lbudgetting tips please

[sue-ball]

Next year we will need to live on a very strict budget.Can anyone give me sving tips ,minly for food and cleaning

.Only two of us in

Need to live on a lot less money next year.What is a good list of groceries to buy to start making cheap,meals in bulk that can be frozen and are versatile.Justhusband and i to feedThank you .

[sue-ball]

Im getting some great ideas here ,very grateful.I forgot to mention i live in a tiny town with one supermarket.Do you all find it is cheaper to make biscuits etc or do you just go without them

[imastawka]

If there are only two of you, then a breadmaker is ideal.

I use mine every week, but only to do the hard work of kneading.

I set it to 'dough only' then shape it either free form or into small tins.  What they call

1 large loaf can be made into 4 small loaves,plenty for two for dinner and then for

brekkie next day.

The other loaves can be frozen for later use.  If you make french bread (no egg) it

works out to be about 60c loaf

[polksaladallie]

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@sue-ball wrote:

Im getting some great ideas here ,very grateful.I forgot to mention i live in a tiny town with one supermarket.Do you all find it is cheaper to make biscuits etc or do you just go without them

---

It is cheaper (and healthier) to make almost everything, although you might be limited in the ingredients given the area where you are.  I don't make or buy sweet biscuits, because they are full of sugar.  Occasionially I make savoury biscuits (no sugar).

See if you can find a used Sharon Lush book on cheap household cleaning without using expensive cleaners. There are some on Ebay. 

Good luck in your economising, it can be done.

[purple_haize]

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@polksaladallie wrote:

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@sue-ball wrote:

Im getting some great ideas here ,very grateful.I forgot to mention i live in a tiny town with one supermarket.Do you all find it is cheaper to make biscuits etc or do you just go without them

---

It is cheaper (and healthier) to make almost everything, although you might be limited in the ingredients given the area where you are.  I don't make or buy sweet biscuits, because they are full of sugar.  Occasionially I make savoury biscuits (no sugar).

See if you can find a used Sharon Lush book on cheap household cleaning without using expensive cleaners. There are some on Ebay. 

Good luck in your economising, it can be done.

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Sharon Lush is the one who says to use hair spray on stains and also to use vinegar in wash machine.......the book is really good and full of useful information.

[bright.ton42]

Have a look around this website, it's just fantastic

http://www.cheapskates.com.au/

I've got so many good ideas from it.  

[k0llectable5]

Thanks for posting that link, looks like a great site 🙂

[purple_haize]

There is another site as well, that is very good.

www.simplesavings.com.au

[b3llag1na]

You will find that meat is just about the most expensive thing, save money by having 2 meatless meals a week - a tuna bake or pasta bake on for the meat free days usually goes down well.

Mince is cheap and very versatile, as are the stewing cuts. Another bonus with these as cutting them into small pieces means your portions can be smaller  - when we were poor with 4 youngsters to feed we used lots of mince, "fat" sausages and cheap beef cuts.

The kids enjoyed things like snags in onion gravy ( slice up the snags and you can get away with 1 per person).

And we grew most of our own veggies!

Rice is a  good staple  - filling and also quite versatile. Buying the bulk bags when they are on special makes a meal really cheap! And it keeps for ages as long as you keep any critters out of it!

My daughter's hint is to menu plan EVERY meal BEFORE you shop - this way you only get what you need for that week's / fortnight's meals - she would plan this around the specials in the supermarket to some extent. She also planned in the snacks for each day - no wastage EVER that way!

She says bulk weetbix is a healthy cheap brekky - add a little fruit for variety.

She also used powdered milk mixed 50/50 with the real thing.

[*crikey*mate*]

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@sue-ball wrote:

Im getting some great ideas here ,very grateful.I forgot to mention i live in a tiny town with one supermarket.Do you all find it is cheaper to make biscuits etc or do you just go without them

---

we make them, and you can make a big batch and freeze extra dough in smaller portions. and just add stuff to make different flavours if you like that sort of thing.from posher ones to just plain ones.

and you can blitz up normal white sugar to make castopr sugar, (castor sugar is a lot more expensive)

pretty much butter, sugar and flour is all you need for biscuits and you can make cheap butter by overwhipping cream, just keep beating till it gets to butter, add salt if you want salted butter, but for baking, obviously don't LOL

If you can travel say once a month to a bulk place would help heaps but Bidvest do deliver to a fair few places for orders over $50, check online, they may do it for your area.

but the bulky butchers with the $4.99 rumps - butch will cut the roast off for you and slice the rest, so if you can travel into a bigger town once a month or so, that'll save you heaps.

I don't believe you need a bread maker, if you have a mix master that will mix the dough for you, and you can knead it by hand, and just put it in a bowl with a teat towel over it on your hot water system to prove it, then knock it back, prove again and then shape etc.