Your Cheapskates Club Newsletter 20:23
In This Newsletter
1. Cath's Corner
2. From the Tip Store - An Almost Instant Quilt - Without All the Work; Tenderise the Toughest Cuts; Power-free Clothes Dryer
3. Share Your Tips
4. On the Menu - Lemon Delicious
5. The $300 a Month Food Challenge - Ways to Stretch Meat for Winter Meals
6. Cheapskates Buzz
7. The Cheapskates Club Show
8. Join the Cheapskates Club
9. Frequently Asked Questions
10. Contact Details
1. Cath's Corner
Hello Cheapskaters,
I apologise for the short newsletter this week, but circumstances have meant I've not been able to devote quite so much time to putting it all together as I usually do.
There are still plenty of great tips and I have shared a recipe of my mother's that I just love, especially in winter, after all who doesn't like an old fashioned pudding on a cold night? It's so much easier than it looks too, and super frugal, especially if you have a lemon tree.
We will hopefully be back to normal next week!
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
An Almost Instant Quilt - Without All the Work!
A few years ago my mum made great quilts for the two spare single beds. She found two old sleeping bags in the shed, left over from our time in the Girl Guides. She opened the seams, removed the hoods and zippers and then sewed around the four edges to prevent the filling from coming out - you could use an overlocker. Cute quilt covers were made from two spare flat sheets. Lovely and warm!! I recently revived the idea to make a quilt for our spare bed by opening up a large unused sleeping bag and putting it in a double bed quilt cover. Great for the sofa when you have visitors!
Contributed by Donna
Tenderise the Toughest Cuts
Approximate $ Savings: $5 to $10 per kilo depending on which meat you buy
I find that the cheaper cuts of meat (too chewy) are not suitable for stir- fries etc so I started experimenting with marinating. I found a mixture of 1/4 cup lemon juice, 1 tablespoon bi-carb soda and 1/4 cup soya sauce on finely sliced meat left for a couple of hours and then rinsed tenderises the toughest cuts. It will froth up when first poured over the meat and taste bitter if you don't rinse it off. Now those tough cuts of meat melt in my mouth. I also tried it on chicken and it melts in my mouth too. This is one meat tenderiser that really does work.
Contributed by Deb
Power-free Clothes Dryer
Over the years I have resisted the temptation to purchase a clothes dryer. Instead I have used various forms of the old laundry airers which can be pulled up to the roof. My current one, which my husband made for me, cost about $20 and holds a washing machine load easily. It dries my washing overnight even in winter as the warm air in the house rises up to the ceiling. Even in winter I usually have dry clothes overnight!! I can't imagine how much money I have saved over the years by not gobbling up electricity with a dryer and by not buying clothes dryers not to mention damage which may have been done to the clothes by being exposed to the heat in a dryer.
Contributed by Suzan
There are more than 12,000 great tips in the Tip Store
Add a Tip
3. Share Your Tips
The Cheapskate's Club website is over 2,000 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.
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
Lemon Delicious
This is one of my favourite desserts, so when I was thinking of something for dessert on Mother's Day, this is what I picked. It looks spectacular but is so very easy to make. This old fashioned recipe uses pantry ingredients and is very frugal. Cost is around $1.50, less if you have your own lemons and eggs or just 25 cents per serve.
Lemon DeliciousIngredients:
1 large tablespoon butter
1 cup castor sugar
2 eggs (separated)
Juice of one large lemon
2 tablespoons flour
1 cup milk
Method:
Cream the butter and sugar, add flour and lemon juice. Add egg yolks and one cup of milk. Beat egg whites until stiff. Fold in stiffly beaten egg whites. Pour into a greased, heat proof dish. Place in a water bath in a moderate oven for 45 minutes, until lightly brown.
Next week we will be eating:
Sunday: Roast Chicken
Monday: Fish, wedges, coleslaw
Tuesday: Lasagne, garlic bread, salad
Wednesday: Chicken Fried Rice, spring rolls
Thursday: MOO Pizza
Friday: Tacos
Saturday: BBQ Chicken Quesadillas
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
Ways to Stretch Meat for Winter Meals
Meat is the most expensive component of our grocery budget, followed very closely by dairy products. Even the most basic of cuts of meat and poultry have gone up by almost 50% in the last 12 months, and that puts a strain on not just the budget but the cook.
So here's how I stretch meat and chicken, so I can still put it on the plate and keep my family happy.
TVP - I think you're all well aware that this is my favourite stretcher for mince. I use 1 cup dry TVP rehydrated in 1 cup boiling water/stock/vegetable water/tomato juice per 500g of mince. My recommendation: don't buy it from the supermarket, you'll pay too much. Search online and buy from the cheapest retailer you can find, just don't forge to factor in postage.
Baked beans - my second favourite meat stretcher. When baked beans are whizzed in the food processor they will look like mince granules. I use them in spag bol, lasagne, pasta bake, chilli, meat pie fillings. A tin of baked beans per 500g mince works well.
Lentils - red, green, brown are all great stretchers. Tinned or cooked yourself they go in so many recipes and add nutrition.
Mashed potato - is flavour neutral and great for extending pie fillings, sausage roll filling, added to fritter or rissole mix to stretch it.
Portions - I may sound like a broken record but portion control not only keeps you healthy, it saves you money. There is no need to have a piece of meat or chicken that covers half the plate, regardless of what the TV shows say. I cut meat into dice for casseroles and stews, and make them small. It's all in the perception - you can use the same weight and have it look more by making the chunks smaller. Cut slices from a roast a little thinner. Scrape all the "bits" from the bottom of the pan and carving tray, and freeze them to use in soup or to add to gravy for hot roast rolls or to make a curry or French Shepherd's pie. And if a recipe says makes X number of serves, make sure you get at least that number from it. Again, portion control!
No waste - make sure all the meat is used, even the bones. They become stock to make soup or to cook rice or pasta. Bone broth is full of nutrition and really easy to make so don't compost those bones or feed them to the dog until after you've made broth. Then use the broth to make tasty, healthy, cheap soup full of veggies like carrot, onion, celery, parsnip, turnip, pumpkin, sweet potato, potato, tomato, broccoli, cauliflower - whatever you have in the fridge. While technically not a meat stretcher, making stock or broth from the bones helps to bring the cost of the meat down by getting another meal from it.
How do you stretch your meat and/or poultry so you can still enjoy it and stick to your grocery budget?
The $300 a Month Food Challenge Forum
The Post that Started it All
6. Cheapskates BuzzFrom The Article Archive
Getting the Balance Right
Just Do It!
The Best Time to Meal Plan
This Week's Hot Forum Topics
Preserving Excess Chilli
Dehydrating - Tips, Hints and Recipes!
Saving on Meat Free Dinners
7. The Cheapskates Club Show
Join Cath and Hannah live Tuesdays and Thursdays on You Tube at 7.30pm AET
Latest Shows
1. Cath's Corner
2. From the Tip Store - An Almost Instant Quilt - Without All the Work; Tenderise the Toughest Cuts; Power-free Clothes Dryer
3. Share Your Tips
4. On the Menu - Lemon Delicious
5. The $300 a Month Food Challenge - Ways to Stretch Meat for Winter Meals
6. Cheapskates Buzz
7. The Cheapskates Club Show
8. Join the Cheapskates Club
9. Frequently Asked Questions
10. Contact Details
1. Cath's Corner
Hello Cheapskaters,
I apologise for the short newsletter this week, but circumstances have meant I've not been able to devote quite so much time to putting it all together as I usually do.
There are still plenty of great tips and I have shared a recipe of my mother's that I just love, especially in winter, after all who doesn't like an old fashioned pudding on a cold night? It's so much easier than it looks too, and super frugal, especially if you have a lemon tree.
We will hopefully be back to normal next week!
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
An Almost Instant Quilt - Without All the Work!
A few years ago my mum made great quilts for the two spare single beds. She found two old sleeping bags in the shed, left over from our time in the Girl Guides. She opened the seams, removed the hoods and zippers and then sewed around the four edges to prevent the filling from coming out - you could use an overlocker. Cute quilt covers were made from two spare flat sheets. Lovely and warm!! I recently revived the idea to make a quilt for our spare bed by opening up a large unused sleeping bag and putting it in a double bed quilt cover. Great for the sofa when you have visitors!
Contributed by Donna
Tenderise the Toughest Cuts
Approximate $ Savings: $5 to $10 per kilo depending on which meat you buy
I find that the cheaper cuts of meat (too chewy) are not suitable for stir- fries etc so I started experimenting with marinating. I found a mixture of 1/4 cup lemon juice, 1 tablespoon bi-carb soda and 1/4 cup soya sauce on finely sliced meat left for a couple of hours and then rinsed tenderises the toughest cuts. It will froth up when first poured over the meat and taste bitter if you don't rinse it off. Now those tough cuts of meat melt in my mouth. I also tried it on chicken and it melts in my mouth too. This is one meat tenderiser that really does work.
Contributed by Deb
Power-free Clothes Dryer
Over the years I have resisted the temptation to purchase a clothes dryer. Instead I have used various forms of the old laundry airers which can be pulled up to the roof. My current one, which my husband made for me, cost about $20 and holds a washing machine load easily. It dries my washing overnight even in winter as the warm air in the house rises up to the ceiling. Even in winter I usually have dry clothes overnight!! I can't imagine how much money I have saved over the years by not gobbling up electricity with a dryer and by not buying clothes dryers not to mention damage which may have been done to the clothes by being exposed to the heat in a dryer.
Contributed by Suzan
There are more than 12,000 great tips in the Tip Store
Add a Tip
3. Share Your Tips
The Cheapskate's Club website is over 2,000 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.
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
Lemon Delicious
This is one of my favourite desserts, so when I was thinking of something for dessert on Mother's Day, this is what I picked. It looks spectacular but is so very easy to make. This old fashioned recipe uses pantry ingredients and is very frugal. Cost is around $1.50, less if you have your own lemons and eggs or just 25 cents per serve.
Lemon DeliciousIngredients:
1 large tablespoon butter
1 cup castor sugar
2 eggs (separated)
Juice of one large lemon
2 tablespoons flour
1 cup milk
Method:
Cream the butter and sugar, add flour and lemon juice. Add egg yolks and one cup of milk. Beat egg whites until stiff. Fold in stiffly beaten egg whites. Pour into a greased, heat proof dish. Place in a water bath in a moderate oven for 45 minutes, until lightly brown.
Next week we will be eating:
Sunday: Roast Chicken
Monday: Fish, wedges, coleslaw
Tuesday: Lasagne, garlic bread, salad
Wednesday: Chicken Fried Rice, spring rolls
Thursday: MOO Pizza
Friday: Tacos
Saturday: BBQ Chicken Quesadillas
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
Ways to Stretch Meat for Winter Meals
Meat is the most expensive component of our grocery budget, followed very closely by dairy products. Even the most basic of cuts of meat and poultry have gone up by almost 50% in the last 12 months, and that puts a strain on not just the budget but the cook.
So here's how I stretch meat and chicken, so I can still put it on the plate and keep my family happy.
TVP - I think you're all well aware that this is my favourite stretcher for mince. I use 1 cup dry TVP rehydrated in 1 cup boiling water/stock/vegetable water/tomato juice per 500g of mince. My recommendation: don't buy it from the supermarket, you'll pay too much. Search online and buy from the cheapest retailer you can find, just don't forge to factor in postage.
Baked beans - my second favourite meat stretcher. When baked beans are whizzed in the food processor they will look like mince granules. I use them in spag bol, lasagne, pasta bake, chilli, meat pie fillings. A tin of baked beans per 500g mince works well.
Lentils - red, green, brown are all great stretchers. Tinned or cooked yourself they go in so many recipes and add nutrition.
Mashed potato - is flavour neutral and great for extending pie fillings, sausage roll filling, added to fritter or rissole mix to stretch it.
Portions - I may sound like a broken record but portion control not only keeps you healthy, it saves you money. There is no need to have a piece of meat or chicken that covers half the plate, regardless of what the TV shows say. I cut meat into dice for casseroles and stews, and make them small. It's all in the perception - you can use the same weight and have it look more by making the chunks smaller. Cut slices from a roast a little thinner. Scrape all the "bits" from the bottom of the pan and carving tray, and freeze them to use in soup or to add to gravy for hot roast rolls or to make a curry or French Shepherd's pie. And if a recipe says makes X number of serves, make sure you get at least that number from it. Again, portion control!
No waste - make sure all the meat is used, even the bones. They become stock to make soup or to cook rice or pasta. Bone broth is full of nutrition and really easy to make so don't compost those bones or feed them to the dog until after you've made broth. Then use the broth to make tasty, healthy, cheap soup full of veggies like carrot, onion, celery, parsnip, turnip, pumpkin, sweet potato, potato, tomato, broccoli, cauliflower - whatever you have in the fridge. While technically not a meat stretcher, making stock or broth from the bones helps to bring the cost of the meat down by getting another meal from it.
How do you stretch your meat and/or poultry so you can still enjoy it and stick to your grocery budget?
The $300 a Month Food Challenge Forum
The Post that Started it All
6. Cheapskates BuzzFrom The Article Archive
Getting the Balance Right
Just Do It!
The Best Time to Meal Plan
This Week's Hot Forum Topics
Preserving Excess Chilli
Dehydrating - Tips, Hints and Recipes!
Saving on Meat Free Dinners
7. The Cheapskates Club Show
Join Cath and Hannah live Tuesdays and Thursdays on You Tube at 7.30pm AET
Latest Shows
Subscribe to our You Tube channel and never miss a show.
8. Join The Cheapskates Club
For just $30 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!
9. 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.
10. 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
8. Join The Cheapskates Club
For just $30 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!
9. 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.
10. 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