Your Cheapskates Club NEWSLETTER 33:20
In This Newsletter
1. Cath's Corner
2. From the Tip Store - Not Just Monkey Food; Weird Ways to Save More Money
3. Tip of the Week - Blanch and Freeze Your Own Garden Produce For Meal Ingredients For Months Ahead
4. Share Your Tips
5. On the Menu - Carrot Nut Loaf
6. The $300 a Month Food Challenge - Stretching The Food You Have 'Til It Fits Your Budget
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,
I hope this finds you all well.
A lot has happened over the last week, and a lot hasn't happened too! LIfe in our house has settled into a Stage 4 lockdown routine. During the day it's almost like I'm home alone, with everyone in their rooms-turned-offices with the doors shut, working away.
And then at 5pm the doors open and the house is noisy again, when everyone is "home" from work.
Have a great week everyone.
Happy Cheapskating,
Cath
2. From The Tip Store
Not Just Monkey Food
So instead of buying expensive fertilisers and plant foods, next time you eat bananas keep the skins, pop into a container of water and keep in the water for 5 - 10 days, then take the Bana skins, pop into the worm farm or compost and use the great vitamin rich water to feed your plants.
Contributed by Cassandra Byl
Weird Ways to Save More Money
Saving money has become a quest for thousands of Australian families. Times are a bit tough and people are becoming more conscious of their spending, and their saving.
Here are a few weird or unusual ways to save money.
No. 1: Cut your own hair. Okay, this isn’t for everyone but you can save good money when you cut your own hair. Generally styles that are longer or one length are easier to cut. Check out YouTube videos to find good “how to's.”
No. 2: Become a barista. Learn how to make great coffee drinks and save tons of money. You can make your favourite coffee drink at home. A simple espresso machine costs less than a month’s worth of coffee drinks at your favorite shop. Add syrups, milk or cream and whatever flavorings you desire to make top notch drinks and save money.
No. 2: Keep the change. Whenever you pay for anything use notes. Never pay with change. Keep it. At home, at the end of the day put all of your change into a large jar. You can save hundreds of dollars in change each month. This money can be used to pay for a holiday, buy a new toy or clothing or to into your retirement account.
No. 4: Swap. Partner with friends to organize a swap group. Swap magazine subscriptions, clothing, books and movies whatever works best for you. It’s a great way to refresh your material and save money.
There are literally thousands of ways to save money, some of them weird, some are quite normal.
And remember: money isn't saved until it is safely in the bank. Until then it's just not spent!
Add a Tip
3. This Week's Winning Tip
This week's winning tip is from Lorna, who has won a one year Platinum Cheapskates Club membership for submitting her winning tip.
Blanch and Freeze Your Own Garden Produce For Meal Ingredients For Months Ahead
We live on a property and mass plant our vegetables each season for self reliance. As such we get a lot of vegetables at once.
To provide meals for months ahead we blanch and freeze our vegetables and put them in meal sized portions in the freezer. We mark the date of packaging on the packet as well as the expiry date which is 12 months from packaging them.
This way we can have our lovely fresh vegetables for months to come and even when they are out of season too at really cheap prices compared to buying them in the stores.
When we want to cook a meal we simply either pick vegetables fresh from the gardens or take out packets of fresh frozen garden vegetables out of the freezer.
You can also do this same thing with purchasing cheap seasonal produce and blanch and freeze them too to prepare more meal ingredients in the freezer too.
We use this website under freezing instructions on how to blanch each vegetable - http://pickyourown.org/allaboutcanning.htm.
Congratulations Lorna, 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
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
5. On The Menu
Carrot Nut Loaf
Meat is getting very expensive, so this meatless loaf can stretch your meat budget. You'll find Sanitarium Nutmeat in the health food aisle of your supermarket or at your local health food shop.
Carrot Nut Loaf
Ingredients:
1 can Sanitarium Nutmeat
2 medium carrots, grated
1 onion, finely diced
1/2 cup tomato soup
1 can Sanitarium nutmeat
1tsp vegemite or marmite
1 egg
1 tbsp butter
125g cheese, grated
Method:
Pre-heat oven to 180 degrees Celsius. Mash Nutmeat with a fork. Combine with other ingredients, mixing well. Pour into an oiled loaf tin. Cover with foil. Bake for 1-1/4 hours. Serve hot with veggies or cold with salad.
Next week we will be eating:
Sunday: Roast Chicken
Monday: Carrot Nut Loaf, veggies
Tuesday: Cannelloni
Wednesday: Chicken pies, vegetables
Thursday: MOO Pizza
Friday: Curried Tuna Slice, tossed salad
Saturday: Haystacks
In the fruit bowl: 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
Stretching The Food You Have 'Til It Fits Your Budget
Some simple ways to stretch food to produce more serves are:
1. Add an equal quantity of TVP, rolled oats or cooked rice to mince when making rissoles and meatballs. You'll get double the quantity, giving you and extra meal for less than half the price.
2. Stretch mince based pasta sauces and taco fillings by whizzing a tin of baked beans per 500g mince in the food processor until the crumbs are the same size as the mince crumbs, and add to the dish. You're adding bulk, and fibre, and doubling the recipe for a fraction of the cost of the same quantity of mince . When the baked beans are whizzed, they can't be detected in the pasta sauce or taco filling. Mince is $7/kg (the cheapest around here right now), while baked beans are around $2/kg. The saving is obvious isn't it?
3. Add a tablespoon (or two) of milk to mayonnaise jars and bottles when they are getting low. Shake well to combine and no one will know the difference.
4. Add a little water or stock to pasta sauce jars, swish and pour into pasta sauces. You'll get every drop of sauce from the bottle and stretch it at the same time.
5. Use a silicone spatula to scrape out margarine containers, peanut butter, jam, honey, cream and Vegemite jars. You'll be shocked at just how much is left in the jar if you use just a knife to scrape it - easily two or three sandwiches worth, and that's money you'd be putting in the bin if you don't scrape. I bought a set of 3 silicone spatulas from Big W for udder $5 about 10 years ago and they're still going strong and have saved many times their cost.
6. Instead of serving whole chicken fillets, dice them into 2cm cubes. Two medium chicken breast fillets will then easily serve four (or five in our case!). The diced chicken can be used in casseroles, enchiladas, apricot chicken, sweet'n'sour etc.
7. Don't pound meat to make it thin. Slice chicken fillets and steaks in half through the middle, creating two full fillets or steaks from each one. Cut larger steaks down so they're about the size of the palm of your hand - that's all that's required for a serve, anymore and you're just overeating and over-spending.
8. Always take the tenderloins off chicken breast fillets and use them for a separate meal. Save them in the freezer until you have enough to make crumbed chicken wraps or dice them use them in curries and stews.
9. When mashing potato use some of the water it was steamed or boiled in instead of milk. The potato will be lovely and fluffy, no added fat and no extra cost.
10. Always make stock from roast bones. Chicken carcasses and lamb bones make lovely stock which can then be used to make soup, gravies and risottos and cook rice or pasta.
These are just some ways I've managed to keep our food bill down over the years. It was a learniing curve, and I'm still on it. I'lm always looking for ways to trim the grocery budget, without compromising nutrition and taste.
If I can do it, you can too!
The $300 a Month Food Challenge Forum
The Post that Started it All
7. Cheapskates Buzz
From The Article Archive
Don't Just Set It And Froget It - A Budget Is A Plan
Gourmet Coffee The Cheapskates Way
Oh How I Love Freeze Ahead Meals
This Week's Hot Forum Topics
MOO Pizza Sauce
Food Swaps = MOO
What's Your Oldest Working Kitchen Appliance?
Most Popular Blog Posts This Week
How to Clear a Blocked Drain
10 Ways to Reuse Egg Shells
Sweet Potato Chocolate Cupcakes
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 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 - Not Just Monkey Food; Weird Ways to Save More Money
3. Tip of the Week - Blanch and Freeze Your Own Garden Produce For Meal Ingredients For Months Ahead
4. Share Your Tips
5. On the Menu - Carrot Nut Loaf
6. The $300 a Month Food Challenge - Stretching The Food You Have 'Til It Fits Your Budget
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,
I hope this finds you all well.
A lot has happened over the last week, and a lot hasn't happened too! LIfe in our house has settled into a Stage 4 lockdown routine. During the day it's almost like I'm home alone, with everyone in their rooms-turned-offices with the doors shut, working away.
And then at 5pm the doors open and the house is noisy again, when everyone is "home" from work.
Have a great week everyone.
Happy Cheapskating,
Cath
2. From The Tip Store
Not Just Monkey Food
So instead of buying expensive fertilisers and plant foods, next time you eat bananas keep the skins, pop into a container of water and keep in the water for 5 - 10 days, then take the Bana skins, pop into the worm farm or compost and use the great vitamin rich water to feed your plants.
Contributed by Cassandra Byl
Weird Ways to Save More Money
Saving money has become a quest for thousands of Australian families. Times are a bit tough and people are becoming more conscious of their spending, and their saving.
Here are a few weird or unusual ways to save money.
No. 1: Cut your own hair. Okay, this isn’t for everyone but you can save good money when you cut your own hair. Generally styles that are longer or one length are easier to cut. Check out YouTube videos to find good “how to's.”
No. 2: Become a barista. Learn how to make great coffee drinks and save tons of money. You can make your favourite coffee drink at home. A simple espresso machine costs less than a month’s worth of coffee drinks at your favorite shop. Add syrups, milk or cream and whatever flavorings you desire to make top notch drinks and save money.
No. 2: Keep the change. Whenever you pay for anything use notes. Never pay with change. Keep it. At home, at the end of the day put all of your change into a large jar. You can save hundreds of dollars in change each month. This money can be used to pay for a holiday, buy a new toy or clothing or to into your retirement account.
No. 4: Swap. Partner with friends to organize a swap group. Swap magazine subscriptions, clothing, books and movies whatever works best for you. It’s a great way to refresh your material and save money.
There are literally thousands of ways to save money, some of them weird, some are quite normal.
And remember: money isn't saved until it is safely in the bank. Until then it's just not spent!
Add a Tip
3. This Week's Winning Tip
This week's winning tip is from Lorna, who has won a one year Platinum Cheapskates Club membership for submitting her winning tip.
Blanch and Freeze Your Own Garden Produce For Meal Ingredients For Months Ahead
We live on a property and mass plant our vegetables each season for self reliance. As such we get a lot of vegetables at once.
To provide meals for months ahead we blanch and freeze our vegetables and put them in meal sized portions in the freezer. We mark the date of packaging on the packet as well as the expiry date which is 12 months from packaging them.
This way we can have our lovely fresh vegetables for months to come and even when they are out of season too at really cheap prices compared to buying them in the stores.
When we want to cook a meal we simply either pick vegetables fresh from the gardens or take out packets of fresh frozen garden vegetables out of the freezer.
You can also do this same thing with purchasing cheap seasonal produce and blanch and freeze them too to prepare more meal ingredients in the freezer too.
We use this website under freezing instructions on how to blanch each vegetable - http://pickyourown.org/allaboutcanning.htm.
Congratulations Lorna, 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
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
5. On The Menu
Carrot Nut Loaf
Meat is getting very expensive, so this meatless loaf can stretch your meat budget. You'll find Sanitarium Nutmeat in the health food aisle of your supermarket or at your local health food shop.
Carrot Nut Loaf
Ingredients:
1 can Sanitarium Nutmeat
2 medium carrots, grated
1 onion, finely diced
1/2 cup tomato soup
1 can Sanitarium nutmeat
1tsp vegemite or marmite
1 egg
1 tbsp butter
125g cheese, grated
Method:
Pre-heat oven to 180 degrees Celsius. Mash Nutmeat with a fork. Combine with other ingredients, mixing well. Pour into an oiled loaf tin. Cover with foil. Bake for 1-1/4 hours. Serve hot with veggies or cold with salad.
Next week we will be eating:
Sunday: Roast Chicken
Monday: Carrot Nut Loaf, veggies
Tuesday: Cannelloni
Wednesday: Chicken pies, vegetables
Thursday: MOO Pizza
Friday: Curried Tuna Slice, tossed salad
Saturday: Haystacks
In the fruit bowl: 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
Stretching The Food You Have 'Til It Fits Your Budget
Some simple ways to stretch food to produce more serves are:
1. Add an equal quantity of TVP, rolled oats or cooked rice to mince when making rissoles and meatballs. You'll get double the quantity, giving you and extra meal for less than half the price.
2. Stretch mince based pasta sauces and taco fillings by whizzing a tin of baked beans per 500g mince in the food processor until the crumbs are the same size as the mince crumbs, and add to the dish. You're adding bulk, and fibre, and doubling the recipe for a fraction of the cost of the same quantity of mince . When the baked beans are whizzed, they can't be detected in the pasta sauce or taco filling. Mince is $7/kg (the cheapest around here right now), while baked beans are around $2/kg. The saving is obvious isn't it?
3. Add a tablespoon (or two) of milk to mayonnaise jars and bottles when they are getting low. Shake well to combine and no one will know the difference.
4. Add a little water or stock to pasta sauce jars, swish and pour into pasta sauces. You'll get every drop of sauce from the bottle and stretch it at the same time.
5. Use a silicone spatula to scrape out margarine containers, peanut butter, jam, honey, cream and Vegemite jars. You'll be shocked at just how much is left in the jar if you use just a knife to scrape it - easily two or three sandwiches worth, and that's money you'd be putting in the bin if you don't scrape. I bought a set of 3 silicone spatulas from Big W for udder $5 about 10 years ago and they're still going strong and have saved many times their cost.
6. Instead of serving whole chicken fillets, dice them into 2cm cubes. Two medium chicken breast fillets will then easily serve four (or five in our case!). The diced chicken can be used in casseroles, enchiladas, apricot chicken, sweet'n'sour etc.
7. Don't pound meat to make it thin. Slice chicken fillets and steaks in half through the middle, creating two full fillets or steaks from each one. Cut larger steaks down so they're about the size of the palm of your hand - that's all that's required for a serve, anymore and you're just overeating and over-spending.
8. Always take the tenderloins off chicken breast fillets and use them for a separate meal. Save them in the freezer until you have enough to make crumbed chicken wraps or dice them use them in curries and stews.
9. When mashing potato use some of the water it was steamed or boiled in instead of milk. The potato will be lovely and fluffy, no added fat and no extra cost.
10. Always make stock from roast bones. Chicken carcasses and lamb bones make lovely stock which can then be used to make soup, gravies and risottos and cook rice or pasta.
These are just some ways I've managed to keep our food bill down over the years. It was a learniing curve, and I'm still on it. I'lm always looking for ways to trim the grocery budget, without compromising nutrition and taste.
If I can do it, you can too!
The $300 a Month Food Challenge Forum
The Post that Started it All
7. Cheapskates Buzz
From The Article Archive
Don't Just Set It And Froget It - A Budget Is A Plan
Gourmet Coffee The Cheapskates Way
Oh How I Love Freeze Ahead Meals
This Week's Hot Forum Topics
MOO Pizza Sauce
Food Swaps = MOO
What's Your Oldest Working Kitchen Appliance?
Most Popular Blog Posts This Week
How to Clear a Blocked Drain
10 Ways to Reuse Egg Shells
Sweet Potato Chocolate Cupcakes
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 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 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!
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 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 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!
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 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