Over 12 months ago I purchased a book for myself and my bestie. She like me, doesn't like to spend a lot of money, on anything. I had forgotten about the book until recently when she said she had made muesli bars from her book. And she had a tonne of them, and her girls love them!
This year I am on a mission to rid us of credit card debt. I'd like to be one of those people who has a rainy day Savings account. I'd like to not have to live like most people nowadays pay week to pay week. End goal would be to pay our house off earlier. So in the mean time, I'm now working nights, and have tightened the budget. I'm meal planning for up to a month at a time (I cant always stick to it, but it is the biggest help for those nights when my brain wont come up with a healthy yummy meal)
I'm cooking meals that I can make for cheap, and that will go further than one night.
So back to the book. It's called The $21 Challenge. It shows you how to feed your family for a week on just $21. It has delicious recipes and Great idea's on saving money with cooking.
Now you'll spend a whole lot of time on this website too! I'm on their mailing list and get lots of emails with free tips, or you can subscribe and get entry to their vault which may hold all the secrets to the universe (I don't have a membership as yet- as I said Im becoming a scrooge:) and I cant vouch for the secrets thing , but it's an Awesome site.
http://www.simplesavings.com.au/21dollarchallenge/
Today Memphis had asked me for a treat, and I figured I hadn't actually ''made'' anything in a while so looked for an easy slice.
What do you know there's actually a recipe called "Easy Slice''
all it calls for is a pack of any plain biscuits (I had homebrand arrowroot )
200gr butter
2 tbsp. sugar
2 tbsp. cocoa
1 egg (I actually ended up using 2 as I used our fresh eggs from our silky bantam chooks and these are much smaller)
and 200gr cooking chocolate for melting (I only had approx. 100grs, so used some of the kids easter choccies to melt in)
Crush the biscuits ( I used my blender as it was much faster, but if you don't own one a plastic bag and rolling pin will also do the job)
Melt the butter, add sugar and cocoa and mix well. Add egg stir again.
Then its as simple as pouring into a greased tray and press firmly. Refrigerate for 30 mins
Meanwhile melt chocolate and then pour on top.Leave it long enough in the fridge till the chocolate is set.
Then enjoy!
I then realized dinner time was soon approaching and I still had no idea what to cook for dinner. I'm due to do groceries which means the cupboards are a little light and I'm at the end of my meal plan. I grab the book and looking through the recipes to find one that I actually have the ingredients for. I come up with '"impossible Pie'' Really it's just like a quiche. But you throw in extra vegies to bulk it out. I think at most it may have cost me $5.00 to make, and it fed me and hubby plus our 2 boys, and we only had half of it. It was so delicious and filling!
I'm so excited about trying new recipes AND saving money.. It's actually starting to become a challenge!
And I think I may have just found some inspiration for future blogs!
Loved this .. with having SIX children, I too always looked for tasty cheap and "good" foods to feed the family with.. It's amazing how far you can make things stretch and even these days, with not being a big meat eater myself.. I bulk up most meals with tons of veggies & beans etc,,
ReplyDeleteThanks so much for sharing :)
Jan