So, we’ve been broke this month. And not broke in a “we’re doing okay” kind of way, but broke in a “let’s not go anywhere because we don’t have the petrol”. A few things conspired against us and our savings – namely a large mechanic bill, impending car registration, bills, and just stuff. You know how it goes, I’m sure you’ve all been here.
And then my bank changed the way it works, showing me just how much we’ve been spending at the supermarket. You guys, I’m not sure why it’s cheaper to buy crappy processed foods rather than ingredients, but it is, and we’re stuck with it.
But it has to change, because I can’t keep this up.
No worries though, I have a Plan.
Read the rest at Money Circle.
I spent about $17 at woolies on a easi-yo yoghurt maker. I buy the long life milk (then you don’t have to boil the milk yourself) which costs about $1 a litre. Because my son and I like it thick but not particularly strong tasting, I buy a bag of the cheap milk power every few months for about $6. I don’t buy their flavour sachets or their starter, I just used a small tub of a greek yoghurt we liked as a starter, and then the last few spoonfuls of the one you have in the fridge now work for the next lot’s starter. The leftover yoghurt, a couple of spoonfuls of milk powder, and the container of milk. It sits in the thermos-y thing on the bench for 10 hrs then in the fridge for 6 – and we have a litre of lovely creamy yoghurt for, I think, $1.20. I buy lots of fruit for my little one, and pulp a bit to flavour the yoghurt each day.
Thank you for this! I have an Easi-yo maker, but hadn’t even thought about using it without the sachets. This would be so much cheaper!
I hadn’t thought of this. I have an Easi-Yo maker, but I’ve been buying the sachets. Then the price of those went up a bit and buying a kilo of ready made yoghurt was the same price, so I’ve been buying the ready made. I’ll try the long-life milk method next summer. I don’t eat much yoghurt in the winter, it’s my summer breakfast and in winter I switch to porridge.
You don’t need to continue buying the packs! The packs are only milk powder and the yoghurt starter. Next time you make yoghurt, save about 1/2 cup for the starter for the next batch (in a clean container in the fridge). To make, clean out the esiyo plastic container very carefully so you’re not accidently growing nasties, add either lukewarm milk or some made up milk powder milk (whatever is cheaper), stir in the saved 1/2 cup of yoghurt and set aside as normal. If you want greek style, just add extra milk powder. It’s that easy! The yoghurt packs you buy at the supermarket are a total con, really.
I stopped buying the sachets when they were working out to be more expensive. I’m interested to try the long life method too!
The biggest way I save money at the supermarket is by getting really into ‘reduced for quick sale’! So many things freeze beautifully if you just grab them when they’re reduced – avocados (just mash with a bit of lemon juice), bananas (mash for baking, smoothies etc), hummus, meat obviously, fresh juices (just stick the plastic bottle in the freezer), milk, bread, cheeses incl fresh mozzarella in it’s liquid, sliced salami and deli meats (I would add to something thoroughly heated like soups or bakes, yum). I live on a VERY tight budget and have done since I was a solo mum at 18, so this topic is totally my thing. I eat very well, I have to say, but you do have to have the time to make that fab chicken soup from a carcass, or bake, or check the markets regularly. Learn to love your slow cooker and your freezer and you’ll halve your budget pretty quickly!
Reduced things are like tiny little Christmas presents aren’t they? We’ve had no luck with any decent recently, and I haven’t seen a reduced avocado ever, which makes me wonder what they’re doing with all the overripe avocadoes.
It would be nice if we had more choice in where to shop. Markets are lovely, but the only decent ones near us (down in Hobart) are “artisan” and super expensive. Which is a shame.
I’ve been to Hobart and remember thinking how expensive things were! It’s avo season now though, so snaffle some away into the freezer for nachos with all the trimmings in mid winter. It’s economical, tasty and kids love it. I’m not a huge fan of mince and do buy the premium expensive stuff, but combing it with beans etc making a huge batch in the slow cooker makes it worth it. I make massive slow cooker batches of things, freeze in portions and then use my freezer as a bit of a takeaway in the evenings. My go tos are a thick chicken vege soup, slow cooked bolognese with bacon and wine, nacho/taco/baked potato mix, chicken and chick pea curry, vaguely thai-style potato or rice based fish cakes and corned beef (I freeze slices in the liquor from the slow cooker and reheat in that so it stays very moist). They’re all made from things I’ve found on good specials. Just add veg and you’ve got a meal. Just start doing one meal that your family like, based around a brilliant special on the protein and you’re away.
I’m still waiting for avo season – they’re still $3 each here. Another few weeks and they’ll drop, hopefully.
I love my slow cooker for big batches of things, and I suspect we cook and eat a similar way. I make extras to pull out on nights I can’t be bothered cooking (today’s meal: pea and ham soup with ham bones left from Xmas), which is just sanity saving.
Most of our grocery bill is actually spent on fresh fruit and vegetables. The kids go through near to 5kg of carrots and the same of apples each fortnight, plus other fruit and veg. Hoping now another fruit market is under new management (not the melty apples market) we can begin to cut the cost down by buying what we can in bulk.
Have you tried growing? An apple tree takes no time to mature – even the person high stick saplings will produce apples. They’re also things you don’t need to do much with, just a spray for codling moth once a year.
I can’t believe you’re paying that for avos! They’re about 50-90c apiece here in nz, and they’re all imported! 5kg of carrots here is about $5, apples are $1.99 a kilo for the cheapest variety. What is Taz known for producing? Other than a redneck attitude??? lol
Apples, we’ve been paying $4/kg, carrots are about $1.20kg, etc etc.
We’ve got fruit trees in, but they’re probably 12 months off producing anything decent. There’s a mix of cherries, plums, apples, peaches, nectarines, pears and apricots. Laying the groundwork for good fruit down the track, hopefully!
The garden is doing well, and we’re probably only a week or two away from a large amount of tomatoes being ripe. Pumpkins are also doing well, but the first ones are probably a fortnight away from ready, with smaller ones coming through still. As well as all the standard greenery (herbs, silverbeet, spinach, chard).
Oh well done! I’m not much of gardener but I have managed tomatoes this year. Last years all got blight. Gosh, you really are a bit expensive there. You must be on the same seasonal cycle as we are in Christchurch, so I wonder how the markets justify that?? You can probably buy nz products cheaper than we can here though. Have you tried looking for fresh produce online? There must be local sites where someone can advertise their freerange eggs etc, usually local auction sites will have stuff. I just bought 15 kilos of hazelnuts in the shell for $50 from a local I found online – they’re going to be a years worth of pesto with the masses of basil I’m growing, plus nuts in porridge, baking and salads. I might even shell a few kilos and onsell them for 3 times the price per kilo!
Tassie is behind with the online thing. I’d like to set something up next summer, along the lines of freecycle, but facilitating produce swaps.
That sounds great! So many people must be in the same position.
Another tip is only using bleach, vinegar, baking soda and dish washing liquid for cleaning, in various combinations. Don’t mix bleach and vinegar because that makes chlorine gas….. BUT bleach and dishwash is floor and bathroom cleaner, vinegar and dishwash is great in the shower for soap scum or as a bench spray, baking soda and dishwash is a foaming scrub. There are some things that are vastly expensive to buy that are very simple ingredients – because it’s not required to put ingredients on cleaning products! All mould-gone products are just bleach. I put diluted bleach in a spray bottle and just spray shower grout etc. Easy off Bam type soap scum products are just citric acid. Buy it in the baking aisle. Don’t pay the bastards more money than you need to!
Yep, already on that. Baking soda is amazing stuff.
I’ll shut up now 🙂 This is a ‘don’t get me started’ topic for me!
Do you still put boiling water in the easiyo thermos thing when making yoghurt the cheap way (!!!) with just milk and some left over yoghurt?
I’m not sure what Beth does, but when I used boiling water, it curdled my yogurt. So I’ve been using mostly hot tap water from the tap (which is about 60C) and then adding around 250ml of boiling water to bring the temp up to 68C-70C which seems to work really well for me.
I just use boiling water as per normal. I noticed on your other post that you use UHT milk? I just use regular cold milk straight from the fridge, yoghurt that’s been in the fridge, mix in more milk powder into the cold milk if you want a thick yoghurt. Stick it all in the container, container in the thermos with the boiling water. I guess it probably ends up at about 65 degrees? I know people who do the same but just put the container (without the thermos) in the hot water cupboard. The 70yo+ age group have been doing this with a jar in the hot water cupboard for decades. I’ve not had a problem with it curdling, but I’m not sure what I’m doing differently!
Upthread, (first comment) Grouchiegrrl suggested using long life milk, which was repeated elsewhere because then you don’t have to heat the milk first? But you don’t do that, so it must work anyway (yay!). I use UHT because it’s easier to keep a few litres of that in the cupboard.
Don’t suppose it matters as long as it works! I used to use UHT as an emergency backup but fresh is actually quite a bit cheaper here, so I now chuck a few extra containers in the freezer instead.
Yuk my yoghurt curdled! I’ll try your way Veronica with hot tap water & top up with boiling water x
My first batch did too! I fed it to the animals, but Beth said it’s great for in cakes. I wasn’t prepared to salvage it.
The second batch with a slightly cooler temperature and milk powder worked much better!
I’m not giving in! Going to try again today. Wish me luck 🙂
Sorry, guys! I didn’t even realise that curdling was an option!
I often buy shortdated yoghurt or sour cream and freeze it. It comes out of the freezer lumpy and curdled but it’s great in baking – hence the curdled/baking advice.
Good to know! Next time I won’t throw mine out – although the animals were an enthusiastic clean up crew.
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