HOW I FED MY FAMILY ON $50 A WEEK
96 | June• 2019
place, and to use every part of the
fruit, vegetable and meat. Leftover
carrot pulp from fresh juice becomes
a carrot cake. Lemon rind is perfect
for making limoncello, grating into
cake batters or cleaning bathrooms.
Meat offcuts can be made into soup
or given to a neighbour’s dog.
MAKE AN INVENTORYThe first step
to doing a $50 a week challenge is to
start using up what you have and
make an inventory. Take out all the
food from your fridge and pantry, re-
arrange it nicely and do an itemised
spreadsheet that includes costs of all
items. Or clean out one shelf in your
pantry at a time and wipe the shelf.
It helps to put a list of food on the
pantry door. I then make a conscious
effort to use up what I have. I real-
ised that one shelf of food alone was
worth nearly $100.
WRITE A MEAL PLANYou are far
more likely to only buy what you
need if you have confidence that you
have enough ingredients at home for
key meals. Mapping out what you’re
going to eat for the week ahead will
save you hours. If you have a big
family, or if you are eating on a tight
budget, meal planning becomes even
more important. I like to first iden-
tify nights when I might be eating
out. I then write down meals for the
remaining nights. In my meal plan-
ning matrix, I also include ideas for
other meals and a list of food items
that I want to use up that week.
HAVE A CASH KITTYI find I spend
less when I spend cash than when I
use a debit or credit card. It’s so easy
to ‘tap and go’, without even thinking
about how much you’re spending. My
$50 a week challenge includes food,
wine, essential toiletries and clean-
ing products. I keep the cash in a sep-
arate kitty, and I dig into surplus on
occasion. If I underspend by $20 one
week, I add that to my kitty and have
extra to spend when needed.
ALWAYS USE A SHOPPING LIST
Who hasn’t gone into the supermarket
to buy a bottle of milk and been en-
ticed into impulse buying? Supermar-
kets are retail spaces designed to en-
tice you. The refrigerators housing the
milk are located towards the back ofHomemade Washing Powder
A double batch of my homemade
washing powder costs around
$3.90. It works in both top and
front-loader washing machines
and lasts six to eight months.
You o nly need a tablespoon
per load. You’ll need:
l1 bar ‘pure’ soap
l2 cups bicarbonate of soda
l1 cup of washing soda
l10 drops of eucalyptus or
lavender oil
1.Grate soap.
2.Add bicarbonate and
washing soda and blitz in a food
processor until fine.
3.Add oil and blitz for another
minute or two.- Store in an air tight container.