Local Produce

I went to the Rapid Creek Markets, to see what people are harvesting at this time of year to gain ideas for my garden plot and also to purchase good local produce with low eco miles.

This is my purchased fruits which is coming out of my usual weekly $100 grocery budget.

Total Cost: $9.50

Limes: $2.00
Chinese Plums: $2.50
Mandarins: $2.00
Dragon Fruit: $3.00

Sorry for the poor pic - I used The Rambling Expats camera which I am not used to.

Have you been buying any local anything lately?

Supermarket Shelves & Food Security.

As most of you know we had a cyclone heading our way over Christmas. It didn't hit our city/town however it did go inland to the Kakadu region.

The cyclone/storm caused flooding and damage to roads and rail tracks, preventing road trains (very large trucks) and freight trains from driving into our city. We live far from the other side of Australia where everything tends to come from. Even our local food goes to the other side for sorting before coming back to our supermarket shelves - CRAZY!

People shopped a lot for Christmas meals. Then people shopped a lot for cyclone preparation. And then with the roads being blocked nothing was coming through. Coles Supermarket fruit and veg section had limited produce on offer when I went in at 7:45am. By 5pm I heard the was not a tomato or single lettuce leaf in sight. I heard there was hardly anything available in the fresh produce aisles.

Pears and Other Softer Fruits Such As Stone Fruit All Gone Except For A Few Tough Grapes.

These Last 4 Bags of Sad Rocket Were Quickly Snapped Up.

Shelves Becoming Bare.

Lots of Long Lasting Apples in the Background, All These Soft and Bruised Tomatos Were Gone By Afternoon.

I travelled extensively in Russia in 1978 and spent a few days in Moscow in 1984. I have seen the queues to purchase an ice cream cone as I stood a good hour in line too. I have seen long quiet queues in the freezing cold to purchase minimal items. A loaf of bread here and a warm hat there. Eye opening for a kid from a country with abundance and waste.

The shelves at Coles made me think a lot about food security, the future and the need to grow more of our own produce. Everyone can grow a little of their own food, even if it's just one small plant to start off with. A year ago I knew absolutely nothing about gardening or plants. Now as I have my small garden plot I am learning from books, blogs, other gardeners and best of all from my own experiences of trial and error. I am growing some of my own food and if the supermarket shelves have nothing to offer I can pick nutrient rich foods from my plot.

Are you growing in your garden, pot plant, styfoam box? If yes, what are your food for table successes?

Slow Cooker Left Overs

I'm back into some slow cooking for time saving and frugality due to cheaper cuts of meat working well slow cooked.

I prepare and place everything into the slow cooker by 7am. Dress for my busy working day and Dolly for her school day. Turn it on Low as we leave the house and dinner is ready when we return 9.5 hours latter. We plate up and eat. Easy and Fuss Free for a Busy Household.

I slow cooked a roast, a couple of small steaks and vegetables in one pot. After we ate dinner, I filled containers with left overs for 4 quick meals this week.

• Fall apart steak to serve with rice.
• Left over roast and veggies to eat with salad night 1 and pasta on night 2.
• Roast and veggies for Rambling Expats lunch.

Home Made - Take Away

I'm keeping within the budget of $100 a week shopping for groceries. My aim is to cut back to $80 the next 4 weeks and use up everything in the fridge and freezer to start the new year afresh with a nice cleared and clean fridge.

I'm tightening the belt again money wise and need to stop buying any frivolous junk food. If/When I go part time my wages will be slashed by 30%. That is huge and scary. How's your budget coming along? Does it need tweaking and reworking like mine does?

Note to my readers in Australia, Don't Forget to Enter my Air Wick Aqua Mist Giveaway HERE to go in the draw to win a $200 Voucher!

Check Your Docket!

Today I went to work with some chopped fruit for my gluttonous snacking habit.

Kiwi fruit, apple and pear.

I also purchased veggies for a salad. I used 2 zuchinis, 2 carrots, half an avacado, 1 tomato and a dash of left over olive oil from a jar of feta cheese. Similar to yesterday except an extra carrot, only half an avocado and no lemon, to cut my cost down.

Trying to keep it healthy and delicious.

I always try to give myself a moment to check my docket before I leave any store, because there are often errors and today was no exception. My 500gm bag of baby carrots was supposed to be $1 on special - but it scanned for $1.45. When I took them to the service desk I received a full refund for my item due to store error. I love this store policy and I am willing to take full advantage of it.

Free Carrots.

Due to the refund and budgeting; today my Lunch only cost cost me $2.05 and I'm still focusing on getting healthy and happy again as I know food is linked to my physical wellbeing and moods too. I'm Feeling like a Winner already!

Do you check your Dockets before you leave the store?

My shopping for the Week

I've been very careful with not wasting food, menu planning and shopping sensibly. (I threw out half a bowl of cooked white rice). However the prices seem to have increased as I struggle to keep at the $100 mark, and yet my food purchases have decreased in that I don't purchase as much produce anymore. I use my lovely grown produce as much as possible.

Yesterday I picked 4 eggplants, 3 types of spinach, one lebanese cucumber, some lemon balm, chocolate mint, coriander, ginger, 1 chilli and basil. All of these items are incorporated in my meals. I also saw a gorgeous tree snake.

Looking at You.

My grocery shopping for the week was $96.57. 

Here is what I got...

The cereal was on a special of $2 less then usual. The mince on special and then also marked down. The vinegar and bicarb for cleaning of course. I only wanted 2 packets of pasta but it on super special at only $1 so I grabbed 4 instead.

Weeks shopping

This week our planned meals are:

Sunday: French omelet mixed with potato, spinach and fresh herbs. Cucumber, spinach and fresh herb salad.

Monday: Spag bol with eggplant, spinach and fresh herbs.

Tuesday: left over spag bol with spinach salad.

Wednesday: Italian sausage stew cooked with lentils, carrots, broccoli, spinach and herbs.

Thursday: Pasta with fresh herb and nut pesto.

Friday: Left overs from previous 2 nights.

Saturday: Veggie stir fry with rice.

Sunday: Fish cooked with ginger and herbs with side salad.

My neighbour also gave me a bunch of snake beans from the markets he purchased for $1.

As I haven't purchased my office lunch ingredients yet - I will try to do with what I have at home to keep my costs down. Egg and cheese sandwiches maybe :-)

Spending Less to Pay for Treats.

I did not spend on groceries in the past week as I had lots of treats planned. I used everything I could from fridge, cupboard and garden in the aim to spend $$$ on Bastille Day and also a day off to be with my daughter.

Here was our meals:

Monday - Garden: Green pawpaw salad with a dressing of garden herbs and spices.
Tuesday - Fridge: Vegetable soup cooked in slow cooker.
Wednesday - Neighbour: Dinner at my neighbours. I took entree of left over vegetable soup.
Thursday - Garden: Bastille Day BBQ. I took a very large bowl of sliced/marinated egg plant to BBQ and share. Yum!
Friday - Spent: 3 take away pizzas with vouchers.
Saturday - Cupboard and Garden: Pasta with a pesto made of many different herbs, egg plants and steamed greens.

Basket was B-Day gift from my partner The Rambling Expat.  

Pesto - Lemon balm, basil, chocolate mint, parsly, Thai coriander, ginger, lemon grass chilli. Parmesan and nuts.

Egg plant, 3 spinaches, asian greens.

My Dolly LOVES Caviar. 5 Star Taste On Shoe String Budget.

I spent roughly, $84:

• $18 for my office lunches, 
• $45 for a special morning tea at work (Bastille Day) of croissants, pain au chocolate French cheese and bread. 
• And the $21 for pizza take away.

I shouted my work colleagues a yummy morning tea and treated Dolly to a super special day of Sushi at one of her favourite restaurants and The Circus. This is one of the happy reasons I am frugal.

I am frugal because I am saving for retirement, cutting back my work hours in 2012, want to purchase a house but also save for those special things in our lives such as the Circus. Saving gets easier day by day as less things tempt me. But I did buy something... Hangs head in shame..... a $39 dual rubbish bin for my kitchen. Was it needed? NO. Was it wanted? YES, YES, YES. YES, YES.

How's your spending getting along? Feel comfortable spending on special outings and treats when you've saved your $$$. Or are you always feeling guilty?

Weekly Grocery Shopping

My weekly shop was way over my $100 budget by $37.51!! Ouch... but this is mainly due to purchasing 2 large boxes of cat food and 2 blocks of cheese for $40. Both items had a great special and even thought I don't need them for another week or two, they were worth getting ahead of time as they are saving me $15 in the long run.

This is $137.51; it doesn't look like much food once out of the bags.

I took time out to write my menu plan for the week. It's such a worthwhile exercise. When I don't write one because I'm time poor, I end up wasting time and feeling even more disorganised then before. It only takes me 30 minutes and it's a pleasant way to spend time (daydreaming about food).

These are the planned dinners this week for 2 adults and one 4 yr old child. And always enough for guests.

• Sunday: Quiche Lorraine (plus an one extra to take to work for morning tea).
• Monday: Spaghetti Bolognese.
• Tuesday: Left over Bolognese mince sauce with vegetables.
• Wednesday: A beef stroganoff type dish with veggies and spinach from the garden.
• Thursday: Baked potatoes with cheese, sour cream, grated carrot, spinach and ham.
• Friday: Left overs (gotta keep it out of landfill and save those pennies for the future).
• Saturday: Baked fish (The Rambling Expat caught) with steamed vegetables.

I'll use the tin of tuna and one loaf of bread for my lunches. There's plenty of left over fruit from last week for my daily fruit at the office.

How about you? Saving those pennies? Is menu planning on your To Do list?

Officemade Lunch Cheaper then Takeaway

Here's another week of groovy lunches in the office tea room with view on the sea.

Left overs from last week pulled out of the fridge.

Left overs good to eat.

New purchases I made in my Monday lunch break for $13.70.

Sweet, savoury and fruity too.

The lot grouped together makes fulfilling lunches with special treats to prevent those junk food purchases that I always crave and cave in to.

Satisfying food. A bit of healthy and a bit of junk.

And voila, my daily lunches this week will look somewhat like this for the tiny sum of $2.74 per day (I may need to buy one .60 bread roll on Friday).

$2.74!!!! That's a Bargain.

It's not hard to eat this way now that I have fallen into a habit and I'm enjoying the personal challenge.

• I search the specials and mark downs. 
• I compare ingredients (today I found the cheaper Coles brand juice has the same ingredients as the Just Juice brand juice). 
• It only takes me 20 minutes of my 60 minute lunch break to shop and pay once a week for my lunch ingredients. 
• Making my lunches with everything on hand only takes me 5 minutes (I have discovered not spreading butter is a great time saver).
• Stocking everything at work saves me from my forgetfulness.

I'm saving a pretty penny with this new way of doing my lunches. Previously I often forgot my lunch box at home quite and resorted to buying a quick fix lunch out of frustration. Doing all these little money saving life changes means saving for an earlier retirement and enjoying my life by spending on things that count to me such as paying off our mortgage extra early, travel, education and Dolly.

I forgot my shopping bags at home this time!! But... Drum roll please... I took my own pre-used plastic bag from my desk that once held a computer. Yeah!!!!

How are you going so far with your lunches this week? Are you avoiding takeout or falling prey? Do you have a love relationship with all things chocolate like me?

Working Mum Eats Lunch

My decluttering post received a few comments - it seems to be a popular topic and something a lot of us struggle with. When we are successful in decluttering (even a little) we all enjoy the fruits of our labour and have a wonderful moral boosting sense of achievement.

For all of you out there in other countries not understanding some of my lingo or Australian terms let me know. Op Shops are thrift stores / charity shops. The "Op" stands for Opportunity, as in Opportunity Shops, but no one really calls them that anymore. The are just Op Shops or even Oppies.

Last night I had a visit from friends who are very careful with their money and do everything they can to maximise it and live frugally. I make my lunch with left overs or purchase something inexpensive in my break, from the supermarket such as salad ingredients or bread and sandwich feelings. Well Gary who also works full time goes to the supermarket on Mondays and buys his food for the weeks 5 lunches including drink and makes them up each day at work. His spends roughly $11. And I think this as a inexpensive option that also frees up time and I want to give it a go.

My lunch break is 1 hour long if our phones are not running off the hook. I really want to use that 1 "child free" hour I have more wisely, either with sanity time for myself or getting bills paid and educational books read to grow my mind. I also want it to be nourishing, filling and healthy food wise. Anyway... today I descended to the supermarket and bought a weeks worth of food to replicate Gary's example and see if it works for me.

I spent $11.27 and this is what I purchased to make myself 5 office lunches (minus drinks as I mainly drink water).

• 1 loaf of quality bread $3.00 (on special)
• 10 fruits $2.61 (I selected fruits on special which usually means the fruits are in season - therefor more ecologically sustainable, unfortunately they are not local produce)
• 5 slices of honey ham from the Service Deli section $1.99 (on special)
• 1 jar of marinated feta $1.00 (on special)
• 2 tomato's $1.86 (normal price)
• 1 cucumber .81 cents (normal price)

Weeks Worth of Lunch

I think this is a great idea however it's a bit bread heavy and not enough salad for me - but maybe on some Mondays I could purchase salad fillings only. For now I'm experimenting and will see how I go. This is what I made today and will have for the remaining 4 work days.

Quick filling (notice without butter as I try to be healthier)

My $2.26 Lunch! Bon Appetit!!!

You will notice I had to accept a plastic bag for my shopping as I had forgotten my shopping bag at my desk. This is something I need to change as I have been finding difficult to remember my bags much too often lately. Hangs head in shame :-(

What is your lunch like? Do you take your bags to the shops with you?

I Made a Glorious Error

Monday was a public holiday that I miscalculated. So I had 11 days off!!! Not just a lousy 10. Happy Dance....

I didn't do too much, as I wanted to do things at home and get ready for the work week. What a waste! It's not like I had to write a report for work or balance the books. Why did I waste my precious minutes on a little cleaning, some cooking, some sorting, some nagging, some more cleaning, more nagging and some more cooking.

Amongst all the boring activities I dropped off our Helpx Jiri at the airport as he was heading to Vietnam for 2 weeks. I gave him 2 magazines (that I picked up for FREE) for a friend in Vietnam who is a village girl working in the big smoke as a domestic aid and learning English in night classes. So ecologically the magazines are having a nice long life. They were read by a person(s), then donated to an op shop, then picked up for free by my mum, then given to me, then Jiri read them on the trip, then given in Vietnam where a whole lot of other people will read them. What a great long life instead of read once and binned.

Dolly and I also went for our weekly grocery shop. My fun girl always wants to come with me.

Playing Facial Games.

I bought some "wasted money" items:

• A Eco magazine (Because I wanted to see what it was all about)
• A bottle of cordial (which dropped and smashed as we got it out of the car).
• A manual egg beater (I could have waited to find one in an op shop).

But... I also purchased 2 toothbrushes on special for $4.88 which scanned wrong at $5.76 so I got them for free. Yeah!!! Love the FREE stuff.

I purchased 3 bottles of laundry liquid as it was a discontinued line and reduced from $8 to $4. So I stocked up.

Groceries shopping not yet completed.

My groceries total was $86.95AUS - my aim is for groceries to stay under $100 a week. I still have a few shopping items to buy at latter in the week, which may take me over.

How did you do with your groceries? Within budget? Out of budget? Smashed all your eggs and bottles?

Mango's, Eggs and Curry

Hello Dear Readers,

Wow!! We've had a very lucky week of lots of local food goodies given to us!

My mum went visited a friend in a rural area called Humpty Doo. A larger mango tree on his property had fallen, so there were plenty of mangoes to be picked before all the native animals and fruit flies got to them. My mum picked a large amount and gave us 3 times the amount you see in the photograph. I LOVE Mangos so this was a great gift.

She was also given eggs by another rural living friend, which she shared with us too.

Then to top it all off our neighbour gave us local curry leaves which have since dried and been used in various dishes.

I love gifts of foods from people's gardens. It's local, it's eco and it allows me to use my grocery budget on other extras.

Gifts: Mangoes, Eggs and Curry.

We have been very lucky indeed. We have eaten mangoes everyday and I will cut and freeze some before they go bad for future days. Yum! Yum!

Have you been given food lately or shared extra food that you have?

Cheers to good food,

Stephanie @ Frugal Down Under.