One Chicken Breast Really Does Feed Three!
I had the pleasure of meeting Cath, Wendy and other lovely ladies at the Workshop on Saturday!
The workshop ended up being very timely for me. I'm doing a little bit of extra casual work and expected to get paid on the day (as I usually do) on Friday, but that didn't happen. Although I will be paid by this Friday, we were very much relying on that cash to get by as my other work has dried up for now.
Normally, I'd panic and be asking family for help. This time, I took a deep breath and made a detailed menu plan for the week (that I was able to finish at the workshop!), figured I had $20 for the week plus a fair few things in our pantry.
So far, so good! I found that a chicken breast really will feed the 3 of us comfortably in a casserole, using up a tin of condensed mushroom soup I had sitting around, with onion, frozen peas and beans, and rice. I added paprika and a little powdered milk, and it was nice.
I've also baked a couple of things, since I already had flour, baking soda, cream of tartar, powdered milk and sugar. I bought eggs as part of my $20 top-up shop, so we've had muffins using up a few odds and ends of fruit and veg.
I've always thought I wasn't a "proper" Cheapskate, but I realised how much I've internalised from the newsletters and Cath's columns. It was great at the workshop to be with like-minded people, almost like being given permission to do things a certain way!
My challenge will be to get going on the price book, as I can see it is well worth it.
As for this week, we'll be eating much more mindfully, but really quite healthily, and with more variety than usual as I'm having to be creative in how to keep up our veggie intake.
Tomorrow I'm due to bake something for our weekly church Community Group, and I'll be making the dried apricot tea loaf as I have all the ingredients.
I do often read the posts on here but have never posted - thank you Wendy for posting and for the encouragement!!
Mara
Editor's note: The recipe Mara has referred to is the Three Ingredient Tea Cake from Eat Well, Save More (page 121). I used dried apricots instead of mixed fruit as I had the apricots and didn't have mixed fruit. It's a versatile recipe; if you don't have mixed fruit use sultanas or dried apricots as I did. I've even made it with just glace cherries when that's all that was in the pantry. Cath
The workshop ended up being very timely for me. I'm doing a little bit of extra casual work and expected to get paid on the day (as I usually do) on Friday, but that didn't happen. Although I will be paid by this Friday, we were very much relying on that cash to get by as my other work has dried up for now.
Normally, I'd panic and be asking family for help. This time, I took a deep breath and made a detailed menu plan for the week (that I was able to finish at the workshop!), figured I had $20 for the week plus a fair few things in our pantry.
So far, so good! I found that a chicken breast really will feed the 3 of us comfortably in a casserole, using up a tin of condensed mushroom soup I had sitting around, with onion, frozen peas and beans, and rice. I added paprika and a little powdered milk, and it was nice.
I've also baked a couple of things, since I already had flour, baking soda, cream of tartar, powdered milk and sugar. I bought eggs as part of my $20 top-up shop, so we've had muffins using up a few odds and ends of fruit and veg.
I've always thought I wasn't a "proper" Cheapskate, but I realised how much I've internalised from the newsletters and Cath's columns. It was great at the workshop to be with like-minded people, almost like being given permission to do things a certain way!
My challenge will be to get going on the price book, as I can see it is well worth it.
As for this week, we'll be eating much more mindfully, but really quite healthily, and with more variety than usual as I'm having to be creative in how to keep up our veggie intake.
Tomorrow I'm due to bake something for our weekly church Community Group, and I'll be making the dried apricot tea loaf as I have all the ingredients.
I do often read the posts on here but have never posted - thank you Wendy for posting and for the encouragement!!
Mara
Editor's note: The recipe Mara has referred to is the Three Ingredient Tea Cake from Eat Well, Save More (page 121). I used dried apricots instead of mixed fruit as I had the apricots and didn't have mixed fruit. It's a versatile recipe; if you don't have mixed fruit use sultanas or dried apricots as I did. I've even made it with just glace cherries when that's all that was in the pantry. Cath