Tomato paste doubles as cheap puree

Tomato paste saves me valuable dollars on buying puree! Whenever a recipe calls for tomato puree, I just use a sachet of tomato paste and then add water to it to make it up to whatever quantity of puree is required. It works as well and tastes just as good. I like to buy the Delmaine concentrated tomato paste, which comes in four little tubs of 70gm each. It is so versatile, and compared to tomato paste takes up far less room in the pantry!

Lock in fuel savings and make them last!

Our household has found a super easy way to make the most of cheap fuel prices. We watch the fuel cycles with the ACCC petrol price cycles website (https://www.accc.gov.au/consumers/petrol-diesel-lpg/petrol-price-cycles). When it is getting to the lowest point of the cycle, as well as our vehicle, we also fill up five 20 litre fuel containers. If it is inconvenient to do so, we prepay and lock in the fuel price on both of our phones on the 7/11 app. This guarantees that locked price for seven days. We then use that fuel through the next 3-4 weeks (the length of the fuel cycle generally). It's like having our own petrol station at home!

Fuel containers cost around $20-$25 at BCF and the savings per cycle paid for each container. Now it's pure savings of $30 per cycle. Petrol works out around $520 per year less for us, for very little effort! At first, my husband was concerned that the fuel may not last (he is a qualified mechanic), but I showed him some tests BP had done on this matter, finding that six months later, the values were still the same. We notice zero difference in fuel consumption, km/L, or parts wearing out any faster.

Everyone we tell thinks this is an amazing idea, we find it strange that no one else seems to have thought of it!

Laminating without a laminator

I have saved a fortune on laminating costs over the years, by doing my own at home. I don't have a laminating machine though - I don't need one! I just buy the laminating pouches I need and get exactly the same effect using my household iron on a low setting. You just need to ensure you are working on a fairly rigid surface - if your ironing board is too 'spongy', strengthen the surface by adding a piece of cardboard, covered with cloth before laminating. When applying the iron, put a cloth or other fabric between the plastic and the iron. The results are just the same as using a machine and the heat will gently fuse the pouch together. I have done this for so long, that I don't know how much laminating costs any more, because I never pay to have it done!

Half price ricotta

Make your own ricotta cheese and save at least 50% on the inferior product you buy at the shops!
 
Whenever I buy ricotta cheese it usually goes off in the fridge while I figure out what to do with it! But recently, Better Homes and Gardens featured a very simple recipe for ricotta made from scratch.
 
Ingredients:
 
2L milk
4 tbsp white vinegar
 
Method:
 
Heat the milk until you see small bubbles at the side of the pan. Turn off the element and add the vinegar. Strain the curds off the top and then drain through a butter muslin cloth. Really easy!
 
Two litres of milk makes 500g of ricotta cheese. While in the deli the other day, I noticed they were charging $1.00 per 100g, or $10 a kilo! I shop at ALDI, which charges $2.20 for two litres of milk – that equates to $4.40 a kilo, less than half the price of store-bought ricotta. Plus, I no longer waste the product that I buy and never use. It also sounds super impressive when you tell people you make your own ricotta from scratch!

You can find the footage at http://au.lifestyle.yahoo.com/better-homes-gardens/tv/watch/-/6888083/ricotta/