Also I'm getting very good and cooking great meals from scratch with cheap cuts of meat. Tonight for example we're having meat pies. These are made with casserole cuts of beef because you stew them for over an hour before you make up the pie. Obviously it's much easier to manage the food budget if you have time - i.e. are at home - because you need lots of time to cook from scratch. I wouldn't recommend trying this if you have very young children unless you are supermum or have an amazingly chilled baby.
We have a log burner in our home so this year we decided to use it. So far we have paid $65 getting the chimney swept and $215 for 2 M³ of firewood and some kindling. Will it work out cheaper than power this winter? It will be interesting to find out. Last night we used 3 logs and heated the whole house to almost uncomfortably hot levels. It was still warm this morning. Mind you it was also cloudy this morning which probably helped.
The garden is well planted for winter. I finally pulled out the Capsicums (but they were amazing and I will definitely be doing them again next summer) and planted the bed in with red and brown onions. In a few weeks garlic will go in too. Can you believe it? Only a few weeks until the shortest day of the year. The brussel sprouts still haven't appeared but the broccolli is starting too show and the beets are looking good. The carrots are looking good too although there aren't very many as I had issues getting them to germinate for some reason. My kale is doing well too which is lucky because I have a new love - Kale Chips. Mmmm. If you get some kale and have a fan forced oven definitely give them a try. You will be pleasantly surprised.
The garden is well planted for winter. I finally pulled out the Capsicums (but they were amazing and I will definitely be doing them again next summer) and planted the bed in with red and brown onions. In a few weeks garlic will go in too. Can you believe it? Only a few weeks until the shortest day of the year. The brussel sprouts still haven't appeared but the broccolli is starting too show and the beets are looking good. The carrots are looking good too although there aren't very many as I had issues getting them to germinate for some reason. My kale is doing well too which is lucky because I have a new love - Kale Chips. Mmmm. If you get some kale and have a fan forced oven definitely give them a try. You will be pleasantly surprised.
Kale Chips courtesy of foodbox
Preheat oven to 160 ° fan bake
Remove stems from kale and wash thoroughly and pat dry
Lay on baking tray and drizzle over approx 1 Tbsp olive oil
Sprinkle with any favourite seasonings e.g. garlic salt
Bake at 160 ° for 8-10 minutes until crisp and lightly browned
Sprinkle on Parmesan Cheese (optional) and serve.
