After reading over my old blogs and posts I realised that I had been increasing my living costs as my available income increased. Talking about it with a Son In Law he named it the grocery creep. I decided to sit back and overlook what we spent on groceries and how we could lower it. Not from a financial need but because there are other things I would like to be using our finances for, and in preparation for retirement.

We are empty nesters now and fast heading to retirement. So at the beginning of this year I started small with one skill I knew I had and that was breadmaking. I began by trying out a few tried and true recipes and I found one that made a 1kg loaf. I only need one loaf a week at this size and instead of spending over $4.50 for a smaller loaf at the supermarket for less than $1.50 and it tastes so much better.

Once I mastered the bread again I started making Pizza Dough, Calzones and Cinnamon Scrolls. Saving us a lot of money and eliminating a lot of take away.

From there I started looking at what else I could bring back. We live near to many local fruit and vegetable growers. This February we purchased 50 kilos of Roma Tomatoes for $75. With a few other cheap ingredients, I made enough Herb and Garlic Pasta Sauce for us and my children for a year, same with Tomato Relish and Passata. Cheap plums at $2.50 a kg became plum jam enough for the family for a year, 10 kilo bag of onions at under $9 became Mimi's Onion Comfit, I love this. Pineapples were $1.99 each locally at a market and two large pineapples became Pineapple Jam (Don't knock it until you try it).

We have two apple trees and the produce was left to eat fresh and then the rest was Bottled in a light syrup. To make Apple Crumble or Pies just need to add the topping or pastry. I no longer buy sauce for myself as I am happy to use the Relishes I have made and they also make a great gift. The only Relish I had never made before was Corn Relish and I found a recipe on here today so gave it a go. I made 7 pints using up ingredients I had on hand here.

Having both reduced our grocery spending by making so many more of our treats, relishes and basics as well as having a more disposable income being mortgage free we are now in the position of having built up a stockpile that means we now only need to buy to replenish what we have used up or run out of. We have nine months at least of protein sources, a years worth of laundry powder and cleaning supplies. It means when there were fears of supplies running off the shelves in grocery stores we are immune to the rising prices and lack of stock. We can wait it out and at the same time we are working to reduce our needs to buy so many products.

The biggest savings made on one product was yoghurt. My husband loves a sweet commercial yoghurt. At $7 plus of between 600 and 800 grams. I tried my hand at making it and succeeded thankfully with a copycat that my husband loved. I am making 1.25kg of yoghurt for around $2-3 cost depending on what I use to flavour it with.

I am feeling more and more accomplished and am trying new recipes at least once a week and am so pleased with the amount of money we are saving. Heading into retirement we are feeling much more secure and am planning to plant more fruit trees this Spring reducing our costs over the next few years.

For anyone following and wondering what all this Freezer - Slow Cooking system is or looks like, hope fully this explains it better.

Yesterday was my prep day. Here is a couple of pictures of my before and after

Here is some of the meat, vegies, etc, prior to bagging it all up.

A couple of hours later here is a sample of what they became .....

All labelled, chopped up and bagged, ready for the freezer.

Generally my pre "prep" day is finding the recipes I want to use (from blogs, Taste.com.au, forums, etc) I usually add these to my favourites bar for a quick reference. I then cut and past the ingredients into a word document, then collate the ingredients list, then removing items I might already have on hand - usually spices, sauces etc. Then it's off to the shops! I usually shop at Coles - it's down the road. But my meat I get from the Gawler River Cattle Co, they have a few wholesale butchers around Adelaide. There's also an awesome Foodland at Thebarton which often has great meat prices and bulk vegies.

I usually look for Bulk Rump - $7-9kg, Chicken Breast $ 6.50-9.00kg Lamb $12.00kg, Pork $5.00-8.00kg That will help keep the $$ down, along with Vegies from a local F&V place. Foodland is often great for vegetable prices, local and well priced. Usually Capsicums $3-4kg, Potatoes 5kg $5, Carrots $1-2kg, etc.

I also buy brown onions in bulk. A 10kg bag costs $8, and lasts for ages without the onions going bad. Our last bag lasted us 4-5 months. Rice in bulk is also great. A 10kg bag can often by picked up for around $7.00

In the end I was able to prepare 16 meals and with the few left over vegies, I've chopped them up for a vegie soup.

Here is the next fortnight's meals

Chicken Korma with Chickpeas

Beef Casserole

Butter Chicken

Chilli Con Carne

Vegie Pasta Bake

Beef Rogan Josh

Beef pies

Beef Ragout x2

Lime Salsa Chicken

Roast Pork

Roast Chicken x2

Lasagne

Thai Red Chicken Curry

Garlic & Herb Lamb

This is saving me so much time and money and a great way to build up to Once a Month Cooking Shopping.

I have just had a pantry cleanout and stocktake.

I have four bags of flour and a huge jar of milk powder.

I've also just been given four dozen eggs.

So it got me thinking. How many meals could I make using just those three ingredients as the base?

1. White sauce to which I could add any odds and ends of things, sliced boiled eggs or vegetables to, to make a mornay. A mornay could be served as a meal in a ramekin, as a filling in crepes, as a topping for pasta or rice, or thickened to make croquettes.

2. Gnocchi. Fresh gnocchi is far superior to those little lead lumps you buy at the supermarket, and only needs some butter and herbs or a simple tomato based sauce and parmesan cheese to make it gourmet.

3. Scones would be on the list for sure. They're so trendy these days, we're paying $4 for them in interesting flavours from gourmet bakeries.

4. Crepes for certain too. To eat as a dessert with Nutella or Jam or Honey, as crepes stacked into a cake, as a meal with the mornay filling or other yummy stuff rolled in to them, and as a substitute for lasagna sheets in a traditional or open lasagna stacked with a slow simmered ragout.

5. Hot cakes. Egg free ones so we could save the eggs to make Impossible Pie.

6. Impossible Pie. An old favourite that makes a great lunch for school or work or a quick meal.

7. Old fashioned dumplings for soup, especially at this time of the year. Such a great comfort food and tummy filler.

8. Spaetzle which my Nanna used to make for me and which are sort of dumpling, sort of pasta-ish and delicious served with a warming casserole, or tossed with tiny chunks of diced bacon and thin ribbons of Kale, in a frypan as a complete meal.

9. One bowl butter cake. A simple cake that can be iced or decorated dozens of ways to vary the flavour.

10. Rolled cookies. So easy. Three ingredients. Chill. Cut out and bake. Done.

So two and half hours today saw me whipping up the delicacies you see above, and a few more.

My refrigerator stash now includes a jug of crepe batter to use for dinner tomorrow. We'll use some of the batch of microwave white sauce I made, to make a mornay with which to fill the crepes. I also have the gnocchi dough chilling for tonight. The gnocchi will go in to the Black Lentil and vegetable soup that I got simmering before I started baking.

So the schedule was:

1. Preheat the oven to 160C for the butter cake.

2. Make the cookie dough so it could chill.

Cookie dough recipe:

1 1/2 cups butter

1 cup icing sugar

3 cups plain flour

1 teaspoon vanilla essence

Then just mix the butter and icing sugar with a spoon. Add the flour and combine well. Tip on to a sheet of floured baking paper and fold the soft dough over gently four or five times to gather it together. Scoop in to a ball and chill for at least fifteen minutes while you do other things.

3. Make the Butter Cake.

Butter Cake recipe:

Preheat the oven to 160C if you haven't already done so.

To a medium bowl add:

1/2 cup butter

1 cup caster sugar

3 large eggs

1 1/2 cups plain flour

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda

1/2 cup milk

Mix well until combined.

Prepare a 20cm round cake tin by lining it with baking paper.

Pour into the cake tin and bake for about an hour. Test after 50 minutes for doneness. If it springs back in the middle when touched lightly, it's done.

Allow to cool, remove from the tin and transfer to a serving plate. Dust with icing sugar and edible rose petals or ice with a simple glace` (icing sugar and liquid) icing.

4. Make the white sauce.

White sauce recipe:

In a large microwave safe jug, melt two dessertspoons of butter or margarine. Add two heaped dessertspoons of plain flour and mix well. In a separate microwave safe jug, heat 2 cups of milk (powdered or fresh) for two minutes or until steaming but not boiling. Add the hot milk to the flour and butter roux, and whisk until smooth. Microwave on HIGH for three minutes, whisking at 60 second intervals. Season to taste, cool, and store in a sealed container in the refrigerator.

5. Make the crepe batter:

Crepe recipe:

3/4 cup plain flour

1/4 teaspoon salt

3 eggs

1/4 cup vegetable oil or melted butter

1 cup water

Whisk all ingredients until smooth. Store in the refrigerator until ready for use. This needs at least 30 minutes resting time to improve the texture of the crepes. Overnight is even better.

Put a knob of butter in a square of paper towel, and heat a non stick frypan. Rub the wadded paper towel over the base of the pan to grease it very lightly. Flick a few drops of water on the pan, and if they sizzle, it's ready for crepe making.

Pour about three tablespoons of batter in to the pan, and working quickly, swirl the pan to cover the base. Cook until the crepe dries out on top and the edges start to lift. Cook for thirty seconds on the flip side and slide on to a platter to cool.

Continue with the rest of the batter.

Fill these with the white sauce to which you've added ham and cheese, leftover chicken and vegetables, tinned salmon or tuna, corn kernels and shallots or anything else you have on hand. Fold them over, sprinkle with cheese and bake in a moderate oven until bubbling and hot. Yum.

6. Make the Hotcakes.

Recipe in this newsletter..

http://www.simplesavings.com.au/newsletter/2013/2/

Rest the batter while you prepare the gnocchi dough.

7. Make the gnocchi dough.

Gnocchi recipe:

250gms ricotta cheese

1 - 1 1/2 cups flour

2 eggs

Cracked pepper

Combine all ingredients in a bowl, adding a little extra flour if necessary, to create a soft dough.

Tip the dough onto a well floured bench and fold over gently four to six times to incorporate the additional flour. It should be very soft and pliable, not elastic and smooth like bread dough. Gather into a ball, and enclose in cling wrap. Refrigerate for at least 30 minutes.

When you're ready to cook the gnocchi, dust the bench with flour, and remove the dough from the cling wrap. Form it into a sausage shape and cut into short lengths. Press a fork into the surface of the gnocchi to make grooves to catch the sauce you serve it with.

Bring a pot of water to the boil, and drop the gnocchi in. Once they float to the surface they are done. Toss them with butter and pan fried sage, a simple tomato sauce and parmesan or olive oil, garlic and chilli.

8. Make the soup (this was for our dinner tonight).

1 cup lentils

1 tablespoon dried onion flakes or 1 onion, peeled and diced

1 tablespoon Cumin

1 teaspoon ground Coriander

Pinch dried chilli seeds

1/2 teaspoon dried garlic granules or one clove garlic, peeled and minced

1 cup tomato sauce

2 stalks celery, sliced thinly

1 large carrot, peeled and grated

2 chicken stock cubes

6 cups water

Pan fry the celery and onion in a little oil. Add the cumin and coriander and stir till fragrant. Add the other ingredients, and simmer for one hour. Drop the gnocchi or dumpling dough in to the steaming soup just before serving.

9. Make the Cinnamon Stars with the cookie dough that's been chilling in the refrigerator.

Cinnamon Stars recipe:

Halve the chilled cookie dough and keep half for another day. Roll the chilled dough out between sheets of baking paper. Use a cookie cutter in any shape to cut the dough into as many cookies as possible. I got 35 small stars from half the batch of dough.

Line a cookie tray with baking paper, and transfer the cookies to the tray. You may need to roll and cut the dough a second time, and use a second tray depending upon the size and shape of your cookies.

Sprinkle the cookies with cinnamon sugar or caster sugar.

Bake them at 180C for 15-18 minutes until firm to touch. These cookies do not need to be browned. They just need to be firm to touch. That way they'll be crisp and delicious. They're brilliant made with GF flour too.

Turn the oven up to 220C to bake the scones.

10. Make the scones. I do mine in a slab and cut them into squares. That way everyone gets a soft edge. We like the soft edges.

Scone recipe:

3 cups flour

6 teaspoons baking powder

1 tin reduced cream or 1 cup fresh cream

1 cup sparkling soda water

2 dessertspoons sugar

Prepare a large casserole dish to bake the scone slab in. Mine is 25cms square. Just give it a generous coating of cooking spray and set it aside.

Mix all ingredients in a bowl. Do not overmix. A light hand means light scones. Tip out on to a well floured bench and fold the dough half a dozen times, then ball it up and transfer it to the casserole dish.

Flatten it out gently, it doesn't need to be smooth. These are nice kind of rustic looking.

Bake them for about 20-25 minutes or until the middle of the surface is firm and it sounds hollow when tapped.

Remove from the oven, allow to cool slightly, then use a very sharp knife to cut the scones into 16 neat squares.

Serve immediately with jam and cream, or ice them with glace` icing and enjoy later. Freeze any uneaten scones.

11. Make the Hotcakes.

While the scones are baking, make the Hotcakes according to the recipe, using the batter you've made and rested. One batch of batter yields 6-8 fluffy hotcakes.

Well, that was my 2 1/2 hours done. I didn't get to the Impossible Pie, the Spaetzle or the Dumplings for the soup, but I still managed to fill the fridge and freezer with enough goodies for the weekend and week ahead for mere cents per serve and a little bit of effort.

The more you tackle the idea of power cooking, the easier and more rewarding it gets.

Give it a try :)