DIY 'mixed vegie bags' makes meals faster and easier

This simple tip saves me money and time every day when preparing meals. Whenever I buy frozen vegetables, I bring them home and immediately divide them into portions, placing them into ziplock bags, then popping them in the freezer. I often divide up broccoli, peas, cabbage, sprouts, carrots into the same bag. This way, they take up less space in the freezer and I know exactly how many meals they will serve. None ever get wasted and they can be either stored together or placed with other food to make it instantly possible to grab a complete meal. The same method works well with fresh food in preparation for things such as school fruit or lunch breaks, when time is at a premium in the mornings!!

Dairy-free oat milk for 26c per litre

I make dairy-free milk for my allergic daughter for just 26c per litre! I make oat milk at home, and it tastes just like the shop-bought version that we used to buy on special for $2 per litre. I also use it in desserts, baking and cereal, even though I’m not dairy-free. It’s even cheaper than prepared powdered cow’s milk, which I recently priced at 80c per litre!

Here is the recipe (costed out using Coles home brand ingredients) -

Ingredients:

1 cup rolled oats 120g (22c)

4 cups water

1 tsp brown sugar (2c) - optional

1 tsp sunflower oil (2c)

Method:

1. Blend all the ingredients in a blender for one minute

2. Strain through a muslin or a nut milk bag (I use old muslin baby swaddles).

3. Store in the fridge for up to five days.

My husband and I eat other dairy products and my daughter still has two cups of calcium-fortified, shop-bought, non-dairy milk per day as a drink, but we now use at least three litres less of shop-bought milk per week, working out to a saving of over $300 per year!

$20 Saturdays for fun weekends

My kids love doing things on Saturdays but even a trip to the movies for our family costs $70. So I invented '$20 Saturday'. We could go anywhere and do anything as long as it didn't cost more than $20 for the whole day. One Saturday each month we would find a spot in the street directory that looked interesting and take a picnic, other times we visited free places such as museums or community festivals and the $20 bought a drink, small snack or ice cream. Not every place was terrific but we gave each place or activity a score to rate whether we would like to do it again. My boys talk fondly of things we did together and places we visited on $20 Saturdays and they learn that you don't have to spend up big to have fun.

Doona dollar saver

Instead of paying for one expensive doona, and the dry cleaning costs that come with it, buy two or three cheap doonas, pin them together at the corners, and put them into the same doona cover.

Because cheap doonas are thinner, you can wash them one at a time in your washing machine, and you can also adjust the warmth. When the weather starts getting warmer, just take one doona out of the cover and put it away in the cupboard.