How to Build your Stockpile Part 4

I'm going to wind up this series this week (officially, I'll keep writing about our stockpiling journey and how we are living off it) with a summary of things I've covered this month to help you build your stockpile.

Build up a slush fund

A grocery slush fund is the way you can build your stockpile without going over your allocated grocery money or going into debt. Every week, fortnight or month when you draw your grocery money, do your shopping. Then take whatever is left and put it in the grocery slush fund.  You can then use this money to buy up extra of your basic items or to buy up when items you use regularly come on a good sale.

Buy up loss leaders

Supermarkets entice you into the store by offering a few items at ridiculously cheap prices (the Tim Tams on sale for $1.49 a packet at Woolworths a few weeks ago spring to mind). These items are generally on the front page of the brochures and can be seasonal. So when diced tomatoes are on sale two cans for a dollar, use your slush fund to fill your pantry until the next sale.

Figure out your storage possibilities ahead of time

Even if you live in a small flat, you can find unused space for storage. In a box under a bed is a good spot, for example. Throw a cloth over a coffee or end table and use the space under to hide your stockpile.

Invest in a freezer

This is the single best thing a stockpiler can buy. Our first chest freezer cost just $50 secondhand and it lasted us for over 10 years and saved us thousands of dollars before it decided to stop working. Meat, vegetables, fruits, bread, butter, even milk can all be frozen for months. You can also store your dry goods such as flour, pasta, cereals and dried fruit in the freezer if you have room. Make double or triple batches of biscuit dough or an extra casserole to freeze and you won't be running to the fish'n'chip shop for takeaway when you are tired.

Shop in bulk

I have always shopped in bulk. I buy lamb and beef in bulk, chicken pieces and fillets in 20kg lots, whole chickens by the box (usually 6 to a box).  Fresh meat, produce, cases of canned goods, flour,  sugar, cereals, toilet paper, toothbrushes, toiletries and nappies are usually good deals. Watch prices on frozen convenience foods and non-food merchandise. Resist the 12 dozen tins of smoked oysters for 20c a tin if you only use a half a tin once a year on New Years Eve. There is no saving in buying that many of anything, no matter how cheap it is if you aren't going to use it in a timely manner (that means before the best before or use by or it just gets old and stale). It will just become an expensive waste of space.

Be selective 

Don't stockpile a carton of instant coffee if no one in your family will drink it.  See above: expensive waste of space.

Donate any excess

Never has my family ever become bored with something I stockpiled, but we do like to share our bounty with others. Older family members, friends and neighbours will be especially grateful when you show up with a smile and those extra staples and treats for them.

Passionfruit Butter

Passionfruit are in season and if you don't have a vine, quite cheap at the moment. I've been buying them for $2 a kilo and eating them fresh and freezing the pulp to use later. I love them on that Australian afternoon tea favourite, Passionfruit Sponge, and they're good made into Passionfruit Butter to have on toast, pancakes, scones, in crepes, as the filling for surprise cupcakes or just to eat by the spoonful from the jar when no one is looking :)

Passionfruit Butter 

Ingredients
pulp of 5 large passionfruit
150g butter
100g caster sugar
juice of half a lemon
5 eggs

Method:
Prepare a double boiler with water and bring to the boil or, if you don't have a double boiler, place a heatproof bowl over a saucepan of water. Make sure the bottom of the bowl isn't touching the water. Bring water to the boil over a medium heat. Turn heat down to medium-low.

Add butter and sugar to bowl and melt. Add lemon juice and passionfruit pulp. Mix well.
In a bowl, whisk all 5 eggs lightly. Add to butter mixture, whisking in with a whisk.

Stir continuously with a wooden spoon until mixture thickens and coats the back of the spoon (about the consistency of thickened cream). This takes about 10 minutes over a medium heat.

Remove from heat. Pour into hot, sterilised jars. Seal while hot.

Store in fridge for up to two weeks.

No.

A tiny word, just two letters, but so powerful, especially when it comes to money.

Tell your kids, “No.”  

Even if you’re just throwing a Milky Way or a cheap toy into the shopping trolley, at the end of the month it all adds up - to junk in the house, less money in the bank and probably cavities. At the end of the year that $2 or $5 a week adds up to a lot of money you no longer have to spend on things you really want or need.

Just say no.

Tell yourself, “No.”  

Make your own coffee, and take it with you in a reusable mug.  Don’t buy that book. Don’t get those shoes, regardless of how cute they are or how cheap they are on sale. Don't pick up takeaway on the way home - use what you have to prepare a meal (and it doesn't have to be gourmet - breakfast for dinner anyone?). 

 Just say no.

The more you say "no" instead of opening your purse the more you will be able to save, the more you will have to pay down debt, the more you will have to build an emergency fund.

Just say no.

5 Minute Choc Chip Cookies

School holidays are here and the kids are not only looking for something to eat, they want something to do. This simple recipe is great for keeping them busy in the kitchen, and they get to make their own afternoon tea for the week as well!

5 Minute Choc Chip Cookies

Ingredients:
250g butter
1 cup brown sugar
2 eggs
3-3/4 cups SR flour
1 cup choc chips
   
Method:
Pre-heat oven to 180 degrees Celsius. Melt butter. Mix the melted butter with the sugar then add eggs one at a time, beating well.  Add flour and choc chips. Mix.  Drop teaspoonfuls onto greased trays and cook for 10-15 minutes.  Makes 40.

The Week that Was

Bought a big bag of  passionfruit for $2 (I love passionfruit) and made my first ever batch of passionfruit butter - it's beautiful! Will only be a treat though, it takes five eggs!

The rest was squeezed into an ice cube tray and frozen for adding to yoghurt, pavlova at Christmastime and icing for sponges. I have the equivalent of seven tins of passionfruit pulp, a real saving (around $10!).

Spent an hour searching for suitable free Kindle books, downloading then and then sorting them so I'll be able to find them when I'm ready to read. I'm loving my Kindle, it has really helped me get back into the habit of reading a "book" rather than on my laptop, which is quite tiring. Now I can read in bed or in the car while I'm waiting at the station or in waiting rooms etc.  And free books - even better :)

This week I've bottled 15  jars of diced tomatoes (four x 300ml jars, 10 x 600ml jars). No brine or salt, just tomatoes. These will be used to make salsa or I'll  be able to use them in any recipe that calls for diced tomatoes and I've added to our food stockpile. The tomatoes cost $3.94 for 6 kilos and I was given 2 kilos, so 26 cents a jar. Used the microwave for the bottling and the whole process only took 1 hour 12 minutes all up.

Just tomatoes, bottled, processed and ready to go into the pantry

Found a couple of tomato plants on the throw-out trolley at the nursery for $1 each so I bought them, soaked them in the laundry sink overnight and planted them out on Tuesday. They seem to be doing well, hopefully they'll give us lots of tomatoes during the summer.

The beans and peas I planted a couple of weeks ago have come up and are doing well. Planted more bush beans and some zucchini plants. These will provide food for us during the summer and produce enough to be able to preserve them for next winter.

Emptied the worm castings from the worm farm and added them to the empty garden beds.

Caught water in the kitchen and showers and used it to top up the washing machine, water the plants and wash the floors.

Found a beautiful birthday present at a new op-shop, for $10 - saved $5 on our gift limit. Put that $5 into the grocery slush fund where it's needed. The gift budget is OK and doesn't need any help.

Made a card and put together a gift for a friend who has just had a beautiful little boy, using things I already had.

Wayne was able to repair my laptop - such a relief, I use it constantly as you can imagine. I was afraid I'd have to make a rush decision on a new one, and while I've never been entirely satisfied with this one (Hannah says I'm just fussy) and a new one would be lovely, the thought of being rushed and pressured into a new one didn't thrill me at all. Instead a few minutes exploring what the problem was, a few minutes on Google, a phone call to a friend and it was done, good as new. Cost: $0!

Bought Claratyne on sale at Chemist Warehouse for $29.99 (down from $36.99), then filled in the rebate form and sent it off for another $5 off (thanks for the heads up Wendy). Then went back and bought another box as the fine print reads "one per customer" so filled out the rebate in Wayne's name for another $5 off (and it can go into the first aid stockpile). Total cost $59.98 for 140 tablets, saving $27 all up.

Dried the washing either on the clothesline in the sunshine or on clotheshorses inside.

Used a free delivery coupon to get some groceries delivered. Everything was on sale, all but one item was on half-price sale. Total came to $82, saved $79 - I was so happy with that and I've crossed two more items off my stockpile shopping list.

Cooked all our meals from scratch - didn't stick to the meal plan but we still managed to eat from the freezer and pantry.

Enjoyed a free card making afternoon yesterday with lovely friends and learned how to make two pretty dress style cards, a really simple flower embellishment, and a One Sheet Wonder set.

My first attempt at a One Sheet Wonder layout - five cards completed in next to no time

Maureen brought some plants along - lavender, daisies (two of my favourite flowers) and succulents that I gratefully will use in the garden and to make gifts.

Not a whole lot happening in terms of new ways to save money, but it has been a very frugal and productive week and I'm happy and content with what I've accomplished and now I'm off outside to potter in the garden, enjoy the sunshine and contemplate other ways I can look after my family and our home.

How did you save money, time or energy this week?

Cath's Meal Plan 20th - 26th September 2015

Easy meals this week, I have a lot in my diary and getting dinner on the table each night needs to be quick, easy and "anyone can do it".

Everything is in the freezer: the Sausage Casserole, Cream Cheese Patties, Refrigerator Lasagne, MOO pizza bases, chicken casserole and fillings and pastry for pies. It's just a matter of taking them out of the freezer and putting them into the fridge to thaw the day before they're needed and most of dinner is done.

While the savoury is heating the veggies can be steaming or we can be putting the salad on the plates and any temptation to dial for pizza or send one of the kids for fish'n'chips just disappears, and our money stays in the bank to be used on things we really want and will really enjoy.

This week we'll be eating from the freezer:

Sunday: Roast Beef with Mustard Crust, baked potato, sweet potato, cauliflower, corn, carrots, gravy

Monday: Sausage casserole, sweet potato mash, greens

Tuesday: Cream Cheese patties, salad

Wednesday: Refrigerator Lasagne and salad

Thursday: MOO Pizza

Friday: Chicken casserole

Saturday: MOO Pies

How to Build a Stockpile Part 3

 

Building a stockpile is a personal thing. It needs to contain items that you use, otherwise it's just wasted money. There are all sorts of lists and suggestions around, and they are great to use as a starting point.

In my dreams I can just make a list, go shopping and buy everything we need for the next twelve months.

In reality I have a grocery budget that I need to stick to, so building the stockpile must fit into my  grocery budget, and if you want to build  your stockpile and save money, rather than go into debt, your buys will need to fit into your budget too.

Here's a list of what is in (or will be in) our stockpile for 2016 to see us through 2016. Remember as you read this that this is for my family of 5, you may or may not use/need/want some/any/all of these things - write your list to suit your needs. And remember, I wasn't starting from scratch, I already had a very good stockpile, at least three months of most things, six months of some others and a one year supply of cleaning supplies.

Groceries	No.
Baked Beans	104
Baking Paper	1
Cereal - Ricies	12
Cereal - Weet-bix -1.2kg	24
Cereal -All Bran	24
Cereal -Rolled Oats	10kg
Choc Bits/Melts	12
Clingwrap	1
Cocoa	2
Condiments - Coleslaw dressing	12
Condiments - Herbs
Condiments - Honey	6
Condiments - Jam
Condiments - Mayo	2
Condiments - Nutella	6
Condiments - Peanut butter	24
Condiments - Peppercorns	1
Condiments - Salt	5kg
Condiments - Spices
Condiments - Stock cubes	4
Condiments - Vegemite	2
Cornflour	3
Cream of Chicken Soup	24
Custard Powder	2
Dried Fruit - Cherries	1kg
Dried Fruit - Dates	6
Dried Fruit - Mixed Fruit	5kg
Dried Fruit - Sultanas	5kg
Drinks - Coffee, Instant	2kg
Drinks - Coffee, Pods	48pks
Drinks - Cordial	MOO
Drinks -  Tea bags - 100pk	4
Flour - Gluten	5kg
Flour - Plain	112kg
Flour - SR	60kg
Foil	1
Icing Sugar	12
Legumes - black beans (canned)	12
Legumes - soup mix	3kg
Legumes - split peas	3kg
Legumes - kidney beans	5kg
Molasses	1
Mustard - wholegrain	12
Nuts: almonds, walnuts, hazelnuts, peanuts
Oil - Olive	12L
Oil - Vegetable	4L
Pasta - Noodles	12
Pasta - Spaghetti	26
Pineapple rings	12
Popping corn	1kg
Powdered Milk	12kg
Rice	20kg
Sauce - BBQ 250ml	6
Sauce - Soy	2
Sauce - Sweet Chilli	1
Sauce - Tomato 2L	4
Spaghetti - tinned	12
Sugar	48kg
Tinned fruit	24
Tomato Soup	104
Tuna	24
Yeast	2
Freezer:	No:
Butter	24kg
Casserole/Stewing Steak	15kg
Cheese - Tasty	24kg
Chicken - Drumsticks	15kg
Chicken - Fillets	52kg
Chicken - Wings	12kg
Chickens - Whole	26
Corned Beef	12
Fruit - oranges, strawberries,
apples, lemons, peaches
Legs of Lamb	13
Mince	40kg
Roasting Beef	13
Sausage mince	5kg
Sausages	12kg
Steak	12kg
Vegetables - carrots	20kg
Vegetables - celery, onion, eggplant, capsicum, beans, broccoli, cauliflower,  sweet potato, pumpkin, tomatoes	From garden
Vegetables - corn	12kg
Vegetables - Peas	12kg
Cleaning	No.
Bicarb soda	5kg
Borax	3
Bug Spray	4
Dishwasher powder	12
Dishwashing liquid	6
Eucalyptus oil	3
Laundry soap	3
Scrub buds	3
Washing soda	4
White vinegar	5L
Toiletries	No.
Bodywash	12
Conditioner	12
Deodorant	43
Hairspray	4
Handwash	12
Moisturiser	4
Mouthwash	6
Razors	4
Shampoo	18
Shaving foam	6
Soap	60
Toilet paper - 12pk	12
Toothbrush Heads	6
Toothbrushes	24
Toothpaste	30
First Aid	No.
Band Aids	2
Bandages	2
Betadine ointment & drops	1
Ginger tablets	1
Hydrogen Peroxide	1
Immodium	1
Isopropyl Alcohol	1
Nurofen	2
Paracetamol	2
Saline	1
Savlon cream	1
Zyrtec/Telfast/Claratyne	3

Boy we eat a lot! And that list doesn't include the produce from the garden that will be dried, bottled, pickled or frozen over the summer. 

When I look at that list I wonder where in our home I'll be able to store it all, but it all fits. So where to do I store all these groceries?

Grocery items are either in the pantry in the kitchen, in other cupboards (tea and coffee are above the kettle, spices and herbs are above the bench) or the shelving. Bulk dry goods are in labelled tubs in the laundry.

Cleaning supplies are under the laundry sink. Dishwashing liquid and dishwasher powder are under the kitchen sink.

Toiletries are in the bathroom cupboards. 

The first aid box lives on a shelf in the linen cupboard.

Frozen food is of course in the freezers, one in the laundry and I've "borrowed" freezer space at my mother's for the overflow.

I've found the hardest thing to store is the toilet paper, mainly because it is so bulky. At the moment it is in the garden shed and I bring in one pack a month as it's needed. 

I don’t have a lot of designated storage space in this house so I make do with what I have and sometimes I need to be a little creative and shuffle things around. 

As long as I remember to update the inventory when I move things nothing will get lost and I won't be tearing my hair out trying to find the peanut butter when I know we have it but it's not on the bottom shelf of the pantry!