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Archive for March, 2008

More shopping for my stockpile

March 31st, 2008 at 07:56 am

Today I found UHT Milk that was markdown with a few months still before best before date. I bought the 4 cartons there @ .50 each and being organic they were around $2.15 RRP each. There were some soy milk also but I did buy it as I’m not great lover of soy milk. I will keep some of this milk in stock so I have milk if we have a problem with our water supply at anytime. I can use about one carton per week normally so when they get to near use by date I work them into my normal week supply and replace with fresh supply. I bought my cat some more cat litter as I do need to stockpile more for them too! Prices are going up fast here, so it will be cushion against prices rises as well having more in the cupboards.

Weekly Main Meal Menu

Sunday ~ Roast Chicken & Vegetables
Monday ~ Stir Fry Beef with Rice
Tuesday ~ Beans & Rice with Vegetables
Wednesday ~ Apricot Chicken with rice
Thursday ~ Grilled Sausages with Onions & Grilled Tomato
Friday ~ Pasta with Tuna & Tomato Sauce
Saturday ~ Leftovers

EARTH HOUR

March 29th, 2008 at 04:14 am

I’m joining in on this event tonight; I will be turning off my lights, computer and TV between 8pm – 9pm local time.

A quite few places are joining in here including a large function with 3000 dining guests will be eating by candlelight as whole function will in darkness for that hour.

Many people have planned Earth Hour Parties by candlelight and one sport stadium is showing the Alan Gore movie while this is on. It should be an interesting to see how much power can be saved over all as this event is worldwide this time and not just Sydney this year.

Text is Australia ready to switch off lights for Earth Hour and Link is http://news.ninemsn.com.au/article.aspx?id=112794
Australia ready to switch off lights for Earth Hour

This week’s spending

March 28th, 2008 at 05:48 am

I have been shopping only twice since last week, still haven’t spent any money on Grocery. But I have spent $33.50 on books all used ones too! They are by an author that I am trying to read when I get some time to do so as they are in trilogy form, I need to get them all before I start to read most of them. I do have the first book but I don’t have any others in first trilogy but I do have the first book in the next trilogy, the other ones are from other trilogies that she has written. I am planning to buy new next two books of the first trilogy for Mother Day as I will ask for gift vouchers again this year. They do come in handy when you want something that is not a need but you would like to have it. As I am a slow reader I do need to buy these books as I’m still reading War & Peace after 32 years. I have seen the that movie a few times but with the book I get very bored in the war parts of the book and then stop for a few years then have another go. I may get there one day. Some books I can read in a few hours but others it takes years.

I did have lunch with my ex-coworkers again this week, and paid my visa so it’s back to Zero again.

The other thing I did spend money is getting prescriptions filled and packet of candy as the treat for the week not that I didn’t get any chocolate for Easter, I just a need to buy some non- chocolate candy too!

We may get some rain tonight so heres is hoping.

New batteries for smoke detectors

March 23rd, 2008 at 10:22 am

This week it’s time to charge the batteries in the smoke detectors, I have 3 of them so I went and bought a pack of 4 x 9 volt batteries @ $16.57 pack or if I wished to buy them in single packs @ $6.99 a pack it’s crazy but I’m saving money by buying four. As three of them would have cost $ 20.97 and I got four for $16.57 value of $27.96 saving $11.39 on the four. It’s the end of our day light savings in the Southern States, we don’t have it here. Fire dept recommends’ to change at beginning of the day light saving but as I did put new ones up at this time last year I’m doing at end of it each year, it still one year but at a different time of the year.

Weekly Main Meal Menu

Sunday ~ Grilled Sausages with Onions & Grilled Tomato
Monday ~ Apricot Chicken with rice
Tuesday ~ Pasta with Tuna & Tomato Sauce
Wednesday ~ Omelet with salad
Thursday ~ Leftovers night
Friday ~ Salmon Patties with Vegetables
Saturday ~ Steak with Onions & Grilled Tomato

Stockpiling more food & other supplies

March 20th, 2008 at 07:58 am

With the way the economies of the world these days, with shares, banking, peck oil & shortages of some food items. I do think it time for me to start stockpiling more food & other supplies. Things are only going to rise and almost never will come back down in price. My starting point is reviewing what I have already got stockpiled. Then filling the gaps first, using any old or nearly old stock replacing them with new items that I will use and can cook without power if there is a shortage in electricity here. I’m looking into different ways of cooking so I can cook if there is rationing of the power grid. I do believe that is may be happing some parts of the world now. Solar cooker, hay box, camp gas stove & BBQ non-gas one, two of these methods I have already have. Food lines can be used in my normal cooking until needed but keeping them to a peak level when each comes on special in they cycles. They are many places now on the internet telling you how much you need to store per person. As I am in a single household I will be only storing for two, mostly things that other people will not to want to make from scratch too! Dried & canned beans, dried & canned vegetables, mainly canned tomatoes, and other foodstuffs, oil & vinegars, spices & herbs, coffee & tea, water plus paper goods and good first aid kit enough for a few months at least. Torches & radio with batteries, to name a few things I’m thinking of. Another thing is the information of how to use these foodstuffs using these cooking methods and how to make things & repairs them to last longer.

Filing some of papers that I found

March 17th, 2008 at 10:16 am

Today I filed some of papers that I have been pulling out of my craft bedroom. I did find a very unusual one that was printed in January 1974, two days after the flood here when over 13000 homes went under. In it they are telling you how to save most of the things that we are told to get ride of now. Like carpets, books, furniture, clothes, save the plaster walls, how wash outside walls, how to get your car going etc. Back then I do know that so much was not make with glue and particle boards but more solid woods and brick. Our old house that was sold 3 years before this flood only needed a quick hose out and dry out then it was fine; the people living there had time to up most of their goods into the ceiling including the carpets as there were two large man holes build into that house and it was one of the last houses to go under at 35 feet above sea level. The house that we moved to then now is my home and is high on a ridge but the low areas near the river did get flood then. Funny what we kept.

Weekly Main Meal Menu

Sunday ~Beef Rissoles & Salad
Monday ~ Pasta with Tuna & Tomato Sauce
Tuesday ~ Stir Fry Chicken with Rice
Wednesday ~ Beans & Rice with Vegetables
Thursday ~ Steak with Onions & Grilled Tomato
Friday ~ Salmon Patties with Vegetables
Saturday ~ Omelet with salad

Long day making pasta and tiding workshop

March 14th, 2008 at 10:43 am

I had a very busy morning; first I spent 5 hours with my Italian DF-M, as she is elderly and wanted to make pasta today. So we were up at first light this morning making and rolling pasta for Easter. It was just the two of us do this today.

After having lunch I started working on an area in my workshop. I got to put some stuff away into they right place after I had finished the painting the other day. With that lot cleared it made way so that I could get to the area that I wished to clear out. I did half this area today which took about 2 hours so far. I needed to put some wood away that I would need to repair the outside of the house what was sitting the corner from my door project a year ago. If I ever get dry rot I will have matching boards to replace with and I do have the storage there.

Marmite Soup

March 13th, 2008 at 09:30 am

1 large onion
2 tomatoes
1 potato cut into thin strips
1 carrot cut into thin strips
2 tsp. marmite or Vegemite
1 quart (1250 ml) of boiling water

Fry onion a golden brown, boil carrots and potatoes till tender.
Boil and strain tomatoes to remove skins and seeds, dissolve marmite in a little hot water
To these ingredients add 1 quarts boiling water.
Lets stand on stove and simmer gently for about 10 minutes before serving.
A delicious marmite broth can also be made by dissolving 1 teaspoon of marmite in 1 cup of boiling water.
1952 recipe

Text is Vegemite and Link is http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vegemite
Vegemite

Text is Marmite and Link is http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marmite
Marmite

Text is Vegemite new add and Link is http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZGxG6r6I7i4
Vegemite new add

Text is Nine 1996 - 40 Years Of Television - Old Commercials and Link is http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SNg3ifd2GPg&NR=1
Nine 1996 - 40 Years Of Television - Old Commercials

Meat & Vegetable Broth

March 10th, 2008 at 10:03 am

Self contained (without Stock)

2lbs (1kg) soup bones with a little meat on them (cut into small 3inch pieces)
(I did add a lamb chop that I had to the mixture.
2 quarts plus extra pint (5 litres) of cold water
1/4 cup white vinegar
1 tsp. salt
3 sprig of parsley flat & 1 sprig of rosemary tided together with cotton trine. You can thyme or marjoram with parsley. (I just had parsley & rosemary in the garden.)
Boil for 5-10 minutes until boiling skimming the scrum off the top then simmer on low for 2 1/2 hours.

Now cut up vegetable at the 2 hours mark.
Into chunky diced pieces I used 3 medium potatoes, 3 carrots, 1/2 medium yellow sweet potato, 1 medium onion, I would have used some celery if had any. I did put in some peas but found it's best to add when reheating it.
1 cup red lentil washed
As for flavoring I did use 2 heap tablespoons of curry powder and 1 teaspoon celery salt.
1 tablespoon beef liquid stock concentrated as I need some more flavor when I tasted it.

At the 2 1/2 hours stage, remove broth off the heat and remove the herbs and discard.
Sieve broth saving both liquid & diced meat pieces removing any left on the bones, removing the meat bones and discard.

Return broth, meat, chunky diced vegetable, lentils and flavoring to the stockpot bring to the boil, then simmer for another 30 minutes.

Serve about 3 soup ladles per person
It's a watery liquid broth; I have it with toast & vegemite.
I froze it and I got approx 8 servings.

Shopping and Cooking Broth

March 9th, 2008 at 08:45 am

I did go and pay my power bill this week and did a little shopping too! Bought beef soup bones and made a Meat & Vegetable Broth (Soup) and I got 8serving, so I will have a few meals for lunch time. I just add 2 multigrain toast with butter and vegemite. I know that black stuff us Aussie love. I just have a little not a lot. I did find a soup recipe for marmite soup while I was looking for a recipe for the beef soup bones recipe. Not to many around now I had to go back to the 1950's for the recipe. It's not a fancy recipe but more like a recession recipe with very little meat in it. Post recipe soon.

I finished painting the door is done, it looks good too, it just needs my friend to come back and put it back up. It's far too heavy for me to do and it's to go on the top of flight of stairs too!

Weekly Main Meal Menu
Sunday ~Apricot Chicken with rice
Monday ~ Steak with Onions & Grilled Tomato
Tuesday ~ Omelet with salad
Wednesday ~ Leftovers night
Thursday ~ Chicken Schnitzel & Egg with Vegetables
Friday ~ Salmon Patties with Vegetables
Saturday ~ Kangaroo Steak with Mushroom Sauce & Vegetables

Text is Facts about Kangaroos and Link is http://www.dfat.gov.au/facts/kangaroos.html
Facts about Kangaroos

Text is Recipes and all you need to know about Kangaroo Meat and Link is http://www.macromeats.com/recipes.html
Recipes and all you need to know about Kangaroo Meat

Back to Door Painting again

March 6th, 2008 at 10:13 am

Today my handyman friend arrived and took off my back screen door that was showing signs of weather over 20 years needing new fly screen and painting, as it was full of rust which was surface rust only. After remove the rust and fixing the fly screen panel which is separate piece. I put the first coat of metal primer on today and over the next few days I will be putting on next two coats before my friend come back to put it back up as this door is very heavy and need more than one person to put it back in place.

No spending days this month:- 4

Shopping today

March 4th, 2008 at 09:04 am

I went shopping this morning, for pet food, some groceries as well gas for the car. On Tuesdays it works out to be the cheapest day to fill up the cars. Not cheap but a lot cheaper than most other days of the week today I got it for 122.5c per litre that was with the 4c off discount shopper coupon that I had to, $35.11 not bad for 8 weeks between refills. A few days ago it was 137.9c I did go and have a snack at Hungry Jacks with my free coffee.

So I spend money today
Total Money spent today $87.27 (my cash outlay)
Savings $stretch $10.19

Washing the House & Car on a ‘Wet Weekend’

March 2nd, 2008 at 09:07 am

Today we had a ‘Wet Weekend’ for a one hour on odd & even house number system that we have. We could get our hoses out for just one hour this weekend. Some people didn’t use they hoses for this one time only in 18 months. For me it was a lot longer than that as I always started a lot earlier as when the next level was published not when it started and the first 3 levels were published together. So for first time in over 3 years I washed my house and window of dust and had time to wash my car also. I did get everything ready before hand and all I had to do at end of the time was dry the car down. We are still on 140 litres per day per person. I’m at below 90 litres per day so I’m well within my limit. Hopefully we may go to 170 litres per person when we go over 40% and we are at 39.5%.

Weekly Main Meal Menu

Sunday ~Apricot Chicken with rice
Monday ~ Steak with Onions & Grilled Tomato
Tuesday ~ Leftovers night
Wednesday ~ Curried Sausages with Rice
Thursday ~ Chicken Schnitzel & Egg with Vegetables
Friday ~ Salmon Patties with Vegetables
Saturday omelet with salad