Your Cheapskates Club Newsletter 23:20
In This Newsletter
1. Cath's Corner
2. From the Tip Store - Recycling a Household Appliance Creates a Planter Box; Putting Blanket Bags to Good Use; MOOing is so Much Better for Us
3. Tip of the Week - Free Milk Every Week
4. Share Your Tips - We need your tips!
5. On the Menu - Put on a Pot Roast
6. The $300 a Month Food Challenge - Roasts Are Easy And Cheap
7. Cheapskates Buzz - Cheapskaters are talking in the Forum and on Cath's blog
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,
If this is your first Cheapskates Club newsletter, welcome! I hope you enjoy it. If you're a regular reader, welcome back, and again, I hope you enjoy this week's newsletter.
This coming weekend is a long weekend here, to celebrate the Queen's birthday, so we are heading away for a few days now that overnight stays are permitted. We will be bush camping, and of course taking our food from home, so it's going to be a very inexpensive few days. The holiday fund is over-flowing, so fuel costs are well and truly covered to. I checked the weather forecast for the area we'll be and I've made sure the beanies, scarves and gloves are packed - it looks like it will be a bit on the chilly side. Doesn't really matter, just getting away will be such a treat.
If you have a long weekend, are heading away, or just staying home, enjoy! And enjoy your newsletter, there are some great ideas this week to save money, time and energy.
Have a great week everyone.
Happy Cheapskating,
Cath
2. From The Tip Store
Recycling a Household Appliance Creates a Planter Box
Use your old upright fridge or freezer for a garden box. Have it degassed, put some holes in the underside and take the door off. Then lift it up off the ground and fill with soil. Add your plants and you have done something wonderful for the environment and saved a bit of money, as the planter boxes cost anywhere upward of $150. Not only that, you are being kind to your knees.
Contributed by Cara
Editors Note: With a little creative thinking you can use all manner of old whitegoods for planters. We pulled the drum out of an old, useless washing machine to use as a strawberry planter. We painted the outside green and lined it with mesh to hold the soil. It works beautifully and is the perfect size for strawberries. Cath
Putting Blanket Bags to Good
Approximate $ Savings: $1 - $30
If you like to sew, save the plastic zip up bags that new sets of sheets, doonas and quilts etc come in. Not only can you reuse them for storage of doonas and quilts when you put them away for next season, you can also cut the double way zipper out of them for your sewing etc. I am making a toddler back pack with mine, so not only do I save buying a zipper, I am saving by being able to make my own backpack with a zipper that unzips both ways like a bought one!
Contributed by Natasha
MOOing is so Much Better for Us
Amen Cath! Especially in this age where people's health actually doesn't matter to the food manufacturers, Making Our Own is so much better tasting and rewarding. I was very proud of myself tonight for putting together a rice and lentil one pot when it was very tempting to go get take out noodles, especially given I didn't get to do my regular fruit and veg shopping today - the crisper was very bare! Dinner was late to be started, kids were getting frantic! Anyway, I did it, and managed to find an eggplant the neighbour had given me, a zucchini, garlic and pumpkin from the garden and some corn in the fridge that needed to be used. It really paid to look around and was so much cheaper and better for us! Oh, and I kept the kids busy making chocolate and coconut Weetbix balls while the pot simmered away on the stove. It was all right in the end! Thanks for all the great tips and the motivation to keep saving and making my own stuff. My family appreciates you too!
Contributed by Sarah McLachlan
Add a Tip
3. This Week's Winning Tip
This week's winning tip is from Meagan PassFree Milk Every WeekMy family go through 4 litres of milk a week. The cost adds up so I have changed the place I buy my milk. When I fill up the car each week at Woolworths Caltex stations, I use my 4c off per litre voucher from my shopping receipt, plus I buy 4 litres of milk ($5). Woolworths Caltex have an offer that if you spend $5 in store you get a further 4c/litre off. I then pay for my petrol and milk using a Woolworths Caltex 5% off gift card. I get access to these through AGL Rewards (gas company). On a typical 50L petrol fill up at $1.15/L I save $4.77. Practically pays for the milk!
Congratulations, we hope you enjoy your Cheapskates Club membership.
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.
4. Share Your Tips
We need your tips! They are coming in, but we need more! We need your best money saving tips. We need your best time saving tips. We need your best energy saving tips. We need your tips!
We are rebuilding the Tip Store, removing all the old tips that are no longer relevant to living the Cheapskates way, and deleting double-ups. This means you'll see changes in the Tip Store, with one being the total number of tips will go down. And that means there will be room for new tips!
So, I want you to share your best money, time and energy saving ideas, there will be a weekly prize of a one year Cheapskates Club membership and a monthly prize of a one-year Cheapskates Club membership and $50. T
Prizes will be announced in the newsletter each week, with the prize for the tip of the month announced in the first newsletter of the next month.
It's easy and the rules are simple:
The tip must be cheap a genuine money, time or energy saver.
The tip must be of a practical nature.
The tip can be for anything home, garden, car, budget, children etc.
Please be specific in your tip i.e. "use vinegar and bi-carb for cleaning" won't win you a prize.
Remember, you have to be in it to win it!
Share Your Tip
8
Put on a Pot Roast
There's nothing quite like a roast on a Sunday night, although they can get a little boring. For a nice change, try an old fashioned pot roast. Using cheaper cuts of beef, a pot roast is an economical and delicious winter meal. The leftovers make great sandwiches too.Pot RoastIngredients:
2 tbsp olive oil
2 - 2.5kg piece beef roast
Salt and pepper
2 cups beef stock (homemade or using stock cubes)
1/2 cup red wine (optional)*
3 large onions, cut into quarters
4 cloves garlic, crushed
2 dried bay leaves
1 tsp dried thyme
2 tbsp tomato paste
1kg baby carrots, topped and tailed
1kg potatoes, washed and cut into 2cm chunks
Method:
Preheat oven to 175 degrees Celsius. In a large cast iron Dutch oven (or flame and ovenproof casserole), heat oil over medium-high heat. Sprinkle roast all over with salt and pepper. Place in pan, and brown on all sides, about 10 minutes. Turn meat fat side up. Add stock, wine, if using, onions, garlic, bay leaves, and thyme. Stir in tomato paste. Bring to a simmer, cover; put in the oven, and roast for 3 hours. Add a little more beef stock if necessary, there should be enough liquid to make a gravy. Add carrots and potatoes, and cook until vegetables are tender, about 1 hour more. Transfer the roast, carrots, and potatoes to a platter. With a spoon, skim the fat off the surface of the cooking liquid. Cut the roast into thick slices, and serve with the vegetables. Pass the pan juices separately.
Leftover meat makes delicious sandwiches the next day.
*Note: if you don't use the red wine, add an extra 1/2 cup beef stock to the recipe.
Next week we will be eating:
Sunday: Roast Chicken
Monday: Rissoles, mash, veggies, gravy
Tuesday: Spaghetti Alfredo
Wednesday: Wellington Loaf, roast veggies
Thursday: MOO Pizza
Friday: Mock Fish, Chips, Salad
Saturday: Freezer Meals
In the fruit bowl: apples, oranges
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
6. The $300 A Month Food Challenge
Roasts are Easy and Cheap!
I try to do a roast every Sunday. If you follow my meal plan, you'll know that I alternate with chicken, beef, chicken, lamb and repeat. I do this because we like roast chicken, but also because it is a cheap roast, especially when whole chickens are on sale for $2.99/kg. That's when I stock up and fill the gaps in the freezer with them.
Roasting beef and legs of lamb aren't cheap. In fact when I was at the butcher in March I was stunned at just how much they had gone up in price. But they are still affordable!
When buying roasts, look for the bigger pieces of meat or the larger chickens. Yes, you'll pay more - but you'll get two, if not three meals from one roast, with bones for stock, and fat to save as dripping. So for a few dollars more, less than the price of another roast, you'll have at least two roast dinners and possibly more.
Once the roast is cooked, let it sit a few minutes before carving. This really does help the meat to settle and make it easier to carve. A good sharp carving knife helps too. Slice all the meat straight away. Serve what you need for that meal and put aside what you need for at least one other roast dinner. Tupperware style containers are good for this. Make extra gravy and use the leftover to cover the meat in the container. Put it in the freezer and there you have it - your next roast beef or lamb or chicken dinner.
Chip off any little bits of meat and put them into a container. These can be used for stir-fry, soup, pasta, crepe filling, pie filling etc.
Then put the bones into the stock pot (or the freezer to make stock later on). Once the stock is made, let it cool, take any fat off the top, strain it and use the stock as the base to make soup. Give the veggies and bones to the chickens or add them to the compost pile.
The $300 a Month Food Challenge Forum
The Post that Started it All
7. Cheapskates Buzz
From The Article Archive
Beating Budget Fatigue
How to Dehydrate Bananas and MOO Banana Chips
The Slush Fund
This Week's Hot Forum Topics
MOO Mayonnaise
MOO Dim Sims
Wish I Could Get My Bread Right!
Most Popular Blog Posts This Week
Easiest Ever Lamingtons
Home Popped Popcorn and a Recipe
Mum's Passionfruit Sponge
Latest Tips
The Joys of Breadmaking
Thai Vegetable Soup
Frugal and Earth Friendly Storage
8. The Cheapskates Club Show
Join Cath and Hannah live Tuesdays on You Tube at 7.30pm AET
Join us live on YouTube every Tuesday and see how we are living debt free, cashed up and laughing - and find out how you can too!
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.
Latest Shows
1. Cath's Corner
2. From the Tip Store - Recycling a Household Appliance Creates a Planter Box; Putting Blanket Bags to Good Use; MOOing is so Much Better for Us
3. Tip of the Week - Free Milk Every Week
4. Share Your Tips - We need your tips!
5. On the Menu - Put on a Pot Roast
6. The $300 a Month Food Challenge - Roasts Are Easy And Cheap
7. Cheapskates Buzz - Cheapskaters are talking in the Forum and on Cath's blog
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,
If this is your first Cheapskates Club newsletter, welcome! I hope you enjoy it. If you're a regular reader, welcome back, and again, I hope you enjoy this week's newsletter.
This coming weekend is a long weekend here, to celebrate the Queen's birthday, so we are heading away for a few days now that overnight stays are permitted. We will be bush camping, and of course taking our food from home, so it's going to be a very inexpensive few days. The holiday fund is over-flowing, so fuel costs are well and truly covered to. I checked the weather forecast for the area we'll be and I've made sure the beanies, scarves and gloves are packed - it looks like it will be a bit on the chilly side. Doesn't really matter, just getting away will be such a treat.
If you have a long weekend, are heading away, or just staying home, enjoy! And enjoy your newsletter, there are some great ideas this week to save money, time and energy.
Have a great week everyone.
Happy Cheapskating,
Cath
2. From The Tip Store
Recycling a Household Appliance Creates a Planter Box
Use your old upright fridge or freezer for a garden box. Have it degassed, put some holes in the underside and take the door off. Then lift it up off the ground and fill with soil. Add your plants and you have done something wonderful for the environment and saved a bit of money, as the planter boxes cost anywhere upward of $150. Not only that, you are being kind to your knees.
Contributed by Cara
Editors Note: With a little creative thinking you can use all manner of old whitegoods for planters. We pulled the drum out of an old, useless washing machine to use as a strawberry planter. We painted the outside green and lined it with mesh to hold the soil. It works beautifully and is the perfect size for strawberries. Cath
Putting Blanket Bags to Good
Approximate $ Savings: $1 - $30
If you like to sew, save the plastic zip up bags that new sets of sheets, doonas and quilts etc come in. Not only can you reuse them for storage of doonas and quilts when you put them away for next season, you can also cut the double way zipper out of them for your sewing etc. I am making a toddler back pack with mine, so not only do I save buying a zipper, I am saving by being able to make my own backpack with a zipper that unzips both ways like a bought one!
Contributed by Natasha
MOOing is so Much Better for Us
Amen Cath! Especially in this age where people's health actually doesn't matter to the food manufacturers, Making Our Own is so much better tasting and rewarding. I was very proud of myself tonight for putting together a rice and lentil one pot when it was very tempting to go get take out noodles, especially given I didn't get to do my regular fruit and veg shopping today - the crisper was very bare! Dinner was late to be started, kids were getting frantic! Anyway, I did it, and managed to find an eggplant the neighbour had given me, a zucchini, garlic and pumpkin from the garden and some corn in the fridge that needed to be used. It really paid to look around and was so much cheaper and better for us! Oh, and I kept the kids busy making chocolate and coconut Weetbix balls while the pot simmered away on the stove. It was all right in the end! Thanks for all the great tips and the motivation to keep saving and making my own stuff. My family appreciates you too!
Contributed by Sarah McLachlan
Add a Tip
3. This Week's Winning Tip
This week's winning tip is from Meagan PassFree Milk Every WeekMy family go through 4 litres of milk a week. The cost adds up so I have changed the place I buy my milk. When I fill up the car each week at Woolworths Caltex stations, I use my 4c off per litre voucher from my shopping receipt, plus I buy 4 litres of milk ($5). Woolworths Caltex have an offer that if you spend $5 in store you get a further 4c/litre off. I then pay for my petrol and milk using a Woolworths Caltex 5% off gift card. I get access to these through AGL Rewards (gas company). On a typical 50L petrol fill up at $1.15/L I save $4.77. Practically pays for the milk!
Congratulations, we hope you enjoy your Cheapskates Club membership.
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.
4. Share Your Tips
We need your tips! They are coming in, but we need more! We need your best money saving tips. We need your best time saving tips. We need your best energy saving tips. We need your tips!
We are rebuilding the Tip Store, removing all the old tips that are no longer relevant to living the Cheapskates way, and deleting double-ups. This means you'll see changes in the Tip Store, with one being the total number of tips will go down. And that means there will be room for new tips!
So, I want you to share your best money, time and energy saving ideas, there will be a weekly prize of a one year Cheapskates Club membership and a monthly prize of a one-year Cheapskates Club membership and $50. T
Prizes will be announced in the newsletter each week, with the prize for the tip of the month announced in the first newsletter of the next month.
It's easy and the rules are simple:
The tip must be cheap a genuine money, time or energy saver.
The tip must be of a practical nature.
The tip can be for anything home, garden, car, budget, children etc.
Please be specific in your tip i.e. "use vinegar and bi-carb for cleaning" won't win you a prize.
Remember, you have to be in it to win it!
Share Your Tip
8
Put on a Pot Roast
There's nothing quite like a roast on a Sunday night, although they can get a little boring. For a nice change, try an old fashioned pot roast. Using cheaper cuts of beef, a pot roast is an economical and delicious winter meal. The leftovers make great sandwiches too.Pot RoastIngredients:
2 tbsp olive oil
2 - 2.5kg piece beef roast
Salt and pepper
2 cups beef stock (homemade or using stock cubes)
1/2 cup red wine (optional)*
3 large onions, cut into quarters
4 cloves garlic, crushed
2 dried bay leaves
1 tsp dried thyme
2 tbsp tomato paste
1kg baby carrots, topped and tailed
1kg potatoes, washed and cut into 2cm chunks
Method:
Preheat oven to 175 degrees Celsius. In a large cast iron Dutch oven (or flame and ovenproof casserole), heat oil over medium-high heat. Sprinkle roast all over with salt and pepper. Place in pan, and brown on all sides, about 10 minutes. Turn meat fat side up. Add stock, wine, if using, onions, garlic, bay leaves, and thyme. Stir in tomato paste. Bring to a simmer, cover; put in the oven, and roast for 3 hours. Add a little more beef stock if necessary, there should be enough liquid to make a gravy. Add carrots and potatoes, and cook until vegetables are tender, about 1 hour more. Transfer the roast, carrots, and potatoes to a platter. With a spoon, skim the fat off the surface of the cooking liquid. Cut the roast into thick slices, and serve with the vegetables. Pass the pan juices separately.
Leftover meat makes delicious sandwiches the next day.
*Note: if you don't use the red wine, add an extra 1/2 cup beef stock to the recipe.
Next week we will be eating:
Sunday: Roast Chicken
Monday: Rissoles, mash, veggies, gravy
Tuesday: Spaghetti Alfredo
Wednesday: Wellington Loaf, roast veggies
Thursday: MOO Pizza
Friday: Mock Fish, Chips, Salad
Saturday: Freezer Meals
In the fruit bowl: apples, oranges
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
6. The $300 A Month Food Challenge
Roasts are Easy and Cheap!
I try to do a roast every Sunday. If you follow my meal plan, you'll know that I alternate with chicken, beef, chicken, lamb and repeat. I do this because we like roast chicken, but also because it is a cheap roast, especially when whole chickens are on sale for $2.99/kg. That's when I stock up and fill the gaps in the freezer with them.
Roasting beef and legs of lamb aren't cheap. In fact when I was at the butcher in March I was stunned at just how much they had gone up in price. But they are still affordable!
When buying roasts, look for the bigger pieces of meat or the larger chickens. Yes, you'll pay more - but you'll get two, if not three meals from one roast, with bones for stock, and fat to save as dripping. So for a few dollars more, less than the price of another roast, you'll have at least two roast dinners and possibly more.
Once the roast is cooked, let it sit a few minutes before carving. This really does help the meat to settle and make it easier to carve. A good sharp carving knife helps too. Slice all the meat straight away. Serve what you need for that meal and put aside what you need for at least one other roast dinner. Tupperware style containers are good for this. Make extra gravy and use the leftover to cover the meat in the container. Put it in the freezer and there you have it - your next roast beef or lamb or chicken dinner.
Chip off any little bits of meat and put them into a container. These can be used for stir-fry, soup, pasta, crepe filling, pie filling etc.
Then put the bones into the stock pot (or the freezer to make stock later on). Once the stock is made, let it cool, take any fat off the top, strain it and use the stock as the base to make soup. Give the veggies and bones to the chickens or add them to the compost pile.
The $300 a Month Food Challenge Forum
The Post that Started it All
7. Cheapskates Buzz
From The Article Archive
Beating Budget Fatigue
How to Dehydrate Bananas and MOO Banana Chips
The Slush Fund
This Week's Hot Forum Topics
MOO Mayonnaise
MOO Dim Sims
Wish I Could Get My Bread Right!
Most Popular Blog Posts This Week
Easiest Ever Lamingtons
Home Popped Popcorn and a Recipe
Mum's Passionfruit Sponge
Latest Tips
The Joys of Breadmaking
Thai Vegetable Soup
Frugal and Earth Friendly Storage
8. The Cheapskates Club Show
Join Cath and Hannah live Tuesdays on You Tube at 7.30pm AET
Join us live on YouTube every Tuesday and see how we are living debt free, cashed up and laughing - and find out how you can too!
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.
Latest Shows
9. Join The Cheapskates Club
For just $25 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
For just $25 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