I am currently preparing to do the $21 challenge at Simple Savings ( see my link at the right hand side). The reason that I am preparing this is that I have to really think about how I will tackle it. The idea is to be able to feed your family for a week for $21. You don’t have to do this all the time, but doing it from time to time means that once a month or so you have a considerable chunk of your budget not spent.
You are allowed to use things from the pantry that you already have, so the $21 doesn’t have to buy every little ingredient.
Is anyone keen to have a go or at least swap some recipe ideas ? There are two adults and two children aged 6 and 9 in my family.

may recall the challenges that I am having with the 100 mile diet – scroll down to categories at the bottom of the page if you have missed the posts.

Tortilla Recipe

2 cups self raising flour

1 tsp salt

2 tbsp vegetable oil

3/4 cup warm milk.

I just mixed it all together and let it all sit for a while. Then I broke it up into balls and rolled them out really thinly on a floured bench. I them ’scooped’ them up with an egg lifter and put them in the frying pan. I only used a tiny spray of cooking oil and had the pan as hot as it would go. It only took a about 20 seconds to cook each side. Number two son said they taste better than the packet ( God love him ! ) and as he is only six I am sure if they weren’t he would have soon let me know.

I used to buy the packet of ready made wraps. We often have them in the summer time. I marinate some chicken breasts cut into strips in ginger, coriander and lemongrass with a little soy sauce and then cook the strips on the barbecue. They are great for guests because you can lay out a smorgasbord of salad and everyone can make their own wraps. I have one friend from Sydney who loves them, but she is particularly sensitive to food chemicals and comes out in an itchy rash when we have them. I guess if you can stick a food product in a plastic bag and have it sit on the shelf for 3 or 4 months it must have something in it to preserve it.

I can’t wait until she tries these wraps. I hope she loves them.

As you have probably noticed, I REALLY enjoy cooking from scratch. It brings me joy to put the effort in and be rewarded with tastes that far surpass that of the bought alternative. There are health benefits, in that I don’t add any 621, 379, 202 or any of the other ingredients I see on packet foods and there are financial benefits, meaning it is so cheap to cook.

Over the weekend I made the following:

- chicken and sweet corn soup

- special garlic bread ( as No 1 son calls it. Th picture is of him helping to make it. )

- chocolate self saucing pudding

-orange cordial

- coriander and cashew dip for a dinner we went to.

and thoroughly enjoyed it.

In keeping with the local food challenge, something we really struggle with, I can say that the only local food was the oranges. Sad, but true.

I was over visiting Crazy Mumma’s blog ( see my list at right). She is the author of Towards Sustainability. I noted her comment that people say they never have time. This is a topic that I have always been interested in.

We all have the same 24 hours in a day. I read an interesting quote once that said something along the lines of ‘ never say you don’t have enough time. You have exactly the same time every day as Mother Theresa, Gandhi’ etc etc ( must try and find the exact quote one day).

The truth is instead of people saying “I don’t have enough time” they should say ” I choose not to do that” or be totally honest and say ” I usually waste my time watching television instead” or ” I spend so much time on the telephone/ internet/ reading trash that I don’t have the time to do things that may be more important”.

So if we all have the same 24 hours – what do YOU choose to put into them. I choose, amongst other things, cooking from scratch because the benefits to my family are tremendous. My children are calmer, my budget is better and I have a sense of tremendous satisfaction from the efforts I put in.

I choose not to watch commercial television. I have never seen an episode of All Saints, ER, CSI, Grey’s Anatomy or any other TV show that I hear people talking about. I can remember when Australian Idol was on and there was a picture in the Newspaper of Guy Sebastian and Shannon Noll – ready for the big night and I had no idea who they were! I thought they must have been sports stars of some kind.

I guess it is always a case of Prior Preparation and Planning Prevents Poor Performance ( the six p’s). I work four days per week and I work long hours. Weekends are often taken up with activities for my sons, like sports or outings. In the summertime we usually water ski from early morning until sundown. Therefore, as my Grandmother says, ” when you have time, you do things for times when you don’t have any time”. This means that when you make a batch of biscuits you double or triple the amounts and freeze the leftover dough. I always do this on Mondays so if the biscuits run out mid week it is a five minute job to throw some more in the oven. Or you may have a ‘cook up’ and have some meals ready to go in the freezer to just heat up for times when you are too busy or too late home to cook.

Another important thing is to menu plan the week before, around your schedule. Have more involved meals on nights where you are home earlier in the day and quick meals like stir fries on the busy days. Sit down and make a really good list of all the meals your family likes. If you are stuck, go to the library and look at the food magazines and get some ideas to try. You may be surprised what you find.