Feeding The 5000

Ok....it's happened.  I am in a routine.  Well I've started anyway.  As you can see I am writing this post at the crack of dawn, so obviously I am up and raring to go....almost.....where's that coffee???


I thought I would start with the basics.  FOOD.  Yep, we need it to survive, and it's one of those things that you can do yourself from scratch!


Like I said yesterday, we have always been a one income family, and food and grocery shopping is one area I can control either spending or saving.  So I have had to learn in those early days, how to make a dollar stretch.  


So I learned how to cook from scratch.  Almost everything you can buy in the supermarket, you make make yourself from home.  Buying convenience food is alot of money, and making us sick in the process.  All those additives, and fat and sugar, etc etc.

Here's an example, Home made Yogurt.  


Yogurt used to be an inexpensive food to buy, but has skyrocketed in price, and is now one of those things you guiltily buy, or worse avoid all together until it comes on sale again!  But for around $1.35 you can make a whole kilo of it, "smooth, creamy, thick" and add your own flavouring, as I have done.  The left is eaten sweet, the right is added to meals, eg, sour cream on nacho's etc.


Baking bread from scratch is another easy and cheap way to line your pockets.  You don't even knead (ha ha get it knead), to be an expert.  You can even buy ready made breadmix.  Most Aussies have a breadmaker sitting in their garage!!!  I prefer to make it by hand (with the small 3 minute help of a thermomix) and then shape it and bake it in the oven.  

There really is nothing like the smell of fresh bread!  All this was made by 10 am.  Cheddar Mites on the left, bread rolls in the middle, choc chip giant cookies on the right.  Really people, it's not hard.  If I can do it, you can do it.


All this would have cost me around $20 give or take, you can make it at home for around $5 all up.  And have left overs for tomorrows lunch and recess!


Now it didn't help the fact that half way through all this the power went off!

S T E L L A !!

After some juggling of switches, and a phone call to dad, all was fixed again, and so it resumed.

If you havn't cooked from scratch before, then the library is the first place to go.  Find some cookbooks on baking and meals, and start from there.  Also the trusty internet, for yogurt recipes.  There are millions of things you can cook, with a little time and courage, you can try something new once a week.  If you are a working parent with little time on your hands, a baking day once a month to stock your freezer, will save you time and money during that month feeding the hoards!

Now here's a little secret that I will share.  Jelly.  Yes that's right, you heard me....Jelly.  Its always in my fridge at home.  Its a cheap snack to have on hand, and yes "real men eat Jelly", but don't tell my DH (dear Husband) I told you so!


Just remember to buy the low cal one, or you will have children and DH bouncing off the walls at home,   NOT GOOD PEOPLE!
You will often hear in my home

"Oh look, there is Kelly with her Jelly watching the Telly"

That's how regularly it's sitting in my fridge.

So there you have it.  Some little tips from my kitchen to yours.  Start at the beginning, then when you feel comfortable with that, move to the middle, and after mastering that, drink coffee and keep on going, because you never get to the end.  They bloody well eat you out of house and home!!!!

S T E L L A.......................