Your Cheapskates Club Newsletter 19:19
In This Newsletter
1. Cath's Corner
2. From the Tip Store - Just Hit Refresh; Solving the Juice Box Dilemma; Perfect Corn on the Cob in Microwave
4. Share Your Tips
4. On the Menu - Cath's Basic Mince Mixture
5. The $300 a Month Food Challenge - How Much Should I Be Spending On Food?
6. Cheapskates Buzz - Cheapskaters are talking in the Forum and on Cath's blog
7. The Cheapskates Club Show - Live on You Tube Tuesdays & Thursdays
8. Ask A Question - Have a question? Ask it here
9. Join the Cheapskates Club
10. Frequently Asked Questions
11. Contact Details
1. Cath's Corner
Hello Cheapskaters,
Welcoem to newsletter number 19! The year is flying by so quickly I actually double checked the dates when I was putting this newsletter together.
There's lots of great reading this week, so please sit back and enjoy, and if you love it, feel free to forward it to someone you know who'll enjoy it too.
Have a great week everyone, and happy Mother's Day on Sunday.
Happy Cheapskating,
Cath
2. From The Tip Store
Just Hit Refresh
Are you sick of throwing away half eaten packets of crackers that have lost their crunch? Just put them in the oven for 5-10 minutes to refresh them and they'll be as crisp as - or crisper than - when you opened them. This works for rice crackers, rice cakes, corn thins ... any kind of crackers. Remember to do this when you've already got the oven on for something else to save power too.
Contributed by Kate
Solving the Juice Box Dilemma
I have three kids that are involved in quite a few after school activities. While I always take drinks and food for them, I was always having to buy juice boxes and poppers. I noticed a tumbler with a lid and a straw, much like the disposable take-away cups, in the baby aisle at the supermarket. I bought a set of six and have been using them for several months for the kids' drinks. I take a bottle of water with me and rinse the cups out after every use. The kids have chewed the plastic straws, so I replaced them with stainless steel straws from Kmart (you'll find them in the party supplies area). Before I leave home, I pack their afternoon snacks and drinks in a little eski to stop the drinks falling over on the way to school (the cool drinks keep the snacks cool - bonus!). No more poppers or juice boxes in my shopping trolley and the kids are loving the reusable cups and rainbow straws as part of their own war on waste.
Contributed by Lisa Dougall
Perfect Corn on the Cob in Microwave
Recently I read this tip and thought I would share after trying it for myself. Being diabetic I cannot really eat much corn but my DD loves it and I thought of how much gas I am using to cook one cob of corn, so I tried this tip. Take 1 cob of corn and a wet paper towel. Wrap the corn cob in the wet paper towel. Place in the microwave and cook for 5 minutes on med to high...depends on how you like your corn cooked. When the microwave dings, you'll have a perfectly cooked cob of corn (and no pot to wash). You can do with a few corn cobs but cooking time may vary.
Contributed by Alyson C
Add a Tip
3. Share Your Tips
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
Cath's Basic Mince Mixture
All these recipes start with a basic mince mixture. I bought mince on sale for $5.99/kg, the mix takes two kilos of mince, so the meat component cost $12. That brings the meat component of each meal down to just $1.70 per meal - well under my budgeted $5 per meal!
That is so exciting, and not just because they're cheap meals, but because that frees up $3.30 that I can shift to another meal. The seven meals have freed up $23.10 in the meat budget, and that is how I can afford to buy legs of lamb or roasting beef or even corned beef on our $320 a month grocery budget!
Basic Mince Mixture
Ingredients:
2kg minced beef
2 cups TVP
2 cups boiling water
2 cups boiling stock - beef or vegetable
1 tsp garlic granules
1 tbsp onion flakes
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp ground pepper
Method:
Brown the mince and drain (I rinse it under hot running water - I catch that water to use to feed the pot plants). Put the mince and the TVP in the slow cooker. Stir. Add the boiling water and the stock and stir. Add the garlic granules, onion flakes, salt and pepper.
Cook on HIGH for 1-1/2 hours. Stir regularly. Check to see if the TVP is soft; if it's not, cook a further 15 minutes and check again.
Divide the mixture into 2 cup lots, and store in the fridge if you are going to use it straightaway. If not, freeze it until needed.
Use this basic mince mixture to make the following seven meals:
Beefy Mushroom Pies
Use your pie maker and bought pastry to make eight pies quickly.
Ingredients:
2 cups Basic Mince Mixture
1 pkt Cream of Mushroom Soup Mix
1 carrot, grated
1 turnip or swede, grated
1 potato, grated
1 tsp Vegemite
1 cup water
4 sheets puff pastry
Method:
Mix all the ingredients together. Bring to a boil and cook until thick.
Turn your pie maker on to heat. Yes, it needs to heat. If it isn't at temperature when you put the pastry in you'll end up with soggy, undercooked pies.
Cut eight bases and eight tops from the pastry. Follow the instructions for your pie maker to make eight pies.
This week we will be eating:
Sunday: Roast Chicken
Monday: Tomato & onion quiche, salad
Tuesday: Gnocchi & garlic bread
Wednesday: Butter Chicken, Rice, Naan
Thursday: MOO Pizza
Friday: Mexican Lasagne
Saturday: Hamburgers
In the fruit bowl: Mandarins
There are over 1,700 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
How Much Should I Be Spending On Food?
How much should I be spending on food? On average, depending on what source you view, Australians spend between $167 - $200 a week on the food component of their grocery shopping (cleaning, toiletries, magazines etc. are additional).
That's a lot of money, and it's why I am asked so often how much you should be spending on food.
That's not an easy question answer. Every household is different. We're a family and household of five adults. We don't have any special dietary requirements. We live in a capital city with a vast range of supermarkets, grocers, butchers, greengrocers and markets. We have no debt.
We could easily spend $200 a week, or even more, on food if I didn't watch our grocery budget carefully.
I can't, shouldn't and won't tell you how much of your money you should spend on food. I can and will happily tell you what we spend, how it's spent and what it's spent on (and I've covered this in other posts and in the Journal).
Every household is different. Your income will be different to ours, you'll live somewhere different to us, you may or may not have access to the variety of food sources I have and your financial commitments will be different. You may have a lot of debt or none, you may be on a good income or a low income. It's not my place to tell you how much to spend.
I budget for $320 a month, and the excess (when there is excess) goes into the grocery slush fund to pay for stockpile items and super fantastic specials too good to pass up.
I keep it grocery spending down by:
• having a meal plan (however vague and flexible)
• having a set shopping list and sticking to it
• buying as much as I can in bulk
• not wasting money on branded products unless we especially like them
• growing a lot of the vegetables we eat and what I don’t grow I buy in bulk and either freeze, bottle or dehydrate
• cooking from scratch.
And, and this is the biggie, we don't eat out very often (maybe twice a year) and takeaway is a once-a-month treat paid for out of our fun money.
If you want to get your grocery bill down, start with your next shop. Make a shopping list of exactly what you need and then stick to it. Use your current grocery budget and try to come in under, 10 per cent under is a good starting point. If you find you can get everything on your list and still eat well, next shop trim your grocery budget by another 10 per cent. Keep trimming like this until you find you can't feed the family and buy everything you need, then just go back one week and use that as your grocery budget.
You can stick to it by shopping smarter and wiser. Look for less expensive substitutes, keep an eye out for good sales, shop around, stop wasting food by using everything you buy before it goes off and be more disciplined in your meal planning and shopping.
You don't need to go without the food you like or need. You do need to be clever and perhaps make some changes to the way you stock your pantry and fridge and to the way you think about grocery shopping (it's chore to be done, not a recreational activity).
There is no right or wrong amount for you to be spending on food. There is an optimal amount, that you can find using the 10 per cent reduction strategy, just right for you.
I don't want you to feel sad and deprived, that's not the point of spending less on your groceries. Take back control and make the choices that benefit you and your family.
Remember my favourite saying "ditch the stuff that's not important to you so you have the money to enjoy the things that are."
The $300 a Month Food Challenge Forum
The Post that Started it All
6. Cheapskates Buzz
From The Article Archive
Cheapskates Lifestyle Slashes Debt in Double Quick Time
2 Hour Fingerless Gloves, Just in Time for Winter
Before You Lose Your Purse - Read This!
This Week's Hot Forum Topics
The Garden Project
Laundry Must Haves
My Retirement Garden
7. The Cheapskates Club Show
Join Cath and Hannah live Tuesdays and Thursdays on You Tube at 7.30pm AET
Show Schedule
Tuesday: Around the Kitchen Table - join Cath and Hannah for a cuppa and a chat around the kitchen table as they talk about living the Cheapskates way.
Thursday: Cheapskates in the Kitchen - want to know how to cook delicious, healthy and cheap meals? Watch Cath and Hannah as they create cheapskates style cuisine and share their favourite recipes.
Latest Shows
How Much Should I Be Spending On Food?
The Easiest, Most Delicious Pies Ever
7 Habits of Successful Savers
Coming Up
Thursday 9th May - Vacuum Sealer Product Review & Overnight Gingerbeer
Tuesday 14th May - Teaching Kids About Money
8. 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
9. Join The Cheapskates Club
For just $36.50 a year, 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!
10. 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 signed up to receive our Free Newsletter at our Cheapskates Club Web site or are a Platinum Cheapskates Club member.
11. 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
1. Cath's Corner
2. From the Tip Store - Just Hit Refresh; Solving the Juice Box Dilemma; Perfect Corn on the Cob in Microwave
4. Share Your Tips
4. On the Menu - Cath's Basic Mince Mixture
5. The $300 a Month Food Challenge - How Much Should I Be Spending On Food?
6. Cheapskates Buzz - Cheapskaters are talking in the Forum and on Cath's blog
7. The Cheapskates Club Show - Live on You Tube Tuesdays & Thursdays
8. Ask A Question - Have a question? Ask it here
9. Join the Cheapskates Club
10. Frequently Asked Questions
11. Contact Details
1. Cath's Corner
Hello Cheapskaters,
Welcoem to newsletter number 19! The year is flying by so quickly I actually double checked the dates when I was putting this newsletter together.
There's lots of great reading this week, so please sit back and enjoy, and if you love it, feel free to forward it to someone you know who'll enjoy it too.
Have a great week everyone, and happy Mother's Day on Sunday.
Happy Cheapskating,
Cath
2. From The Tip Store
Just Hit Refresh
Are you sick of throwing away half eaten packets of crackers that have lost their crunch? Just put them in the oven for 5-10 minutes to refresh them and they'll be as crisp as - or crisper than - when you opened them. This works for rice crackers, rice cakes, corn thins ... any kind of crackers. Remember to do this when you've already got the oven on for something else to save power too.
Contributed by Kate
Solving the Juice Box Dilemma
I have three kids that are involved in quite a few after school activities. While I always take drinks and food for them, I was always having to buy juice boxes and poppers. I noticed a tumbler with a lid and a straw, much like the disposable take-away cups, in the baby aisle at the supermarket. I bought a set of six and have been using them for several months for the kids' drinks. I take a bottle of water with me and rinse the cups out after every use. The kids have chewed the plastic straws, so I replaced them with stainless steel straws from Kmart (you'll find them in the party supplies area). Before I leave home, I pack their afternoon snacks and drinks in a little eski to stop the drinks falling over on the way to school (the cool drinks keep the snacks cool - bonus!). No more poppers or juice boxes in my shopping trolley and the kids are loving the reusable cups and rainbow straws as part of their own war on waste.
Contributed by Lisa Dougall
Perfect Corn on the Cob in Microwave
Recently I read this tip and thought I would share after trying it for myself. Being diabetic I cannot really eat much corn but my DD loves it and I thought of how much gas I am using to cook one cob of corn, so I tried this tip. Take 1 cob of corn and a wet paper towel. Wrap the corn cob in the wet paper towel. Place in the microwave and cook for 5 minutes on med to high...depends on how you like your corn cooked. When the microwave dings, you'll have a perfectly cooked cob of corn (and no pot to wash). You can do with a few corn cobs but cooking time may vary.
Contributed by Alyson C
Add a Tip
3. Share Your Tips
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
Cath's Basic Mince Mixture
All these recipes start with a basic mince mixture. I bought mince on sale for $5.99/kg, the mix takes two kilos of mince, so the meat component cost $12. That brings the meat component of each meal down to just $1.70 per meal - well under my budgeted $5 per meal!
That is so exciting, and not just because they're cheap meals, but because that frees up $3.30 that I can shift to another meal. The seven meals have freed up $23.10 in the meat budget, and that is how I can afford to buy legs of lamb or roasting beef or even corned beef on our $320 a month grocery budget!
Basic Mince Mixture
Ingredients:
2kg minced beef
2 cups TVP
2 cups boiling water
2 cups boiling stock - beef or vegetable
1 tsp garlic granules
1 tbsp onion flakes
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp ground pepper
Method:
Brown the mince and drain (I rinse it under hot running water - I catch that water to use to feed the pot plants). Put the mince and the TVP in the slow cooker. Stir. Add the boiling water and the stock and stir. Add the garlic granules, onion flakes, salt and pepper.
Cook on HIGH for 1-1/2 hours. Stir regularly. Check to see if the TVP is soft; if it's not, cook a further 15 minutes and check again.
Divide the mixture into 2 cup lots, and store in the fridge if you are going to use it straightaway. If not, freeze it until needed.
Use this basic mince mixture to make the following seven meals:
Beefy Mushroom Pies
Use your pie maker and bought pastry to make eight pies quickly.
Ingredients:
2 cups Basic Mince Mixture
1 pkt Cream of Mushroom Soup Mix
1 carrot, grated
1 turnip or swede, grated
1 potato, grated
1 tsp Vegemite
1 cup water
4 sheets puff pastry
Method:
Mix all the ingredients together. Bring to a boil and cook until thick.
Turn your pie maker on to heat. Yes, it needs to heat. If it isn't at temperature when you put the pastry in you'll end up with soggy, undercooked pies.
Cut eight bases and eight tops from the pastry. Follow the instructions for your pie maker to make eight pies.
This week we will be eating:
Sunday: Roast Chicken
Monday: Tomato & onion quiche, salad
Tuesday: Gnocchi & garlic bread
Wednesday: Butter Chicken, Rice, Naan
Thursday: MOO Pizza
Friday: Mexican Lasagne
Saturday: Hamburgers
In the fruit bowl: Mandarins
There are over 1,700 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
How Much Should I Be Spending On Food?
How much should I be spending on food? On average, depending on what source you view, Australians spend between $167 - $200 a week on the food component of their grocery shopping (cleaning, toiletries, magazines etc. are additional).
That's a lot of money, and it's why I am asked so often how much you should be spending on food.
That's not an easy question answer. Every household is different. We're a family and household of five adults. We don't have any special dietary requirements. We live in a capital city with a vast range of supermarkets, grocers, butchers, greengrocers and markets. We have no debt.
We could easily spend $200 a week, or even more, on food if I didn't watch our grocery budget carefully.
I can't, shouldn't and won't tell you how much of your money you should spend on food. I can and will happily tell you what we spend, how it's spent and what it's spent on (and I've covered this in other posts and in the Journal).
Every household is different. Your income will be different to ours, you'll live somewhere different to us, you may or may not have access to the variety of food sources I have and your financial commitments will be different. You may have a lot of debt or none, you may be on a good income or a low income. It's not my place to tell you how much to spend.
I budget for $320 a month, and the excess (when there is excess) goes into the grocery slush fund to pay for stockpile items and super fantastic specials too good to pass up.
I keep it grocery spending down by:
• having a meal plan (however vague and flexible)
• having a set shopping list and sticking to it
• buying as much as I can in bulk
• not wasting money on branded products unless we especially like them
• growing a lot of the vegetables we eat and what I don’t grow I buy in bulk and either freeze, bottle or dehydrate
• cooking from scratch.
And, and this is the biggie, we don't eat out very often (maybe twice a year) and takeaway is a once-a-month treat paid for out of our fun money.
If you want to get your grocery bill down, start with your next shop. Make a shopping list of exactly what you need and then stick to it. Use your current grocery budget and try to come in under, 10 per cent under is a good starting point. If you find you can get everything on your list and still eat well, next shop trim your grocery budget by another 10 per cent. Keep trimming like this until you find you can't feed the family and buy everything you need, then just go back one week and use that as your grocery budget.
You can stick to it by shopping smarter and wiser. Look for less expensive substitutes, keep an eye out for good sales, shop around, stop wasting food by using everything you buy before it goes off and be more disciplined in your meal planning and shopping.
You don't need to go without the food you like or need. You do need to be clever and perhaps make some changes to the way you stock your pantry and fridge and to the way you think about grocery shopping (it's chore to be done, not a recreational activity).
There is no right or wrong amount for you to be spending on food. There is an optimal amount, that you can find using the 10 per cent reduction strategy, just right for you.
I don't want you to feel sad and deprived, that's not the point of spending less on your groceries. Take back control and make the choices that benefit you and your family.
Remember my favourite saying "ditch the stuff that's not important to you so you have the money to enjoy the things that are."
The $300 a Month Food Challenge Forum
The Post that Started it All
6. Cheapskates Buzz
From The Article Archive
Cheapskates Lifestyle Slashes Debt in Double Quick Time
2 Hour Fingerless Gloves, Just in Time for Winter
Before You Lose Your Purse - Read This!
This Week's Hot Forum Topics
The Garden Project
Laundry Must Haves
My Retirement Garden
7. The Cheapskates Club Show
Join Cath and Hannah live Tuesdays and Thursdays on You Tube at 7.30pm AET
Show Schedule
Tuesday: Around the Kitchen Table - join Cath and Hannah for a cuppa and a chat around the kitchen table as they talk about living the Cheapskates way.
Thursday: Cheapskates in the Kitchen - want to know how to cook delicious, healthy and cheap meals? Watch Cath and Hannah as they create cheapskates style cuisine and share their favourite recipes.
Latest Shows
How Much Should I Be Spending On Food?
The Easiest, Most Delicious Pies Ever
7 Habits of Successful Savers
Coming Up
Thursday 9th May - Vacuum Sealer Product Review & Overnight Gingerbeer
Tuesday 14th May - Teaching Kids About Money
8. 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
9. Join The Cheapskates Club
For just $36.50 a year, 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!
10. 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 signed up to receive our Free Newsletter at our Cheapskates Club Web site or are a Platinum Cheapskates Club member.
11. 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