Your Cheapskates Club Newsletter 19:21
In This Newsletter
1. Cath's Corner
2. From the Tip Store - Super Smooth Peanut Butter; Get the Fire Going Easily; Keeping the Warm in and the Cold Out
3. Share Your Tips
4. On the Menu - BBQ Meatloaf
5. The $300 a Month Food Challenge - Making Tortillas and Wraps
6. The Weekly MOO Challenge - Sweet Chilli Sauce
7. Cheapskates Buzz
8. The Cheapskates Club Show
9. Ask A Question - Have a question? Ask it here
10. Join the Cheapskates Club
11. Frequently Asked Questions
12. Contact Details
1. Cath's Corner
Hello Cheapskaters,
Welcome to our new Cheapskates Club members, we are looking forward to meeting you in the Member's Centre.
I've had a rather quiet week, although it has been busy as usual. I don't know, is there ever a week when we're not busy? I seem to always have something to do, or make, or bake, or pick, or preserve, or weed or water or feed or write, or even clean.
We started this week with beautiful weather. It was warm (well warmish, long sleeve t-shirt weather) and the sun shone so brightly on Monday and Tuesday, and for most of Wednesday. The sky was such a pretty blue. I love watching the way the sky changes blues through the seasons. This week it was a beautiful pastel blue, almost what we call baby blue. During summer is it a much more vibrant and bright blue, in winter it can sometimes be almost dark blue and then in spring it is light and very pale, almost washed out. It never gets boring!
What's my message this week? Don't stop building your pantry; even if you've joined us for the One Month Pantry Test Challenge you can add to your pantry, just don't use it until after the challenge finishes! Remember, your pantry is the best investment you can make, and the returns are better than any you'll get anywhere else.
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
Super Smooth Peanut Butter
All natural peanut butter separates and must be stirred thoroughly before the first use. That can make a big mess. To avoid this, I store the jar upside-down so that the oil is at the bottom of the jar. When I stir, the oil is lighter and mixes easier without running over. It also ensures that there won't be peanut butter at the bottom of the jar that didn't get thoroughly mixed.
Get the Fire Going Easily
We use a combustion stove and heater during winter so I make fire starters out of paper egg cartons, sawdust or dryer lint and wax from old candles to get the fires burning. I carefully melt wax from old candles (I have a box full that melted into funny shapes during the summer heatwave last year) and while the wax is melting, I tear the top off the egg cartons, lay the bottoms on newspaper and fill each cup with sawdust or dryer lint. Then, I carefully pour the melted wax over the sawdust and allow them to harden and cool. These are fool-proof tools for lighting wood heaters and fireplaces, we have even used them to get the Webber going. A lot of people save their egg cartons, old candles and dryer lint for me and I, in turn, supply them with fire starters for their wood heaters.
Contributed by Tanya
Keeping the Warm In and the Cold Out
With winter almost upon us and the mornings becoming decidedly frosty, now is the time to check around the house for draughts. Check windows and doors and if necessary install weather strips (available from hardware shops) on the outside of doors. Use self adhesive foam strips around the frames of windows or doors that are too big and allow cold air in. And don't forget the old fashioned door sausage - filled with sawdust it stops draughts, keeping warmth in and the cold out.
Add a Tip
3. Share Your Tips
The Cheapskate's Club website is thousands of pages of money saving hints, tips and ideas. There are over 12,000 tips to save you money, time and energy; 1,600 budget and family friendly recipes, hundreds of printable tip sheets and ebooks.
Let's get together and make the Cheapskates Club Australia's largest online hint, tip and idea library. Share your favourite money saving, time saving or energy saving hint and be in the running to win a one-year membership to The Cheapskate Club.
Share your favourite hint or tip that saves money, time and energy and be in the running to win a one-year subscription to The Cheapskate Journal.
Remember, you have to be in it to win it!
Share Your Tip
4. On The Menu
BBQ Meatloaf
This meatloaf is delicious! And it uses pantry ingredients, nothing special or exotic, so it fits in with our One Month Pantry Test Challenge perfectly. Living from the pantry does not mean you need to endure food fatigue!
Ingredients:
500g sausage mince
500g minced beef
1 cup stuffing mix (preferably sage and onion)*
2 onions, diced
1 beaten egg
1 dessertspoon curry powder
1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup water
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
Method:
Pre-heat oven to 180 degrees Celsius. Mix all ingredients together thoroughly with clean, wet hands. Place into the baking dish, making a mounded shape. Dry hands. Pat plain flour over the surface of the meatloaf. Make two of these because they can be used cold with salad, or as sandwich fillings. Bake 30 minutes at 180 degrees Celsius, then cover with sauce and continue to bake a further 40 - 45 minutes.
Meantime make the barbecue sauce.
BBQ Sauce
Ingredients:
1/2 cup water
1/2 cup Worcestershire sauce
2 tbsp vinegar
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup tomato sauce
1 tsp instant coffee
2 tbsp lemon juice
1 tbsp margarine.
Method:
Bring to the boil in a saucepan and then simmer for 5 minutes. Pour this over the meatloaves, and cook for a further 40-45 minutes. Baste frequently.
*I don't buy stuffing mix, I MOO it. Use some day old or stale bread, whizzed or grated into crumbs. Add 1 teaspoon of herb of choice and half a grated onion.
Next week we will be eating:
Sunday: Roast Beef
Monday: BBQ Meatloaf, mash, veggies
Tuesday: Pumpkin Lasagne
Wednesday: Baked Chicken Wings & Veg
Thursday: MOO Pizza
Friday: Vegetable Moussaka
Saturday: Tacos
There are over 1,800 budget and family friendly recipes in the Cheapskates Club Recipe File, all contributed by your fellow Cheapskates, so you know they're good.
Add A Recipe
Recipe File Index
5. The $300 a Month Food Challenge
Tortillas!
We eat lots of wraps for lunch, and burritos or enchiladas or fajitas for dinners, but the tortillas can be expensive, even when they're on half price sale. Sometimes I'll use Mountain Bread instead, but it was such a "blow your mind" moment when I found out how easy tortillas are to make and how cheap they are.
I haven't paid $4.15 for tortillas in years - that's how easy they are to make.
We would easily use two packets a week. I just did a quick online check and that would add about $8.30 a week, over the year that's around $431.60 to the grocery bill - over a month's worth of groceries on the $300 a Month Food Challenge! Just on tortillas!
So here's how I make them:
Quick Processor Tortillas
Ingredients:
2-1/2 cups flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt*
3 tbsp oil
3/4 cup warm water
Method:
Combine the dry ingredients in food processor, add the oil and then gradually add enough of the warm water to form a soft dough. Knead on a floured board for about 5 minutes then allow the dough to rest for at least 10 minutes, this makes it much easier to roll out. Divide the dough into 10-12 pieces and roll each to about 20cm across. Cook them quickly in a very hot, lightly oiled frying pan for 30-60 seconds until they bubble and start to brown. Turn and cook other side. Wrap them in a damp tea towel to keep them soft until ready to use. To warm the tortillas wrap them in foil and heat them in the oven. These can be frozen, separate with freezer plastic between each tortilla to make them easy to separate. Re-heat in a hot, lightly oiled fry pan for a few seconds on each side.
*Note: Use 1 teaspoon of salt in this recipe, it really is needed. Normally I would omit salt in recipes but the salt in this recipe is needed to give the tortillas flavour.
This recipe makes enough tortillas to last us a week for $1.35, making them affordable on our grocery budget. I buy flour, oil and salt in bulk - if you buy regular supermarket sizes they'll cost a little more but still be cheaper than buying them.
Once you've made your own tortillas you won't bother with buying them. Not only are they cheaper to make at home, but so much nicer freshly made.
The $300 a Month Food Challenge Forum
The Post that Started it All
6. The Weekly MOO Challenge
MOO Sweet Chilli Sauce
I'm not a fan of chilli, but I love a good sweet chilli sauce. I love it on fish cakes, on wedges or chips and combined with cream cheese for a dip. Yum!
This is a very simple sweet chilli sauce, great for home and perfect for gift giving.
A Very Simple Sweet Chilli Sauce
Ingredients:
1 cup white sugar
1 cup water
1/2 cup rice wine vinegar
2-3 cloves garlic, peeled
2 Jalapeno chillies*
2 tbsp cornflour mixed with 2 tablespoons cold water
Method:
Put on a pair of disposable rubber gloves. Trust me on this. Chilli burns, so rubber gloves are essential. And rub your eyes and scratch your nose before you start handling the chilli. Again, trust me on this. Chilli burns - you do not want it anywhere near your eyes or nose.
Prepare the chillies by de-seeding and chopping roughly. The heat of the chilli is in the seed so you can decide just how hot you want your sauce. No seeds will give a milder sauce, all the seeds will give a very hot sauce, something in the middle will give you a medium - hot sauce. And the heat will depend on the type of chilli you are using.
Roughly chop the garlic.
Put the sugar, water, rice wine vinegar, garlic and chilli in a medium saucepan. Bring to a simmer over a medium heat. Simmer rapidly for 10 minutes. Turn the heat down to low. Stir in the cornflour/water mixture, stirring constantly until the mixture thickens.
Use a stick blender to puree. Or pour sauce into a food processor and process until pureed. Make sure the vent/chute on the processor is open so the hot sauce doesn't explode.
Pour into a hot, sterilised bottle and seal.
*The heat in your sauce will depend on the type of chilli you are using and the amount of seeds you leave in the sauce. Use your favourite chilli or a combination of chillies to get the flavour and heat you love.
Get in on the fun and discussions here.
7. Cheapskates Buzz
From The Article Archive
Love Those Laundry Savings
Plant Now for a Beautiful Spring Show
The Fine Line
This Week's Hot Forum Topics
Veg in Pots
Forever Foods - What to add to your stockpile for long-term food storage
Peanut Butter & Choc Fudge
Newest Recipes
Slow Cooker Chicken Taco Chilli
Latest Tips
Ditching the Home Loan Faster, Even with Interest Rate Hikes
Another Use for Microfibre Cloths
4 Meals for $2.20 and That is the Top Amount - Often Less
8. The Cheapskates Club Show
Join Cath and Hannah live Tuesdays and Thursdays on You Tube at 7.30pm AET
Show ScheduleTuesday: 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.
Latest Shows
1. Cath's Corner
2. From the Tip Store - Super Smooth Peanut Butter; Get the Fire Going Easily; Keeping the Warm in and the Cold Out
3. Share Your Tips
4. On the Menu - BBQ Meatloaf
5. The $300 a Month Food Challenge - Making Tortillas and Wraps
6. The Weekly MOO Challenge - Sweet Chilli Sauce
7. Cheapskates Buzz
8. The Cheapskates Club Show
9. Ask A Question - Have a question? Ask it here
10. Join the Cheapskates Club
11. Frequently Asked Questions
12. Contact Details
1. Cath's Corner
Hello Cheapskaters,
Welcome to our new Cheapskates Club members, we are looking forward to meeting you in the Member's Centre.
I've had a rather quiet week, although it has been busy as usual. I don't know, is there ever a week when we're not busy? I seem to always have something to do, or make, or bake, or pick, or preserve, or weed or water or feed or write, or even clean.
We started this week with beautiful weather. It was warm (well warmish, long sleeve t-shirt weather) and the sun shone so brightly on Monday and Tuesday, and for most of Wednesday. The sky was such a pretty blue. I love watching the way the sky changes blues through the seasons. This week it was a beautiful pastel blue, almost what we call baby blue. During summer is it a much more vibrant and bright blue, in winter it can sometimes be almost dark blue and then in spring it is light and very pale, almost washed out. It never gets boring!
What's my message this week? Don't stop building your pantry; even if you've joined us for the One Month Pantry Test Challenge you can add to your pantry, just don't use it until after the challenge finishes! Remember, your pantry is the best investment you can make, and the returns are better than any you'll get anywhere else.
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
Super Smooth Peanut Butter
All natural peanut butter separates and must be stirred thoroughly before the first use. That can make a big mess. To avoid this, I store the jar upside-down so that the oil is at the bottom of the jar. When I stir, the oil is lighter and mixes easier without running over. It also ensures that there won't be peanut butter at the bottom of the jar that didn't get thoroughly mixed.
Get the Fire Going Easily
We use a combustion stove and heater during winter so I make fire starters out of paper egg cartons, sawdust or dryer lint and wax from old candles to get the fires burning. I carefully melt wax from old candles (I have a box full that melted into funny shapes during the summer heatwave last year) and while the wax is melting, I tear the top off the egg cartons, lay the bottoms on newspaper and fill each cup with sawdust or dryer lint. Then, I carefully pour the melted wax over the sawdust and allow them to harden and cool. These are fool-proof tools for lighting wood heaters and fireplaces, we have even used them to get the Webber going. A lot of people save their egg cartons, old candles and dryer lint for me and I, in turn, supply them with fire starters for their wood heaters.
Contributed by Tanya
Keeping the Warm In and the Cold Out
With winter almost upon us and the mornings becoming decidedly frosty, now is the time to check around the house for draughts. Check windows and doors and if necessary install weather strips (available from hardware shops) on the outside of doors. Use self adhesive foam strips around the frames of windows or doors that are too big and allow cold air in. And don't forget the old fashioned door sausage - filled with sawdust it stops draughts, keeping warmth in and the cold out.
Add a Tip
3. Share Your Tips
The Cheapskate's Club website is thousands of pages of money saving hints, tips and ideas. There are over 12,000 tips to save you money, time and energy; 1,600 budget and family friendly recipes, hundreds of printable tip sheets and ebooks.
Let's get together and make the Cheapskates Club Australia's largest online hint, tip and idea library. Share your favourite money saving, time saving or energy saving hint and be in the running to win a one-year membership to The Cheapskate Club.
Share your favourite hint or tip that saves money, time and energy and be in the running to win a one-year subscription to The Cheapskate Journal.
Remember, you have to be in it to win it!
Share Your Tip
4. On The Menu
BBQ Meatloaf
This meatloaf is delicious! And it uses pantry ingredients, nothing special or exotic, so it fits in with our One Month Pantry Test Challenge perfectly. Living from the pantry does not mean you need to endure food fatigue!
Ingredients:
500g sausage mince
500g minced beef
1 cup stuffing mix (preferably sage and onion)*
2 onions, diced
1 beaten egg
1 dessertspoon curry powder
1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup water
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
Method:
Pre-heat oven to 180 degrees Celsius. Mix all ingredients together thoroughly with clean, wet hands. Place into the baking dish, making a mounded shape. Dry hands. Pat plain flour over the surface of the meatloaf. Make two of these because they can be used cold with salad, or as sandwich fillings. Bake 30 minutes at 180 degrees Celsius, then cover with sauce and continue to bake a further 40 - 45 minutes.
Meantime make the barbecue sauce.
BBQ Sauce
Ingredients:
1/2 cup water
1/2 cup Worcestershire sauce
2 tbsp vinegar
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup tomato sauce
1 tsp instant coffee
2 tbsp lemon juice
1 tbsp margarine.
Method:
Bring to the boil in a saucepan and then simmer for 5 minutes. Pour this over the meatloaves, and cook for a further 40-45 minutes. Baste frequently.
*I don't buy stuffing mix, I MOO it. Use some day old or stale bread, whizzed or grated into crumbs. Add 1 teaspoon of herb of choice and half a grated onion.
Next week we will be eating:
Sunday: Roast Beef
Monday: BBQ Meatloaf, mash, veggies
Tuesday: Pumpkin Lasagne
Wednesday: Baked Chicken Wings & Veg
Thursday: MOO Pizza
Friday: Vegetable Moussaka
Saturday: Tacos
There are over 1,800 budget and family friendly recipes in the Cheapskates Club Recipe File, all contributed by your fellow Cheapskates, so you know they're good.
Add A Recipe
Recipe File Index
5. The $300 a Month Food Challenge
Tortillas!
We eat lots of wraps for lunch, and burritos or enchiladas or fajitas for dinners, but the tortillas can be expensive, even when they're on half price sale. Sometimes I'll use Mountain Bread instead, but it was such a "blow your mind" moment when I found out how easy tortillas are to make and how cheap they are.
I haven't paid $4.15 for tortillas in years - that's how easy they are to make.
We would easily use two packets a week. I just did a quick online check and that would add about $8.30 a week, over the year that's around $431.60 to the grocery bill - over a month's worth of groceries on the $300 a Month Food Challenge! Just on tortillas!
So here's how I make them:
Quick Processor Tortillas
Ingredients:
2-1/2 cups flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt*
3 tbsp oil
3/4 cup warm water
Method:
Combine the dry ingredients in food processor, add the oil and then gradually add enough of the warm water to form a soft dough. Knead on a floured board for about 5 minutes then allow the dough to rest for at least 10 minutes, this makes it much easier to roll out. Divide the dough into 10-12 pieces and roll each to about 20cm across. Cook them quickly in a very hot, lightly oiled frying pan for 30-60 seconds until they bubble and start to brown. Turn and cook other side. Wrap them in a damp tea towel to keep them soft until ready to use. To warm the tortillas wrap them in foil and heat them in the oven. These can be frozen, separate with freezer plastic between each tortilla to make them easy to separate. Re-heat in a hot, lightly oiled fry pan for a few seconds on each side.
*Note: Use 1 teaspoon of salt in this recipe, it really is needed. Normally I would omit salt in recipes but the salt in this recipe is needed to give the tortillas flavour.
This recipe makes enough tortillas to last us a week for $1.35, making them affordable on our grocery budget. I buy flour, oil and salt in bulk - if you buy regular supermarket sizes they'll cost a little more but still be cheaper than buying them.
Once you've made your own tortillas you won't bother with buying them. Not only are they cheaper to make at home, but so much nicer freshly made.
The $300 a Month Food Challenge Forum
The Post that Started it All
6. The Weekly MOO Challenge
MOO Sweet Chilli Sauce
I'm not a fan of chilli, but I love a good sweet chilli sauce. I love it on fish cakes, on wedges or chips and combined with cream cheese for a dip. Yum!
This is a very simple sweet chilli sauce, great for home and perfect for gift giving.
A Very Simple Sweet Chilli Sauce
Ingredients:
1 cup white sugar
1 cup water
1/2 cup rice wine vinegar
2-3 cloves garlic, peeled
2 Jalapeno chillies*
2 tbsp cornflour mixed with 2 tablespoons cold water
Method:
Put on a pair of disposable rubber gloves. Trust me on this. Chilli burns, so rubber gloves are essential. And rub your eyes and scratch your nose before you start handling the chilli. Again, trust me on this. Chilli burns - you do not want it anywhere near your eyes or nose.
Prepare the chillies by de-seeding and chopping roughly. The heat of the chilli is in the seed so you can decide just how hot you want your sauce. No seeds will give a milder sauce, all the seeds will give a very hot sauce, something in the middle will give you a medium - hot sauce. And the heat will depend on the type of chilli you are using.
Roughly chop the garlic.
Put the sugar, water, rice wine vinegar, garlic and chilli in a medium saucepan. Bring to a simmer over a medium heat. Simmer rapidly for 10 minutes. Turn the heat down to low. Stir in the cornflour/water mixture, stirring constantly until the mixture thickens.
Use a stick blender to puree. Or pour sauce into a food processor and process until pureed. Make sure the vent/chute on the processor is open so the hot sauce doesn't explode.
Pour into a hot, sterilised bottle and seal.
*The heat in your sauce will depend on the type of chilli you are using and the amount of seeds you leave in the sauce. Use your favourite chilli or a combination of chillies to get the flavour and heat you love.
Get in on the fun and discussions here.
7. Cheapskates Buzz
From The Article Archive
Love Those Laundry Savings
Plant Now for a Beautiful Spring Show
The Fine Line
This Week's Hot Forum Topics
Veg in Pots
Forever Foods - What to add to your stockpile for long-term food storage
Peanut Butter & Choc Fudge
Newest Recipes
Slow Cooker Chicken Taco Chilli
Latest Tips
Ditching the Home Loan Faster, Even with Interest Rate Hikes
Another Use for Microfibre Cloths
4 Meals for $2.20 and That is the Top Amount - Often Less
8. The Cheapskates Club Show
Join Cath and Hannah live Tuesdays and Thursdays on You Tube at 7.30pm AET
Show ScheduleTuesday: 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.
Latest Shows
9. Ask A Question
We have lots of resources to help you as you live the Cheapskates way but if you didn't find the answer to your question in our extensive archives please just drop me a note with your question.
I read and answer all questions, either in an email to you, in my weekly newsletter, the monthly Journal or by creating blog posts and other resources to help you (and other Cheapskaters).
Ask Your Question
10. Join The Cheapskates Club
For just $25 you can join the Cheapskates Club and get exclusive access to the Cheapskate Journal, the monthly e-journal that shows you how to cut the costs of everyday living and still have fun for a full year.
That's unlimited 24/7 access to EVERYTHING in the Member's Centre!
Click here to join the Cheapskates Club today!
11. Frequently Asked Questions
How do I change my email address?
This one is easy. When you login to the Member's Centre just click on your name at the top of the page to go straight to your profile page where you can update your details, change your password and find your subscription details.
Not a Cheapskates Club member? Then please use the Changing Details form found here to update your email address.
How do I know when my membership should be renewed?
Memberships are active for one year from the date of joining. You will be sent a renewal reminder before your subscription is due to renew. You can also find your membership expiry date on your profile page.
When you login to the Member's Centre just click on your name to go straight to your profile page where you can will find your join date and your expiry date.
What will you do with my email address?
We never rent, trade or sell our email list to anyone for any reason whatsoever. You'll never get an unsolicited email from a stranger as a result of joining this list.
How did I get on this list?
The only way you can get onto our newsletter mailing list is to subscribe yourself. You either signed up to receive our Free Newsletter at our Cheapskates Club Web site or are a Platinum Cheapskates Club member.
12. Contact Cheapskates
The Cheapskates Club -
Showing you how to live life
debt free, cashed up and laughing!
PO Box 5077 Studfield Vic 3152
Contact Cheapskates
We have lots of resources to help you as you live the Cheapskates way but if you didn't find the answer to your question in our extensive archives please just drop me a note with your question.
I read and answer all questions, either in an email to you, in my weekly newsletter, the monthly Journal or by creating blog posts and other resources to help you (and other Cheapskaters).
Ask Your Question
10. Join The Cheapskates Club
For just $25 you can join the Cheapskates Club and get exclusive access to the Cheapskate Journal, the monthly e-journal that shows you how to cut the costs of everyday living and still have fun for a full year.
That's unlimited 24/7 access to EVERYTHING in the Member's Centre!
Click here to join the Cheapskates Club today!
11. Frequently Asked Questions
How do I change my email address?
This one is easy. When you login to the Member's Centre just click on your name at the top of the page to go straight to your profile page where you can update your details, change your password and find your subscription details.
Not a Cheapskates Club member? Then please use the Changing Details form found here to update your email address.
How do I know when my membership should be renewed?
Memberships are active for one year from the date of joining. You will be sent a renewal reminder before your subscription is due to renew. You can also find your membership expiry date on your profile page.
When you login to the Member's Centre just click on your name to go straight to your profile page where you can will find your join date and your expiry date.
What will you do with my email address?
We never rent, trade or sell our email list to anyone for any reason whatsoever. You'll never get an unsolicited email from a stranger as a result of joining this list.
How did I get on this list?
The only way you can get onto our newsletter mailing list is to subscribe yourself. You either signed up to receive our Free Newsletter at our Cheapskates Club Web site or are a Platinum Cheapskates Club member.
12. Contact Cheapskates
The Cheapskates Club -
Showing you how to live life
debt free, cashed up and laughing!
PO Box 5077 Studfield Vic 3152
Contact Cheapskates