My Frugal Tasks

I havent been able to meal plan because my laptop is broken and this has all my food inventory and meal plans on there! It feels strange to me as I like knowing what Ill be cooking for dinner. Instead I've been making dinner based around what I have in the fridge that needs to be used which has been working out really well. I have done lots of cooking and gotten ahead with food because food is life!

-Picked up some free vegetables, eggs, potted parsley, basil, bacon and cake from the community centre. This was amazing! I dried some of the herbs and potted the rest of the plants in the garden.

-Made some pizzas for lunch using a tin of tomatoes, pita bread, red onion, bacon, mushrooms and cheese. The ingredients were free minus the tinned tomatoes and cheese.

-I cooked a roast pork for dinner along with roasted vegetables and extra butternut pumpkins which needed to be used.

-With the extra leftover roast pumpkin I made a large batch of pumpkin soup.

-The roast pork was stretched to make 3 meals for 4 people. The other meal I made was shredded pork and salad wraps. After this there was still a small amount of pork left so I added onion, garlic, cumin, paprika and some overripe tomatoes to a pot with some tomato paste, a tin of butter beans and the diced pork. This made enough for 4 bowls full with a side cornbread which I'd planned to make but I'd run out of cornmeal so made garlic flat bread instead.

-I cut the fat from the raw bacon and cooked it in a pan until crisp then poured the oil into a jar which I keep in the fridge. I do this with all excess meat fat and use it in place of oil when cooking onions etc. It adds a lovely flavour to the food and is free!

-Did heaps of washing on 

-Bleached and dyed my hair using supplies I buy in bulk.

-Received my neem oil in the mail from eBay, which was cheaper than buying at Bunnings. Neem is an effective natural insecticide and can be used topically when diluted correctly as well as made into a spray to use on fruit trees and vegetable plants. 

-I made a large tray of apple crumble cake with free apples that needed to be used up. It was stewed apples on the bottom, a vanilla cake batter poured over the top and then a mixture of flour, oats, butter and small bit of sugar sprinkled over the top and baked. This was delicious and I gave half to a neighbour.

-I bought some vodka on sale and made some more vanilla extract.

-I found some Easter items on clearance for 20c a pack.

-I made some luminaries for the courtyard using empty milk bottles. They look good and throw out a nice glow with tealight candles inside.

My Frugal Tasks 5/4/20

Sorry I didn't write a post for last week, I wasn't feeling up to it. Life is overwhelming right now for a lot of people with job losses and food insecurity due to the current COVID-19 pandemic. Its strange to see children's playgrounds closed and shops empty. People all over the world are worried. In WA it has now been advised that children are to stay home from school and we should only leave home for work, essential groceries, doctors appointments or to exercise. It all feels very dystopian to me. 

I am just taking a day at a time and doing the best I can right now and trying to focus on the positive things I can do to make my family feel secure. Mr 14 is home now so I will be helping him with his schoolwork. I have deferred my studies until Semester 2, because its been hard for me to focus on my work and at this point in time I need to focus on home schooling.

I have been doing some craft which helps!  I am painting a vinyl dragon right now and will post a picture when it's done. I hope everyone is managing the best they can xx

-This week I gave a homemade mask to a friend who works as a driver and sold a couple to her colleagues.

-Hung the washing out to dry as the weather has been fine.

-Made a batch of butter blend.

-Set up a cleaning routine which I found on r/cleaning tips. My printer is broken so I wrote it out by hand and stuck it on the fridge.

-Early in the week I ran out of bread so made some dough and turned it into cheese and vegemite scrolls.

-Hubby went to the Foodbank truck and bought a $15 meat pack and there was also free bread! He got fruit bread and hot cross buns. I was so excited because we didn't have any.

- A local IGA was offering free 2-litre milk for concession cardholders so he picked up one for us and also took our neighbour to get one as well.

- Meal planned for the fortnight using what we have in the fridge, freezer and pantry.

-Did grocery shopping at the Foodbank. It was quite different as now they only let a few shoppers in at a time. Everyone has to wear gloves and the trolleys are all disinfected before use. It was quite surreal. We were able to buy some yoghurt, fruit, vegetables and pantry items. They were also giving away free apples and spearmint milk. We froze some milk and gave some to the neighbours. I put most of the apples in the fridge and also baked an apple cake. I'll have to go back there next week as I didn't realise until later that I was overcharged.

-Last week it was Mr 14's birthday! We had dinner at home and he requested honey chicken which he has had for the last few years in a row. Instead of a cake, he wanted a chocolate fondue with brownies, banana, strawberries and marshmallows.

- I made some cards as I was running low. They are pretty basic, but fun to make!

My Frugal Tasks 22/3

Mr 13 came down sick this week, then passed it on to me and Miss 21. Its taken me a few days to feel right again. I had a blood test recently and got my results back which showed that everything was fine except my iron which was 5 out of an ideal 20-30. The doctor told me she doesnt know how I cope! I told her I feel tired a lot of the time and manage my time so I can have an hour nap in the afternoon! I've done this for the last few years and just thought my exhaustion was due to the medication I am on. I started taking some iron supplements on Monday and I am already feeling less tired during the day. 

The world is an uncertain place at the moment with the Corona Virus. Here in Western Australia, universities have closed and have switched to online only and we are advised to stay 4  square metres away from others when outside of the house. Pubs, clubs, churches, cafes, theatres and the casino are now closed and public transport has stopped. School is still open for now, but the Premier will be making an announcement tomorrow regarding this. The Australian borders have closed and all flights have been cancelled indefinately. Things are changing on a daily basis and the number of sick keeps rising which can be really overwhelming. Store shelves are still empty. Pasta sauce and sugar is now added to the list of items which are hard to find. Along with flour, yeast, rice, pasta long-life milk, tinned fruit, vegetables, meat, toilet paper, tissues and napkins. 

We will all have to make the best of this situation and think of what we can do for our families and community. Whether that is sewing washable toilet cloths, planting a vegetable garden, avoiding the shops and eating out our pantries or checking up on friends or neighbours. We are not powerless and there are many things we can do to right now. Try and keep busy and productive around our homes. 

Here are some of the ways I got ahead this week: 

-Made a pot of lentil soup to eat for lunches during the week. This was lovely when I was sick! 

-Hubby bought a meat pack from the Foodbank truck. 

-Went to the Foodbank which was very empty, though we did get some pumpkin, peaches, mango, yoghurt, bean dip and vegan cream cheese. 

-I cut the peaches and made some into a peach crumble and the rest were dehydrated. I also cut the mangoes and put them in the dehydrator.

-Baked a sugar free banana bread for afternoon teas.

-Planted some kale and thyme seeds which we found on a verge collection.

-Took advantage of the sunny weather and washed the bed linen.

-Cooked a batch of rice and vegetables for the dogs. This will accompany their dry food and meat.

-Colored my hair at home.

-Sewed some more fabric face masks for my family. 

-Gratefully received some nuts, muesli bars, and lollies from a friend.

Please try and stay positive healthy and safe xx

My Frugal Tasks 15/3/20

I'm glad I managed to get some things done earlier in the wee as by Thursday, Mr 13 and I had come down sick.  The last few days have been spent catching up as I slept most of Friday and although I tried to listen to a lecture and write notes, I was just too sick. Miss 21 has now come down with it.

I managed to stock up on some essentials like long-life milk, oil, panadol, rice, pasta, soap, dish liquid, washing soda, laundry soap, vinegar, panadol and ibuprofen. Though I had to go to Coles and Aldi to be able to get everything.Oh, and I managed to get toilet paper! I'm glad there are finally limits in place as I think this makes it fairer for everyone and should have been done earlier. When I was in Coles I was chatting to another lady while we were both putting long-life milk in our trolleys. I heard a man say to his wife "look at that, people are buying trays at a time! It's not the end of the world". Now I had 10 cartons and the lady had about 24, but she had small children with her. There was still loads left and we were hardly wiping the shelves clean so his comment really bothered me! 

I think the Coronavirus situation is only going to get worse because of people panicking, I'm not worried but I am listening to my intuition and am preparing as much as I can. We also went to Kmart and bought a gas cooker for $20 and some butane bottles which were $4 for a pack of 3. This seems quite cheap to me. 

Here's this weeks list of tasks

-Went through my fabric stash and started making some face masks for when we travel overseas later in the year. Proper masks are now unavailable so these will have to do! 

-Picked up some free bread, hot cross buns, pikelets, bananas, zucchini, kale and capsicum from the community centre. I've put the buns in the freezer for Easter, hubby grated the zucchini and diced the capsicum which was also frozen to use later. I sliced and dehydrated the good parts of the bananas, the rest was frozen for smoothies or cake. I also dehydrated the kale and chopped and froze the stalks for my next batch of dog food.

-Made a big potato and spinach bake for dinner and put half in the freezer for another meal.

-Hubby bought 2 meat packs for $30 from the Foodbank truck. This really helps us get ahead with meat.

-Baked another banana and blueberry cake for the week.

-Thinly sliced and baked some sourdough, these are great to use as "crackers."

-I also shopped around online and placed an order for the cheapest vitamins. I bought selenium, vitamin D, elderberries and vitamin C. 

I hope you are all well and I'd love to find out how you got ahead this week? Xx

Sugar-free Banana and Blueberry Muffins

For the last 6 months or so I've been on a health kick, aiming to feel better, have more energy and lose some weight. So far I've lost 16kg by cutting back on processed foods and using portion control.

This is a recipe I created one afternoon when I felt like a sweet treat with my cup of tea! I have also added substitutes for some of the ingredients. This recipe can also be baked in a cake tin and cut into 16 slices as it is quite filling

3 mashed bananas

1/2 c of fresh or frozen blueberries
2 TBS coconut oil

1 tsp cinnamon

1 tsp vanilla

1 beaten egg

2 pouches (160g each) of YoPro blueberry flavoured yoghurt

1 and a 1/2 c of PowerCakes protein-enriched flour

Mash the bananas with the egg, vanilla, and cinnamon. Add the yoghurt and mix well then stir through the flour and blueberries.

Bake in a preheated oven at 180 degrees for around 20-25 minutes or until cooked. 

These need to be kept in the fridge and eaten within a couple of days. They also freeze well.

Substitutes- 

I used frozen bananas as I had some in my freezer. You could use a different yoghurt instead, whatever you have just make sure to use the same quantity. In place of the PowerCakes flour, you could use any self-rasing flour-like wholemeal, gluten-free etc.

My Frugal Tasks 8/3/20

This week has been interesting to say the least. With the coronavirus spreading, many in the world are panicking and have been bulk buying toilet paper, hand sanitizer, disinfectant, soap and long life milk. It was my shopping day on Friday and I normally shop for the fortnight. It was a shock to see these items sold out in all of the 3 shops we went to. 

People are panicking. I am relieved I've been stockpiling for a couple of years and have enough food and cleaning products to keep my family fed and healthy in an emergency. However, hubby and I also realised there are some gaps and we aim to look at how to improve this. 

At home we have a volunteer butternut pumpkin vine growing. It has taken over the veggie garden! 

Some ways I got ahead this week were:

-Picked the last of the grapes and gave some to friends.

-Baked some sugar-free banana and blueberry muffins for snacks.

-Updated my food inventory and "shopped" from my freezer and pantry to save money groceries.

-Meal planned for the next fortnight. 

-Received half a fruit cake, gingerbread and lovely plants from a friend.

-Bought a yellow egg dish from an op-shop for $2. This will look nice on display with Easter coming up.

-I also bought a 10kg bag of potatoes which was on sale for $2.99 and there was also magic erasers at 2 boxes for $3. These are great for cleaning the glass shower door and are large so I cut them in half! 

How was your week?

My Frugal Tasks 1/3/20

This week was the first week of starting university. I am studying full time for my Bachelor of Psychology and Counselling, which will take 3 years to complete. I never thought this would be possible for me and I'm excited and nervous about the prospect. 

I am doing my degree through Edith Cowan University which offer online study as campus is quite a distance from where I live, so this is the option I took and I only go in to sit my exams twice a year. I completed my certificates in an online format so I kind of know what to expect and how to be disciplined with a study schedule. Plus I don't have to spend time and money travelling and have more time and energy to reach my frugal goals. This week I also installed a free app called Olio which is for food sharing and helps prevent food waste which is something I'm very passionate about! The way it works is you list an unwanted item and someone in your area can message you if they would like to pick it up. I got some cold tea infusion tea bags from a fellow Olio'er and I gave away a box of T2 flavoured tea. Normally I give things I don't want to friends or neighbours but occasionally I have something obscure I know they wouldn't use so from now on I'll list it on Olio. Plus its a great way to meet like-minded frugal peeps in your community! This week I managed quite a few frugal tasks:

-Picked up some Twinnings rose lemonade flavoured tea bags from Olio.

-Went to Kmart to buy a diary for uni which they didn't have so instead bought a calendar style planner and new highlighters for $5. I also found some clearance items. A unicorn ornament for 70c, 3 pack of rainbow foil balloons 70c and contact for 50c. I'll put these in our party box.

-On Wednesday night while cooking dinner, I also made a spinach and chorizo fritatta as I needed to use up some not so fresh spinach. We had this for dinner on Thursday night and I also made a banana and choc chip slice from some over ripe bananas. 

-Bought a second hand psychology textbook from Gumtree for $60. This was a bargain because it sells new for $130.

-I cleaned out the fridge and used up some grape tomatoes, capsicum red wine and mushrooms by making a pasta sauce. I cut the tomatoes and capsicum and baked in the oven with a drizzle of oil first and I think doing this really contributed to the sweet taste of the sauce.

-Got some free bread from our community centre.

-I also had some bread rolls which I cut and made into garlic bread. Mr 13 declared the pasta, homemade sauce and garlic bread "the best dinner ever!"

-Hubby cut up some kiwi fruits and bananas and put then in the food dehydrator.

-We packed sandwiches, coffee, water and snacks and went for a walk along the dam. 

Hope this week was a good one for you.