We have 4 Adult children and to spread the Xmas budget we have a roster that we work on. Year 1 A buys for B. Yr2 A buys for C. Yr3 A buys for D Yr 4. A buys for E. This roster rotates each year so every 5th year it starts again. A MAX […]
My quite expensive (although bought on sale, of course!) pillows had flattened with use. I bought 1 metre of 1.5 wide dacron (the pillow was filled with this) for $5.95, cut it in half and wrapped 2 pillow inners, replaced the zipped covers and then pillowcases. Good as new! When they do eventually need replacing, […]
To make chocolate ice blocks that turn out exactly like the expensive store-bought ones, at a significant saving. First make a chocolate custard. Place 500ml milk in a saucepan (I use fresh whole milk, but you can use reconstituted powder milk for extra savings) and bring it to the boil. Then add a tablespoon of […]
Fritters are a good way to use up left-overs. If making fritters with meat or fish, you will find a little goes a long way. Sweetcorn fritters are also a yummy snack. Keep a can of corn in the pantry for unexpected visitors.
Note on homemade spreadable butter. Do not leave butter at room temperature for too long or it will separate. If this happens, stir the oil back into the butter before refrigerating again.
To make your own additive free soft butter mix together 50/50 room temperature butter and olive oil or other vegetable oil. For a firmer mix go 2/3rds butter to 1/3rd olive oil. Mix in food processor, a hand blender, or use kitchen utensil and elbow grease.
I only buy soft butter in winter. Otherwise I buy blocks of butter and slice off what I need for a few days and store at room temperature. 500g of butter costs $2.50-$3.00 compared to 500g soft butter on special at $4.00.
To water hanging baskets pierce a small hole at the base of a small drink bottle, fill up with water and hang over the plant. This gives slow release water drip by drip and as temperatures heat up watering is hastened by the expansion of air pushing water out faster.
Buying a Mac. Apple recently stopped doing updates for the operating system my old MacBook came with, but they give you a free upgrade to their latest system. I’m barely computer literate, but all I had to do was hit a download button and check for updates. I use the firewall it came with and […]
To keep cauliflower for ages, wrap in a paper towel then put in plastic bag.