Mock Cream Recipes

I prefer good old fat-filled cream of cow but in a pinch these do the trick…

Option #1

Mix together well 2 tablespoons full fat milk powder, 1 cup if milk and 1 tablespoon of icing sugar. Leave to stand from 12-24 hours, as long as possible.

Option #2

2 cups of milk

2 tablespoons full fat milk powder (mixed to a paste with a little of the milk)

1 teaspoon of sugar

1 dessertspoon of boiling water

2 teaspoons gelatine

Dash of vanilla essence

Warm milk to blood temp and add to milk powder paste. Dissolve 2 good teaspoons of gelatine in the boiling water, then mix milk, gelatine mixture and vanilla essence together well. Chill thoroughly then beat again. Tastes abit like whipped cream.

Option #3

Beat together 2 tablespoons of each of the following – butter, sugar and boiling water. Mixture will curdle first then become a thick cream. Add a little vanilla. Good for sponges.

Possibly use a dairy-free butter substitute to make this dairy-free! If anyone tries it please let me know how it turns out J

Option #4

1 cup of milk

¾ ounce of cornflour

1 ounce butter

1 ounce of sugar

Mix cornflour with a little cold milk. Heat the rest of the milk, add the cornflour and bring to the boil, stirring constantly. Cook for 3 minutes, continuing to stir. Leave til cold. Cream butter and sugar. Once cornflour mixture is cold whip it then beat into butter and sugar. Beat til smooth.

Again possibly make this dairy-free by using milk substitute such as rice, soy or oat and a butter substitute. Would love to hear if anyone tries it J

Fruited Lemonade

Save the syrup from your tinned (or home-preserved) fruits, add sufficient lemon juice for flavour, chill and serve very cold. Slices of lemon, orange or other fruits add colour and flavour. I suggest watering down before drinking – it can be very sweet!!

Chocolate Sauce Recipes

Some of my chocolate sauce recipes as requested :) I like to have choices when I bake/make/create!


Economical Choc Sauce

1 tbsp cocoa powder
1 tbsp cornflour
2 tbsp sugar
1 cup milk
1 tsp butter
1/4 tsp vanilla essence

Directions:
Combine dry ingredients in a saucepan. Slowly add milk while stirring. Make sure there are no lumps (use a whisk if necessary). On a medium heat bring mixture to a boil, stir constantly. Keep stirring and simmer until mixture thickens (a couple of minutes). Keep stirring while you add butter and essence. Serve as you like!


Rich Chocolate Sauce
170g of plain chocolate
170ml of water
115g of caster sugar
 55g of butter
1 tsp of vanilla extract
Directions: 
Break the chocolate into small pieces and cut the butter into small pieces. Place all of the ingredients together in a saucepan and heat over a low heat, stirring continuously. Once all the ingredients have melted and blended together, the sauce is ready to serve.
  


The Best Chocolate Sauce

1 cup (250 ml) water
1/2 cup (100 g) sugar
1/2 cup (160 g) light corn syrup, agave nectar, or glucose (or make a sugar syrup by mixing 1/4 cup of sugar into 1/2 cup of water and mixing gently over a low heat)
3/4 cup (75 g) unsweetened cocoa powder (preferably Dutch-processed)
55g bittersweet or semisweet chocolate, finely chopped
Directions:
In a medium saucepan, whisk together the water, sugar, corn syrup (or agave or glucose), and cocoa powder.Bring to a boil over medium heat. Once it’s just begun to simmer and boil, remove from heat and stir in the chopped chocolate until melted.
Serving: You should let the Chocolate Sauce stand for a few hours before serving, which will give it time to thicken a bit.
Storage: Store the chocolate sauce in a covered container in the refrigerator for up to 10 days. Rewarm before serving.

DIY Essences

Does anyone else spend a fortune on vanilla or other essences?? I do! I go through them really quickly too because a. I use them often and b. the bottles are so teeny tiny. Therefore I decided to get creative and make my own!!

I had a big bottle of vodka in the cupboard which I brought for some reason that I cannot now remember so I decided that would be my liquid base. I mostly use orange, lemon and vanilla essences so those were the three I decided to try.

I had a pile of vanilla pods I'd brought off a lovely guy on Trade Me and I'd been using the seeds as flavouring for a few weeks and saving the pods. I also got all bossy with my males and got them to save all their orange peels while I saved the lemon peels when I made lemon butter.

Now comes the very technically part of DIYing essences :
VANILLA : I cut about 3 pods in half and stuffed them into an Only Organics juice jar and topped it up with vodka.
ORANGE : I firmly packed the peels of 3 oranges into another small jar and topped it up with vodka.
LEMON : I firmly packed the peels of 3 lemons into yet another small jar and topped it up with vodka.
Leave for a couple of weeks.


Now wasn't that incredibly easy?? And cheap! I found my vanilla started tasting vanilla-ery very quickly while the other two are more bitter and taking longer to develop a taste though it is happening. I'm pretty sure you could use bourbon or rum instead of vodka. Might give it a different depth but thats not a bad thing.

Give it a go and let me know what you think :)

My Shopping List

With the GST going up in October I'm actually planning on doing as big a shop as I possibly can, aiming for a whole years worth of groceries. Yep its a huge undertaking but I think I can do it! Here is my shopping list so far in case anyone is interested :

Rice
20kg Long Grain Brown Rice
20kg Short Grain Sushi Rice


Grains
25kg Kamut
20kg Barley
10kg Quinoa
10kg Rye
50kg Oats
75kg Spelt


Beans
25kg Black Turtle
25kg Chickpeas
25kg Cannellini
25kg Red Kidney
25kg Navy (Haricot)
25kg Lentils

Seeds
5kg Amaranth
5kg Linseed
5kg Poppy
5kg Sunflower


Nuts
10kg Hazelnuts
10kg Cashews
10kg Peanuts


Misc
1kg Garlic Powder
10kg Tahini

10L Tamari Soy Sauce
30kg Tinned Tomatoes
20kg Lye
10 x 40 pack Toilet Paper


Vinegars
10L Apple Cider Vinegar
10L White Vinegar

Pasta
10kg Macaroni
10kg Fettucine

Oils
25kg Rice Bran Oil
20kg Coconut Oil

Sweeteners/Salt
25kg White Sugar
40kg Rapadura
25kg Raw Sea Salt
40L Maple Syrup
10L Agave Nectar

Baking
10kg Cocoa
50kg Baking Soda
5kg Powdered Milk
5kg Baking Powder
15kg Dark Chocolate Drops
15kg White Choc Drops
5kg Yeast


There are a few other bits and pieces that I can't think of off the top of my head but thats a basic list. Since I have only done a 6 month shop at this point my amounts are a bit of a guesstimate though I'm pretty confident they're accurate to a mnimum 10 months. I'll be dating everything as I open it and making a note in my Homekeeping Notebook so I know for future reference how we did! We'll be putting a beast + a couple of sheep + a rack of $1 chickens from the local egg farm in the freezer, plus any wild rabbits/deer/etc that the big guy and the biggest little guy will bring home so that takes care of meat for the year in case you were wondering.

Here are some of the things I do and/or can make from scratch, using the basic shopping list above:

All cleaning products
Shampoo/conditioner
Soaps
Mama pads (I also use a Mooncup)
Cloth nappies

Pita breads
Paninis
Tortillas
Crepes/Pancakes
Bread loaves
Bread rolls
English muffins
Crumpets
Sourdough starters and products

Tomato sauce
Mayonnaise
Dill mustard
Nut butters
Salad dressings
Chocolate sauce

Muesli
Dried fruits
Fruit rollups/leathers
Canned meat
Sauerkraut
Muesli bars
Biscuits/cakes
Canned fruits
Canned veges

Cheese, different kinds
Cream cheese
Yoghurt
Creme Fraiche (used like sour cream)
Mascarpone

Hmmm lol I know theres more but I can't think of them since I'm not busy actually doing them at the moment...

Anyway feel free to post what you DIY to keep costs down :)

Buying in Bulk PART TWO

So now you have the prices of what you want. You need to work out whats cheaper and in what sizes, then its a fairly simple case of buying :)
To work out how much you go through in what amount of time write down the date you open each pack then the date you finish it. Some things you'll go through faster, some slower. You'll be able to work out how to make things stretch abit more as you go along.

Here are some of the suppliers I found while searching :

Toops Wholesalers - servicing the Lower North Island
Gilmours Wholesalers  - servicing the Upper North Island
Trents Wholesalers - servicing the South Island
The Trade Cellar - wine for those who like it
Woolworths - great to check supermarket prices ONLINE

Bidvest - throughout NZ

Davis Trading - Auckland, Palmerston North, Wellington, Christchurch. Stocks good range of Asian foods too.
First Foods - Throughout NZ, scroll down linked page to find your closest supplier.
Chantal Organics - Delivers throughout NZ (Organic/Wholefoods).
Bin Inn - Various locations throughout NZ.
Huckleberry Farms - Delivers throughout NZ (Wholefoods).
Piko Wholefoods - Christchurch local vegetarian wholefoods co-op.
Steves Bulk Barn  - Palmerston North (Wholefoods/Organic).

For bulk baking soda and washing soda (or soda ash) for your cleaners : 

Wonder Products Eltham 06 764 8088       0800 100 350

Aakland Chemicals Christchurch 03 341 8490


I hope this helps you get off to a good start :) since we eat a wholefoods, non-processed, living diet alot of these places provide organic/gluten-free/whole foods. While we're on a strict budget I firmly believe that you get far more bang for your buck by buying the least processed foods you can. You'll find you need less to eat, you and your family are healthier and you all have more energy.



Check out these books at your local library for more info on eating like we're supposed to -

Buying in bulk Part One

This seemed like such an easy topic to post on when I first thought of it but its turned out to be quite an effort! However, here it is - I hope its of some help to someone :)

I came to the concept of bulk buying over a period of about 2 years. Shopping once a week was a finely tuned, very dragged out endeavour that I hated with a passion. We live in a rural area and I had to factor in travelling, both time and cost, plus naptime for my then 1yo and my energy levels (living with PND is a real drag ;)) and most often they didn't jive. Having our income slashed during the economic slump leaving us approximately $30 to spend on food and diesel was the last straw and I very quickly decided fortnightly shopping was the way to go. As my 'stretch'em' skills developed and I found more ways to DIM (do it myself!) I realised we were going 3-4 weeks without needing to shop! Possibly not exciting for the rest of the planet but for me it was a great relief and I embraced the change gladly!!

Now time went on, our income went back up, we suffered through my second pregnancy and the birth of our second gorgeous son (not one of those peaceful glowing mamas-to-be!!! My pjs were my best friend, second only to mouthwash after my rather hideous and continual bouts of morning sickness and don't even get me started on how much I hated the kitchen...), then it was time to do another shop. To my utter shock and horror two children actually doubled the time it took me to get everything done!!! I don't know why I was surprised - but I was! Even once a month was too much and so I began to consider bulk buying and we get to the point of this post...

Points to consider when contemplating the fine art of buying in bulk:

• What products do I use the most?
• What products can I not afford to run out of (i.e toilet paper!)?
• What products that I use can be stored longterm and what has a short shelf life?
• Wheres my recipe book?

For the more frugal-minded its also good to ask:

• What can I make myself (i.e tortillas, tomato sauce)?

Actually thats a good question to ask anyway coz if say you go through alot of tomato sauce but you don't plan on making it regularly yourself its still a good idea to have a recipe plus ingredients on hand on the off chance you run out. Its best to avoid those unplanned trips to the supermarket, since we all know that a quick dash down there for one item invariably turns into a half hour look-see where you walk out with about 20 items, often including chocolate, and surprisingly often not including the original item you required!! Anyway I digress...

Here is the rundown of what I did to prepare for my first 6 month bulk buy:

1. I pulled out all my recipe books and listed all our favourite dinner, baking, condiments and desserts recipes (very important!).
2. I multiplied each dinner/dessert and condiment recipe by 24, and each baking recipe by 48. I based my multiplication on the assumption that I'd make each dinner/dessert and condiment recipe once a week and each baking recipe twice a week. I have about 20 dinner recipes, 3 dessert recipes and only make up condiments as we use them so I obviously wasn't working to a specific 6 month menu plan!! I wanted to make sure I had more than enough in case we felt like a particular meal more often than another or we had dinner guests. The idea here is to OVER-shop!
3. I broke down every single ingredient in every single recipe (based on my multiplied figures and no its not as hard as you'd think) and listed it like for like, so all tomato servings from all recipes are added up together KWIM? I may need 20 x 800g tins of tomatoes to make all the recipes requiring tomato over the 6 months. Hmmm hope thats clear enough!
4. Just slotting in here that I also worked out how much I could actually make from scratch so my enchiladas require tortillas and enchilada sauce both of which I make myself. I broke down those ingredients and added them to my list.
5. I listed all the ingredients required for my cleaners, hair and body products.
6. I then worked out the approximate shelf life of everything on my list and sectioned all the items under headings such as dairy, tins, bags, and so on. Its important to have an idea of whats required to store your bulk food items safely and securely. 
7. Finally I began to price check!!

Price checking wheres and why fors:

When checking prices of the products on your ingredients list you'll come across different sizes available. You'll also have a range of providers available to you. Heres some ideas on how to price check in your area and some things I did, beginning with how to price and following on to where to look.

1. Always take the unit price of each brand/size you're pricing. This is very important so you have the most accurate figures to work with.
2. Make sure you check if GST is included in the price. Bulk providers don't include it so you need to add it on in order to get the most accurate price. To find GST I use this calculation : 'price not inc GST' x 0.125 = GST. If you have a different way of doing this please share :) Remember GST is going up in October so the calculation will need to be adjusted to reflect that.
3. Don't take down sale prices unless you plan on shopping within the sale timeframe.
4. Make sure you note which shop you got each price from. The more organised you can be the easier it is. I have a price list you can print off however I'm having abit of trouble converting it to PDF so I'll sort that out tomorrow - watch this space :)
5. Make a list of all your local suppliers first and price them out.
6. Google your area for more supplier options. Christchurch for example has a couple of bulk suppliers that aren't available to the rest of the country.

 

Becoming self-sufficient

I'm a huge believer in if you CAN do it yourself then you SHOULD do it yourself, therefore its no great surprise that I'm on a mission to become 98% self-sufficient with a strong focus on living healthfully!!

I thought I'd list some of the things we're doing to be as self-reliant as we can on a just under quarter of an acre section:

• Chickens - we have 5 chickens at the moment which make for eggs and, as time goes on, freezer chickens! They're fed on kitchen scraps and leftover bread from the local primary schools big breakfasts (yep they put on a breakfast every morning for the kids - awesome ae?! And our lovely neighbour, who is one of the breakfast ladies, brings the bread home for us).

• Food storage - After the storms and powercuts of the last two years, plus losing a good portion of food when our chestie blew up just before christmas, I'm not entirely confident that bulk refrigeration is the way to go!! So I've been on a mission to find as many different ways to store food, fairly longterm, as I can. So far I've canned fruit, fermented vegetables, and dehydrated both. I've just brought a dehydrator and am waiting very excitedly for its delivery (should be tomorrow!) so I can read the recipe book and try dehydrating some apples I have stashed and have a go at some meat jerky! In regards to storing meat, I've asked the big guy what he thinks about building me a smokehouse but he reckons we'll hold off on that for now since he likes our neighbours (though I did point out they'd most likely be queueing up to borrow the thing!), so I've been reading up on other forms of meat preservation. Theres pickling, dehydrating and saltpacking but other than dehydrating I'm put off just by the names of the others! However I was really intrigued when I read about canning meat!! Apparently you chop up the cheap scungy cuts, pack them in a canning jar, pop them in a pressure cooker and bam - tender, gravy-laden meat, canned meat!!! I'm now stalking various pressure cooker auctions on Trademe and leaving my name and details at all the local (and some not so local) secondhand stores! I've also been looking at different options to store eggs, fruit and veges to keep them fresh but since thats still a work in progress I'll have to update you on my investigations abit later! Popping back to where I commented on fermenting vegetables, yep I know the concept of leaving food to 'ferment' (which kind of seems like a polite way of saying rot!) is abit offputting but has anyone ever actually tried it?? I started with sauerkraut, moved on to fermented salsa, then turned my hand at apple butter and I'm soooo converted! I'm actually going to write a whole seperate post on it because I think its such a good food storage option plus so so good for you (and I know you'll all wana hear about why I cried when I first tried the salsa, not to mention the escaping apple butter saga ;)) so watch this space!

• Vegetable garden - yep oldie but a goodie! The more I can grow, the less I need to buy. I'm being especially daring this year and planting carrots :gasp: and all the beans I can think of since they make up a big portion of our wholefoods diet. I'm still tossing up whether or not to try a grain of some sort but I might need to hold off on that til I work out how to get the vegetable part growing! I'm actually a total brown thumb and I swear my plants actually shrivel up and die when they see me but I persevere, plus bribe the big guy alot coz he seems to have the knack! Is anybody into gardening in a big way?? I'd be totally interested in getting someone who knows what they're doing to so a post for me??!

• Meat - ok so we have abit of an advantage on alot of people since we own cattle and graze them on family land but since I'm typing specifically about our journey I thought it was worth a mention! We grow our own cattle, the big guy shoots them, we both skin them (except when I'm pregnant cause then I pull my shocked 'are you seriously asking me to make an effort' face ;)) and chuck them on the back of the ute then toss them off again at the backyard butchers lol sounds abit...hick-like... but hey we get easily a years worth of meat for maybe $500 and an afternoons work!

• Clothes - well this half falls under the 2% thats not self-sufficient and thats mostly because I really don't know how to sew. I've taught myself what I do know and even then its abit hit and miss but I'm getting there, albeit rather slowly! The half that falls under self-sufficiency is the boys clothes since I am at the point where I can run up pants, shorts, tshirts, sweatshirts and pull-on pjs for them, and probably knickers if I had to. Adult clothing, however, is a tad more complicated so maybe thats under the 2%... Hmm this bulletpoint isn't very clear but I'm sure you can work out what I'm saying :)

• Dishes/crockery/etc - hmmm ok so this is a funny one. YES we are capable of making our own plates and dishes, serving wear, etc, using our skills in pottery (mine and they're minimal haha) and stainless steel turning (well he's an engineer, what can I say, hes got the smarts!), however at this point it would be extremely complicated and drawn out! We are instead going for the no-plastic look in our home and investing in some good quality bamboo and stainless steel mugs and dinnerware with a sprinkling of glassware for cooking. We're slowly building up the type of stuff we want which has excellent long-term wear and no health side-effects. Is this something you'd be interested in for your home? I'd like to hear what you think.

• Dairy products - we now purchase raw milk from a local dairy supplier (yes all legal!) as we have that bit of extra money now and my goal is to make our own cheeses, hard and soft. Once we're on our block we'll have a milking cow and I'll be doing our own butter too but at this point I'm working with the limited resources we have. I'll put up a post with photos of my attempts at a later date.

• Condiments - firstly I so love that word haha, and secondly this is an awesome way to save some moolah (money for those not in the know) and eat healthfully! I make our tomato sauce, salad dressings, flavoured oils and such. Its so easy!! What do you make?? Favourite recipes??

• Cleaning/personal body products - finally I am on a mission to make all our household cleaners and our body products from scratch. I already do all our cleaners, however I brought a 20L container of B.E.E washing machine liquid off a friend who had purchased it only to discover she was allergic to it. Once this is finished I'll be making my own powder again. I've also found a recipe for crockpot soap so watch this space for a future post on that! I have been given quite abit of baby products and am wading my way through the stuff I'm comfortable using and flicking the rest off (have you ever read what those long and unpronounceable names on the back of the containers actually are and what they can do??!!) so as soon as I'm finished with them I'll be making my own again!

So there you go! I may have missed a bit of stuff but I think I've summed most of it up. I'd love to hear what you do to be self-sufficient and save money round the house.

I was thinking I'd do a post on bulk shopping since I'm now shopping for all my drygoods once every 6 months with a goal of spending no more than $600 - averaging out at $100 a month. My first shop came to just under $500 so I'm stoked with that especially as 4 and a half months in I'm not even close to running out of most things!! Would that interest anyone?? Let me know :)

Fakeaways

Fish and chips
Fresh fish, rolled in breadcrumbs and baked, or make a batter (use the batter suggested for the hotdogs), potato/kumara wedges roasted
Hamburgers - make your own patties! simple, cheap and you can have exactly what you want on the (pref homemade) burger.
Hotdogs and chips: 6 saveloys/sausages roll them lightly in cornflour (makes batter stick) and then add to batter of 1 egg, 4 ounces of water(beat) add 1 cup of flour and 1 teaspoons of baking powder, 1/2 teaspoon of salt. mix together and cook in hot fat or oil...cook chips and there you have it.


Pizza
Homemade pizza bases or pita breads halved or flat bread, tomato sauce, whatever toppings you have around, cheese

Chinese
Egg fried rice is made with cold rice (make sure it isn't gluggy), frozen mixed veg, and a couple of eggs made as an omelette then chopped up and stirred through. Add leftover meat for abit of extra yummy!
Chicken and sweetcorn noodles - have dried egg noodles in the cupboard, cook 'em up and boil your chicken meat. Drain, put into a bowl, add a tin of drained corn kernels and finely chopped fresh coriander, mix and serve.

American hotdogs
Get a bag of long rolls (or make your own), some frankfurters & heat them, fry some onion, grate some cheese and place together then drizzle with mustard and tomato sauce.

Indian
Keep your favourite pastes on hand with tinned coconut milk and follow instructions. You can make the sauce from scratch but TBH its not a fakeaway lol takes too much work!!
Homemade naan bread
Sift 1 3/4 cups plain flour and 1 tsp baking powder into a bowl. Add 1 tsp sugar, 1/2 tsp salt and mix. Make a well and add 1/4 cup melted butter OR oil, 85ml natural yoghurt, 1 egg and enough water to form a soft dough. Mix then knead gently for 2-4 minutes. Cover with a damp cloth and leave to rise (until doubled). Knead again lightly then divide into 8 - 10 pieces. Roll out thinly (less than 1 cm thick) anhd brush with garlic butter or oil and sprinkle with cumin, paprika or spice of your choice (or none). Bake at 190 deg til risen and golden (approx 10-15 minutes). Leave to cool before freezing.

Asian (slightly different to chinese)
Sushi of course
Sushi vinegar recipe - 1/3 cup white vinegar, 2 Tbsp sugar and 1 1/2 tsp salt simmered til dissolved.
Seaweed lasts for ages and you can use salmon (get it on special and freeze it), chicken, or plain vegetarian. Get a cheap bamboo sushi mat from your local asian shop and viola
Stirfry some beef strips and brocolli in soy sauce, garlic and a splash of fish oil. Chuck through a few cashew nuts and serve with noodles or rice.

Muesli Bars

125g butter or marg
1 cup white sugar
2 TB golden syrup (can sub honey if req)
1 cup flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 cup dessicated coconut (can sub rolled oats - the big oaty stuff)
1 egg
1 cup dried fruit
5 weetbix or equiv dry wholewheat breakfast cereal, crushed (I use 4 weetbix - personal pref)


Preheat oven to 180C. Spray/butter 20cmx30cm sponge roll tin.
Place butter, sugar and golden syrup into large saucepan and stir over medium heat until melted.
Remove from heat, add all other ingredients and mix thoroughly.
Press into prepared tin and bake for 20 minutes.
Cut into bars while still warm but leave in the tin until completely cold before removing.
Store in airtight container.

** Different measures of same ingredients results in completely different types of bars. If softer, chewy bars are more popular (they are here) then use less weetbix and oats (tho not sure about adjusting coconut measure as I don't use it at all). Otherwise follow directions for drier, firmer bar. I muck around with the measures everytime I make them just to see how they turn out and they're always nice just different textures really. **

Cooking Tips

To avoid lumpy batter (as well as lumpy white/cheese sauce or gravy) add a little milk at first and blrnd smooth before adding the rest of the liquids.

Put a couple of sugar lumps in your biscuit tin to absorb the moisture.

Dry cider can almost always be used in cooking instead of wine.

Revive a stale loaf of bread by wrapping it in foil and heating it in the oven at 230 degrees  for 5-10 minutes. Leave to cool in the foil before serving.

Meal Plan Ideas

Monday: roast chicken in the crockpot with roast vege (make extra)

Tuesday: roasted chicken fettucine using left over chicken

Wednesday: roasted vegetable frittatas using leftover roast veges with thai beef salad (I use rump steak and of course slice up extra)

Thursday: stirfry using sliced steak from last night and fat udon noodles (really quick to use they don't require cooking just chuck them in the pan with your meat and vege)(make a fair bit extra of meat and vege)

Friday: homemade pizza using last nights meat and vege as topping and adding tomatoes, cheese, etc (cut up extra tomato and onion) and homemade chips (make extra)

Saturday: corn fritters with crispy bacon and salsa prima using extra tomato and onion from last night with homemade chips (also from last night!)

*****************

Monday: bean and sausage casserole with buttery mash and green vege (make extra of potato and vege but don't mash potato and cook an extra couple of sausages and keep them aside)

Tuesday: basic creamy soup using potato and vege from last night with crusty homemade bread

Wednesday: sausage risotto using sausage from monday with pumpkin (make extra)

Thursday: Creamy pumpkin pasta with bacon (using pumpkin from last night)

Friday: steak with baked stuffed potates (keep an extra couple of steaks aside)

Saturday: honey mustard beef with greens (using steak from last night)

********************

Monday: roast beef with roast vege (Make heaps of vege!)

Tuesday: Use leftover roast meat and vege for a quick quiche

Wednesday: the last of the roast vege gets thrown into pasta with and any leftover meat and a homemade tomato sauce (a tin of tomatoes cooking with garlic, onions and herbs - simple dish but tastes divine!!)

Thursday: Crockpot stew with dumplings

Friday: the leftover stew gets turned into a pie and served with homemade wedges (make a double batch and only cook one half)

Saturday: the second lot of wedges go in the oven with homemade pizza

***********************

On Monday defrost approx 3kg of mince. Take 1kg and turn it into meatballs and the other 2kg gets cooked up normally with tomato paste and thicken it with cornflour to make it go further and add mixed veges. Heres the weeks menu:
Monday: spaghetti bolognese (with the made up mince) with homemade garlic bread

Tuesday: meatball stroganoff on fettucine with sauteed veges (make extra), use leeks, zuchinni, thinly sliced carrots, etc - anything thats fairly flat and saute it in butter.

Wednesday: lasagne (with the made up mince)and layers of sauteed veges from last night - so mince, vege, lasagne, sauce, mince... make the lasagne on monday when doing the bolognese

Thursday: beef bricks where you take fresh rolls, rip the end off and pull out the bread and fill the rolls with mince then close the end up with bread again and toast slightly in the oven. Serve with sour cream and chilli, etc for dipping and homemade wedges (make extra)

Friday: DIY Beef tortillas - you need tortillas, mince, sour cream, salsa, bowl of sliced tomatoes, bowl of lettuce, bowl of onions, bowl of peppers, grated cheese, any other veges sliced up (make extra of all sliced veges of course) then everyone serves up what they want on their tortillas

Saturday - Meatball salad so use meatballs and salad fixings from last night to chuck together a salad. Fry the onions and warm the meatballs and add warm boiled eggs for a more wintery salad

Mince is cheap, versatile and fun - thursday and friday nights are messy favourites in our house this week and its good for visitors coz mince can stretch. I do change the mince meals so we might have burgers on saturday using the leftover salad fixings or make nachos instead of beef bricks or mince chow mein in place of bolognese. This weeks menu plan has an extra 3-4 mince recipes just depending on how we're feeling.

Raspberry & Lavender Vinegar (Cooking)

1 cup fresh raspberries
5 sprigs of Lavender (approx)
4 cups white wine vinegar (can use plain white vinegar)
1/3 cup sugar

Place the rasberries in a large 2 litre jar. Heat the vinegar, sugar and 1 sprig of lavender until the sugar dissolves (don’t boil or sugar might burn). Pour vinegar mixture over berries in the jar and mash. Seal jar and store in a dark, cool place for 3 weeks. After three weeks, strain and divide into sterilized jars (or other glass containers), placing a small sprig of lavender in each. Use as a flavoured vinegar in cooking, as a salad dressing component, marinade for meat and veges, etc.

Bulk Bake Mix

This Destitute Gourmet recipe is a massive timesaver in our house -

BULK BAKE MIX
1 cup Kremelta/vege shortening
1 cup butter
10 cups Flour
6 TB baking powder
1 1/2 tsp Salt
1 1/2 tsp cream of tartar
1/4 cup Sugar
2 cups milk powder

Chop shortening and butter into small pieces and rub or cut them into the flour. If you have a blender or food processor you can do this in about 4 batches until it reaches fine breadcrumb consistency. Stir in all other ingredients and store in a cool place. It lasts approx 1 month with the butter and shortening combo, if you want it to last for approx 2 months then replace butter with vege shortening.

Muffins
1 cup Milk
1 egg
2 TB Sugar
3 cups bulk baking mix
Mix in order of ingredients list, add your choice of flavouring. Spoon into muffin tins and bake @ 210 degrees for 15-20 minutes til risen and golden.
Muffin Flavouring suggestions 1/2 cup berries 1/2 cup tinned fruit spices 2 mshed bananas and 1/2 cup choc chips 1/2 cup dried fruit and some nuts

Scones
4 cups Bulk Bake Mix
1 tsp baking powder
3/4-1 cup Milk
Stir all ingredients til just combined, using as much milk as you need to make a soft dough. It shouldn't be too wet. Turn out onto a floured surface and knead very lightly. Gently roll dough out to about 2cm thick and cut into rounds or squares. Bake on a cold tray for 10 minutes @ 210 degrees.

Pancakes
1 cup milk
1 Egg
1 TB sugar
1 1/2 cups Bulk Baking Mix
Beat milk, egg and sugar together then whisk in baking mix. Spoon batter into hot frypan and cook as normal.

Menu Plans

Sick of getting to 4.30-5pm and wondering what on earth you're gonna feed the ravening hordes??
Tired of picking up the groceries, spending an exorbitant amount of money and still not having enough food for a weeks worth of meals?
Frustrated, when after a busy day you don't have any idea what you're going to make, can't find enough ingredients to make anything even if you could think of something and end up spending money on takeaways??

Menu plans should be a basic requirement for any family, whatever size. It gives you an clear idea of what you need to shop for, provides an organised approach to mealtimes which cuts out that 4.30-5pm dinner stress, AND eliminates the need for takeaways every second night :)

My meal plan tips:
How many people are you cooking for? Add 2 to that. This means you have enough a. to feed unexpected guests or b. to freeze for future instant meals!

Are you planning any vegetarian meals? (This applies if you eat meat of course :) Make sure they're spaced through the week coz if you have a family thats anything like mine they can't go more than 48 hours without their carnivorous appetites being sated!

Next I look at the meat I'm planning on using and work out how many meals I can make from one pack. For example on Thursday night we had a roast, last night I used half of the leftover roast and the extra veges I'd done to make a quiche, today we've had toasted meat sammies and tonight the last of the meat will go into a meat pie :) 4 meals, 1 lot of meat!

Finally check the ingredients and make sure you have everything you need for the week/fortnights menu. Anything you don't have should go on your shopping list.

Voila!

Cooking Substitutes

Low Fat substitutes:
Lard – Olive oil, Canola oil, sunflower oil
Salad Dressings – Oil and vinegar, lemon juice
Full fat cheese – low fat cheese; ricotta, cream cheese, Jarlsberg, cottage cheese
Full fat ice cream – frozen yoghurt, sorbet
1 egg – two egg whites

Low Carbohydrates substitutes:
Balsamic Vinegar – Red wine vinegar
Brandy – Brandy essence and water
Fruit juice (when cooking) – brewed spicy herb tea

Everyday Food substitutes:
Allspice - cinnamon and ground cloves
Arrowroot - same amount of corn flour or double of plain flour
Baking powder- baking soda and cream of tartar
Buttermilk- 1 cup milk and 1 tablespoon lemon juice
Capers – chopped olives
Cheese – If wanting to substitute the dairy content you can try soy cheese or goats cheeses.
Chilli sauce - tomato sauce, brown sugar, vinegar, cinnamon, ground cloves and allspice (all mixed together)
Coconut Milk - milk (with a dash of coconut essence if you have it)
Corn syrup - For 1 cup mix 1 cup of sugar with 1/4 cup of water
Cream cheese - Part skim milk ricotta cheese or low fat cottage cheese beaten until smooth Cream of tartar - lemon juice or vinegar
Croutons- Squares of crustless white bread fried or roasted
Curry powder – turmeric, cardamom, ground ginger, and cumin
Egg – one egg can be substituted by any of these depending on the use: 2 tbsp cornflour, 2 tbsp arrowroot flour; 2 tbsp potato starch; 1 tbsp soy powder + 2 tbsp water; 1 tbsp soy milk powder + 1 tbsp cornstarch + 2 tbsp water; 1 banana (in cakes.)
Jam – There are a number of no or low sugar jam substitutes available such as compotes, sauces such as cranberry can be used in place of jams.
Mayonnaise - yoghurt and salad dressing, salad dressing, sour cream, yoghurt, cottage cheese pureed in a blender
Milk – Rice milk and soy milk are good non-dairy substitutes for cows milk
Oregano - marjoram
Plain Yoghurt - buttermilk, cottage cheese blended until smooth, sour cream
Rum - rum extract and water S
esame Seeds - finely chopped blanched almonds
Sour cream - non-fat dry milk powder, warm water, and vinegar (mixture will thicken in refrigerator in a few hours), plain yoghurt, milk and lemon juice and butter or margarine, cottage cheese and lemon juice, pureed in blender
Tomato sauce - tomato paste and water
Tomato soup - tomato sauce and water
Vanilla Extract - Grated lemon rind, orange rind, cinnamon or nutmeg combined with a small amount of water to make up the amount of vanilla needed.
Wine- water, lemon juice and sugar mixed

I just adjust the quantities til I'm happy with the result

Condensed Milk

3/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup warm water
1 heaped cup full-fat milk powder

In a med saucepan dissolve the sugar in the water over a gentle heat. Whisk in milk powder and simmer gently, stirring constantly until thick (5-10minutes). Stirring is important to prevent it turning to caramel and burning on the bottom of the saucepan.

Ginger Beer

PLANT

1/2 tsp dried yeast
8 tsp ground ginger
8 tsp sugar
1 cup warm water

GINGER BEER
4 cups sugar
22 cups cold water
1/2 cup lemon juice

To make plant, on day one, place yeast, 1 tsp ginger, 1 tsp sugar and the cup of warm water in clean jar. Mix well, cover jar with square of muslin (or porous-type material - I used a clean nappy liner (UNUSED) :), and secure with rubber band. For each of the next 7 days, add 1 tsp ginger and 1 tsp sugar, stir and cover. To make sugar syrup for ginger beer, on the eighth day, combine sugar with 4 cups of water in a saucepan. Bring to boil, reduce heat to low and simmer til sugar is completely dissolved. Combine sugar syrup and remaining water (18 cups) in a clean bucket. Mix in lemon juice (I didn't have a 1/2 cup so just put in what I did have uhm about a 1/4 cup I think - seems to still be fine). Line a sieve with a triple thickness of muslin, place over a bowl and strain plant mixture. Pour resulting liquid into bucket mixture and stir well. Pour into clean bottles ** PET bottles are best ** and seal, leaving a little space at the top. Store in a cool place. Ginger beer is ready after 5-6 days or when it is suitably bubbly. Makes approx 6 litres.

** If you want to make another plant try dividing the mixture left in the muslin when you strain it in half. Place one half back in the jar, and 1 tsp ginger, 1 tsp sugar and 1 cup lukewarm water. Cover and feed each day as above. Either chuck out the other half out or use it as a second plant so you've got 2 going. If your PET bottles start to bulge at the bottom or sides then twist the lid and let out abit of the gas. I've had to do this almost every day. Also I didn't get around to doing the syrup til the 10th day so while I stopped feeding it on the 8th day it was sitting on the bench for a couple more days but it certainly doesn't seem worse for wear. **

Cordial

750g/3 cups sugar
1.2 litres boiling water (I used water straight from kettle instead of boiling on stovetop and it was better I found)
2 TB Citric Acid
1 tsp natural essence (Hansells does a range of natural, colour-free essences like orange, raspberry, strawberry, passionfruit, peppermint etc)

Dissolve sugar and citric acid in boiling water. Stir in essence. Makes approx 1.5 litres.

** Haha how easy is that??!!! OK my variation is below - less sugar, more essence.... **

2 cups sugar
1.2 litres boiling water
2 TB citric acid
1-2 TB natural essence
Mix as above.

** I found out by accident that less sugar (because I ran out) and more essence (because I was showing mum how to mix the same batch up and told her 2 TB instead of 2 tsp) actually works just as well. Its not as sweet but thats not a bad thing and because of the stronger flavour you can use less of it therefore making it go furthur!! Don't let the kiddies mix it up though - Jake would totally drink it straight if he could. Its really yummy - especially the orange flavour!!! I use PET bottles and make double batches and freeze them then just let them defrost in the fridge along with the bread and muffins and things as we go through them at a similar rate. Good for the fridge because it helps keep it cool thus saving power ;) its all about the savings! **