Your Cheapskates Club Newsletter 42:17
In this Newsletter
1. Cath's Corner
2. In the Tip Store - Home Styling on a Tight Budget; Now is the Time to MOO Tea Bag Firelighters; Snacking on Homemade Popcorn and Reaping the Savings
3. Share Your Tips
4. On the Menu - Baked Honey Chicken
5. The $300 a Month Food Challenge with Wendy - Making Room In The Freezer Update
6. Cheapskates Buzz - Cheapskaters are talking in the Forum and on Cath's blog
7. Member's Featured Blog - 73 Days 'Till Christmas
8. Last Week's Question - Ideas for using leftover chips!
9. This Week's Question - Helping elderly parents maintain their independence
10. Ask Cath
11. Join the Cheapskates Club
12. Frequently Asked Questions
13. Contact Details
1. Cath's Corner
Hello Cheapskaters,
This week's newsletter is huge! So many great ideas to save you money, time and energy, and some great ideas in response to last week's question.
With that in mind, and because the sunshine is calling me outside, I'll leave you to a really good read.
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
Home Styling on a Tight Budget
From a separation I had nothing. Bit by bit I have styled my house to rival any Vogue Magazine.
Here are my tips:
Gumtree, side of the road, Kmart and $2 shops are my go tos.
For my coffee table I borrow expensive artwork and coffee table books and change them up every couple of weeks. Same with CD's.
Us girls at work bring in no longer wanted items for whoever wants them. I have received mature indoor plants, novels, makeup, hair straighteners, platters etc. all free.
Enter free competitions. I won a beautiful beach canvas and recently an original whale piece of artwork.
I bought two sets of wire lights cheap. I have trailed them over the top of the window in my dining room and family room for ambience and to cut down electricity use.
Again, I go to the Reject Shop to buy beautifully contained candles for $3 each. After using the candle, I use the containers to pot cuttings of succulents or if larger as a vase or pencil holder.
I stayed at a boutique hotel where the citrus hand wash was gorgeous. I sourced it and it was $36 a bottle. I bought one, but have discovered Aldi have a version for $4.99. I bought heaps.
I have discovered the Spotify app with great music for free. I downloaded some chill out music for when I have visitors or dinner parties.
With spring here I went to Bunnings and bought two hanging pots of colour which will last all season for $15 each. So worth it as I admire them every day.
Lastly, big stores have some absolutely crazy clearance sales. This is when to buy, but ONLY BUY WHAT YOU NEED.
Contributed by Connie Kell
Now is the Time to MOO Tea Bag Firelighters
We save all our tea bags.
Cut all the string and tag off them and dry out in a dish by the fire (or over a heater vent or near a heater, or in a sunny windowsill). Then put them into an empty peach (or other fruit) can. Pour a little kerosene over them, enough for them to soak up. I then put the can full of tea bags soaked in kerosene into a plastic shopping bag, then into a container with a secure lid.
This is what we use instead of buying firelighters, that we always used to run out of. Continue drying out your tea bags and place the next dry lot under the existing kerosene soaked ones. I use small tongs to pick up the ones I use for lighting the fire. It becomes so easy when you have done it a few times.
Contributed by Jude Armstrong
Note: We make these tea bag firelighters and use them not only in our combustion heater, but when we go camping. They are the fastest way to get a campfire going. I have a small pair of plastic pickle tongs (I think they were a Tupperware party prize years ago) to pull them out of the tin (a recycled 500g coffee tin).
Snacking on Homemade Popcorn and Reaping the Savings
I recently sourced a bulk buy of popcorn kernels. I was tired of spending $10-$20 per week on crackers and snack foods for the kids' lunch boxes. I paid $27 for a 15kg sack of kernels from a popcorn supply place. I have divided it up into 1kg lots and stored them in the back of the pantry. I estimate it will take at least 6 months to get through the popcorn but am counting the savings BIG time. Making our own takes no time at all and I can control the amount of butter and salt and the kids love it. Now our only snacks are popcorn and fruit.
Contributed by Jen Kramer
Note: I buy popcorn kernels in bulk too. We have a hot air corn popper that sits on the bench and it gets used regularly to make popcorn. Then that popcorn is flavoured or used to make caramel corn or MOO Lolly Gobble Bliss Bombs. Cath
There are currently more than 12,000 great tips in the Tip Store
3. Submit your Tip
The Cheapskate's Club website is over 3,000 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.
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!
Submit your tip
4. On the Menu
Baked Honey Chicken
A few weeks back chicken fillets were cheap - very cheap - so I took advantage of both the sale and a healthy slush fund and stocked up. We really like chicken, but it can get boring very quickly if it's just the same old crumbed schnitzels meal after meal. This Baked Honey Chicken solves the problem. It is tasty, quick and a simple one pan dinner that uses just four basic pantry ingredients.
Baked Honey Chicken
Ingredients:
1/4 cup honey
1/4 cup Dijon style mustard
1 tsp dried basil
4 chicken breast fillets, skin off
Method:
Preheat oven to 175 degrees Celsius. Line a baking dish with foil. Whisk together the honey, mustard and basil in a small mixing bowl. Place the chicken breasts into the baking dish. Pour the sauce over the top to evenly cover the chicken. Bake 30 minutes or until the chicken juices run clear when the chicken is poked with a fork. Serve over steamed rice or steamed vegetables.
If it is too hot to use the oven, cook the chicken fillets on the barbecue - they're just as tasty and the kitchen won't heat up.
This week we will be eating:
Sunday: Roast Beef
Monday: Schnitzels, vegetables, tomato gravy
Tuesday: Gnocchi in Alfredo Sauce
Wednesday: Spicy baked chicken pieces, potato bake, broccoli
Thursday: MOO Pizza
Friday: Tacos
Saturday: Kebabs with salad, tabouli, hommos
In the fruit bowl: bananas
In the cake tin: Fruit cake
There are over 1,500 other great money saving meal ideas in the Recipe File.
5. The $300 a Month Food Challenge with Wendy
Making Room In The Freezer Update
Welcome to the food challenge everyone.
Last week I set up the " Making Room In The Freezer For Christmas " challenge. We've had a number of members take up this challenge for various reasons.
Some need room for freezer meals to feed family members while the parents are on holidays. Others need to defrost their freezers. One member said she'd be able to save a few dollars if she ate out of the freezer.
Darren and I have just started planting our Spring / Summer veggie garden. Although we try to eat from our garden as much as possible, sometimes we need to freeze excess produce. This is one of the reasons we are trying to make room in our freezers.
Last week I visited Australian Butchers for the first time. They had bolar blade roasts on sale for $6.99kg. I bought five roasts and thankfully I had room in the freezer for them.
Legs of lamb are starting to come on sale right now. I usually buy 6 legs each year. Each leg feeds the four of us for two meals which gives us a lamb meal once a month. Those legs take up a lot of room in the freezer so I want to be prepared.
Our youngest daughter is travelling around the country this week and the next. This is a wonderful opportunity for Darren and I to eat out of the freezer for most of our main meals We have lots of freezer meals and cooked meat for two that we are planning on eating. This will give me a break from cooking up a storm each night. Most importantly, it will make room in the freezer for the lamb.
Have you made any room in your freezer?
How will you make the most of your stored frozen food this coming week?
Have a great week and BE ENCOURAGED!!!!
The $300 a Month Food Challenge
The Post that Started it All
6. Cheapskates Buzz
Most popular forum posts this week
2015 Christmas Preparations
http://www.cheapskatesclub.com.au/memberforum/showthread.php?2948-2015-Christmas-Preparations
Gardening Without a Garden?
http://www.cheapskatesclub.com.au/memberforum/showthread.php?3595-Gardening-Without-a-Garden
Plastic Free Tips
http://www.cheapskatesclub.com.au/memberforum/showthread.php?3608-Plastic-free-tips
Most popular blog posts this week
The Joyco Hamper
http://www.debtfreecashedupandlaughing.com.au/2016/11/the-joyco-hamper.html
An Easy Way to Sort and Treat Stained Laundry
http://www.debtfreecashedupandlaughing.com.au/2016/02/an-easy-way-to-sort-and-treat-stained.html
Boiled Chocolate Cake
http://www.debtfreecashedupandlaughing.com.au/2012/05/boiled-chocolate-cake.html
7. Members Featured Blog
Platinum Cheapskates Club members have their very own Cheapskating blogs, and they are wonderful and inspirational and encouraging and even funny. This week's featured blog is written by mumof2.
73 Days 'Till Christmas
Well this year has been flying by fast, and with plenty of ups and downs along the way.
So a few things I remember about this year
• we lost a freezer full of food
• I broke my foot
• we moved my mum
• we moved our son (my step son)
• Our dog Chloe passed away
• we then got Archie (months later)
• we got another cat Tilly
• we got the back room done, after a long 6 months
• we paid off the CC (3 times)
• I started studying
• my daughter had surgery
That's just off the top of my head, but even with all this I think we have made a lot of progress, nowhere near where I wanted to be but we have no debt, we have small savings which is growing each payday - so happy with that.
Christmas is only 73 days away...but I am happy to say that I have most of my shopping done (present wise), I have some gift cards etc. to get but will do much closer to Christmas. Food wise we really aren't doing much this year so won't cost too much and have budgeted for it. We have so much Christmas paper that we won't need any for a few years. We don't send out but about 2 cards a year; I just can't see the sense in paying that much for it to sit on a mantel to be thrown out.
We are looking at maybe having a garage sale; just need more energy to go through things and before it gets too hot, especially now the house is settled and we don't have to move...thankfully. My daughter's small business she does from home is starting to pick up, so happy for her as it's so hard with her illness to really do a lot so good that she can do this.
Hope you are all getting ready for Christmas.
Login to read more Cheapskates Club Member blogs
8. Last Week's Question
Last week's question was from Carolyn who wrote
"I'd be very interested to know whether anyone has any recipes for using leftover hot chips (from the fish & chip shop). We get minimum chips but there's still too much for two. I have made a frittata from them which was good but I'd like to hear what others do."
Oh my goodness, but the creative and tasty ways to use leftover chips had me wanting to call Wayne and ask him to pick up a minimum of chips on his way home! There are some amazing cooks amongst our Cheapskates community and I'm so glad they don't mind sharing their ideas and recipes.
Maudeen Craigie answered
Chop the chips into cubes and refry (minus oil, they'll have enough). Scramble some eggs and serve sprinkled with refried chips - quick Sunday night meal
Monika O'Leary answered
I freeze left over chips, put chips into a plastic ziplock bag, spread out and freeze. Reheat on a tray in the oven.
Justine L answered
Reheat the chips in a sandwich press that has the ability for the top to be held up a little. The chips end up crispy on the outside and soft in the middle. It also reheats pizza beautifully, crisping the base and remelting the cheese on top. Bacon can also be cooked in the sandwich press and wraps can be made far more tasty just by toasting them (we sometimes put leftovers in a wrap and toast it as an easy evening meal). **If you use baking paper in the sandwich press it can save a lot of cleaning.
Di Watson answered
My favourite way to use up leftover hot chips is as a replacer of breadcrumbs in meat loaf. Blend them up and add to the mixture. They add a yummy savoury note and cheap gluten free filler to stretch meat.
Anna Silvester answered
Give them a good mash (or even a whiz in a blender) and then use them on top of a Shepard's Pie with a bit of grated cheese. Yum!
Tia Nespeca answered
Top them with crispy bacon, chives, cheese and anything else you have that would be yum, bake in the oven! Serve with sour cream, avo and sweet chilli sauce. You could even do Mexican flavours.
Maureen Williams answered
Cut them up and put into any savoury slice i.e. zucchini slice or use them as patties with other leftover veggies, make into patties with egg, flour, onion, herbs and then fry them. Use as a side dish or in a sandwich.
Amie Tupene answered
My husband heats them up in a pot with milk and any leftover fish. It sounds gross but actually isn't too bad.
Helen Fenton answered
There is a dish called Putin that Canadians go crazy over. Leftover chips go great in it. Spread your chips on a suitable tray, add some chopped shallots, grated cheese and bacon bits. Put it under the grill or in a moderate oven for 20 minutes. Delicious !!
Sarah Jenner answered
With KFC/Red Rooster hot chips we microwave them until they're steamy in the box, then spread them onto a tray and put it into a moderate oven for about 10 minutes.
Sherrie Christon answered
Make them into toasted sandwiches. Layer of cheese, layer of chips, layer of tomato, layer of onion slices, layer of cheese. Toast in sandwich toaster....yummo....put as many layers as you can.
Karen Brotherton answered
Revamped butty ... reheat chips in oven put lettuce on roll with chips and fried egg with running yoke, yum.
9. This Week's Question
Lyn writes
"My elderly folks live on a 46 acre rural property in WA. It's lovely but they have had it for sale for 9 years as NO ONE is buying. They took out a reverse mortgage when they first put it on the market, thinking they would sell the property shortly after BUT the mortgage it is eating away at their equity, as it costs a lot to maintain the property - especially on a pension. Mum recently became very sick and has been in hospital for 5 weeks. And Step-Dad, at 82, is trying to run the house, let alone the property by himself. They live 9km from the nearest town, 50 minutes from their doctor and the hospital. I need advice about where to go to find assistance for them. As they (and the bank) own their only asset - that they can't sell - they are limited with the assistance they can receive. I'm sure they're not alone. We live in the city, our house is small and we have a young family. We've offered for them to move in with us but they would like to maintain some independence if they possibly can. Any suggestions would be gratefully appreciated. Thank you."
Do you have the answer?
If you can help Lyn, let us know. We'll enter your answer into our Tip of the Week competition, with a one-year membership to the Cheapskates Club as the prize too.
Send your answer
10. 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
11. Join the Cheapskates Club
For just 10 cents a day 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!
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13. Contact Details
The Cheapskates Club -
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Contact Cheapskates
1. Cath's Corner
2. In the Tip Store - Home Styling on a Tight Budget; Now is the Time to MOO Tea Bag Firelighters; Snacking on Homemade Popcorn and Reaping the Savings
3. Share Your Tips
4. On the Menu - Baked Honey Chicken
5. The $300 a Month Food Challenge with Wendy - Making Room In The Freezer Update
6. Cheapskates Buzz - Cheapskaters are talking in the Forum and on Cath's blog
7. Member's Featured Blog - 73 Days 'Till Christmas
8. Last Week's Question - Ideas for using leftover chips!
9. This Week's Question - Helping elderly parents maintain their independence
10. Ask Cath
11. Join the Cheapskates Club
12. Frequently Asked Questions
13. Contact Details
1. Cath's Corner
Hello Cheapskaters,
This week's newsletter is huge! So many great ideas to save you money, time and energy, and some great ideas in response to last week's question.
With that in mind, and because the sunshine is calling me outside, I'll leave you to a really good read.
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
Home Styling on a Tight Budget
From a separation I had nothing. Bit by bit I have styled my house to rival any Vogue Magazine.
Here are my tips:
Gumtree, side of the road, Kmart and $2 shops are my go tos.
For my coffee table I borrow expensive artwork and coffee table books and change them up every couple of weeks. Same with CD's.
Us girls at work bring in no longer wanted items for whoever wants them. I have received mature indoor plants, novels, makeup, hair straighteners, platters etc. all free.
Enter free competitions. I won a beautiful beach canvas and recently an original whale piece of artwork.
I bought two sets of wire lights cheap. I have trailed them over the top of the window in my dining room and family room for ambience and to cut down electricity use.
Again, I go to the Reject Shop to buy beautifully contained candles for $3 each. After using the candle, I use the containers to pot cuttings of succulents or if larger as a vase or pencil holder.
I stayed at a boutique hotel where the citrus hand wash was gorgeous. I sourced it and it was $36 a bottle. I bought one, but have discovered Aldi have a version for $4.99. I bought heaps.
I have discovered the Spotify app with great music for free. I downloaded some chill out music for when I have visitors or dinner parties.
With spring here I went to Bunnings and bought two hanging pots of colour which will last all season for $15 each. So worth it as I admire them every day.
Lastly, big stores have some absolutely crazy clearance sales. This is when to buy, but ONLY BUY WHAT YOU NEED.
Contributed by Connie Kell
Now is the Time to MOO Tea Bag Firelighters
We save all our tea bags.
Cut all the string and tag off them and dry out in a dish by the fire (or over a heater vent or near a heater, or in a sunny windowsill). Then put them into an empty peach (or other fruit) can. Pour a little kerosene over them, enough for them to soak up. I then put the can full of tea bags soaked in kerosene into a plastic shopping bag, then into a container with a secure lid.
This is what we use instead of buying firelighters, that we always used to run out of. Continue drying out your tea bags and place the next dry lot under the existing kerosene soaked ones. I use small tongs to pick up the ones I use for lighting the fire. It becomes so easy when you have done it a few times.
Contributed by Jude Armstrong
Note: We make these tea bag firelighters and use them not only in our combustion heater, but when we go camping. They are the fastest way to get a campfire going. I have a small pair of plastic pickle tongs (I think they were a Tupperware party prize years ago) to pull them out of the tin (a recycled 500g coffee tin).
Snacking on Homemade Popcorn and Reaping the Savings
I recently sourced a bulk buy of popcorn kernels. I was tired of spending $10-$20 per week on crackers and snack foods for the kids' lunch boxes. I paid $27 for a 15kg sack of kernels from a popcorn supply place. I have divided it up into 1kg lots and stored them in the back of the pantry. I estimate it will take at least 6 months to get through the popcorn but am counting the savings BIG time. Making our own takes no time at all and I can control the amount of butter and salt and the kids love it. Now our only snacks are popcorn and fruit.
Contributed by Jen Kramer
Note: I buy popcorn kernels in bulk too. We have a hot air corn popper that sits on the bench and it gets used regularly to make popcorn. Then that popcorn is flavoured or used to make caramel corn or MOO Lolly Gobble Bliss Bombs. Cath
There are currently more than 12,000 great tips in the Tip Store
3. Submit your Tip
The Cheapskate's Club website is over 3,000 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.
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!
Submit your tip
4. On the Menu
Baked Honey Chicken
A few weeks back chicken fillets were cheap - very cheap - so I took advantage of both the sale and a healthy slush fund and stocked up. We really like chicken, but it can get boring very quickly if it's just the same old crumbed schnitzels meal after meal. This Baked Honey Chicken solves the problem. It is tasty, quick and a simple one pan dinner that uses just four basic pantry ingredients.
Baked Honey Chicken
Ingredients:
1/4 cup honey
1/4 cup Dijon style mustard
1 tsp dried basil
4 chicken breast fillets, skin off
Method:
Preheat oven to 175 degrees Celsius. Line a baking dish with foil. Whisk together the honey, mustard and basil in a small mixing bowl. Place the chicken breasts into the baking dish. Pour the sauce over the top to evenly cover the chicken. Bake 30 minutes or until the chicken juices run clear when the chicken is poked with a fork. Serve over steamed rice or steamed vegetables.
If it is too hot to use the oven, cook the chicken fillets on the barbecue - they're just as tasty and the kitchen won't heat up.
This week we will be eating:
Sunday: Roast Beef
Monday: Schnitzels, vegetables, tomato gravy
Tuesday: Gnocchi in Alfredo Sauce
Wednesday: Spicy baked chicken pieces, potato bake, broccoli
Thursday: MOO Pizza
Friday: Tacos
Saturday: Kebabs with salad, tabouli, hommos
In the fruit bowl: bananas
In the cake tin: Fruit cake
There are over 1,500 other great money saving meal ideas in the Recipe File.
5. The $300 a Month Food Challenge with Wendy
Making Room In The Freezer Update
Welcome to the food challenge everyone.
Last week I set up the " Making Room In The Freezer For Christmas " challenge. We've had a number of members take up this challenge for various reasons.
Some need room for freezer meals to feed family members while the parents are on holidays. Others need to defrost their freezers. One member said she'd be able to save a few dollars if she ate out of the freezer.
Darren and I have just started planting our Spring / Summer veggie garden. Although we try to eat from our garden as much as possible, sometimes we need to freeze excess produce. This is one of the reasons we are trying to make room in our freezers.
Last week I visited Australian Butchers for the first time. They had bolar blade roasts on sale for $6.99kg. I bought five roasts and thankfully I had room in the freezer for them.
Legs of lamb are starting to come on sale right now. I usually buy 6 legs each year. Each leg feeds the four of us for two meals which gives us a lamb meal once a month. Those legs take up a lot of room in the freezer so I want to be prepared.
Our youngest daughter is travelling around the country this week and the next. This is a wonderful opportunity for Darren and I to eat out of the freezer for most of our main meals We have lots of freezer meals and cooked meat for two that we are planning on eating. This will give me a break from cooking up a storm each night. Most importantly, it will make room in the freezer for the lamb.
Have you made any room in your freezer?
How will you make the most of your stored frozen food this coming week?
Have a great week and BE ENCOURAGED!!!!
The $300 a Month Food Challenge
The Post that Started it All
6. Cheapskates Buzz
Most popular forum posts this week
2015 Christmas Preparations
http://www.cheapskatesclub.com.au/memberforum/showthread.php?2948-2015-Christmas-Preparations
Gardening Without a Garden?
http://www.cheapskatesclub.com.au/memberforum/showthread.php?3595-Gardening-Without-a-Garden
Plastic Free Tips
http://www.cheapskatesclub.com.au/memberforum/showthread.php?3608-Plastic-free-tips
Most popular blog posts this week
The Joyco Hamper
http://www.debtfreecashedupandlaughing.com.au/2016/11/the-joyco-hamper.html
An Easy Way to Sort and Treat Stained Laundry
http://www.debtfreecashedupandlaughing.com.au/2016/02/an-easy-way-to-sort-and-treat-stained.html
Boiled Chocolate Cake
http://www.debtfreecashedupandlaughing.com.au/2012/05/boiled-chocolate-cake.html
7. Members Featured Blog
Platinum Cheapskates Club members have their very own Cheapskating blogs, and they are wonderful and inspirational and encouraging and even funny. This week's featured blog is written by mumof2.
73 Days 'Till Christmas
Well this year has been flying by fast, and with plenty of ups and downs along the way.
So a few things I remember about this year
• we lost a freezer full of food
• I broke my foot
• we moved my mum
• we moved our son (my step son)
• Our dog Chloe passed away
• we then got Archie (months later)
• we got another cat Tilly
• we got the back room done, after a long 6 months
• we paid off the CC (3 times)
• I started studying
• my daughter had surgery
That's just off the top of my head, but even with all this I think we have made a lot of progress, nowhere near where I wanted to be but we have no debt, we have small savings which is growing each payday - so happy with that.
Christmas is only 73 days away...but I am happy to say that I have most of my shopping done (present wise), I have some gift cards etc. to get but will do much closer to Christmas. Food wise we really aren't doing much this year so won't cost too much and have budgeted for it. We have so much Christmas paper that we won't need any for a few years. We don't send out but about 2 cards a year; I just can't see the sense in paying that much for it to sit on a mantel to be thrown out.
We are looking at maybe having a garage sale; just need more energy to go through things and before it gets too hot, especially now the house is settled and we don't have to move...thankfully. My daughter's small business she does from home is starting to pick up, so happy for her as it's so hard with her illness to really do a lot so good that she can do this.
Hope you are all getting ready for Christmas.
Login to read more Cheapskates Club Member blogs
8. Last Week's Question
Last week's question was from Carolyn who wrote
"I'd be very interested to know whether anyone has any recipes for using leftover hot chips (from the fish & chip shop). We get minimum chips but there's still too much for two. I have made a frittata from them which was good but I'd like to hear what others do."
Oh my goodness, but the creative and tasty ways to use leftover chips had me wanting to call Wayne and ask him to pick up a minimum of chips on his way home! There are some amazing cooks amongst our Cheapskates community and I'm so glad they don't mind sharing their ideas and recipes.
Maudeen Craigie answered
Chop the chips into cubes and refry (minus oil, they'll have enough). Scramble some eggs and serve sprinkled with refried chips - quick Sunday night meal
Monika O'Leary answered
I freeze left over chips, put chips into a plastic ziplock bag, spread out and freeze. Reheat on a tray in the oven.
Justine L answered
Reheat the chips in a sandwich press that has the ability for the top to be held up a little. The chips end up crispy on the outside and soft in the middle. It also reheats pizza beautifully, crisping the base and remelting the cheese on top. Bacon can also be cooked in the sandwich press and wraps can be made far more tasty just by toasting them (we sometimes put leftovers in a wrap and toast it as an easy evening meal). **If you use baking paper in the sandwich press it can save a lot of cleaning.
Di Watson answered
My favourite way to use up leftover hot chips is as a replacer of breadcrumbs in meat loaf. Blend them up and add to the mixture. They add a yummy savoury note and cheap gluten free filler to stretch meat.
Anna Silvester answered
Give them a good mash (or even a whiz in a blender) and then use them on top of a Shepard's Pie with a bit of grated cheese. Yum!
Tia Nespeca answered
Top them with crispy bacon, chives, cheese and anything else you have that would be yum, bake in the oven! Serve with sour cream, avo and sweet chilli sauce. You could even do Mexican flavours.
Maureen Williams answered
Cut them up and put into any savoury slice i.e. zucchini slice or use them as patties with other leftover veggies, make into patties with egg, flour, onion, herbs and then fry them. Use as a side dish or in a sandwich.
Amie Tupene answered
My husband heats them up in a pot with milk and any leftover fish. It sounds gross but actually isn't too bad.
Helen Fenton answered
There is a dish called Putin that Canadians go crazy over. Leftover chips go great in it. Spread your chips on a suitable tray, add some chopped shallots, grated cheese and bacon bits. Put it under the grill or in a moderate oven for 20 minutes. Delicious !!
Sarah Jenner answered
With KFC/Red Rooster hot chips we microwave them until they're steamy in the box, then spread them onto a tray and put it into a moderate oven for about 10 minutes.
Sherrie Christon answered
Make them into toasted sandwiches. Layer of cheese, layer of chips, layer of tomato, layer of onion slices, layer of cheese. Toast in sandwich toaster....yummo....put as many layers as you can.
Karen Brotherton answered
Revamped butty ... reheat chips in oven put lettuce on roll with chips and fried egg with running yoke, yum.
9. This Week's Question
Lyn writes
"My elderly folks live on a 46 acre rural property in WA. It's lovely but they have had it for sale for 9 years as NO ONE is buying. They took out a reverse mortgage when they first put it on the market, thinking they would sell the property shortly after BUT the mortgage it is eating away at their equity, as it costs a lot to maintain the property - especially on a pension. Mum recently became very sick and has been in hospital for 5 weeks. And Step-Dad, at 82, is trying to run the house, let alone the property by himself. They live 9km from the nearest town, 50 minutes from their doctor and the hospital. I need advice about where to go to find assistance for them. As they (and the bank) own their only asset - that they can't sell - they are limited with the assistance they can receive. I'm sure they're not alone. We live in the city, our house is small and we have a young family. We've offered for them to move in with us but they would like to maintain some independence if they possibly can. Any suggestions would be gratefully appreciated. Thank you."
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