, almost beyond even an "average" grocery budget, let alone the $300 a Month Food Challenge budget. And when you have a husband like mine, who thinks a meal is a snack if there's no meat on the plate, it can cause grocery budget stress.
The answer to this dilemma is simple – buy less meat! Of course, it's not quite that simple - the trick to serving less meat is in the vegetables and other protein choices on the plate. Vegetarian options can stretch your grocery dollars while providing filling, healthy meals your family will love, and they don't have to be boring.
On my meal plan for next week (above), four of the seven meals are meat "less", and the troops always gobble them down and ask for seconds (I must be quick to get the extra serves into the freezer or the fridge fairies find them, and they disappear).
If you think you can't serve less meat, the next time you plan your menu for the week, instead of planning on enough meat to feed your family for seven days, substitute 2-3 vegetarian, or meat "less", meals for your dinner.
This one change can save you 30% to 50% on what you normally spend for meat! That's a budget saver that's hard to ignore.
Here are some meatless menu ideas:
Grilled cheese sandwich with tomato soup and your favourite salad.
Quesadillas: Grilled tortillas with cheese, tomato and bits of taco meat if you like.
Cheese enchiladas, Spanish rice, and refried or baked beans
Mexican style baked beans, corn bread, and a fresh garden salad
Chef salad with lots of different vegetables, boiled egg and cheeses. Add bits of ham, bacon or chicken to suit your tastes.
Mini pizzas, home-made with a variety of grated cheeses, Italian spiced tomato sauce, and other toppings as desired. Some great ideas include fresh tomatoes, chives, walnuts and spinach. Let everyone design their own concoctions.
Tortellini stuffed with cheese and mixed with herb and garlic flavoured feta cheese, chopped tomato, kidney beans and a bit of olive oil. Serve on a plate of baby spinach.
Pasta with a creamy pesto sauce.
Roasted vegetable casserole with potatoes, broccoli, cauliflower, cream of mushroom soup (MOO or bought), carrots and cheese. Add some left-over chicken if desired.
Fried rice with onion fried off in a little sesame oil (if you have it, otherwise vegetable oil is fine), a scrambled egg, peas, corn, and shredded carrot. Add some kecap manis or a drizzle of soy sauce, a little garlic and ginger to season Serve with spring rolls.
For a fun change, make omelettes for tea using eggs, cheese, mushrooms, tomatoes and spinach. Bits of ham or bacon flavour it nicely while using only a small amount of meat. Put out a variety of condiments for everyone to choose from.
When you put your thinking cap on, it's quite easy to come up with tasty, cheap, meatless meals, and keep to your grocery budget.
So what are your favourite meat "less" meals?
The $300 a Month Food Challenge
The Post that Started it All
6. Cheapskates Buzz
Most popular forum posts this week
Okay, I Finally Bought a Slow Cooker, now what?
http://www.cheapskatesclub.com.au/memberforum/showthread.php?503-Okay-I-finally-bought-a-slowcooker.-Now-what
Question: Why are You a Cheapskate?
http://www.cheapskatesclub.com.au/memberforum/showthread.php?3701-Question-Why-are-you-a-Cheapskate
Help - What to Feed My Elderly Mum
http://www.cheapskatesclub.com.au/memberforum/showthread.php?1884-HELP-what-to-feed-my-elderly-Mum
Most popular blog posts this week
Buying Produce Locally and in Season is Green and Saves You Money
http://www.debtfreecashedupandlaughing.com.au/2016/09/buying-produce-locally-and-in-season-is.html
Good Gravy
http://www.debtfreecashedupandlaughing.com.au/2015/12/good-gravy.html
Old-Fashioned Household Products for Your Spring Cleaning Project
http://www.debtfreecashedupandlaughing.com.au/2016/09/old-fashioned-household-products-for.html
7. Members 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 thalawest.
Dating: a time to establish favourite meals
Warning: slightly soppy post.
My BF, while certainly not a stranger to working on a budget, is newer to the whole Cheapskating thing than I am. (I think he thinks I worry about money too much.) But since we're hoping to end up married, we are thinking ahead to saving for both a wedding and a house, so we're being economical with our dates. That means a lot more eating at home, one home or the other.
I'm finding this has the distinct advantage of finding out what meals we both like. One recipe I'd been wanting to try, collected from another forum many years ago, was eggplant parmigiana, and when eggplants were cheap at the market one week, he and I made it for dinner that Sunday at my place. It turned out well (my cooking is always better if I follow an actual recipe instead of trying to make it up). Then, last week when I visited him, I brought all the ingredients I wasn't sure of already being at his place and suggested we make it again. Apparently, the news that I'd brought ingredients required that he kiss me.
(He likes it when I'm practical. I'm still not sure why tapping out the milk carton to get the last drop is such an appealing thing, but he says it is. I'm glad because it's something I do anyway.) So, we enjoyed the recipe for another dinner, and I commented that it had better go in our regular meals together.
Cooking together has also been great for practising teamwork. I do well at the organising part, and he does well at the keeping-a-nose-open part, so nothing burns. (Let it never be said that men can't multitask, because he can keep a nose on the cooking even while we're kissing!)
We barely modified the recipe in the above link. We simplified it to ordinary tasty cheese and used dried basil, since that was what I had on hand, and we substituted I forget what tomato-based sauce the first time but made a simple marinara sauce from a Google search the second time (another great recipe find - easy to make and very tasty!). Apart from the two types of cheese, all the ingredients are simple and cheap already. It's a bit of work - I don't usually do two-stage cooking - but definitely worth it, and I'm sure I'll learn to manage cooking time with prep time after a couple more goes. Must make that sauce in advance, too.
Finding favourite recipes together, especially since DBF is something of a foodie, is fun and gives quite a sense of triumph. I love that we're not just being economical - we're preparing for a potential future, Cheapskates-style!
Login to read more Cheapskates Club Member blogs
8. Last Week's Question
Last week's question was from Rachel who wrote
"I'm interested to know what's a good, reliable slow cooker to purchase? I'm a single parent, have recently increased my hours from part time to full time and am looking for no fuss quick and easy dinner options, so keen to get into slow cooking...just don't want to buy a dud brand!"
Pat Parkin answered
Your Slow Cooker MUST have a removable bowl. Always brown your meat before putting it in the Slow Cooker.
Sarah Wise answered
I don't have a specific slow cooker to recommend, but if you join your local Buy Nothing group on Facebook, you can ask if someone has one to give away. Frequently they will be much better quality than you could afford yourself, or an oldie but a goodie that will last forever.
Jenny McManus answered
Try your local op shop, they usually have a few to choose from at a much better price. The option of an "auto" setting is great as it will turn down and simmer until you get home from work. Yes, some of the more expensive cookers have fancy options, but they are not necessary. I've had my cheap brand for years. Think about the size that will suit you best, if you have the freezer space I'd recommend a larger size cooker.
Desina Hatzis answered
Big W sell a great 5.5 litre for $20 with a 2-year warranty. Contempo is the brand (made for Big W by a well-known brand). It's great value!
Tracy Cobb answered
My best advice is broaden your horizons and consider an all-in-one cooker. Not only are they an awesome slow-cooker, they are also a pressure-cooker, rice-cooker, pasta-cooker, steamer, and baker! You can do everything from ribs to risotto, cakes to casseroles, and soups to slow-cooked anything! Best thing is, the included recipe book (and online resources) will give you the slow-cook AND the pressure-cook option for relevant recipes. So, if you are prepping in the morning, you can select the 8-hour slow-cook option, and if you didn’t have time in the morning and need to whip up dinner after work, you can select the 20-minute pressure-cook option. Same-same! Plus, everything becomes a one-pot meal due to the sauté/sear functions. I have the Philips All-in-one and LURVE it! If you have littlies that are likely to try to open a pressure cooker, then perhaps worth paying the extra for the Pro version, but otherwise save your money and get the original. You’ll wonder what you used to do without it!
Mandy Spink answered
I have had a large Breville slow cooker for 8 years and it is still just as good as when new. I also have a Breville stick blender that is over 10 years old and still going, so I would recommend that brand. Slow cookers warm the house, make it smell delicious and ensure there is a home-cooked meal for dinner, even when you've been out at work all day.
Even the simplest combinations of veggies/meat/lentils and some stock, cook down nicely in the slow cooker. Good luck with experimenting!
There are more great suggestions in the Slow Cooker Tip Store and on the Cheapskates Club Facebook page.
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