Re-use butcher's paper to save on paper towel

Instead of buying expensive paper towel, which doesn't seem to last in our household, we use the butcher's paper that is wrapped around purchases such as deli products to clean out oily pots and pans. This saves us money, as well as a heap of paper towel, landfill space and our precious trees!

End ant invasions pronto with Talon gel

I have found a truly fantastic product which gets rid of ants like no other pest treatment I've ever seen. Upon my recent invasion of ants, the faithful old borax and sugar mix was barely making a dent in their numbers. I couldn't use my own kitchen bench, guests were commenting and while I hate killing anything, it was driving the whole family crazy.  Thank goodness for Talon Ant killer gel! It works immediately (I saw ants leaving food and running to this gel), they swarmed it and as the product promises, they are gone in 48 hours. I can leave food out on the bench now and there are none to be seen. The gel works for 14 days, but at $8 for 5ml, it is totally worth it!

Cooking when the cupboards are bare

No more dashing to the shops to grab something for dinner when the cupboards are bare! I have discovered a great website to help make the best use of the food you already have in your fridge and pantry cupboard. It is (www.cookingbynumbers.com)

It gives you a list of ingredients and you tick what foodstuffs you have at home on the list, then it comes up with a range of recipes using those ingredients. It is amazing just how much you can make with what is already available to you! It saves on wastage and on buying extra ingredients.

Pie apples for baby food

Instead of buying pureed fruit in jars or tins, which according to the latest stories contain a lot of water, buy a large tin of pie apples (no added sugar) and a large tin of any other fruit in natural juice, puree them together and put in single serve containers. Two large tins make about 15 single serves (a much bigger serve than the baby food tins) and cost about $4.50 less than the equivalent of baby food in tins. The pie apples don't contain liquid so this means that your home-made baby food is not too sloppy. You can vary the taste by changing the second fruit to apricots, pears, fruit salad, peaches, two fruits and so on.