steandleigh

HI!

am interested to know what's on the 'typical' Aussie menu, week to week and how much it costs you...(not intended to be a thread about the cost of lettuce etc...just interested to see if I can get my food bill down any further... )

For us, a typical menu includes:

* Roast on a sunday (whether it be a chook / or joint of beef, lamb or pork), heaps of different veggies, cauli and brocoli cheese, yorkie puds, roast potatoes + parsnips, mash, gravy etc
* BBQ (at some point in the week, usually sat night - ste cooks!!! - steak, 'roo, chook, veggie kebabs, salads, breads, dips, coleslaws, potatoes etc
* Spag bog / cheese / herb bread
* Beef or lamb stew and dumplings / mash / veggies etc
* Chicken casserole / veggies etc
* Shephards pie, veggies etc
* Chook nuggets / jacket potatoes / salad (for kids)
* Chilli / rice / veggies
* Curry / rice / poppadums
* Chicken caesar salad / pasta salad / rice

All in (and I make everything from scratch - even the chook nuggets :scared: , we are spending an average of $150-$200 a week. I always get the meat from the meat warehouse - buy in bulk and freeze, veggies from veggie road side seller and go to Coles or wherever for the rest. Obviously, that includes household products and personal hygeine products. I make curries/ chilli's /stews etc and freeze in bulk to save time but I'd really like to get the bill down further as I'm hoping to go to Uni in Feb and every cent counts!!!

Any tips for a tight arse? (we have 2 littlies, so nutrition is paramount, toasties for tea is not an option )

Storini

Hmm, well I have relatives in the ACT who grow their own vegetables in a section of their garden. Very tasty, and can't get much cheaper than that. Got to watch out for the hungry wildlife though...

steandleigh

That's the plan (we are in a rental at the mo') when our house is finally built. Haven't grown my own before but judging by the way the plants in the garden grow here, veggies shouldn't be too much of a prob. Thanks for that.

ozzieeagle

Just on a side issue SandL, (will post our menu later just off to work) A couple up the road from us, In Gaffney Street Coburg, Has just opened a Cleaning/personal hygeine/warehouse type supermarket (you name it you can get it from soap right through to glad wrap) about 33 pct cheaper than any supermarket.

I'd buy a franchise if i could, the place is always busy.

steandleigh

That's a good point, I do spend quite a bit on household cleaning products (2 scruffy littlies!!!). I'm particular about my washing powder and softener and shampoo / soap / toothpaste etc but I'm sure I could get the rest cheaper if I looked....ta!

Bella Donna

I've saved a fair amount since I changed over to more natural cleaning products. Basically all you need is bicarb, borax, lemon juice and vinegar. I've done away with all the bathroom/kitchen/surface cleaners/disinfectants and it saves a lot. I think there's always room to cut back on detergent too - most of us use far too much. I know I certainly use more than the packaging says... Vinegar can be a good substitute for fabric conditioner and helps whiten too when clothes are on the line. Flat coke makes a wonderful loo cleaner and I never use anything more than white vinegar to clean the bathroom - basin, bath and loo clean up very well. Add a few essential oils and it smells really nice too.

Sounds like you're doing really well on the food front - apart from growing your own, don't see how you can improve on that without compromising quality. If you have your own lemon tree you could try making your own soft drinks? Possibly making your own ice cream? Bread?

Good luck - sounds like it's worth coming to dinner!!

sunnies

[QUOTE=Bella Donna]I've saved a fair amount since I changed over to more natural cleaning products. Basically all you need is bicarb, borax, lemon juice and vinegar. I've done away with all the bathroom/kitchen/surface cleaners/disinfectants and it saves a lot. I think there's always room to cut back on detergent too - most of us use far too much. I know I certainly use more than the packaging says... Vinegar can be a good substitute for fabric conditioner and helps whiten too when clothes are on the line. Flat coke makes a wonderful loo cleaner and I never use anything more than white vinegar to clean the bathroom - basin, bath and loo clean up very well. Add a few essential oils and it smells really nice too.

Sounds like you're doing really well on the food front - apart from growing your own, don't see how you can improve on that without compromising quality. If you have your own lemon tree you could try making your own soft drinks? Possibly making your own ice cream? Bread?



bit confused about the vinegar things etc. How do you use biarb, borax, lemon juice and vinegar. Do you dilute it and/or use what on what to clean? I am very clean to get rid of using goodies that contain so many additives that are harmful to you. Any further info would be very useful - educate us woman!

chatty34

Hi Can you please elaborate on how exactly do you use vinegar and lemon etc? also what do you add the essential oils too. Which one would you use to clean windows?
Do any of these things really clean up tide marks from a bath or sink.
I keep thinking about all the cleaning products that I use lately and am very eager to stop using them for a number of reasons ie; cost, environment and personal health.
Any info would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks

Sharon

Jonahs_mummy

sounds like you have been watching kim and aggie on "how clean is your home" lol they do give out great tips for natural cleaning tips

webgum

Hi there, you've set me thinking about our weekly menu.

So here goes:

Curry (chicken or lamb) with chapattis(home made) or rice
Stir fry (usually veggie, maybe prawns if I'm feeling generous)
Lamb grilled somehow with veggies
Home made pizza with lots of veggie toppings
Fish - simply panfried with veggies
Some other chicken dish.!!
Packed lunch for husband and eldest child.
Fruit, fruit and more fruit.
Yoghurt (should make my own, but can't be arsed!)
I also have a weekly bill of around $200, but that gets pushed up with the extra milk and bread we buy during the week.

I seem to be missing a couple of days.

I always seem to find myself with ingredients left over and stick my nose in a cookery book to work out a way of using it up. Nigel Slater is great for meal solutions. He's my food god!

Generally make pikelets, healthy muffins for kids during the week. Quick and easy, and doubles up as play time. Doesn't help with the cleaning though.

BTW what amount do you spend on booze? We spend too much and are on a mission to find the tastiest cheap wine we can. Any recommendations for good cask (boxed) wine wouldn't go amiss.

Bella Donna

Hi Sharon and Sunnies,

Firstly, although I use these items a lot, most of my *recipes* are in reference books that are on their way in our sea freight, so I will post them as and when that stuff arrives.

Borax is a good cleaner for laundry - moves a lot of stubborn stains - and is also good for counter surfaces and bathrooms. It is quite caustic and I haven't been able to track any down in the UK. The EU changed the packaging requirements - it used only to be single wrapped but because it is a powder, and because of its caustic nature, the EU deemed it had to be double-wrapped. The manufacturers then decided that changing the packaging would make it too expensive for the UK market and no-one has produced it in the UK for a while.

I have used lemon juice a fair bit for cleaning. I have mixed it with bicarb to make a very good stain remover. Our one cat decided to have a poo in the bath one evening and I couldn't remove the stain for love nor money. Eventually I got rid of it by sprinkling bicarb over it (alkaline and lightly caustic, plus abrasive) and chucking lemon juice (very acid in its primary state) over the bicarb. Had a wonderful fizz and when I rinsed it off, no more stain. I also used lemon juice mixed with bicarb to clean up the tile grout in our bathroom which was badly stained. Lemon juice is generally a good lightener - it's also effective at helping sunlight bleach whites on the line.

Bicarb is mildly abrasive so good for cleaning any area where you would normally use something like Jif cream (or whatever it's called nowadays). Mixed with vinegar it's marvellous for removing hard water stains. I also used bicarb diluted to clean the inside of the fridge and freezer - helps prevent the build-up of bugs in the fridge and freezer. It's a mild disinfectant and good on badly burnt-on stains on the hob too.

Vinegar is the one I use the most of. I get a plastic water sprayer bottle and dilute 20% white vinegar (which I've just discovered is a lot cheaper in Oz than the UK) to 80% water. I usually also add 15-20 drops of an essential oil like lavender, citronella, or lemongrass (deter insects) or peppermint (deters ants) and shake it all up together. You can add any essential oil within reason and it makes the vinegar less noticeable. With this solution and my trusty microfibre cloth (Tescos, £1 each) I clean all my windows (nothing else necessary), woodwork, worktops, taps, bath, basin, kitchen sink and loo. Vinegar kills around 99% of all germs (recognise that? ) but without the aggressiveness of bleach. Or the fumes! We had some bad hard water deposits around the base of the taps in the kitchen and bathroom - just sprayed on some of this solution, left it overnight (soaking paper kitchen towels with it and wrapping them round works well) and all the stains just lifted. Great for cleaning mirrors (doesn't leave smudges) and tiles (lifts the hard water splodges again). Works well on chrome taps, mixer heads, etc.. Vinegar is also very good as a substitute fabric conditioner - doesn't get things quite as soft as commercial stuff, but for me, that is outweighed by not having the chemicals, which I'm sure play havoc with children who have sensitive skin.

Tbh, I don't buy *commercial* cleaners any more. You can add essential oils to any solution like this - they dilute fairly well in water - and any essential oil is generally antibacterial, antiviral and antiseptic. My personal opinion is that all these abrasive and aggressive cleaners with their *antibacterial* ingredients are contributing to the MRSA problems. Essential oils are dynamic and constantly changing - bugs cannot become resistant to them. If hospitals and other places suffering from superbugs used EOs more frequently there would be a sharp decrease in these bugs, I'm sure. EO of lemon has been shown to kill the TB bacillus in around 3 minutes - what else can it do, I wonder?

Sorry - pet topic! Hope this helps but I will find out my recipes when they arrive.

Sue

webgum

Bella Donna - I'm printing you off! I do use Bicarb already, and know I should use lemon juice and vinegar but never knew how. You've saved me ordering Kim and Aggies book!!
Fab info. Ta muchly.

Pollyana

cask wine - down to individual taste, but i rather like Coolabah Fresh Dry White - usually about 411 a cask, and its nothing amazing, but its certainly drinkable and not vinegar!

Leigh - my MIL out in the Kingaroy area has always grown loads of veggies, as long as you keep them watered when necessary you should be fine - she has loads of tomatoes, green veg, chokos (yeuch!!), and plenty of fruit too. You will probably find yourself giving some away to people!

chatty34

Wow, Thanks Sue.
This is brilliant, I feel really inspired to spend the afternoon cleaning.
I have pasted this to word and printed it off. I will definitely give everying that you have mentioned a try. Not only will it save money but it will ease my conscience too.

Flutterscutter

You cant possibly have a roast without pumpkin!!

The spag "bog" sounds good.Do you wipe the pasta round the toilet bowl before serving?