Where Have All The Aussies Gone?

Sing along with me.....


Where have all the Aussies gone?
Long time passing
Where have all the Aussies gone?
Long time ago
Where have all the Aussies gone?
Overseas companies took them on
When will we ever learn?
When will we ever learn?

Another one bites the dust
Another one bites the dust
And another one gone, and another one gone
Another one has gone bust
Hey, they'll come and get you too
And you won't be the last.

 http://www.abc.net.au/news/2012-12-03/rosella-goes-into-receivership/4404696

Money Saving Challenge 2

Week One of my Money Saving Challenge and I overspent by $25. I'm not too disappointed because I entertained twice on the weekend, with one night being a Family Curry Night for 10 people.

This week I've spent a total of $74.79 on food so far. That included a Pantry Pack of plain flour and some casserole beef that was on special.
Not bad, though there're a few pantry items that need replacing such as mixed fruit, brown sugar and sultanas. Today was a big baking day - three lots of biscuits and two cakes.

I've been making sure that I remember what's in the fridge and use everything up rather than finding something weeks later shoved to the back and growing fur.

There was some left over Mussaman Beef Curry from the Curry Night that was turned into Curried Beef Pies today for lunch.
A piece of pumpkin looked a little sad, so that was steamed in the Thermomix a couple of days ago and turned into Pumpkin & Ginger Cake and Pumpkin Fruit Cake today.  I substitute 100g of sherry for part of the water in the Fruit Cake Recipe.

The beef on special was semi frozen then minced to make a Potato Pie for tea tonight. Minestrone Soup for lunch tomorrow with Frozen Chicken Stock and Roast Lamb for tea tomorrow night. I'll be making ice cream over the weekend and some bread. I have some delicious fig syrup left after glacéing figs in summer, so that can be drizzled over ice cream for a quick dessert.

My sister has given me some citrus fruit so I'll be making some marmalade next week which means I'll have to add sugar to my shopping list...

Yours in frugalness,
Megan

Getting Organised - Shopping

Recently, I helped out a friend in need and did a quick run around the supermarket for her. She handed me a Grocery Check List where she'd just ticked off all the items she required. It was so easy to use and on querying her about it, the list is a downloadable pdf from a blog. There's loads of these blogs out there, written by young mums, mostly, trying to get their lives into some sort of order and sharing their ideas with their avid readers.

The Grocery Check List was obviously from a US 'gal' and, while still really handy, didn't quite include the things that I would normally buy. I mean, where was the MightyMite? (I no longer buy Vegemite as it's not an Australian product anymore..)

So, I've developed my own check list. Since I buy very little pre-prepared stuff, it won't suit everyone, but I've left plenty of spaces to add your own items. (I didn't actually add MightyMite, but put in the item 'Spreads', and space to write the particular spread needed.)
I also make my own toiletries washing up liquid and cleaning products, so didn't include those either. Since I don't have babies, there's no nappies, baby food etc. either.
I don't usually buy eggs as I have a friend and a daughter with chooks and we swap eggs for soap.

If you'd like me to create one with these items, let me know what you need and I'll try to fit it in. Tell me what I can take out of the list that you don't normally buy.

I don't buy these items every week, of course, but it's still handy to have the whole list of things that I use.

This link will take you to Google Docs. You can then click 'File' and 'Download' or 'Print'. Let me know what you think, I'd love some feedback. I haven't made it all fancy with pretty pictures, that's just not my thing!

I'm sure there'll be something I've left off the list!

Grocery Check List 
(modified 3/7/11)