Your Cheapskates Club Newsletter 46:19
In This Newsletter
1. Cath's Corner
2. From the Tip Store - Roasted Diced Pumpkin and its Ready to Use; Don't Waste Money Buying Pots for Herb and Vegetable Plants; Get Ready for Summer with this MOO Aftershave
3. Share Your Tips
4. Own Your Christmas Challenge Week 7 - Getting ready to decorate week
5. The Living the Cheapskates Way Budget & Lifestyle Planner 2020
6. On the Menu - Impossible Lasagne Pie
7. The $300 a Month Food Challenge - MY OAMS Routine Part 1
8. Cheapskates Buzz - Cheapskaters are talking in the Forum and on Cath's blog
9. The Cheapskates Club Show
10. Ask Cath
11. Join The Cheapskates Club
12. Frequently Asked Questions
13. Contact Details
1. Cath's Corner
Hello Cheapskaters,Welcome to another great newsletter full of frugal fun and interesting ways you can save money, time and energy. Phew! That was a mouthful wasn't it? But this newsletter really is full of great ways you can save money.
We're going back in time, to when Anne posted her experience with Once a Month Shopping and the $300 a Month Food Challenge. Why? Because every day I get questions about both! At the time of writing the series, Anne cut $500 a month straight away! And she's still OAMSing and still saving.
Our newsletter is just a teeny, tiny peek at what's available in the Member's Centre, no wonder our subscriber base is growing every day, everyone wants to know how to save money, time and energy. So, don't forget to login often for even more ways to save.
Just quickly before I go, I will be away from tomorrow, 15th November - 25th November, back to work on 26th. Feel free to contact me during this time, but please understand I won't be able to reply until after I get back, and then I'll be answering on a first asked, first answered basis. So, please be patient.
There will be a newsletter next week, and of course the November Journal goes live tomorrow - again, don't forget to login to read the articles and tips, get the meal planners and tip sheet and try the recipes.
Have a great fortnight every one.
Happy Cheapskating,
Cath
2. From The Tip Store
Roasted Diced Pumpkin and its Ready to Use
I had a large pumpkin that needed using and I had a few recipes over the coming week I was planning to use it for, all of them needed diced roasted pumpkin pieces. I cut up the whole pumpkin and chopped it into 2 cm dice, tossed it in a bowl with some olive oil, chopped rosemary from the garden, oregano, salt and pepper. I roasted all the pieces in a couple of large trays in the oven and when they were cooked and cold I bagged them up in snap lock bags and placed them in the freezer. Now I have the pumpkin all ready to use and can just take out what I need over the week, I've only had to use the oven once and the pumpkin won't take long to defrost. I plan on using it to add to a risotto, mini quiches and a warm salad and now it won't take long to put everything together since the pumpkin is already to use. I've also used sweet potato and it works out just as good.
Contributed by Chris Dimitru
Editor's note: This is a great way to keep pumpkin and it works for sweet potato too. There are so many ways to use roast pumpkin. Just reheat in a fry pan or pop into the baking dish with the roast for the last 15 minutes of cooking. Toss into a blender with a little vegetable stock and puree for a roast pumpkin soup. Use a little less stock and add a clove of garlic and some parsley, then puree and toss through hot cooked pasta and top with grated parmesan. Cath
Don't Waste Money Buying Pots for Herb and Vegetable Plants
Approximate $ Savings: $14 - 50 per plant
I rent and have a large dog so planting an herb garden in the ground is not possible for me. I decided to plant an herb garden using pots but didn't want use up the budget on the pots themselves. So I used the following. 1) We had some old hessian style bags (plastic and waterproof) that firewood came in, so I cut these in half and filled with my soil/compost mix. I planted the herbs in these. Lastly I added a few holes (using a pair of scissors) to the bottom for drainage. 2. I purchased some brightly coloured plastic flexible tubs from the laundry section of the hardware store costing me $6 each. Drilled holes in the bottom (which was very easy to do with an electric drill but could use a knife also) and planted my herbs. Lastly cut off the bottom off some plastic bottles from the recycling and placed under the pots for extra drainage. Basic pots for plants start from $12-14 but can exceed $50. The hessian style bags where free but could be purchased for a couple of dollars at a hardware store. The ones I used were plastic not read hessian. My herbs are doing well so far and I saved up to $65.
Contributed by Kathryn Clark
Get Ready for Summer with this MOO Aftershave
Approximate $ Savings: $8-$20 per 100 mL
I have found a homemade aftershave solution that combats acne, blemishes, ugly razor bumps and ingrown hairs just in time for summer, with ingredients you may have in your cupboard.
To make the solution, put 150mLs of rubbing alcohol (Isocol) into a glass with 18 aspirin. Then get a second glass, add 75mLs of witch hazel and drop 8 aspirin into the second glass. Let the aspirin dissolve in both glasses, stir it around and then add the solution to a recycled jar with a tight lid. The aspirin won't completely dissolve, so just shake before each use and apply to the affected area with a cotton wool ball.
You should see results within hours for both men and women. It can also be applied to acne or blemishes with great results.
The total cost is free if you already have the ingredients, but if you make it up it should cost about $7.30:
witch hazel = $1.90
isocol $4.35
aspirin $1.05
This is so much cheaper than store brought ingrown hair/razor bump solutions, which range from $14 - $40 for so much less product!
Contributed by Leah Doyle
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. Own Your Christmas Challenge Week 7
We really are in the last legs of the Own Your Christmas Countdown.
Some of you have already finished the gift shopping, wrapping and labelling. Well done!
Even better so many Cheapskaters are reporting that they are on budget, or even under budget, and that they really will own Christmas 2019, some for the first time! And that's the best news I could get.
We sorted through the decorations over the weekend. It was miserable weather here, so an inside task was perfect. I spent $4 and about half an hour to revamp our Christmas wreath; I can't wait till the first of December to put it on the door! And now I know what's what, and have planned where everything will go, I feel calm that the Christmas decorating will go without a hitch.
This week is baking and cooking planning week. There are Christmas cakes, big and small, resting in the pantry. Two puddings still need to be made, one for Christmas and one for New Year's (a family tradition). There will be leftovers, and I wrap them in clingwrap and then freeze them for winter desserts, which Wayne just loves.
Mum and I always made the cakes and puddings together, sharing the workload and the cost. This year it is bittersweet as she's no longer here to teach, help and supervise. Hannah and even the boys have stepped up to help and we've had fun reminiscing and keeping our family Christmas baking traditions alive.
I use my mother's Christmas cake and pudding recipes and her pudding bowls, and her shortbread recipe (it's in the Recipe File as Grandma's Shortbread) and her sweet shortcrust pastry for the fruit mince tarts. Christmas baking is a tradition in our home, one we all love.
The big cakes are done, packed and put away until December. We'll leave the puddings 'til last, so everyone will be home and they can all have a stir of the mix. We're not at all superstitious, this is just one of those family traditions that's been done, well just about forever in my mother's family and it's one we've kept up.
And that's something I really love about Christmas, our own special family traditions.
I'm off to double check the pantry and shopping list to make sure we have all the ingredients needed, have a lovely week getting ready for Christmas everyone.
The Week 7 tasks are:
Task 1: Plan your baking/cooking/preparation. Plan to make as much of your holiday food ahead as you possibly can. Remember you can freeze just about anything as long as it is wrapped properly.
Task 2: Check your dishes, cutlery, serving platters and table linen. Replace anything that needs to be replaced, launder and freshen up your linens.
Task 3: Write up this week's Christmas cards.
Task 4: Buy, wrap and label the fifth lot of gifts.
Task 5: Continue working on handmade gifts, wrapping and labelling as you finish them.
Christmas Central has some new tools and resources to help you with your Week 7 tasks:
Christmas Baking Planner
Cheapskates $25 & $80 Christmas Dinners
Cheapskates $50 Christmas Dinner
Christmas Gifts You Can Make
Fantastic Edible Christmas Gifts
Don't forget to visit soon.
The tasks are outlined here in greater detail
You can get the Own Your Christmas planners here too.
If you'd like the weekly tasks and round-up, you can join the Own Your Christmas challenge here
5. The Living The Cheapskates Way Budget & Lifestyle Planner
1. Cath's Corner
2. From the Tip Store - Roasted Diced Pumpkin and its Ready to Use; Don't Waste Money Buying Pots for Herb and Vegetable Plants; Get Ready for Summer with this MOO Aftershave
3. Share Your Tips
4. Own Your Christmas Challenge Week 7 - Getting ready to decorate week
5. The Living the Cheapskates Way Budget & Lifestyle Planner 2020
6. On the Menu - Impossible Lasagne Pie
7. The $300 a Month Food Challenge - MY OAMS Routine Part 1
8. Cheapskates Buzz - Cheapskaters are talking in the Forum and on Cath's blog
9. The Cheapskates Club Show
10. Ask Cath
11. Join The Cheapskates Club
12. Frequently Asked Questions
13. Contact Details
1. Cath's Corner
Hello Cheapskaters,Welcome to another great newsletter full of frugal fun and interesting ways you can save money, time and energy. Phew! That was a mouthful wasn't it? But this newsletter really is full of great ways you can save money.
We're going back in time, to when Anne posted her experience with Once a Month Shopping and the $300 a Month Food Challenge. Why? Because every day I get questions about both! At the time of writing the series, Anne cut $500 a month straight away! And she's still OAMSing and still saving.
Our newsletter is just a teeny, tiny peek at what's available in the Member's Centre, no wonder our subscriber base is growing every day, everyone wants to know how to save money, time and energy. So, don't forget to login often for even more ways to save.
Just quickly before I go, I will be away from tomorrow, 15th November - 25th November, back to work on 26th. Feel free to contact me during this time, but please understand I won't be able to reply until after I get back, and then I'll be answering on a first asked, first answered basis. So, please be patient.
There will be a newsletter next week, and of course the November Journal goes live tomorrow - again, don't forget to login to read the articles and tips, get the meal planners and tip sheet and try the recipes.
Have a great fortnight every one.
Happy Cheapskating,
Cath
2. From The Tip Store
Roasted Diced Pumpkin and its Ready to Use
I had a large pumpkin that needed using and I had a few recipes over the coming week I was planning to use it for, all of them needed diced roasted pumpkin pieces. I cut up the whole pumpkin and chopped it into 2 cm dice, tossed it in a bowl with some olive oil, chopped rosemary from the garden, oregano, salt and pepper. I roasted all the pieces in a couple of large trays in the oven and when they were cooked and cold I bagged them up in snap lock bags and placed them in the freezer. Now I have the pumpkin all ready to use and can just take out what I need over the week, I've only had to use the oven once and the pumpkin won't take long to defrost. I plan on using it to add to a risotto, mini quiches and a warm salad and now it won't take long to put everything together since the pumpkin is already to use. I've also used sweet potato and it works out just as good.
Contributed by Chris Dimitru
Editor's note: This is a great way to keep pumpkin and it works for sweet potato too. There are so many ways to use roast pumpkin. Just reheat in a fry pan or pop into the baking dish with the roast for the last 15 minutes of cooking. Toss into a blender with a little vegetable stock and puree for a roast pumpkin soup. Use a little less stock and add a clove of garlic and some parsley, then puree and toss through hot cooked pasta and top with grated parmesan. Cath
Don't Waste Money Buying Pots for Herb and Vegetable Plants
Approximate $ Savings: $14 - 50 per plant
I rent and have a large dog so planting an herb garden in the ground is not possible for me. I decided to plant an herb garden using pots but didn't want use up the budget on the pots themselves. So I used the following. 1) We had some old hessian style bags (plastic and waterproof) that firewood came in, so I cut these in half and filled with my soil/compost mix. I planted the herbs in these. Lastly I added a few holes (using a pair of scissors) to the bottom for drainage. 2. I purchased some brightly coloured plastic flexible tubs from the laundry section of the hardware store costing me $6 each. Drilled holes in the bottom (which was very easy to do with an electric drill but could use a knife also) and planted my herbs. Lastly cut off the bottom off some plastic bottles from the recycling and placed under the pots for extra drainage. Basic pots for plants start from $12-14 but can exceed $50. The hessian style bags where free but could be purchased for a couple of dollars at a hardware store. The ones I used were plastic not read hessian. My herbs are doing well so far and I saved up to $65.
Contributed by Kathryn Clark
Get Ready for Summer with this MOO Aftershave
Approximate $ Savings: $8-$20 per 100 mL
I have found a homemade aftershave solution that combats acne, blemishes, ugly razor bumps and ingrown hairs just in time for summer, with ingredients you may have in your cupboard.
To make the solution, put 150mLs of rubbing alcohol (Isocol) into a glass with 18 aspirin. Then get a second glass, add 75mLs of witch hazel and drop 8 aspirin into the second glass. Let the aspirin dissolve in both glasses, stir it around and then add the solution to a recycled jar with a tight lid. The aspirin won't completely dissolve, so just shake before each use and apply to the affected area with a cotton wool ball.
You should see results within hours for both men and women. It can also be applied to acne or blemishes with great results.
The total cost is free if you already have the ingredients, but if you make it up it should cost about $7.30:
witch hazel = $1.90
isocol $4.35
aspirin $1.05
This is so much cheaper than store brought ingrown hair/razor bump solutions, which range from $14 - $40 for so much less product!
Contributed by Leah Doyle
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. Own Your Christmas Challenge Week 7
We really are in the last legs of the Own Your Christmas Countdown.
Some of you have already finished the gift shopping, wrapping and labelling. Well done!
Even better so many Cheapskaters are reporting that they are on budget, or even under budget, and that they really will own Christmas 2019, some for the first time! And that's the best news I could get.
We sorted through the decorations over the weekend. It was miserable weather here, so an inside task was perfect. I spent $4 and about half an hour to revamp our Christmas wreath; I can't wait till the first of December to put it on the door! And now I know what's what, and have planned where everything will go, I feel calm that the Christmas decorating will go without a hitch.
This week is baking and cooking planning week. There are Christmas cakes, big and small, resting in the pantry. Two puddings still need to be made, one for Christmas and one for New Year's (a family tradition). There will be leftovers, and I wrap them in clingwrap and then freeze them for winter desserts, which Wayne just loves.
Mum and I always made the cakes and puddings together, sharing the workload and the cost. This year it is bittersweet as she's no longer here to teach, help and supervise. Hannah and even the boys have stepped up to help and we've had fun reminiscing and keeping our family Christmas baking traditions alive.
I use my mother's Christmas cake and pudding recipes and her pudding bowls, and her shortbread recipe (it's in the Recipe File as Grandma's Shortbread) and her sweet shortcrust pastry for the fruit mince tarts. Christmas baking is a tradition in our home, one we all love.
The big cakes are done, packed and put away until December. We'll leave the puddings 'til last, so everyone will be home and they can all have a stir of the mix. We're not at all superstitious, this is just one of those family traditions that's been done, well just about forever in my mother's family and it's one we've kept up.
And that's something I really love about Christmas, our own special family traditions.
I'm off to double check the pantry and shopping list to make sure we have all the ingredients needed, have a lovely week getting ready for Christmas everyone.
The Week 7 tasks are:
Task 1: Plan your baking/cooking/preparation. Plan to make as much of your holiday food ahead as you possibly can. Remember you can freeze just about anything as long as it is wrapped properly.
Task 2: Check your dishes, cutlery, serving platters and table linen. Replace anything that needs to be replaced, launder and freshen up your linens.
Task 3: Write up this week's Christmas cards.
Task 4: Buy, wrap and label the fifth lot of gifts.
Task 5: Continue working on handmade gifts, wrapping and labelling as you finish them.
Christmas Central has some new tools and resources to help you with your Week 7 tasks:
Christmas Baking Planner
Cheapskates $25 & $80 Christmas Dinners
Cheapskates $50 Christmas Dinner
Christmas Gifts You Can Make
Fantastic Edible Christmas Gifts
Don't forget to visit soon.
The tasks are outlined here in greater detail
You can get the Own Your Christmas planners here too.
If you'd like the weekly tasks and round-up, you can join the Own Your Christmas challenge here
5. The Living The Cheapskates Way Budget & Lifestyle Planner
The last run of planners is selling quickly. We expect to receive them early December, and we'll be sending them out immediately (on a first ordered, first sent basis). So, it's not too late to order your 2020 Living the Cheapskates Way Budget and Lifestyle Planner.
Click here to find out more and order your 2020 Living the Cheapskates Way Budget and Lifestyle Planner.
6. On The Menu
Impossible Lasagne Pie
I love impossible pies. My Great-aunty Jean was the first to share an impossible pie recipe with me, just before I was married. It became a firm favourite and still features as a dessert regularly.
This impossible pie is so easy and so tasty it's hard to not go back for seconds. This recipe makes freezes and re-heats very well so while you are making one, make two for a quick dinner later on.
This is a make ahead dinner too. Prepare the pie and put it in the fridge until dinnertime. Then while it is re-heating (and I prefer to use the oven rather than the microwave, but that's up to you), toss a big green salad with lots of fresh veggies and coat in a fresh Italian dressing. And dinner is done! Add some garlic bread or bruschetta if you want to bulk it out or stretch it further.
If you are watching fat use low fat cheeses and milk and swap the butter for margarine. Just be aware that low fat cheeses do not melt well and can burn very quickly so keep an eye on the pie during last few minutes of cooking.
Ingredients:
1/2 cup plain flour
1/2 cup pasta sauce
1 cup grated mozzarella cheese (can use grated tasty cheese if preferred)
500g mince
3 tbsp grated parmesan cheese
1/2 cup cottage cheese (can use ricotta if preferred)
2 eggs
1/3 cup butter, melted
1 cup milk
Method:
Pre-heat the oven to 190 degrees Celsius. Grease a 22cm pie dish. Sprinkle the Parmesan cheese into the greased pie plate. Brown the mince in a frypan. Drain and return to the frypan. Add 1/2 cup mozzarella and the cottage cheese. Spread over the Parmesan in the pie dish. Beat eggs, butter, milk and flour until combined and then pour into the pie plate. Bake for 30 - 35 minutes until the pie is set. Check by inserting a knife into the centre of the pie. If the knife comes out clean the pie is cooked. Sprinkle with remaining mozzarella and return to the oven for 3 -5 minutes until cheese melts. Serves 8.
Next week we will be eating:
Sunday: Roast Beef
Monday: Curried chicken & noodles
Tuesday: Veggie Pasta Bake, salad
Wednesday: Cottage pie, veggies
Thursday: MOO Pizza
Friday: Haystacks
Saturday: Hamburgers
In the fruit bowl: mandarins (from our tree - gotta love free fruit!)
In the cake tin: Lunchbox Cookies
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
7. The $300 A Month Food Challenge
Over the next three newsletters I'm going to backtrack a little, and repost a series from one of my oldest friends, and a long-time Cheapskater, Anne. Some of you may recall Anne used to do the On The Menu segment of the newsletter and she was an active forum member. At the time of writing the series, Anne was wife to one (she still is!) and stay-at-home mother to two teenage boys (she's still their mother, but they've both grown up and moved out). So, she was running a household of four, and attempting the $300 a Month Food Challenge.
Here's part 1:
MY OAMS Routine Part 1
Ever since Cath introduced me to OAMS about 10 years ago I've loved it. I don't always stick to it, but when I do it really does save us money. In light of our current financial situation I thought I'd share an old forum post with you about how I tackle Once a Month Shopping. If you've never tried it, give it a go - it really works!
Part 1:
I've just come in from the grocery shopping, haven't even put it away yet, just had to tell you how I went.
I took $300 from the bank yesterday and put $75 in the back of my purse for top-ups, so I had $225 with me.
I've done ALL the groceries for the month, including toiletries and cleaning, with meat, fruit and veg and dairy for a fortnight (that's what the $75 is for next fortnight) and the grand total was.... drum roll please.....$179!
And that was with buying 2 mixed fruit that weren't on my list!
I used the Aldi shopping list - it was great - and went through the pantry, fridge and freezer to see what I had and what I needed, did a rough menu plan i.e. 4 roasts, 2 pasta, 2 steak, 4 fish, 6 mince, 4 vego, 2 casserole etc. and made the list up.
Then Mum and I hit Aldi and Coles and I bought everything on the list, in the numbers on the list, plus the 2 packets of mixed fruit. Trolley was overflowing at Aldi, only needed a basket at Coles, car boot wouldn't shut, had to move some to the back seat.
Now I just have to put it all away - I should have said I'd take Mum home AFTER I put it all away!
The girl on the checkout asked me if I had a big family, I said no, just the 4 of us, then she asked me if I was going to have a baking spree - I said no, this was my grocery shopping for the month!
She was astounded, most people buy that much for a week - then she commented on the lack of biscuits, pre-packed meals, etc.
I explained I like to cook from scratch - poor kid had never heard the term before! SO she had a little cooking/menu planning/list writing/budgeting lesson as she scanned.
Part 2 next week!
The $300 a Month Food Challenge Forum
The Post that Started it All
8. Cheapskates Buzz
From The Article Archive
MOO Pastry Mats
Beating the Can’t Be Bothered Dinnertime Blues
How to Budget for a Great Aussie Summer of Entertainment
This Week's Hot Forum Topics
Establishing a Garden on Very Little Time
The Benefit of Pet Insurance and the Emergency Fund
Saving for 3 Months of Living Expenses Emergency Funds
Most Popular Blog Posts This Week
MOO Household Cleaning Solutions
Every Little Bit of Savings Adds Up
Buying Big
9. The Cheapskates Club Show
Join Cath and Hannah live Tuesdays and Thursdays on You Tube at 7.30pm AET
Join us live on YouTube every Tuesday and Thursday 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.
Thursday: Cheapskates in the Kitchen - want to know how to cook delicious, healthy and cheap meals? Watch Cath and Hannah as they create cheapskates style cuisine and share their favourite recipes.
Latest Shows
Click here to find out more and order your 2020 Living the Cheapskates Way Budget and Lifestyle Planner.
6. On The Menu
Impossible Lasagne Pie
I love impossible pies. My Great-aunty Jean was the first to share an impossible pie recipe with me, just before I was married. It became a firm favourite and still features as a dessert regularly.
This impossible pie is so easy and so tasty it's hard to not go back for seconds. This recipe makes freezes and re-heats very well so while you are making one, make two for a quick dinner later on.
This is a make ahead dinner too. Prepare the pie and put it in the fridge until dinnertime. Then while it is re-heating (and I prefer to use the oven rather than the microwave, but that's up to you), toss a big green salad with lots of fresh veggies and coat in a fresh Italian dressing. And dinner is done! Add some garlic bread or bruschetta if you want to bulk it out or stretch it further.
If you are watching fat use low fat cheeses and milk and swap the butter for margarine. Just be aware that low fat cheeses do not melt well and can burn very quickly so keep an eye on the pie during last few minutes of cooking.
Ingredients:
1/2 cup plain flour
1/2 cup pasta sauce
1 cup grated mozzarella cheese (can use grated tasty cheese if preferred)
500g mince
3 tbsp grated parmesan cheese
1/2 cup cottage cheese (can use ricotta if preferred)
2 eggs
1/3 cup butter, melted
1 cup milk
Method:
Pre-heat the oven to 190 degrees Celsius. Grease a 22cm pie dish. Sprinkle the Parmesan cheese into the greased pie plate. Brown the mince in a frypan. Drain and return to the frypan. Add 1/2 cup mozzarella and the cottage cheese. Spread over the Parmesan in the pie dish. Beat eggs, butter, milk and flour until combined and then pour into the pie plate. Bake for 30 - 35 minutes until the pie is set. Check by inserting a knife into the centre of the pie. If the knife comes out clean the pie is cooked. Sprinkle with remaining mozzarella and return to the oven for 3 -5 minutes until cheese melts. Serves 8.
Next week we will be eating:
Sunday: Roast Beef
Monday: Curried chicken & noodles
Tuesday: Veggie Pasta Bake, salad
Wednesday: Cottage pie, veggies
Thursday: MOO Pizza
Friday: Haystacks
Saturday: Hamburgers
In the fruit bowl: mandarins (from our tree - gotta love free fruit!)
In the cake tin: Lunchbox Cookies
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
7. The $300 A Month Food Challenge
Over the next three newsletters I'm going to backtrack a little, and repost a series from one of my oldest friends, and a long-time Cheapskater, Anne. Some of you may recall Anne used to do the On The Menu segment of the newsletter and she was an active forum member. At the time of writing the series, Anne was wife to one (she still is!) and stay-at-home mother to two teenage boys (she's still their mother, but they've both grown up and moved out). So, she was running a household of four, and attempting the $300 a Month Food Challenge.
Here's part 1:
MY OAMS Routine Part 1
Ever since Cath introduced me to OAMS about 10 years ago I've loved it. I don't always stick to it, but when I do it really does save us money. In light of our current financial situation I thought I'd share an old forum post with you about how I tackle Once a Month Shopping. If you've never tried it, give it a go - it really works!
Part 1:
I've just come in from the grocery shopping, haven't even put it away yet, just had to tell you how I went.
I took $300 from the bank yesterday and put $75 in the back of my purse for top-ups, so I had $225 with me.
I've done ALL the groceries for the month, including toiletries and cleaning, with meat, fruit and veg and dairy for a fortnight (that's what the $75 is for next fortnight) and the grand total was.... drum roll please.....$179!
And that was with buying 2 mixed fruit that weren't on my list!
I used the Aldi shopping list - it was great - and went through the pantry, fridge and freezer to see what I had and what I needed, did a rough menu plan i.e. 4 roasts, 2 pasta, 2 steak, 4 fish, 6 mince, 4 vego, 2 casserole etc. and made the list up.
Then Mum and I hit Aldi and Coles and I bought everything on the list, in the numbers on the list, plus the 2 packets of mixed fruit. Trolley was overflowing at Aldi, only needed a basket at Coles, car boot wouldn't shut, had to move some to the back seat.
Now I just have to put it all away - I should have said I'd take Mum home AFTER I put it all away!
The girl on the checkout asked me if I had a big family, I said no, just the 4 of us, then she asked me if I was going to have a baking spree - I said no, this was my grocery shopping for the month!
She was astounded, most people buy that much for a week - then she commented on the lack of biscuits, pre-packed meals, etc.
I explained I like to cook from scratch - poor kid had never heard the term before! SO she had a little cooking/menu planning/list writing/budgeting lesson as she scanned.
Part 2 next week!
The $300 a Month Food Challenge Forum
The Post that Started it All
8. Cheapskates Buzz
From The Article Archive
MOO Pastry Mats
Beating the Can’t Be Bothered Dinnertime Blues
How to Budget for a Great Aussie Summer of Entertainment
This Week's Hot Forum Topics
Establishing a Garden on Very Little Time
The Benefit of Pet Insurance and the Emergency Fund
Saving for 3 Months of Living Expenses Emergency Funds
Most Popular Blog Posts This Week
MOO Household Cleaning Solutions
Every Little Bit of Savings Adds Up
Buying Big
9. The Cheapskates Club Show
Join Cath and Hannah live Tuesdays and Thursdays on You Tube at 7.30pm AET
Join us live on YouTube every Tuesday and Thursday 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.
Thursday: Cheapskates in the Kitchen - want to know how to cook delicious, healthy and cheap meals? Watch Cath and Hannah as they create cheapskates style cuisine and share their favourite recipes.
Latest Shows
10. 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
11. 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!
12. 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?
As per the terms of sbucription, your renewal will be processed on the due date. Renewal notices are not sent. You can find your membership expiry date on your profile page (membership are active for one year from the date of joining/renewing).
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.
13. 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
11. 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!
12. 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?
As per the terms of sbucription, your renewal will be processed on the due date. Renewal notices are not sent. You can find your membership expiry date on your profile page (membership are active for one year from the date of joining/renewing).
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.
13. 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