Bump again.

gran333 - 2011-04-20 14:45:00

Wow!!! I've just finished reading this whole thread from start to finish. AMAZING ladies - love all of the cleaning recipes - thank you all for that. Kob I really like your posts. Are you willing to put up an auction for an unbound/non laminated copy of the book you made for a prezzie? That sounded like such an awesome thing!
Does the person (sorry it was many posts back and I cant remember the username) who offered a copy of all of the recipes still send them out?

We are lucky.... actually - luck has nothing to do with it - the following we planned and started years ago.... We have our meat outside walking around in our paddocks - beef, mutton and pork, we swap meat for chickens. I didn't realise how expensive meat is untill I read this thread.

We have an awesome vege garden and a big orchard - we are 5 mins drive from the beach so that's our seafood - shell fish and fish sorted. my husband hunts wild boars and deer.

Our tiny community are really giving - we give fruit and in return we get plum and apple sauce - apple/pear/feijoa/plum/blackbe-
rry/peach pies/preserves etc. We give vegetables away and in return we get pickles of all sorts. I make our tomato sauce which is much nicer than store bought. Whenever we put the net out in the river (5mins away) we give most of it to a big family down the road. They have humangus gardens and give us things like a whole sack of kumara or potatoes etc.

We shop once a month and our grocery bill is really tiny as we never ever buy any of the above. In my husbands mind - buying any of the above is a MASSIVE CRIME. We are not farmers - just your average everyday people - who planned all this over 20yrs ago - and with the prices these days we are really glad we did :).
Thanks again everyone the recipes and tips on here will save us even more :)

Happy Easter to all :)

rachbabe - 2011-04-21 20:36:00

Good for you Rachbabe... sounds like you are living the good life!

We have our eye on a lifestyle block and intend to make the move at the end of 2012... The intention is to have a play with "Bacon & Eggs" ie Chickens and a couple of pigs and also some Steak & chops... ie sheep & cows for the freezer. I want a big orchard and may even try my hand at a vege garden..... But for the moment I am budgeting hard to make the transition as smooth as possible.

Got a good score on the way home at Woolworths... 500gm packs of "Prime" mince, was $7 on special at $6.00 reduced to clear at $3.14... I brought about 12 packs of them.
Thats a cheap meal $3.14 per meal for the 4 of us... well actually 3 of us as Miss soon to be 17 is going through a vegetarian stage... but it makes a left over meal for Miss 18 to take to work... or me for lunch.

I chuckled at the checkout as a dear old lady said to me when she saw my score :"I wish I had looked at the meat" I said would you like one... she said No out of politeness... then must of thought about it and said... "well if you don't mind" .....so she took one ... made her day... and mine too to see her so chuffed. lol.

Happy Easter Everyone.....

toadfish - 2011-04-22 05:57:00

Talking of Easter....

For several years now we have opted out of the commercialism that is Easter. We have given our girls A Block of Chocolate and a $10 note stuck to it... that way they have more actual chocolate and spending money as well for those treat coffees or lunches when they are out. In saying that the Grandparents have a tradition of organising the Easter Egg hunt.... Each year they say... do you think the girls are too old and each year my girls say a resounding NO.... nothing quite so funny as 2 nearly 6 foot blondes running around looking for easter eggs lol. And we always get together for Easter Sunday Breakfast with family.... so we certainly do celebrate it... just our way.

This year for a change Woolworths had toblerones... 2 for $5 so they will have their $10 wrapped around those... similiar price as a block of Dairy Milk (They were on special at $2.65)... but quality rather than quantity.

Edited by toadfish at 6:02 am, Fri 22 Apr

toadfish - 2011-04-22 06:01:00

Hey Toadfish - give the vege garden a go. Honestly - I have the WORST green fingers out lol and if I can keep plants alive and thriving..... ANYONE can :) You'll love being able to taste the actual vege - they're so yum compared to tasteless shop bought ones :)
Haaaa - love the 'playing with your food' description :) That's exactly what it's like - not a chore at all with all of the food walking around the paddocks - it's fun :)
Yip we do the same at Easter :) that way the kids have a choice of buying their own or saving it for something that'll last longer than a bit of chocolate :)

rachbabe - 2011-04-22 13:41:00

When you make the liquid (hand) Soap - does it stay watery or does it set to a type of gel consistency?

rachbabe - 2011-04-23 10:52:00

rachbabe wrote:

Wow!!! I've just finished reading this whole thread from start to finish. AMAZING ladies - love all of the cleaning recipes - thank you all for that. Kob I really like your posts. Are you willing to put up an auction for an unbound/non laminated copy of the book you made for a prezzie? That sounded like such an awesome thing!
Does the person (sorry it was many posts back and I cant remember the username) who offered a copy of all of the recipes still send them out?

We are lucky.... actually - luck has nothing to do with it - the following we planned and started years ago.... We have our meat outside walking around in our paddocks - beef, mutton and pork, we swap meat for chickens. I didn't realise how expensive meat is untill I read this thread.

We have an awesome vege garden and a big orchard - we are 5 mins drive from the beach so that's our seafood - shell fish and fish sorted. my husband hunts wild boars and deer.

Our tiny community are really giving - we give fruit and in return we get plum and apple sauce - apple/pear/feijoa/plum/blackbe-
rry/peach pies/preserves etc. We give vegetables away and in return we get pickles of all sorts. I make our tomato sauce which is much nicer than store bought. Whenever we put the net out in the river (5mins away) we give most of it to a big family down the road. They have humangus gardens and give us things like a whole sack of kumara or potatoes etc.

We shop once a month and our grocery bill is really tiny as we never ever buy any of the above. In my husbands mind - buying any of the above is a MASSIVE CRIME. We are not farmers - just your average everyday people - who planned all this over 20yrs ago - and with the prices these days we are really glad we did :).
Thanks again everyone the recipes and tips on here will save us even more :)

Happy Easter to all :)

Was it wayneandjudiths documents (post296) you were after or the WINZ cookbook or maybe the $21 challenge guide? If so I might be able to help.

actros2 - 2011-04-23 12:04:00

Just been to do the graocery shop (Countdown). Hubby wanted a pork roast for dinner. They had special stickers on them and I picked up one that was just over 2kg witha prick tag of $15 whcih I thought was good until I noticed they all had $15 on them and there was one that was 3kg in ther - so grabbed taht for $15 instead. So that will be dinner tonight plus cold meat for the rest of the weekend at least. Very pleased with that purchase!

raewyn64 - 2011-04-23 14:24:00

Yay thanks actros - it was wayneandjudiths one :)
Ohh and my liquid hand soap has set - it turned out that yummy smelling that I've desided to use it as shower gel. My step daughters are coming up tomorrow - so I'll leave it in the shower for them to use - I really doubt they'll be able to tell the difference :)

rachbabe - 2011-04-23 15:05:00

rachbabe wrote:

Yay thanks actros - it was wayneandjudiths one :)
Ohh and my liquid hand soap has set - it turned out that yummy smelling that I've desided to use it as shower gel. My step daughters are coming up tomorrow - so I'll leave it in the shower for them to use - I really doubt they'll be able to tell the difference :)

Now for a way to contact you, without upsetting TM.

actros2 - 2011-04-23 15:36:00

Will you be putting up a listing anytime soon? rachbabe is first then twothousand using digits at the hottest mail there is or was lol.
My mum stayed over last night. This morning she had a shower and guess what?... she put a smile on my dial when she asked where she can buy the shower gel in my bathroom - it was the one I made yesterday with the gentle protex soap..... YES!!!! I was wrapped :)

rachbabe - 2011-04-24 14:19:00

thanks Rachbabe yes i guess i would put up for auction one of my recipe books but would not be sure what to price it as. It is easier to operate if its binded thats $6, so there are about 44 pages to print out, so id have to consider ink etc etc, but yes it was for my daughter in law last 2 xmas's ago, she loved it, and it was definately a gift from the heart with all my sons favourite dishes in it, with documented photos, and handy hints etc, mind you i do miss her phone calls how do you cook this, or how long do i cook that for, now she has the book she doesnt need to, SO how much do you think its worth, theres every recipe in there I have cooked or still do cook.

kob - 2011-04-24 16:55:00

Bump....this is fantastic!

honzee - 2011-04-27 09:49:00

Sorry - I've been offline for a few days - some not so nice person infected my laptop with viruses and it took me that long to get rid of them all, retrieve all of my files etc and get it back to running the way it use to.
I'm not sure how much to charge - I do digital scrapbooking and get stuck when people ask me that question.
I use Photoshop and InDesign so I would probably do 4x6 sized pages of each - only because that size is so cheap to print. I would probably do the ingredients and method on one page and photo(s) on the facing page :) Then when printed the buyer can just get a bragbook - the plastic pages would protect them from spills and/or miss-haps too :)

rachbabe - 2011-04-27 23:30:00

bump again

510 - 2011-04-30 17:10:00

The member deleted this message.

boarhunter5 - 2011-05-01 20:30:00

This message was deleted.

boarhunter5 - 2011-05-01 20:31:00

i guess i would do one for $20 that covers all paper ink binding and some of time, would you buy if listed at that price, any cheaper i am out of pocket

kob - 2011-05-02 07:17:00

Yes I would :)

rachbabe - 2011-05-02 22:23:00

auntion number 373631895
go for it

kob - 2011-05-03 07:07:00

Thanks Kob :)
I just got it with the Buy Now option and have emailed you :)

rachbabe - 2011-05-03 11:24:00

Cheap Easy Dinner is soup.

Pumpkin soup... 1 large grey pumpkin makes a huge amount... At least 4 meals worth and lots of lunches. Or last weekend I made a huge pot of vegie soup.

Last night I sliced a foccacia bread in half (throught the middle like a hamburger bun) that I had got reduced to clear for $2 (was $4), grilled the crust side then flipped it over, spread it with leggos Pizza sauce (in a squeezy bottle) topped it with finely chopped onion and bacon the spinkled it with cheese and popped it under the grill again.. the family raved. We had it cut into wedges like pizza with a big bowl of vegetable soup. Delicous and very budget friendly!

Edited by toadfish at 5:46 am, Wed 4 May

toadfish - 2011-05-04 05:45:00

Well Rachbabe I hope that your day continued to be a good one, and am now seriously thinking of getting A into G and poublishing that recipe book, or at least getting a good add for it going and start selling it as a hand down for kids leaving home, everything they need to learn to cook from basics to elegance

kob - 2011-05-04 15:41:00

It sure did continue thanks :) My step daughters would and their friends as well as some older friends would REALLY love it too!!!
The recipes are awesome, down to earth Kiwi home cooked meals etc.
I wish my sister inlaw hadn't given away the one my mum spent months hand writing for her - that was such a priceless book that mum put together for her!... and she gave it away to a chef of all people - go figure ???? It was very similar to yours, just with a few different recipes - everything she made, and still makes for us :)
I might ask mum to write one out for me - or come and spend the weekend - she can talk and I can type :)
I hope you do get it published - so many people would really find it so helpful, especially with your little tips in it.
Thanks again for putting the auction up - much appreciated and really loved xxx

rachbabe - 2011-05-04 22:03:00

ohhhhhhhh shukssssssssssssssss thanks, now I will have to sort it, & I love your idea you emailed me about too, will put some absolute thought in to that.
Problem being that everytime I do get some time, its elocated to something stright away,thats dramas of being in business i guess,cheers

kob - 2011-05-05 06:04:00

Sorry it's taken a while to reply. I've been really sick for the past couple of days. Not quite 100% yet but I'll email you a copy of the lasagne one that I put on to a 6x4 layout in the next few days :)
The 2 Ltr version of the laundry liquid has been a great hit with friends, family and even with my husband :)
Today with my nephew (9 yrs old) and grandson (4 years old) we made mothers day prezzies.
We made liquid hand soap (one was from a peppermint soap that I got from a health store and the other was the blue Protext soap), coloured bath salts with Dewberry oil, body scrubs and laundry liquid (with eucalyptus oil) each for my sister and my mum :)
I had a couple of used pump bottles that use to have shower gel in them so that's what the liquid soap went in,
The bath salts and body scrub went in empty nice/pretty coffee jars.
The laundry liquid went into old cleaned out milk bottles.
I hand wrote labels for each jar and bottle Each ending with "Made with love by...." - then we taped them on.
I had some flax type wine gift bags so we put them in those.
My nephew can't wait for tomorrow, he said that his mum (my sister) is going to say it's the 'bestest present EVER' lol.
The 3 of us all had fun making them :)

rachbabe - 2011-05-07 22:48:00

cool idea I brought some lovely hand soaps hoime from melbourne I went to a place called the soap shop and you guessed it all it had was soap, I got passionfruit ones alow vera ones and the old fashioned oat soap which is quite rough so I could do the same with these, andother good idea is to make a special bag you could decorate it with lace of felt embriodery etc etc and place a nice smelling soap inside and that wasy the recipriante can place it in their underwear draw so everything smells lovely, thats what i have done anyway......happy mothers day everyone, I have had a lovely surprise my eldest son came home for a surprose mothers day visit so its been lovely

kob - 2011-05-08 09:24:00

I had a roast last night. leftover potatoes for frying up for another meal later......today I made cheese and onion bread rolls, 60c for 11. 11? Yeah, dunno what happened to 12, my measurements?
And heat up leftover slices of roast meat, heat leftover gravy, bit of mustard and a hot roll, voila, tonights dinner.

lythande1 - 2011-05-08 12:21:00

Ok - the laundry liquid was put to the test today. My husband went out hunting yesterday - caught a big wild boar (but sadly it got one of his dogs during the tussle) - anyway.... the laundry liquid not only CLEANED his hunting clothes but also took those gross hunting smells out too!! I'm wrapped :)
Next test will be his fishing clothes after he goes and gets the net in tomorrow morning - we'll see how it tackles that lot of washing :)
Last night I went a bit crazy and purchased:
Borax
Washing Soda
2x Dr Bronners soaps
and Lavender Oil (wish I got the peppermint too while I was on a roll)
I want to try the laundry liquid that The Frugal Kiwi makes :) http://frugalkiwi.co.nz/2009/09/clean-green-diy-liquid-laund
ry-detergent/
That looks like a good one :)
Well.... hope you all had an awesome weekend and Mothers day :)

rachbabe - 2011-05-09 18:54:00

I have been enjoying this thread. Does anyone have ideas of what to do with too many apples? They are starting to get past their best.

annlee7 - 2011-05-09 21:22:00

Not sure how many you have.. but what I did a few weeks ago is take all the ones past their best (and there were a few) and turn them into 2 x apple crumbles... one we had that night and the other one went int the freezer.. (after it was cooked) it froze beautifully as was as nice warmed through as the one we had fresh. I have a lovely recipe for Apple cake... this too would freeze.

Spiced Apple Cake with topping

125gms butter
2 medium apples skins on grated ( I have used 1 can sliced Apple, no juice)
1 c sugar
1 egg
1.1/2 c flour
1tsp b.soda
2 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp allspice (I used Mixed Spice)
1 tsp salt

melt butter add sugar and whisk tog then add apples and sifted dry ingred's,

pour into lined tin and top with the following

2 Tbsp melted butter
1/4 c rolled oats
1/4 c brown sugar
1tsp cinnamon

sprinkle over top of cake then bake 30/40 mins @180 degrees

Edited by toadfish at 5:44 am, Tue 10 May

toadfish - 2011-05-10 05:44:00

Then of course you can stew and freeze them... for use throughout the year.

toadfish - 2011-05-10 05:45:00

good tip if you frezze pudding in the actual dish you cooked it in , then the next day you just take it out of that dish and bag, then when you want to cook it , you just place it frozen stright back into its original dish and its a perfect fir, this saves buying alominuin trays just for one use, I do the same with my stewed fuit as well as I usually turn it into a fruit sponge or crumble

kob - 2011-05-10 07:16:00

excess fruit- make into apple turnovers, flakey pastry is easy to make if you have a food processor, or just buy it, use a saucer ( as in C&S) to make the circles and then crimp if you know how to or otherwise just use a fork to do edges, make sure you have used egg white around the edges so they stick and bake and freez, these are a great stand by to have in your freezer, for gifts or going out for dinner you can put your hand out and say ill bring dessert and you know a quick stop off for icecream and you have dessert done already, done thats if they last that long, I did this one apple season once I was sick of just stewing it, and it was so susscessful I did it every year until my poor old tree broke and we had to remove it, happy cooking

kob - 2011-05-10 07:19:00

I peel a core the apples, boil them in water and a bit of sugar till they're pulpy-ish. I put them in in clean Chinese take away dishes (the flat plastic ones) - freeze them then take them out of the dishes and put them in plastic freezer bags. That way they don't take up much room in the freezer and I can make whatever I want with them as I need them :)

rachbabe - 2011-05-10 14:17:00

wow, thanks so much for all your apple ideas. I hate to waste them !

annlee7 - 2011-05-11 18:54:00

bumping for pheebs

pixiegirl - 2011-05-12 09:49:00

thanks for the bump. i shall have to set some time aside and have a good read.
would really like a vege garden but on a farm would possums and rabbits get more than me?

pheebs1 - 2011-05-12 10:05:00

We live in a rural area and the possums don't come in the garden. They do get up our fruit trees when they are in fruit though. you should be fine :)

rachbabe - 2011-05-12 12:18:00

Bumping for happydaz

Edited by dec1066 at 8:40 pm, Mon 30 May

dec1066 - 2011-05-30 20:39:00

** rachbabe
How did you make your hand soap please. I have looked through this thread but couldn't see the recipe.......I know it is in here somewhere!!
Many thanks :)

trademequeen - 2011-05-31 09:57:00

Bumping looking for for rachbabe :)

trademequeen - 2011-06-01 14:48:00

Hi trademequeen - I've tried a few different recipes during the past month ago and didn't write them down anywhere. I know I got the first recipe from this thread though.
It could be this one:
After reading this thread I had run out of liquid hand soap so I grated an ordinary cake of soap, put it in saucepan and added some boiling water to it. When cooled I checked it and it was really thick so just added some more boiling water. One cake of soap refilled a 600ml contained and also 2 pasta sauce type bottles as well. Still quite thick but I keep adding boiling water as needed. Price for all this about 30 cents - not bad. Also has the nice smell of the soap I used as well. i didn't put it on stove but just kept adding the hot water.
pixiegirl

I used Dove soap when I did it - I put 2 ltrs of hot water in and when cooled it was still quite thick so I just kept adding a bit more hot water (when cooled) until I got the consistency that I like. Everyone who comes over and use it love it :)
Did the same as above when I used Dr Bronners Mild (unscented) soap (I only used half a bar though). I added Bubble Gum fragrance oil to it for our grandson - it doubles as his liquid hand soap and his bath/shower gel. He loves it :)

rachbabe - 2011-06-01 20:17:00

I can't remember where I got this recipe for foaming hand soap but it's all I use for myself now. When my grandsons liquid hand soap runs out I'll be making him some too :)

Foaming Hand Soap - Base Formula for Dry Hands

1 cup warm water
2-4 tablespoons liquid castile soap (Dr. Bronner’s Baby Mild)
1 teaspoon pure vegetable glycerine
1 teaspoon Jojoba oil
1 teaspoon Vitamin E oil
6 to 10 drops of your fav essential or fragrance oil

Put all ingredients in a large jar with a lid. Shake to mix.
Pour into a soap foamer and enjoy :)

I used an old foaming hand sanitiser bottle.
I also washed thoroughly and use the little foaming bottle that you get inside a pack of Schwarzkopf Perfect Mousse hair dye. Its 35ml - perfect for in my bag as I am really fussy with scents (when away from home and need to wash your hands) and like to have my own on hand :)
I got all of my supplies from trademe as we live in the wops and only have a four square :)

rachbabe - 2011-06-01 20:36:00

***rachbabe......many thanks for that. Will be giving those recipes a try for sure. :)

trademequeen - 2011-06-01 21:24:00

You're more than welcome :) I love this thread!!!

rachbabe - 2011-06-02 08:32:00

Our community have been saving their old plastic bottles/dispensers and pretty jars for me.
I'm really enjoying making all of the non toxic cleaners etc. I really, really love the carpet powder (Shake n Vac) - I use Sweet Orange essential oil in most of my cleaning products as I love the citrus scent - and am loving how thw whole house smells the same - from he kitchen/lounge/bedrooms/hallwa-
y/toilet and laundry :) I use the all purpose spray just for the sake of it these days just to get my citrus fix lol :)
I'm off to Kerikeri today - yip the 2/3 monthly big day out - it's a 1.5hr drive from where we are. I'm really looking forward to going to Binn Inn to get a bulk supply of baking soda, washing soda, borax and whatever else I can find there. I've got a feeling that I'm going to be like a kid in a candy store today :)
Hope you all have an awesome day.

rachbabe - 2011-06-02 08:40:00

Hope you're all having a safe and warm long weekend :)

rachbabe - 2011-06-04 07:21:00

Rachbabe, can I ask where you get your oils from please? I find all the cheap ones from $1 up to about $6, you just can't smell them for long, maybe 15-20 minutes. And I can't seem to find any decent oils in my usual haunts.

cautis - 2011-06-04 21:08:00

I get them from here on trademe - I'm no expert - but I look for the ones that say they are 100% - then hope they are. I haven't been dissapointed yet with my oil purchaces :)

Edited by rachbabe at 7:33 am, Sun 5 Jun

rachbabe - 2011-06-05 07:32:00