Your Cheapskates Club Newsletter 38:19
In This Newsletter
1. Cath's Corner
2. From the Tip Store - Pre Making Lunches & Morning Tea; No More Frosty Bread; MOO Granite Cleaner
3. Share Your Tips
4. The Living the Cheapskates Way Budget & Lifestyle Planner 2020
5. On the Menu - Jam Slice
6. The $300 a Month Food Challenge -Another Way to Combat the Rising Cost of Groceries
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, Well it's a little late, but finally finished and sent! And if you're reading this, Newsletter 38:19 has been received.
There's lots going on in this week's newsletter so enjoy!
Happy Cheapskating,
Cath
2. From The Tip Store
Pre Making Lunches & Morning Tea
Each week I buy fresh bread, cold meat, cheese etc. and make all the lunches for the week. I use sandwich bags as they keep better and freeze. The night before I get them out of the freezer and pop them in our lunch boxes next morning. I also do cakes, pikelets with butter and jam etc. for morning teas. They freeze and thaw perfectly. It not only saves time but stops impulse buying when you can't be bothered. I also look at what veggies I have in the fridge and make tea from what I have instead of buying more. I then just choose what meat we are having. Also stops impulse buying. When all the veggies are used then I top up. Lunches just need a piece of fruit added.
Contributed by Brenda Dawson
No More Frosty Bread
If you are lucky enough to get bulk bread for freezing, pop a piece of paper towel inside the bag before freezing and leave it in when you defrost. The bread will be just like before you froze it and there will be no nasty frosty bits on the bread or in the bag.
Contributed by Jeanne Paul
MOO Granite Cleaner
This is similar to MOO spray for timber floors and yes I use this for spot cleaning my floors too.
Ingredients:
1/4 cup rubbing alcohol
3 drops dishwashing liquid
2 cups water
5-6 drops essential oils
Place all ingredients in a cleaning bottle, mix gently and you are ready to go. Can use lemon oil (No citric acid…acidic based cleaners are not granite friendly!)
I have used this on granite and Caesarstone, keeps the surfaces shiny and streak free.
I use Miracle Spray, this, and a simple shower spray of vinegar and water mixed with 1/4 cup dishwashing liquid. The only commercial product I use is a bottle of Jif for very occasional use and the house sparkles.
Contributed by Heather Schlusemeyer
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. The Living The Cheapskates Way Budget & Lifestyle Planner
How to get the most from the Living the Cheapskates Way Budget & Lifestyle PlannerWell firstly you need to have one! Pre-orders have closed, but there are still a few available.
Next, you need to use it. Sounds obvious and simple, but as the saying goes, the road is paved with good intentions. No one ever buys a planner thinking "I'll buy it, but I"m not going to use it".
When you get your planner, the different tools it holds are explained right at the very front, so you can start getting it ready to tackle 2020 now - it's a planner, so it's not too early to start planning how you're going to live the Cheapskates way in 2020.
You can find out more about the Living the Cheapskates Way Budget and Lifestyle Planner, and order yours before they're all gone, here .
We only printed a limited number (and as I'm typing there are 67 left), and once they're gone, we won't be doing a reprint.
Click here to find out more and order your copy for delivery in mid-October.
5. On The Menu
Jam slice is one of those old fashioned recipes that should still be in fashion! It should be gracing afternoon tea tables everywhere on a regular basis. And not just because it's easy, but because it is downright delicious.
This recipe was given to me by a very dear friend of my mother's, so many years ago I can't remember - but I'm pretty sure I wasn't married! And I've been making it ever since. If you don't have raspberry jam, I can assure you that strawberry, plum and fig all make it just as tasty.
Jam SliceIngredients:
2 cups SR Flour
1 ½ cups rolled oats
¾ cup butter, melted
1 cup Raspberry, strawberry or apricot jam
1 tbsp water
Method:
Mix flour, rolled oats and melted butter. Press half the mixture into the base of a greased lamington tray. Mix the jam and water and spread evenly over the base. Crumble the remaining flour/oats mixture over the top. Bake for 20 minutes in a moderate oven. Cool completely in tin before cutting into squares.
Next week we will be eating:
Sunday: Roast Beef
Monday: Rissoles, mash, gravy, greens
Tuesday: Veggie Pasta Bake, salad
Wednesday: Fish, wedges, coleslaw
Thursday: MOO Pizza
Friday: Haystacks
Saturday: Hamburgers
In the fruit bowl: mandarins, oranges, bananas
In the cake tin: Raspberry Jam Slice, scones, cinnamon scrolls
There are over 1,600 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
Another Way to Combat the Rising Cost of GroceriesOne of the biggest costs associated with food actually isn't the price - it's the waste. Stop food waste and watch your grocery bill shrink. We Aussies are a wasteful people, then we cry and complain about how much it costs to feed our families.
I learned long ago to not waste food. There was a time when every single food item on our shopping list was accounted for and used because we couldn't afford to waste it. We didn't have the money to buy more celery if I let it go limp and soggy or to buy meat to replace any that was freezer burned.
To avoid waste (and thus a heftier grocery bill) I had to get a little canny about how I managed the family grocery shopping, meals, fridge, freezer and pantry.
I always went through the pantry, fridge and freezer before shopping day to see what was left.
Then I made up a meal plan, incorporating the food we had. This formed the basis of the shopping list and is the single most important step in reducing or even eliminating food waste. I simply didn't buy what we didn't need.
The shopping list only had things we needed, in the size and/or quantity we needed on it. And I stuck to that list like glue. My price book ensured I knew to the dollar just how much the groceries for the month were going to cost and that's all the money I took to the shops with me. I couldn't afford to over-spend, I didn't have the money to pay for it.
In our house leftovers have always been planned. There are five of us and most recipes serve either four or six, meaning for a four serve recipe I increase the quantities by 50% and we always have an extra serve over. Now if we don't have any extra mouths around the table that leftover serve is packaged up for a lunch the next day or put into the freezer for a mufti dinner during the month.
We compost everything we can - peelings, meat and fat, even bones - in the bokashi bucket which goes a long way to slashing food waste.
I rarely put any whole fruit or veggies in the compost. Any vegetables that are looking sad or limp go into soup or casseroles or are used to make stock. Soft or wrinkled fruit is stewed, added to muffins, cakes or biscuits or made into pies. Sometimes I dehydrate it and add it to trail mix for nibbling and lunchboxes.
When it comes to bottles and jars of sauces and spreads my trusty skinny silicone spatula gets a good workout. Did you know you can get enough peanut butter for at least two more sandwiches if you use a spatula to scrape out the "empty" jar?
And there's enough Vegemite left in an empty jar to flavour a gravy, soup or casserole. Or swish it with some cool water, pour into a mug and top up with boiling water for a delicious, warming savoury drink. Jam jars can be swished with milk for milk shakes, or pour the flavoured milk into icy pole moulds to make DIY paddle pops.
Bread crusts can be toasted for croutons or whizzed to make breadcrumbs. Cereal crumbs can be crushed and added to muffin mix or to a basic slice base. Or crush them and use them in Shake'n'Bake or to crumb fish fillets, rissoles or sausages.
Leftover rice or pasta can be used to make a salad. You only need small quantities of veggies and a drizzle of dressing and you have a quick lunch or side dish for another meal.
Before you juice an orange or a lemon grate the zest. It freezes beautifully and can be used for flavouring cooking or as a decoration or garnish.
One last thing to remember in the battle to reduce food waste and thereby your grocery bill: it won't happen if you don't make it happen. Start small. This week do a quick inventory, make up a meal plan and then a shopping list. Add only what you need to buy and stick to it. See how little you spend on food and it will encourage you to use up what you have before it gets wasted.
I'd love to know how you handle food waste in your home.
The $300 a Month Food Challenge Forum
The Post that Started it All
7. Cheapskates Buzz
From The Article Archive
Keep Your Grocery Spending Under Control
Know the Shelf Life of Your Preserved Foods
A Simple Grocery Shopping Challenge
This Week's Hot Forum Topics
The Weekly MOO Challenge
How Will Brexit Affect Cheapskaters
Single-use kitchen appliances
Most Popular Blog Posts This Week
Putting a Dollar Value on Blessings
Every Little Bit of Savings Adds Up
Golden Rules for Saving Money on Your Weekly Food Bill
8. The Cheapskates Club Show
**No live shows for the time being**
We are still suffering without internet, and we've done some tests using mobile wi-fi and the quality for live shows just isn't good enough, so until we can get the problem fixed, we won't be doing live shows.
But you can still catch up with previous shows, and keep an eye out for new, shorter videos coming up.
Most Popular Shows
1. Cath's Corner
2. From the Tip Store - Pre Making Lunches & Morning Tea; No More Frosty Bread; MOO Granite Cleaner
3. Share Your Tips
4. The Living the Cheapskates Way Budget & Lifestyle Planner 2020
5. On the Menu - Jam Slice
6. The $300 a Month Food Challenge -Another Way to Combat the Rising Cost of Groceries
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, Well it's a little late, but finally finished and sent! And if you're reading this, Newsletter 38:19 has been received.
There's lots going on in this week's newsletter so enjoy!
Happy Cheapskating,
Cath
2. From The Tip Store
Pre Making Lunches & Morning Tea
Each week I buy fresh bread, cold meat, cheese etc. and make all the lunches for the week. I use sandwich bags as they keep better and freeze. The night before I get them out of the freezer and pop them in our lunch boxes next morning. I also do cakes, pikelets with butter and jam etc. for morning teas. They freeze and thaw perfectly. It not only saves time but stops impulse buying when you can't be bothered. I also look at what veggies I have in the fridge and make tea from what I have instead of buying more. I then just choose what meat we are having. Also stops impulse buying. When all the veggies are used then I top up. Lunches just need a piece of fruit added.
Contributed by Brenda Dawson
No More Frosty Bread
If you are lucky enough to get bulk bread for freezing, pop a piece of paper towel inside the bag before freezing and leave it in when you defrost. The bread will be just like before you froze it and there will be no nasty frosty bits on the bread or in the bag.
Contributed by Jeanne Paul
MOO Granite Cleaner
This is similar to MOO spray for timber floors and yes I use this for spot cleaning my floors too.
Ingredients:
1/4 cup rubbing alcohol
3 drops dishwashing liquid
2 cups water
5-6 drops essential oils
Place all ingredients in a cleaning bottle, mix gently and you are ready to go. Can use lemon oil (No citric acid…acidic based cleaners are not granite friendly!)
I have used this on granite and Caesarstone, keeps the surfaces shiny and streak free.
I use Miracle Spray, this, and a simple shower spray of vinegar and water mixed with 1/4 cup dishwashing liquid. The only commercial product I use is a bottle of Jif for very occasional use and the house sparkles.
Contributed by Heather Schlusemeyer
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. The Living The Cheapskates Way Budget & Lifestyle Planner
How to get the most from the Living the Cheapskates Way Budget & Lifestyle PlannerWell firstly you need to have one! Pre-orders have closed, but there are still a few available.
Next, you need to use it. Sounds obvious and simple, but as the saying goes, the road is paved with good intentions. No one ever buys a planner thinking "I'll buy it, but I"m not going to use it".
When you get your planner, the different tools it holds are explained right at the very front, so you can start getting it ready to tackle 2020 now - it's a planner, so it's not too early to start planning how you're going to live the Cheapskates way in 2020.
You can find out more about the Living the Cheapskates Way Budget and Lifestyle Planner, and order yours before they're all gone, here .
We only printed a limited number (and as I'm typing there are 67 left), and once they're gone, we won't be doing a reprint.
Click here to find out more and order your copy for delivery in mid-October.
5. On The Menu
Jam slice is one of those old fashioned recipes that should still be in fashion! It should be gracing afternoon tea tables everywhere on a regular basis. And not just because it's easy, but because it is downright delicious.
This recipe was given to me by a very dear friend of my mother's, so many years ago I can't remember - but I'm pretty sure I wasn't married! And I've been making it ever since. If you don't have raspberry jam, I can assure you that strawberry, plum and fig all make it just as tasty.
Jam SliceIngredients:
2 cups SR Flour
1 ½ cups rolled oats
¾ cup butter, melted
1 cup Raspberry, strawberry or apricot jam
1 tbsp water
Method:
Mix flour, rolled oats and melted butter. Press half the mixture into the base of a greased lamington tray. Mix the jam and water and spread evenly over the base. Crumble the remaining flour/oats mixture over the top. Bake for 20 minutes in a moderate oven. Cool completely in tin before cutting into squares.
Next week we will be eating:
Sunday: Roast Beef
Monday: Rissoles, mash, gravy, greens
Tuesday: Veggie Pasta Bake, salad
Wednesday: Fish, wedges, coleslaw
Thursday: MOO Pizza
Friday: Haystacks
Saturday: Hamburgers
In the fruit bowl: mandarins, oranges, bananas
In the cake tin: Raspberry Jam Slice, scones, cinnamon scrolls
There are over 1,600 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
Another Way to Combat the Rising Cost of GroceriesOne of the biggest costs associated with food actually isn't the price - it's the waste. Stop food waste and watch your grocery bill shrink. We Aussies are a wasteful people, then we cry and complain about how much it costs to feed our families.
I learned long ago to not waste food. There was a time when every single food item on our shopping list was accounted for and used because we couldn't afford to waste it. We didn't have the money to buy more celery if I let it go limp and soggy or to buy meat to replace any that was freezer burned.
To avoid waste (and thus a heftier grocery bill) I had to get a little canny about how I managed the family grocery shopping, meals, fridge, freezer and pantry.
I always went through the pantry, fridge and freezer before shopping day to see what was left.
Then I made up a meal plan, incorporating the food we had. This formed the basis of the shopping list and is the single most important step in reducing or even eliminating food waste. I simply didn't buy what we didn't need.
The shopping list only had things we needed, in the size and/or quantity we needed on it. And I stuck to that list like glue. My price book ensured I knew to the dollar just how much the groceries for the month were going to cost and that's all the money I took to the shops with me. I couldn't afford to over-spend, I didn't have the money to pay for it.
In our house leftovers have always been planned. There are five of us and most recipes serve either four or six, meaning for a four serve recipe I increase the quantities by 50% and we always have an extra serve over. Now if we don't have any extra mouths around the table that leftover serve is packaged up for a lunch the next day or put into the freezer for a mufti dinner during the month.
We compost everything we can - peelings, meat and fat, even bones - in the bokashi bucket which goes a long way to slashing food waste.
I rarely put any whole fruit or veggies in the compost. Any vegetables that are looking sad or limp go into soup or casseroles or are used to make stock. Soft or wrinkled fruit is stewed, added to muffins, cakes or biscuits or made into pies. Sometimes I dehydrate it and add it to trail mix for nibbling and lunchboxes.
When it comes to bottles and jars of sauces and spreads my trusty skinny silicone spatula gets a good workout. Did you know you can get enough peanut butter for at least two more sandwiches if you use a spatula to scrape out the "empty" jar?
And there's enough Vegemite left in an empty jar to flavour a gravy, soup or casserole. Or swish it with some cool water, pour into a mug and top up with boiling water for a delicious, warming savoury drink. Jam jars can be swished with milk for milk shakes, or pour the flavoured milk into icy pole moulds to make DIY paddle pops.
Bread crusts can be toasted for croutons or whizzed to make breadcrumbs. Cereal crumbs can be crushed and added to muffin mix or to a basic slice base. Or crush them and use them in Shake'n'Bake or to crumb fish fillets, rissoles or sausages.
Leftover rice or pasta can be used to make a salad. You only need small quantities of veggies and a drizzle of dressing and you have a quick lunch or side dish for another meal.
Before you juice an orange or a lemon grate the zest. It freezes beautifully and can be used for flavouring cooking or as a decoration or garnish.
One last thing to remember in the battle to reduce food waste and thereby your grocery bill: it won't happen if you don't make it happen. Start small. This week do a quick inventory, make up a meal plan and then a shopping list. Add only what you need to buy and stick to it. See how little you spend on food and it will encourage you to use up what you have before it gets wasted.
I'd love to know how you handle food waste in your home.
The $300 a Month Food Challenge Forum
The Post that Started it All
7. Cheapskates Buzz
From The Article Archive
Keep Your Grocery Spending Under Control
Know the Shelf Life of Your Preserved Foods
A Simple Grocery Shopping Challenge
This Week's Hot Forum Topics
The Weekly MOO Challenge
How Will Brexit Affect Cheapskaters
Single-use kitchen appliances
Most Popular Blog Posts This Week
Putting a Dollar Value on Blessings
Every Little Bit of Savings Adds Up
Golden Rules for Saving Money on Your Weekly Food Bill
8. The Cheapskates Club Show
**No live shows for the time being**
We are still suffering without internet, and we've done some tests using mobile wi-fi and the quality for live shows just isn't good enough, so until we can get the problem fixed, we won't be doing live shows.
But you can still catch up with previous shows, and keep an eye out for new, shorter videos coming up.
Most Popular Shows
9. Ask Cath
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 $30 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 $30 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