Meal Plan Week 14, 2018

Mediterranean Salmon Patties

This week we will be eating:

Sunday: Roast Lamb

Monday: Lamb fritters, gravy & vegetables

Tuesday: Mexican Lasagne, salad

Wednesday: Salmon patties, chips & salad

Thursday: MOO Pizza

Friday: Sweet & Sour meatballs, rice

Saturday: Mock Fish, wedges, salad

In the fruit bowl: bananas

In the cake tin: Boiled fruit cake, scones, chocolate cake

Mediterranean Salmon Patties

Ingredients:
1 x 415g can red salmon, drained, skin and bones removed
70g feta, chopped
1/2 avocado, stone removed, peeled, chopped
1/3 cup loosely packed chopped fresh continental parsley
2 tbsp finely shredded tasty cheese
2 tbsp bought hummus
1 tbsp chopped fresh chives
1 tsp fresh lemon juice
1 tsp olive oil
1/2 cup fresh breadcrumbs
Salt & freshly ground black pepper
1 cup dried breadcrumbs
2 tbsp olive oil, extra

Method:
Place the salmon, feta, avocado, parsley, cheese, hummus, chives, lemon juice, oil and fresh breadcrumbs in the bowl of a food processor and process until just combined. Taste and season with salt and pepper. Divide mixture into 4 equal portions and shape each portion into 8cm patties. Place patties on a plate, cover with plastic wrap and place in the fridge to chill for at least 2 hours or overnight. Place the breadcrumbs on a plate. Coat both sides of the patties in the crumbs. Heat oil in a large frying pan over medium heat. Add patties and cook, uncovered, for 5 minutes each side or until golden and heated through.

Meal Plan, Week 13 2018

Cream Cheese Patties

This week we will be eating:

Sunday: Roast Chicken

Monday: Cream cheese patties, salad

Tuesday: Spaghetti Bolognese

Wednesday: Wellington Loaf, scalloped potato, greens

Thursday: MOO Pizza

Friday: Sausages, vegetables

Saturday: Muffin Surprise

In the fruit bowl: bananas

In the cake tin: No Bake Choc Chip Slice, Lemon Slice

MOO Month - Deli Treats for the MOOing

Well it is March, and that means it is MOO  month. I love MOO month - trying new MOOs to enhance our Cheapskates way of living without impacting our budget at all; just because we watch our spending and live within our means, doesn't mean we need to miss out on the finer things in life.

One of the things I love to MOO is smoked chicken, another is pastrami. Both are favourites with my family. We love either on sandwiches, on a foccacia, in pasta sauces, on pizzas and even on a tray with some olives, cheese, semi-dried tomatoes and veggies sticks.

Sadly, both are hard to find. Supermarket delis used to sell both (for a price, of course), but now only selected delis at the larger supermarkets stock pastrami - smoked chicken is almost impossible to find. If you have an independent deli nearby, you not only have a gourmet goldmine, but you have access to the most delicious deli items, including smoked chicken (in all forms) and good pastrami.

Of course, both these deli treats are simple to MOO, and you don't need a special smoker, although if you have one, or access to one, brilliant. A simple electric frying pan, a metal jar lid and a cake rack will do the job too.

MOO Smoked Chicken

I  buy chicken fillets on special, and pay no more than $6/per kilo, then brine them and smoke them. Smoked chicken, last time I priced it at the deli, was $22/kilo! It pays too MOO.

Here's how to smoke chicken, it's a pretty simple process:

1. Soak the chicken in a brine.
2. Smoke the chicken in a smoker.
3. Simmer the smoked chicken in stock.
4. Vacuum seal and freeze.

As I mentioned above, it helps to have a smoker but it's not strictly necessary. You can make a simple smoker using an electric frying pan or you can buy a simple contraption that goes on the barbecue.  I started with an old Sunbeam frypan I picked up on hard rubbish of all places, a couple of old Fowlers Vacola lids, an old cake cooler and a bag of wood chips from Bunnings.

1 kg chicken fillets, breast or thigh, skin off
1/2 cup salt
1.5 litres cold water
Wood chips - flavour of choice (I buy them from Bunnings or Anaconda or BCF - wherever they're cheapest)
3 litres chicken stock - MOO is tastiest but not essential, choose a good stock though, not stock cubes and water

Step 1. Make the brine. Stir the salt into the 1.5 litres of cold water until it has dissolved.

Step2. Put the chicken fillets in the brine. Make sure they are completely submerged. If they aren't be sure to turn them every 20 minutes. Let them sit in the brine for at least 2 hours, but no more than 24 hours, in the fridge.

Step 3. Prepare your smoker according to the instruction booklet.

Step 4. Take the chicken from the brine. Dry the fillets with a (clean) tea towel or dish cloth or paper towel if you use it.

Step 5. Put the chicken into the smoker and cook for 45 minutes - 1 hour at 105 degrees Celsius (around 225 Fahrenheit). Don't be tempted to lift the lid on the smoker, or open the barbecue - you'll just let all that delicious smoke out and your end result won't be quite as delicious. Just let the meat smoke away.

Step 6. Put the chicken into the stock and bring to a boil. Simmer for 20 minutes until cooked through. Cool in brine. Store in fridge for up to 7 days or freeze immediately.

This meat will keep in the fridge for up to 7 days. I slice it, vacuum seal it (you can double wrap in clingfilm) and freeze in 100g packets. It keeps in the freezer for up to six months. An electric knife makes slicing so much easier if you have one.

MOO Pastrami

Pastrami was $18/kilo last time I priced it. I buy corned silverside for $5 - $7/kilo (the price varies through the year - I try to stock up when it is cheapest and freeze). Again, it pays to MOO.

Ingredients:
1.5 - 2kg piece of corned beef - trimmed into two or three logs roughly the same size - don't trim the fat!

Brine:
2 litres (8 cups) of water
200g coarse sea salt
100g sugar or honey
2 bay leaves
2 cloves of garlic
1 tbsp or so of pickling spices

Smoking:
1 small jar whole grain mustard
1 small packet coriander seeds
1 small packet black peppercorns
To smoke your meat, you’ll need a kettle-style barbecue or a kettle smoker or something of the like, plus wood chips.

Step 1. Brining. I use corned beef, which is already brined, but I do it again. It intensifies the flavours and makes the meat much more tender.  Put all of the brine ingredients into a large saucepan and bring to a boil. Let it cool completely. Place your meat in a large bowl with a leak-proof seal or double zip-lock bags.  Pour the brine into the bow or bag, press out the air and seal. Store in fridge for 5 days, turning daily.

Step 2. After five days, drain take the meat out of the brine and pat dry. Crush the coriander and mustard seeds (I put them through the coffee grinder, you could use a mortar and pestle or a small food processor) roughly. Spread the mustard over the meat, covering all of it.  Take a sheet of greaseproof paper and spread the crushed spices over it. Roll the meat in the crushed spices, covering as much of it as you can. Press the crushed spices into the meat with your hands if necessary - just make sure they stick.

Step 3. Heat your smoker according to the instructions. Smoke your pastrami for 2 hours, or until the internal temperature reaches 70 degrees Celsius. The important thing here is to keep the heat low and slowly bring it up to temperature, for a more tender pastrami.

Step 4.  Just before the pastrami is ready to come out of the smoker, pre-heat your oven to 120 degrees Celsius. Prepare a baking dish with a roasting rack by pouring in enough water to come up about 3cm.  When the pastrami has finished smoking, remove it from the smoker and place it on the rack in the baking dish. Cover tightly with foil, you want the meat to steam.  Bake at 120 degrees for 3 hours. You might need to top the water up, I check every hour or so and top up if necessary.

Slice your pastrami thinly and enjoy hot (delicious with mash and steamed greens or on a roll with mustard and cheese) or cold.

This meat will keep in the fridge for up to 7 days. I slice it, vacuum seal it (you can double wrap in clingfilm) and freeze in 100g packets. It keeps in the freezer for up to six months.

Meal Plan Week 10, 2018

Next week's dinners are easy, and quick. Looking at the calendar, it is going to be a busy week. Wayne and AJ are getting ready for a long weekend train exhibition, I have a couple of late afternoon appointments and we have visitors coming. Quick and easy it is!

This coming week we will be eating:

Sunday: Roast Lamb

Monday: Lamb wraps

Tuesday: Vegetable lasagne, salad, garlic bread

Wednesday: Curried Tuna Slice, salad

Thursday: MOO Pizza

Friday: Corn Fritters & salad

Saturday: Enchiladas

In the fruit bowl: Lemons, bananas, grapes

In the cake tin: Lemon Coconut Slice, White Choc Cornflake Squares

White Choc Cornflake Squares

Ingredients:
60g butter
300g marshmallows
125g white choc chips
3 tbsp milk powder
5 cups cornflakes

Method:
Line a 20cm square cake tin with baking paper.

Melt the butter in a large saucepan over low heat. Add marshmallows and chocolate, cook 7 minutes or until mixture melts, stirring constantly. Sprinkle the milk powder evenly over the mixture, then add the corn flakes and stir until all are well coated.

Press mixture in pan and press down to an even, compact layer.

Allow to cool at room temperature for 30 minutes before cutting into squares.

Meal Plan Week 9, 2018

Mac'n'Cheese - freezes beautifully for a quick meal on a busy night.

No baking this week, it has been too hot to have the oven on. We've been eating meals and snacks from the freezer, and lots of fruit (grapes and peaches have been a great price at our local greengrocer) and the boys haven't missed the baking at all (and I certainly don't need the extra kilojoules).

Everything except the salad and the veggies for Sunday's roast will come from the freezer, making it a very easy week meal-wise. Just thaw and if anything needs to be heated it can be done in the microwave or for the quiche, the pie maker (they are muffin sized quiches rather than one large one).

I planned this easy week ages ago and pre-cooked what I could when I was cooking other dishes with the same or similar ingredients and cooking times/methods. Then they were quickly cooled, wrapped and frozen, waiting to be gobbled up.

This coming week we will be eating:

Sunday: Roast Chicken

Monday: Salmon quiche, salad

Tuesday: Macaroni cheese with vegetables

Wednesday: Schnitzels, potato bake

Thursday: MOO Pizza

Friday: Haystacks

Saturday: Homemade Subs

WHAT WE SPENT, WHAT WE DIDN'T SPEND AND WHAT WE SAVED WEEK 7

This is what we spent:

Aldi: $23.14
Coles: $5.40
Medical: $129.80
Craft: $1.00
Groceries: $4.00

Craft: $1 - the last of the big spenders, who shouldn't have been spending this month. Carol was able to source some ribbons and buckles at a rock bottom price (50c for  the buckles, 5c/2 metres of ribbon). I took the $1 from my mad money.

Medical: $129.80 - this is the OOP from a specialist visit this week. We have a medical section in our spending plan so that we can afford to visit private specialists when needed. The Medicare refund of $182.10 went straight back into the medical account.

This is what we didn't spend (and what was moved into savings/slush fund/holiday fund):

Coffee: Wayne is still using the Keep Cup and we are both still having iced coffee in the mornings. I've been making up Iced Coffee Syrup, using expresso from my machine and MOO vanilla extract. Total cost: $3.82 for 1 litre of coffee syrup, that makes 20 iced coffees (I use 50ml per drink). Our iced coffees cost just 40 cents each (200ml milk costs 20c, 50ml syrup is 20c). Between the two of us, over seven mornings, we didn't spend $52.50 on iced coffee this week!

Groceries:  $4 - this bought 500 walnuts and 500g almonds on clearance (the greengrocer was closing down). A saving of $13.75 on the walnuts and $12.93 on the almonds, a total of $26.68 not spent on nuts for baking.

Birthday card: I made a card from materials in the craft cupboard. The cardstock, papers and embellishments cost $1.20. To buy a similar card would cost $8+ to buy. $6.80 wasn't spent on a birthday card.

Petrol: Another week with minimal driving, so no petrol needed or bought. $80 moved to the holiday fund.

Meals:  We didn't spend $376 again on takeaway this week and all our meals, including lunches, were made at home using ingredients already on hand. We didn't blow $446 on food this week!

Ebooks: I downloaded 11 new ebooks for my Kindle, all free. At an average of $4 per ebook, I didn't spend $44 on ebooks this week.

Total spent this week:  $163.34
Total not spent this week: $655.98
And moved to savings:  $80.00

Remember, money isn't saved until it is safely in the bank. Until then it is just not spent - hence my "what we didn't spend" list and making sure I move money from the relevant categories into our savings accounts.

WHAT WE SPENT, WHAT WE DIDN'T SPEND AND WHAT WE SAVED WEEK 6

The spending this week has been crazy and all over the place! And it's No Spending Month and I not only bought a bunch of craft stuff, but had lunch out. It was a cheap lunch, I took my own water, and it wasn't planned, but rather a spontaneous treat, and I thoroughly enjoyed it - so perhaps $7 well spent - well it's cheaper than therapy and the advice, love and laughter I received from my friends is priceless.

This is what we spent:

Aldi: $8.99
Coles: $5.40
Craft: $108.62
Lunch out: $7

This is what we didn't spend (and what was moved into savings/slush fund/holiday fund):

Craft: Even though it's No Spending Month, I did spend money on craft materials. Kaisercraft at DFO Moorabbin was closing down and had 70% off everything. I spent $108.62 , a saving of $253.75  . These materials will all be used for birthday and Christmas gifts, specific projects and to make more cards for sale.  The money for these purchases came from my mad money, the gift account and some birthday money I have been saving.

Lunches: Packed Wayne's lunch ever day this week. Used either a freezer meal or ingredients we already had to make lunches. To keep them cool on the very hot days I made sure I packed them with lots of ice bricks. I lined the bottom of his insulated lunch sack with ice bricks, put in his food, then put ice bricks on top. Worked like a charm - he's on the road so his lunch sits in the van until he's ready to eat it. That's fine when he's driving and the air-con is on, but when he's at a job, the van heats up quickly. He did talk about buying lunch on the very hot days, but this solved the problem. Cost to make the five lunches - around $5. He didn't spend $70 on lunches this week.

Coffee: Wayne is still using the Keep Cup and we are both still having iced coffee in the mornings. I've been making up Iced Coffee Syrup, using expresso from my machine and MOO vanilla extract. Total cost: $3.82 for 1 litre of coffee syrup, that makes 20 iced coffees (I use 50ml per drink). Our iced coffees cost just 40 cents each (200ml milk costs 20c, 50ml syrup is 20c). Between the two of us, over seven mornings, we didn't spend $52.50 on iced coffee this week!

Petrol: No petrol needed in my car this week, I still have half a tank, so I didn't spend $80 on petrol.

Meals: We didn't spend $376 again on takeaway this week - even though it was our anniversary and we had some very hot days and nights.

Pizza: Wayne and AJ had pizza for tea on Thursday night, MOO of course. Two pizzas, using ingredients we have, cost $2.30 to make. We didn't spend $14.70 on pizza this week (two medium pizzas, delivered, costs $17 from our local Pizza Hut).

Condensed Milk: With the hot weather I've been doing a bit of "no" baking, and most of my recipes (well the ones we really like) use condensed milk. Condensed milk is so expensive to buy, especially when you consider that the size of the tin is shrinking and the price is going up. I MOO condensed milk and get the equivalent of two 400g tins for less than the cost of one, even considering butter has gone up. It freezes, so when I'm making a batch, I always at least double it. This week I made four times the recipe and didn't spend $20.16 on condensed milk. I moved $20 to our holiday savings.

Total spent this week:  $130.01
Total not spent this week: $717.11
And moved to savings:  $167.20

Remember, money isn't saved until it is safely in the bank. Until then it is just not spent - hence my "what we didn't spend" list and making sure I move money from the relevant categories into our savings accounts.

Meal Plan Week 7, 2018

This week we will be eating:

Sunday: Roast Beef

Monday: Sausage Wellingtons & veg

Tuesday: Vegeballs & spaghetti

Wednesday: Sweet & Sour chicken, fried rice

Thursday: Moo Pizza

Friday: Rissoles, salad

Saturday: Tacos

Happiness Homemade 8th February 2018

Beautiful roses growing in the garden 

We live a much more luxurious and decadent lifestyle than we should on our income and budget -we feel rich, far richer than we are. We do.

One of the things that worried me most when Disaster Struck was that with no income (and we went for years without a regular income, and months at a time without any income at all) was that our lifestyle would change. I didn't want that to happen, I didn't want to not have the things we needed, let alone the things we loved and enjoyed; I didn't want to fee poor and deprived, and so I became a Cheapskate.

I learned to get us the things we needed and wanted within our budget. And I became very conscious of just how much things cost, and how much we weren't spending to get those things.

 Delicous homemade chicken pot pie

If we'd had to buy them, we wouldn't have been able to have them. Nowadays, I know better, and I simply won't spend money I don't need to on the things we need and want. And I firmly believe that money isn't saved until it is safely in the bank. Until then it just isn't spent!

Each week I look back over our spending, and what we didn't spend. When it is appropriate, I move the amount we didn't spend to our savings (at the moment most of it is going to our holiday savings account, ready for our trip in May). I've been doing it so long it's habit to me now and just one of the things I do on autopilot.

Violas in a pot - grown from seed, they put a smile on my face every time I see them

But if you're new to the idea of paying yourself the money you didn’t spend, it can be confusing.

A friend wrote

"Hi Cath
Just wanted to say I'm really enjoying your new series on the blog about what you spend, what you don't spend etc. I really want to adopt your method of transferring money saved by making gifts or cooking from scratch etc into a savings/holiday type account, and I was hoping you might be able to explain what you do a bit further for me please?

I get the general idea, it's more the finer details I'm not sure how to deal with. For example, in your second week, where you made the cinnamon scrolls (I feel like some now btw!) and sausages rolls. As you mention, both would cost heaps at the bakery, so your saving is significant. But you also said that of course you wouldn't actually buy that many from a bakery.  So I guess what I'm asking is where you would transfer that money from in order to save it given that you wouldn't have that amount in your grocery budget?

This is just an area that has always tripped me up a bit when trying to work out the value of what I do in our home. There are a number of things like this that I do, baking, sewing, crocheting etc, and while I know they improve our lifestyle, I also know that they are things that if I didn't make them, we just wouldn't have them. For instance, I would never pay a huge amount for something like a handmade quilt for one of my children, so I don't feel like I've really saved money, I've just made something nice that we otherwise wouldn't have.

I've spoken to Annabel about this before in terms of her Vicky Challenge, and can see the benefit of recording what something I've made would have cost to buy, even if I wouldn't have bought it at that price. But where I get stuck is actually transferring the money so that it is truly saved. I love the idea, I'm just not sure how to transfer money saved when the amount is more than is in the budget. "

    Strawberries in our strawberry patch - they just keep on giving, year after year

And this is my answer

"Hello and lovely to hear from you. I actually read this last night before I went to bed, then spent all night thinking about how I could answer so it makes sense.

First, I believe that money isn't saved until it's actually in the bank - until then you just haven't spent it.

You'll see I have three headings each week:
1. what we spent
2. what we didn't spend
3. what we saved.

What we spent 

This s obviously, well what we actually spent i.e. groceries, petrol, chemist, hardware, clothes or whatever for the week. As the utility bills come in they'll be included in this amount too.

What we didn't spend

This is the area where I calculate the retail value of what I, or Wayne, have done for the week. You'll see costings for Wayne's coffee, lunches, baking, gardening, mending, cleaning, shopping around for better deals on utilities, major purchases etc.

This is mind boggling when you add it all up, and is what Annabel's Vicky Challenge is about. I don't consider this amount savings, because it's not banked. Rather it is money we didn't need to spend to maintain a rather comfortable, sometimes luxurious, lifestyle - the money that non-Cheapskates would spend without thinking about it to maintain their lifestyle. Does that make sense? Let me know - I can try to reword it if it doesn't.

You mention making the quilt for your children as not being a saving, and unless you actually put the value of the quilt into the bank, it's not saved. But the value of the quilt is important to show the value of your lifestyle. As you said, if you had to buy it, then you wouldn't. But making it has added value to your lifestyle.

What we saved

This is the amount I actually shift into our savings accounts each week.

For example, with petrol, I budget $80 a week, but these days I don't use anywhere near that much. I try to fill the car on the cheapest day and when it gets to about half a tank - just my fuel security and OCD kicking in. It's rarely more than around $50, depending on fuel prices of course. So each week I take the leftover money and shift it into our holiday fund. I can do this because the $80 has already been budgeted for, so the money is in the fuel account. I could leave it there and let it build up, but I like to see our holiday account grow - gives me something to look forward to.

Then there are a lot of things I'd never buy, because no matter how well off we will ever be, I just can't justify the price when I have a less expensive but just as good, if not better, alternative I can make - like the cinnamon scrolls and the sausage rolls. Or like paying for a manicure, these days I do my own nails and while they will never win prizes, I'm happy with them and I don't spent the money each week or fortnight.

These are the things that we can afford on our budget because we don't buy them (does that make sense?). There is no money in the budget for these things, so I don't have the money to move to savings.

This is money we didn't spend. And this total is important because at the end of the year I can see just how much living the Cheapskates way really saves us - a lot more than a full-time job when it's all added up. I get to be a full-time stay-at-home wife (our children are adults now, still live at home but don't need me to look after them), caring for our home and garden, because we don't spend tens of thousands of dollars every year on things we don't have to - and yet we don't go without a single thing we need or want.

We live the life of Riley, I'm sure, and all because we are aware of the value of what we have and do.

Frankly I'd much rather bake a batch of cinnamon scrolls than work at a paid job for three hours to earn the money to buy them - to me it's a no brainer!

Goodness I hope I haven't confused you more - but I hope this explains how I work out the value and the saving."

It's not really complicated, and it's just something I have always done. It's not vital to living the Cheapskates way, or sticking to your budget.

It does make you feel better though when you see the luxuries you enjoy on your Cheapskates style budget, and that is the secret to feeling rich, rather than feeling deprived.

WHAT WE SPENT, WHAT WE DIDN'T SPEND AND WHAT WE SAVED WEEK 5

This is the first week on No Spending Month, so of course Murphy came visiting didn't he! My car was making a rattling noise, and Wayne was able to fix it, but while he was fixing the rattle he discovered some rubber grommets were missing, so after hunt around he found the cheapest place to get them was from Nissan and to  buy genuine Nissan parts - go figure!

This is what we spent:

Aldi: $21.64
Ferntree Gully Nissan: $21.60
Craft: $10.99

This is what we didn't spend (and what was moved into savings/slush fund/holiday fund):

Coffee: Wayne is still using the Keep Cup but this week instead of hot coffee, we've both been having iced coffee in the mornings, minus all that fake cream the cafes use. I've been making up Iced Coffee Syrup, using expresso from my machine and MOO vanilla extract. Total cost: $3.82 for 1 litre of coffee syrup, that makes 20 iced coffees (I use 50ml per drink). Our iced coffees cost just 40 cents each (200ml milk costs 20c, 50ml syrup is 20c). Between the two of us, over seven mornings, we didn't spend $52.50 on iced coffee this week!

Petrol: No petrol needed in my car this week, I still have between 3/4 and a full tank, so I didn't spend $80 on petrol.

Meals:  We didn't spend $376 again on takeaway this week - even though it was our anniversary and we had some very hot days and nights.  I allow $50 a month for takeaway, but we rarely use it. Being the end of the month, I shifted $50 to our holiday fund.

Greeting cards: I've sent two birthday cards and a get well card this week, using cards I've made. Nice greeting cards cost an average of $7 each - that's $21 not spent. I left the $21 in the gift account.

Petrol: No petrol bought so as per my habit, $80 has been moved to the holiday fund.

Mechanic/Car Repairs: Wayne was able to fix the rattle in my car using his own tools and spare parts we had, and replace the missing grommets, saving on a trip to the mechanic and a hefty bill. We have a great mechanic, and we trust him with all our cars, but he's still in business to make money. He's not the most expensive around, but he's not the cheapest either. For us we feel he does the best work. I estimate the cost would have been around $200, including the parts. With Wayne doing the work, we didn't spend $177. I moved the $177 from the car service account to the holiday account.

Total spent this week: $54.23
Total not spent this week:  $490.49
And moved to savings:  $307.00

Remember, money isn't saved until it is safely in the bank. Until then it is just not spent - hence my "what we didn't spend" list and making sure I move money from the relevant categories into our savings accounts.

Meal Plan Week 6, 2018

Raspberry Coconut Slice - an old family favourite

This week we will be eating:

Sunday: Roast Lamb

Monday: Chicken fried rice, homemade spring rolls

Tuesday: Pasta bake

Wednesday: Mock fish, wedges, salad

Thursday: MOO Pizza

Friday: BBQ sausages, salad

Saturday: Stuffed chicken legs & salad

In the fruit bowl: bananas, grapes

In the cake tin: Orange cake, Raspberry Coconut Slice

Raspberry Coconut Slice

​​Ingredients:
Base
¾ cup plain flour
¼ cup self-raising flour
2 tablespoons sugar
90g (30z) butter
1 egg
½ cup raspberry or other jam

Topping
1 egg
2 tablespoons sugar
11/4 cups coconut

Method:
Base:
Combine sifted dry ingredients in basin Rub in butter, mix to a soft dough with lightly beaten egg. (This can also be done in a food processor; combine dry ingredients in bowl of processor, add roughly chopped cold butter, process until butter is evenly distributed through dry ingredients, add egg, process until ingredients cling together) . Press dough evenly over base of well-greased 28cm x 18cm (11in x 7in) lamington tin. Spread evenly with jam, then topping. Bake in moderate oven 25 to 30 minutes, or until golden brown. Stand 5 minutes before turning onto wire rack to cool. Cut when cold.

Topping:
Beat egg and sugar together with fork, mix in coconut.

What's on the menu at your house next week?

Happiness Homemade 1st Feb

January is over! School has gone back (I noticed the increase in traffic this week). Our summer holiday season is over, and life is getting back to the regular routines.

This week I made plum jam from some lovely plums Hannah was given by a client. I sent some to Wayne's father and put some in the pantry. Jam is so easy to make, Hannah has been helping with the jam making since she could hold a knife to chop the fruit, but did you know that it's not covered in Home Ec at school until Year 12? No wonder most people think the only way to get jam is to buy it or that it's far too hard to make jam at home!

This is my recipe for plum jam - very simple and basic.

I also made Six Minute Lemon Butter using lemons given to us, so the only cost was the butter and the eggs (bought at Pellegrino's for $2.50/dozen). With the price of butter I'm thinking lemon butter will become a real treat, rather than the standard spread we've been used to having in the fridge. Even with free lemons and cheap(er) eggs, the cost of the butter makes it more expensive than our usual spreads. I usually include a jar of lemon butter in the Christmas hampers, I may need to rethink that this year.

Last week when I went to pick Hannah up from work, I noticed a lovely, big, picnic basket in the window of the op shop next door. Just as I noticed the basket, the lovely older man who works there came out and locked the door. I took it as a sign I wasn't meant to have that basket, that I didn't really need it and probably wouldn't want it tomorrow (my wonky version of the $100/24 Hour Rule).  So you can imagine how excited I was when I dropped her off last Friday and it was still in the window! I took it as a sign that perhaps I was supposed to have this picnic basket (another wonky version of mine based on the $100/24 Hour Rule). Off she went to see the price, if was $8, and she asked if I wanted it - does the moon come out at night? YES!

It's a beautiful basket, lined in red gingham and in perfect condition. And it's just the right size to store my knitting and crochet projects on the go in, to keep them and the loungeroom tidy. I just love it, I'm a bit of a basket fan, and there are baskets of all shapes, sizes and uses all over the house. This one fits in the corner perfectly, solves a storage problem, looks good and makes me smile.

The hot weather knocked me flat. I think it was a combination of the extreme heat and the extremely high humidity - I was as limp as a day old lettuce leaf. It took everything I could muster just to get the basics done (thank goodness for routines), let alone work on anything else.

One thing I did get done was laundering our bedding, including the quilt, mattress topper, pillow protectors and blankets. It was so hot, perfect for drying bedding. There's nothing quite as cosy as the smell of fresh bedding as you slide between the sheets and get comfy.

When we were shopping for a new washing machine I made sure the one we chose was big enough to take blankets and doonas - dry cleaning costs a fortune and I don't like the residual smell from the chemicals used. I use my regular Cheapskates Washing Powder, and add lavender oil to the final rinse, then line dry in the sunshine and everything is soft and fluffy and smells wonderful.

So, heat and limpness aside, here's what helped make our home a happy one this week:

• Watered and fed the garden early, before it was too hot. Pulled weeds as I saw them (they're much easier to control this way).
• Planted some petunias for colour. They make me smile when I see them in pots and bordering the veggie beds and under the fruit trees.
• Picked more apples from the tree, stewed and froze for winter. Sent some to Sydney.
• Made some cards and sent them to Sydney to the nursing home.
• Used cards from my stash for birthdays.
• Washed all our bedding on the hot days - it's fresh and ready for autumn now.
• Made plum jam and lemon butter. 
• Only bought the few things on the shopping list.
• Cooked all our meals from scratch, using ingredients on hand.
• Prepared a huge coleslaw, potato salad and pasta salad for the hot days.
• Kept the windows and blinds closed and fans on during the heat of the day, and opened the house wide overnight so it could cool down. We haven't used the air con at all this summer - the fans and keeping the house shut tight has kept the inside temp between 9 -11 degrees cooler than outside.
• Downloaded free ebooks for my Kindle.

How did you find homemade happiness this week?

Our Tight Budget Holiday

Melinda wrote that she would love to hear about our holiday this year, and how we are going to do it as Cheapskates.

First, let me clarify: we have always enjoyed holidays, and, even before disaster struck, we enjoyed them on a budget.

Where are we going?

Back to Cape York! Yes, we were there two years ago, but we only managed to see a fraction of the area and decided back then that we'd be back this year.

How do we get so much leave? 

This year we will be away for six weeks.

Wayne will have four weeks annual leave owing to him, and he will take two weeks as long service leave. This means that we will still get a wage while we are away and our spending plan will just roll along just as if we were home.

I, of course, am my own boss, so getting time off wasn't that hard - I just had to convince myself it was a good thing (absolutely not hard, I love spending time with my husband).

How will we get there?

We will be driving. Our 4WD is fully set up for off-road adventures, and we can be self-sufficient for up to two weeks if we can't get fresh water, longer if we have access to fresh water.

Driving means no fares, but we will have fuel costs. On our last trip the most we paid for fuel was $2.63/litre at Bamaga, otherwise it wasn't too much more than we were paying here at home.

The Patrol carries 227L of fuel (70L in the main tank and a 157 in the long-range tank, so filling up hurts when prices are high. I will start tracking fuel prices in mid-April so we'll have a rough idea of how much it's going to cost.

Right now I'm budgeting 10 fill-ups. We probably won't need that many, but it gives me wriggle room. I'm also working on an average of $2 per litre for fuel at the moment, giving me a fuel budget of $4,500. Last trip we came home with fuel money, and I'm certain we will this time, but I'd rather leave home with more than have to come up with it if we under-budget.

Where will we stay?

We will have seven nights in caravan parks while we are away. We always aim for and plan one night a week in a caravan park so we can have real showers, although our camp shower is lovely and works really well, and to have access to a washing machine. The budget for accommodation on this trip is $700. Again, we'll probably come home with some left.

The rest of the time we will camp, and we always choose free camps, and not just because they are free. They are usually off the beaten track, quiet and in beautiful spots. We're hoping to go back to a few we loved last trip. Free camping isn't a problem for us, as I mentioned above we are self-sufficient for food, water, cooking, showering, sleeping and yes, even toileting. Some campsites will have toilets - they are checked and if not up to snuff then we don't bother with them. In the box of goodies under the back seat is a can of surface spray, a can of Glen20 (it's the only reason I buy it), a brush, a bottle of Miracle Spray, paper towel and disposable rubber gloves. They are used if the toilet isn't completely gross - it may look clean, but it has to be clean if you get my drift.

What will we eat?

There isn't much of a budget for food, it's covered in the monthly grocery budget. Just like at home, we have a meal plan, and while it may get moved around a bit, we pretty much stick to it.  Between now and when we leave I'll be vac sealing meat, chicken and ready made meals and freezing them. I'll also add UHT milk to the monthly shopping list, and that's about the only extra grocery item we use when we're camping.

I'll also make up crumble, custard, donut and damper kits, vac seal and freeze them ready to take with us.

Vegetables are easy to take with us when they're vac sealed. We tend to have lots of camp oven roasts, so I make up packs of roasting veggies: potato, sweet potato, pumpkin, onion, carrots. Because they're vacuum sealed they last for weeks in the fridge and we get to eat fresh veggies. As a side, I do this at home too - a whole pumpkin can take a long time to get through, prepping it and vac sealing means I can keep the packs in the crisper for weeks - no more mildewed pumpkin.

Bread is very expensive and is usually frozen, so instead we take wraps, Mountain Bread and English muffins.

We usually eat out once or twice while we're away, so we put aside $200 for meals and another $100 for treats - coffee, ice- creams etc.

One of traditions we have on any of our trips is to always stop and buy something - fuel, and ice-cream or a cold drink or sometimes a meal - at the small towns and communities we visit. It's one way we can treat ourselves and support these remote communities. They need all the support they can get, this is our way of helping keep them in business, and it blesses everyone - these little stores and roadhouses and cafes stay open and support locals, and they're there when visitors and travellers need them.

Incidentals

With this trip there will be the ferry fee to cross the Jardine, although we're not sure we'll actually cross - we've been to the Tip, taken the obligatory photos, done the walks, driven the Five Beaches (and found eight!), spent some time on Thursday Island (a highlight of the last trip - glorious spot), looked at the WWII memorials and spent a lot of time walking and exploring around them, so for me I'd rather spend time exploring spots we haven't seen yet. We'll see. I've budgeted $130 for the return ferry fee - right now I can't find an accurate cost. The National Parks fee is included in the ferry fee, so for parks on the Cape we won't need to pay extra.

There will also be the ferry fee to cross the Daintree, at least one way. At the moment the fee is $24 return, so that's what I've budgeted.

I mentioned washing - it is so expensive at coin laundries - around $4 a load. Over the six weeks I've budgeted for 10 loads - so I've already saved $40 in $1 and $2 coins and they are safely in a zippy bag, ready to go into the laundry box.  I take washing powder, stain removing soap, a nail brush and pegs - I flatly refuse to pay for drying too.

National Park fees - there will be some fees to pay to visit National Parks. They vary, depending on the park. I've allowed $100 for park fees.

RACV Total Care - we don't leave home without it, ever. Yes, it is expensive, but absolutely, totally, completely and utterly worth it. You only need to use it once to recoup the cost and save a bundle.  I am a gold member, so it costs $200.60 a year. The benefits have changed since we first took this cover out, but for us and the travelling we do, it is not only good value, but great peace of mind. And yes, we have used it, twice in the last six years! This isn't really a holiday expense, we take it out every year, but it is worth mentioning if you don't have it. As a bonus there are other benefits to RACV membership, such as discounts to attractions, accommodation and so on.

How much is all this going to cost?

Our budget for this trip is $6,500.

We have been saving and planning and budgeting for two years for this trip, and we're not going to skimp on anything. There most likely will be money left in the holiday fund  when we get home, and if there is it will roll over to start the next holiday fund - and we'll start planning another trip.

I'll share how we saved, made or found the money next Wednesday.

Plum Jam and Lemon Butter

We were blessed with free fruit last week, plums and lemons, two of my favourite foods for preserving.

Hannah was given a big bag of plum by a client (thank you, whoever you are!) and a friend very kindly dropped off a bag of lemons. I was excited, free food is good, but free food we enjoy all the time is even better.

The plums became plum jam. Yum! It's easy to make, tastes great on toast or scones or pancakes or in muffins and is a lovely gift.

The lemons became lemon butter. Another yum! We love it on toast and on crepes, and I use this particular recipe as a filling for lemon meringue pies and tarts. It's also divine as a filling in muffins - especially coconut muffins. I add half the batter to each muffin pan, add a dollop of lemon butter and top with the rest of the batter. I add about 5 minutes to the baking time and they are just delicious.

Here's my plum jam recipe:

 Plum Jam

Ingredients:
1kg plums, stones removed
1kg white sugar
juice of 1 lemon

Method:
Cut the plums into small chunks - about 3cm (I usually just quarter them, then cut the quarters in half).

Warm the jam in the microwave for 1 minute (it dissolves faster).

Add the sugar, plums and lemon juice to a large saucepan.

Bring to a boil, stirring all the time. Brush down the sides of the pot with a wet pastry brush to make sure all the sugar is dissolved.

Once the mixture is boiling, turn the heat down low enough to maintain a rolling boil.

Continue to cook, stirring often, so the jam doesn't stick to the bottom of the pan and burn.

Test after 20 minutes for setting point. If not ready, continue to cook, testing every five minutes until setting point is reached.

Remove from heat and pour into hot, sterilised jars. Seal immediately and set aside until cool.

Six Minute Lemon Butter

Ingredients:
125g butter (real butter please, not margarine in this recipe)
1 cup castor sugar
3 eggs
1/2 cup lemon juice

Method:
Using an electric mixer beat the eggs until they are light and fluffy. If you don't have an electric mixer you can use a stick blender or a large balloon whisk.

Add the sugar to the eggs in two parts and continue beating until the sugar has dissolved. Whisk the eggs and sugar together until the sugar has dissolved and the mixture is thick and fluffy.

Stir in the lemon juice.

Melt the butter.

Carefully pour the melted butter into the egg mixture and whisk well.

Pour mixture into a microwave safe jug or bowl. Cook on high for two minutes. Beat well.

Cook another two minutes. By now the mixture will be starting to thicken. Make sure you beat it well to make it smooth.

Cook a further two minutes. Beat well, breaking up any lumps. The mixture should be thick, a similar texture to a pouring custard.

Whisk well between cooking spurts. The mixture will change colour and texture as it cooks.

Pour your lovely, hot lemon butter into hot, sterilised jars.  Seal immediately. Once cool place in fridge. The lemon butter will set as it cools. Keep refrigerated. This lemon butter will keep for up to two weeks in the fridge.

This recipe makes 3 cups of lemon butter. Keep in the fridge for up to three weeks.

I sterilise the jars in the oven and leave them there until the lemon butter is ready so they stay hot.

WHAT WE SPENT, WHAT WE DIDN'T SPEND AND WHAT WE SAVED WEEK 4

Sorry I'm late posting this week, the hot weather left me with a migraine, and then Hannah left yesterday so we were in an (very organised) uproar, getting her packed, checking she had everything she needs, that we had copies of everything just in case, and finally getting her out the door.

This is what we spent:

Aldi: $19.63
Coles: $3.60
Petrol: $65.72
Pellegrino's: $14.35

This is what we didn't spend (and what was moved into savings/slush fund/holiday fund):

Coffee: Those Keep Cups really are keepers! He's still very happily taking the coffee I make him every morning. He didn't spend $21.35.

Petrol: Moved the leftover petrol money to the holiday fund - $14.38

Greeting cards: While the card making things were out I used those odd 15 minutes of time between other jobs to make more cards.

Cooking:  Made a batch of bread'n'butter cucumbers. Coles sells them for $3.91 a jar, mine worked out to under 50 cents a jar - most of the cost was the vinegar and sugar! I didn't spend $20.46 on bread'n'butter cucumbers to stock our pantry and enjoy  during the year (they're delicious on crackers with a slice of cheese for a quick lunch or supper).

Meals: Last week I calculated how much takeaway would cost us as a family if we  were the average and had it three times a week.  All our meals were cooked at home, using ingredients on hand. We didn't spend $376 again on takeaway this week - I'm going to continue to track how much we don't spend by cooking at home. At the end of the year, it could be a very nice $19,552! No wonder folk who eat out or have takeaway regularly complain they're broke!

Hairdressing: Hannah cut my hair for me. At her salon a wash, style cut and blow dry costs $65.  I budget $30.33 a month for hairdressing, so $65 has been moved to savings, from the hairdressing account.

Gardening: This week, before it became too hot, I planted eight iceberg lettuce seedlings I grew from seed, into the veggie garden. I also transplanted two white cucumbers and two zucchini, also grown from seed. To buy them from the nursery would have cost $21! Growing from seed, they cost under 20 cents, and that was for the lettuce. I saved the seed from the cucumbers and zucchini last year, so they were free. The holiday fund was boosted by $21, from the gardening account.

Total spent this week: $103.39
Total not spent this week: $518.19
And moved to savings: $124.53 (haircut, gardening, petrol)

Remember, money isn't saved until it is safely in the bank. Until then it is just not spent - hence my "what we didn't spend" list and making sure I move money from the relevant categories into our savings accounts.

Meal Plan Week 5, 2018

Greek Yoghurt Raspberry Muffins

This week we will be eating:

Sunday: Roast Chicken

Monday: Schnitzels, potato bake

Tuesday: Gnocchi & garlic bread

Wednesday: Lemon Avocado Chicken

Thursday: Moo Pizza

Friday: BBQ Hot Dogs with MOO Sweet Relish

Saturday: Enchiladas

In the fruit bowl:  watermelon, strawberries, bananas

In the cake tin: Raspberry muffins

Greek Yogurt Raspberry Muffins 

Ingredients:
5 tbsp butter
1/2 cup sugar
1 egg
3/4 cup Greek yoghurt
1-1/2 cups SR flour
1/4 tsp bicarb soda
3/4 cup raspberries (fresh or frozen)

Method:
Preheat the oven to 180 degrees Celsius and prepare a muffin pan, either with olive oil spray or paper liners. Put the butter and sugar in a mixing bowl and beat with an electric mixer until light and fluffy.  Add the egg and beat with electric mixer until just combined.  Add the Greek yoghurt, and beat again until just combined. Sift the flour and bicarb soda. With electric mixer running slowly, carefully add dry ingredients to wet ingredients, mixing until just combined - do not over-mix. With a rubber spatula, fold in the raspberries, being sure to carefully get the berries distributed evenly through the batter, but not over-mixing.  The batter should remain thick and not get runny by over-mixing. Fill the muffin cups 2/3 full. Bake in preheated oven for 20 to 25 minutes or until the edges brown a bit and a toothpick poked in the middle comes out dry. Remove from the oven and allow to cool slightly, then remove from the muffin pan to a cooling rack.

What's on the menu at your place this week?

Happiness Homemade

This past week has been busy, busy, busy. I shouldn't be surprised, every day of every week is busy, there's always something to do.

Here's my list of homemade happiness for the week:

Last Saturday was the monthly Cheapskates Club card making group, the first for the year. It was only a month since the last get-together, but it felt a lot longer. Pamela and Carol managed to inspire us and I finished seven lovely cards, learnt three new techniques and I've already put them into practice to build my card stash.

With the price of nice cards being upwards of $8 being able to create them myself saves a fortune.

The weather finally cooled down enough that I could get into the garden and do more than just water and pull the odd weed. Working in the garden makes me happy, I smile the whole time I'm out there. This week I planted more lettuce, and cucumbers and zucchini. The cucumbers and zucchini should be fruiting mid-March, and that will take us through to winter with those veggies.

The rhubarb was looking a little sad - not sure why. It had a drink of worm tea, hopefully that will give it a boost. We love rhubarb so I don't want to lose it.

The hydrangeas are blooming, they are such a vibrant pink. I've been moving them under the verandah on very hot days so they don't burn, then putting them out again at night.

And the white geranium cuttings I took a while back are doing OK. They're in a pot at the moment. When they get a little bigger and the weather cools a bit I'll move them to the garden. Right now I have them planned to go into the new rockery in the backyard, but that may change.

There are mandarins on the tree - little, tiny green ones at the moment. The last lot were so juicy, and the tree just kept producing for months, so I'm hoping it will do that again this year.

The birds are getting the top apples on the tree. That's OK, we're getting the ones from the lower branches, a bucketful every couple of days. They've been sliced and stewed and frozen for winter pies and crumbles and apple slice.

Joy was able to get me a bag of onions for $2.99. Some have been diced, some have been sliced, some have been frozen whole and I have 3kg left to make pickled onions - that's the job for tomorrow. All those jars in the shed are being put to use - some of them will be for gifts, some will be for our pantry.  For a couple of hours in the kitchen now, cooking will be so much easier, especially on extra busy days. And I won't need to dice or slice an onion for about six months!

The heat is back today, and will just get worse over the weekend. Yesterday I boiled a dozen eggs and put them in the fridge. Then I made a huge container of potato salad and another of pasta salad. I used a small cabbage, a couple of carrots, some spring onion greens from the freezer and a couple of sticks of celery I sliced on the mandolin to make a giant container of coleslaw, without the dressing, and put it in the fridge too.  They're all in oblong Lock'n'Lock containers I bought specifically for this purpose - they fit properly in the fridge and are air and liquid tight. I'll add the dressings to the salads as we need to, that way they keep well for at least five days, long enough for the heat to pass.

I love getting ahead when I can. My mother used to say I was ready for tomorrow yesterday, and it's almost true. When I have a few spare minutes I do as much as I can to get ahead. It makes life so much easier and our home runs much more smoothly when we're prepared.

That's it for this week - I think!

Lots of little things, and they all made me happy. And not one of them cost a lot of money either. You don't need to be spending, buying, shopping all the time to be happy.