holy cow 1000 this is a threed and a half

elleyh - 2009-07-07 12:33:00

oops and I missed th 400gms of raisins from what I brought.... 4 bags of different dried fruit and a bag of flour all for $10.30.

toadfish - 2009-07-07 12:35:00

a... a

jenna68 - 2009-07-10 15:33:00

would love to get my hands on the book that wayneand judith has, from back on page 9ish lol

millie11 - 2009-07-11 20:46:00

A Hint from the Simple savings Newsletter CATEGORISE AND SAVE ON GROCERIES

As food prices continue to rise, I am always on the lookout for a way to save
more on our weekly grocery expenditure. One way I do this is to divide our
weekly meal list into three categories:

Cheap, for example, potato and silverbeet soup.
Medium, for example, spaghetti bolognaise.
Expensive, for example, roast lamb.

Depending on our food budget, I allocate how many of each category I will use
each week. For example, over the course of one week, I will cook one
expensive meal, two to three medium meals and two to three cheap meals.

I always try and cook a balance of meat and vegetarian meals and use
vegetables from our own garden if I can. This has proven a great way of
keeping our food bill in check as well as eating a healthy and balanced diet.

toadfish - 2009-07-13 09:05:00

This is similiar to what i do just not a consciously as they do.

toadfish - 2009-07-13 09:06:00

Silverbeet & Potato Soup
"We had lots of silverbeet in the garden and I didn't want to waste it. I noticed you don't have a silver beet soup recipe on your website so heres mine, described by my family as a classic."
Cheers, Martina Beck, June 2005.

Silverbeet Soup
200g silver beet washed & chopped
400g diced potato
1 onion sliced
1 clove garlic sliced
6 cups of chicken stock
1 tablespoon olive oil
3 tablespoons lite sour cream
1/3 cup grated parmesan cheese

Soften onion and garlic in oil in soup pan, add potato, cook until onion is soft. Add stock and silverbeet. Cook gently until potato is cooked. Puree with a food processor or kitchen wand. Add sour cream and parmesan.

Serve with toasted pitta or crusty bread.

toadfish - 2009-07-13 09:09:00

You are so my soul sister KOB I also complain when goods are faulty, service apalling, specials arn't on offer. Just recently Ezibuy mucked up my order, meaning it didn't get sent out... I rang after a week and they were very apologetic and offered to credit "me" back the $7.50 postage charge... Well it never came or showed on my card, when I rang up they said the credit was sitting on my account for next time.... She said she "couldn't" refund it to me. So I sent an email... and received a cheque in the mail 3 days later.. I know its only $7.50 but its MY $7.50. I only shopped by mail order as the Isobar is only available that way and they were having a sale. Got a $120 240gm weight merino for $80...free postage.... very happy with that and its so warm.

toadfish - 2009-07-15 07:09:00

am going away for the weekend so was trying to spruce myself up alittle bit, so went to book in for a full makeover man things are expensive it was going to cost me $120 for a haircut colour & streaks, $18 for waxed eyebrows, $22 for a nail painting plus $18 for amanicure so anyway I was thing bugger that, snipped my fringe in the bathroom this morning bought a $16 dye at New World, went in had eyebrow wax only ( would of taken all day to pluck) had broken 2 nails this week so snipped them all off filed them down and clear vanished them, bought a flash hair mouse so will go for that poofed look , all a new me for abit of effort and $38, i am getting tight

kob - 2009-07-15 15:40:00

ha ha! You go girl Kob~! My hubby looked at me this morning and goes "oh! you've had a hair cut. *Who did that?" (*read: how much did THAT cost) to which I replied "actually I cut my own hair. Again" ... he replied "far out, I'm amazed you don't F*%k it up~!" (charmed I'm sure). Anyway, I cut my own hair, pluck my own browns, colour it when the greys come annoyingly through and I can no longer convince it's the "sunkissed look" straight from Brisbane. I don't do the fingernail thing and always keepem short as Mum said that what lay underneath was a terrible breeding ground for bacteria (bless her beautiful soul x)

darlingmole - 2009-07-15 19:03:00

ooops didn't mean "browns" I meant brows but yeah, funnily enough I was going to come on this thread tonight and ask for lovely homemade NATURAL recipes for facials. Think I might even start a new thread to see how much info people have so stay tuned folks! ;-)

darlingmole - 2009-07-15 19:05:00

haha at least your husband noticed mine didnt even say anything mind you hw was attached to a phone all night so that didnt help, oh well he might ntice on the weekend,

kob - 2009-07-16 06:30:00

My freezer challenge this week We are lucky enough to have a flatmate who moved in, bringing a chest freezer. So between that (mainly stocked with bread and bits of leftovers) and the small freezer in the kitchen, my challenge to myself for this week is not to buy anything. We have tinned product, lentils to bulk out meat etc etc. Supermarket day is Thursday, and we tend to buy meat at the butcher when we need it. But "the plan" is not to buy anything until Saturday. Wish me luck! Figure we will save around $100 by using the contents of the freezer (but still keeping it efficient with bread etc in it).

annalies1 - 2009-07-18 17:17:00

bump x

cxc_mama - 2009-07-20 11:52:00

Found out today that washing soda crystals are 39c a kilo at binn inn. (for those of you who make Kobbs washing liquid).

beagle12 - 2009-07-20 17:41:00

Different bin Inns have different prices. Co-incidently I also bough both washing and baking sodas for 21c a hundred gms yesterday - are yousure it was a kilo rather than 100gms as I know both of mine were on special?

calista - 2009-07-24 01:05:00

Changing Power Companies... I think I told you in the another thread about an offer made by Contact Energy. We are with Mercury and they offered us a discount and Flybuys to change to them... so I worked out the discount would have been around $200 (over the 18 months discount period)... So decided to swap. Well wouldn't you know it I got a phone call from Mercury on Friday offering me an instant $150 credited to my account if I cancelled the swap and stayed with them.... So I figured $150 will come in really handy at the moment as we have just had some big bills... so.... The whole exercise took me about 20 mins... 15 mins to transfer and 5 mins to cancel the transfer... $7.50 per minute... not bad huh!!! And nothing has changed except we are $150 better off...

toadfish - 2009-07-26 06:57:00

Made Murphys Mousakka an Alison Holst recipe from her "Dollars & Sense" book... delicious.... the only thing I did differently was use "Olive oil & Garlic" delmaine tomatoes instead of plain and add about half a cup of red wine... (I also made 1.5 times the recipe so we have left overs) I brought the heart foundation mince for $4 a pack(reduced from $7.50) They were 400gms ... so I used 2 of them and about 1.2 kgs of potatos... I had visitors for tea... so it was a cheap way to feed them and everybody loved it.

toadfish - 2009-07-26 07:01:00

Freezer challenge update Well it's now Sunday and I still don't need to go to the supermarket. Sheesh. The weather yesterday in Auckland was the perfect chance to defrost and clean out the chest freezer. In doing so I discovered another two days worth of meals (frozen leftovers, and mashed potatoes, and grated cheese etc). Lesson number one - organise freezer better. Not sure that I've saved any money in the short term, but think if I can manage a no shopping week once a month and not compensate in the other weeks, we'll save around $100-150 a month.

annalies1 - 2009-07-26 10:16:00

Tomato sauce for post no.311 4 pkts of tomato soup {maggi is good} 4 cups cold water, 2 cups malt vinegar, 2 cups sugar, 1/2 tsp cloves, pinch cayenne pepper ground. Bring to boil for 15minutes, cool and bottle. Used to make this about 15 years ago when things were tough but it only filled 2 bottles but was thick so could be think out i guess and it was very yummy. Maggi soup mixes are quite dear now would proberly have to wait till they are on special.

ohcakes - 2009-07-26 15:09:00

Earache Have go good receipe for earache {cheap) would like to put it on here but if someone used it wrongly or on kids would hate to get into trouble what do u think.

ohcakes - 2009-07-26 15:19:00

Earache decided not to post remidey incase somone use it wrong and got hurt. I t was a mild substance but u never know aye.

ohcakes - 2009-07-26 15:33:00

#1018 Mousaka That sounds yummy. I've tried to find the recipe but can't...can you point me in the right direction please. Thanx

zambesi2 - 2009-07-26 15:53:00

Alison Holsts "Murphy's Mousakka" http://trademecooks.net.nz/viewtopic.php?f=18&t=359&
p=486&hilit=murphy%27s#p486

toadfish - 2009-07-26 17:34:00

Bumping Told my dil about this at the weekend, so just bumping to the top for her

rema - 2009-07-28 11:12:00

This message was deleted.

mel.harrison - 2009-07-28 13:27:00

Oops ! Yup - meant 100gms not 1000gms. Doh. As you were people.

beagle12 - 2009-07-28 17:17:00

Tonights Meal on a budget... and 2 for the freezer 900gms mince $8... (2 Packs of heart foundation tick mince 450gms reduced to $4 each). 2 satchets of Maggi Nacho Mix $2.60 ... 2 onions... 40c... 3 cans budget chopped tomatoes $3.75.... 1 can Red Kidney beans $1.65... Which made enough for dinner for 4 tonight.... plus 2 more for the freezer. So that works out at just over $5 for the meat portion of the meal... And 2 meals I just have to reheat on a busy night....

toadfish - 2009-07-29 20:24:00

toadfish more more more, i love your ideas. I find dinner etc the hardest, and cheap ideas for my daughter for her kindy lunches. I eat leftover food from dinner. Tonights meal was $4 for 500grams mince, 1 cup cooked pasta (could add more) $0.50c, and $2.50 for just add mince can, celery and carrot was free, then potato on top homegrown free, and breadcrumbs were the crusts from bread toasted then all thrown in lasagne dish with the potato and breadcrumbs on top and baked for 20mins, i made enough for my older daughter and 1 year old twins plus me and partner, plus enough for a lunch tomorrow which could be 1 lunch for me or 2 lunches with a bit of salad added to it.

chonnni - 2009-07-29 22:26:00

x... x

jenna68 - 2009-08-01 09:08:00

my eventive lunchbox filler my eventive lunchbox filler this week
i had a pakt of flakey pastry so i rolled into a big rectangle, then i cleaned the fridge out, i had a little amount of bbq sauce from a meatloaf & small tub of swet and sour from chinese the other night so i combined those and spread over the pastry, i had acouple of pieces of ham that i chopped and spread over and some grated hard as left outside the pkt cheese so sprinkle lightly over, rolled up like a pinwheel sliced thinly and glazed with beaten egg and baked on a oven tray, and guess what they were yummo lunchbox fridge cleanouts they are called try them they were great, and all cost nothing i had it all, hubby think the are great

kob - 2009-08-03 07:54:00

This made me laugh about 3 weeks ago I brought a "reduced to clear" bag of braeburn apples for about $1.29 at Foodtown ... the only fault I could see was they were on the small side, which I don't mind for lunchboxs... anyhoo the girls for whatever reason didn't like them much so only ate a few... so when they started to get a little old looking (about half the bag) I peeled and stewed them... Which gave them a whole new lease on life... and the girls ate some more..... So this afternoon their was about 3/4 cup left of them and because they were braeburn the slices held their shape (ie were not mush) so I have chopped these into small pieces and made apple, sultana & cinnamon muffins... and guess what at last they are all gone and not a skerrick wasted!!!!!

toadfish - 2009-08-03 13:59:00

wow thats great, I have made muesli bars and fruit loaf for my kids this week, and seriously way cheaper than buying, and i know whats in it, funny thing is though they are eaating more of it than bought stuff. so yummy, I cant stop eating it either. Im really loving this home baking stuff. my partner has been away for work and for the last 2 nights we have had leftover meals, or things that were leftover and frozen, been great to clear those out without any waste. I use all my leftover stuff like scraps and put in compost, my older daughter usually takes 1 or 2 bites of an apple and leaves it on table, so i put in fridge and when twins have a snack later I peel and chop off brown bits and give to them, dont waste anything, my partenr laughs at me, but I saved so much oney, i did shopping this week, cheaper than he does, it took me 3 days though, wernt to 3 different places and got the deals, but spent way less.

chonnni - 2009-08-03 15:12:00

I used to do that when my children were little... in fact still do to a certain extent. We used to get the supermarket flyers over the weekend and I would study them and get the best specials from each place. It was a shame when Pak'n'save stopped delivering flyers... But the others still do. Budgeting hard was what allowed me to be a SAHM. And so worth it... I have an amazing relationship with my children... built on the fact I spent so much time with them.. When they went to school I got a part time job with school holidays off... but as I said the down side of that was Part time money... so still budgeting. In the school holidays we have lots of time together but little money... so we get resourceful with what we do... Picnics, got together with freinds, .. when they were younger I took them to free mall shows.. always something to do...

toadfish - 2009-08-04 06:53:00

Don't be afraid to ask for a discount took my daughter to specsavers a few months ago and they had a special- half price eye testing... well i rang today for an appointment and told them i would like to book the same again please (whats the worse they can say) and they said... sure, so i only paid $30 for an eyetest... better than $60!!.... Only problem is the style I like will make my 2 pairs ( 1 x half framed & 1 x pair prescription sunglasses) $544... still good for 2 pairs but I am going to take Miss 16 tommorrow to see if she can find me a pair in the $249 bracket then it will be 2 for $289 (costs $40 to turn reg ones into sunnies). Then I crossed the mall and instead of $50-$60 0n a haircut I treated myself to a $8 fringe trim at Just cuts.... so I spent $38 today and got my eye test and haircut out the way......

toadfish - 2009-08-04 19:00:00

The Trip back to specsavers was a huge success. I went back for the "choosing" with Miss 16... and we found a pair I like equally that wern't half rimmed... they are gold but a muted satin finish... looks fabulous with my gold earings... So I managed to get 2 pairs for $289.... Will leave all the added extras for next time...

toadfish - 2009-08-06 07:02:00

And I bet with Miss 16 along thay are really stylish. Well done!

calista - 2009-08-06 17:35:00

They really do look great I couldn't be happier... Specsavers are awesome... I know there are places cheaper on line but I need to try hundreds of frames on before I make my choice... I am not confident enough just to choose them from the screen.

toadfish - 2009-08-07 07:34:00

My window cleaner smells like spew! Ok so I followed #343 from jellyjody and used water and cornflour to clean glass and mirrors and it does a great job. But I use it the next week and the whole house smells like spew! Any ideas? I might have to try water vinegar and baking soda (or was it powder?)

mousetrapp - 2009-08-07 13:18:00

LOL LOL mine did that too! Fortunately I was doing the car windows exterior when I discovered that. There is no keeping qualities to it. You have to make it up fresh (a half batch does enough in my house.) tip out the leftovers and make a new one the next week.

ange164 - 2009-08-07 18:11:00

bumping cause it too to long to find :)

argo - 2009-08-11 00:04:00

and yet again Just to keep it near the top

rema - 2009-08-12 10:38:00

This message was deleted.

mel.harrison - 2009-08-12 18:38:00

We love Indian Butter Chicken and the closest I have found to our favourite Indian Restaurant is "Pataks Spicy Butter Chicken" Its about $4 a Jar... but I find that half a Jar is plenty for our family of 4 (i put the other half in the freezer - it freezes well).. So last nights Butter Chicken cost us $6.50 for 500gms boneless skinless chicken breast (on special $12.99 kilo) plus $2 pateks and say $1 for rice.... served with brocolli 50c (half a head that was 99c at pak n save) and a few frozen green beans say $1 tops. So thats dinner for for 4 for $10. 1 butter chicken dinner... no vegetables and probably less chicken would cost us $16.50 at out favourite Indian restaurant....

toadfish - 2009-08-13 07:02:00

whoops ... adds to $11 but great value and a delicious meal....

toadfish - 2009-08-13 07:04:00

yummy, butter chicken, so do you freeze it in the jar or do you put it in other container? I am doing this, everytime I make a meal I make one serve extra for my lunches, usually put it in freezer as I always have leftovers in fridge already, but today I had some leftover nacho mince and beans, and had nothing left for tomorrow so got some frozen vege thick soup out of freezer which is enough for me for 2 lunches. although tonight have sheperds pie so will have some for tomorrow too, ah well might freeze that or give it to the kids for lunch. gosh so much food, before this budgets threads, I use to chuck it out or have bigger servings at dinner.

chonnni - 2009-08-13 15:34:00

I just freeze it in its own Jar.... I just make sure the Jar is upright and the lid slightly loose. Then the next day I tighten the lid... freezes really well.

toadfish - 2009-08-13 21:33:00

bumping - yet again would hate to lose it

rema - 2009-08-18 08:49:00

Foodtown weekend windback... starts today Keri Fruit Juice $3.69, Shapes 3 for $5, No 20 Chicken $8.99, 16 x purex toilet rolls $5.99, Pantene Shampoo & Conditioner $2.49, Shaved ham $8.90 kilo.

toadfish - 2009-08-20 06:32:00

I will be stocking up on.... the toilet paper... at that price only slightly more than budget, (about 7c per roll more and I can cope with that), also I am going to treat myself to some pantene... brought some herbal essense shampoo (full body) and have been unhappy with it, but too budget conscious to not finish it... I have about half left and will relegate it back to the vanity for when my pantene runs out.... and then try it again lol. Then probably at least 2 number 20 chooks... at that price & size I will get 2 family meals out of 1... $4.50 each not too bad. Roast one night... paninis the next. And if the girls are really lucky a Keri Juice... thats a real treat for them... I am so blessed my girls (15 & 16) never take anything for granted and appreciate the smallest thing... A rarity amongst their peers.

toadfish - 2009-08-20 06:39:00