stopeatingthehouse-blog

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Week 8: Monday 30/11/15 to Sunday 06/12/15

WOWWOWWOW... *blink of an eye* and we’re in December!

This week, I haven’t incorporated any red meat in the food plan, not because I didn’t want to, but because I got carried away with getting 2x 500g turkey mince for $14 instead of ~$10 each! We are not doing Date Night this week because we will be in Brisbane visiting my mum on the weekend, but we will still be spending some $$ when we are there, so I still counted the $40 in this weeks’ budget anyway. As for Friday night, I have my own farewell party! I am leaving my job to become a full time blogger..... I wish. Instead, I am starting a new role at another bank. 

Highlight of the week: Bulla Ice Cream on special at Woolies for $3.84/tub!  AND: 10% off entire grocery bill at Woolies. *YAY*

Week 8:  Groceries: $45.01 Cleaning products: $5.95 (dental floss) Date night: $40 Total savings $9.04 YTD money in the kitty: $38.15

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Week Seven: Monday 23/11/15 to Sunday 29/11/15

TODAY! 

I finally caught up! Naughty me will not miss a blog post again! It was very difficult catching up and then the weeks just kept growing and I lost motivation! 

You can see from my receipts this week that the check out chick tried to charge me $12 for a Woolies BBQ chicken. But when I was getting the chicken, the price sign was $8.50. They had to refund me the 3.50. Hence, the end bill was $48.21 :)

Week Seven: Groceries $48.21 Cleaning products $0 Date night: $55 Total spend: $103.21 Total saving -$3.21 YTD saving $29.11

*Whoops*

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Week Six: Monday 16/11/15 to Sunday 22/11/15

This week has been ALL-OVER-THE-PLACE. We had a few events on which meant we didn’t have a lot of time at home. We also worked with Social Soup and trialled some Michelle Bridges Delicious Nutritious meals (which were amaaaaazing by  the way!) So we kinda just wrote off this week :|

YTD Savings: Unchanged 

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Week Five: Monday 09/11/15 to Sunday 15/11/15

This week: Groceries $44.69 Cleaning products $7.95 (dishwashing powder) Date night: $29 Total spend: $81.64 Total saving $18.36 YTD saving $38.07

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Week four: Monday 02/11/15 to Sunday 08/11/15

This week: Groceries $44.61 Cleaning products $39 (laundry powder) Date night: $29 Total spend: $112.61 Total saving -$12.61 YTD saving $19.71

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Week Three: Monday 26/10/15 to Sunday 01/11/15

First things first, lets clear the air. 

We just got back from Europe this week so the planning was a little out of place however, we still managed to stay under $100. 

I haven’t updated this blog in a month and a half.... so everything is going by my food plan/not taking into account of any items that I may have swapped the days around. 

This week: 

Groceries $55.77

Cleaning products $1.99

Date night: $29

Total spend: $86.76

Total saving $13.24

YTD saving $32.32

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DATE NIGHT: Bagus Malaysian

Date night, my favourite part of the week! 

This week, we bought a Groupon for $39 which is a 5 course Malaysian dinner

The voucher value is $78.50 which is for: 

Two curry puffs

Two pieces of chicken satay 

Two main courses, we ordered; 

Hainan chicken w. rice and 

King prawn laksa 

One serving of roti

Three scoops of exotic flavoured ice cream each, we got; 

Green tea

Chocolate

Vanilla

Two glasses of wine

The atmosphere was OK... felt like most other asian restaurants. We were the first customers to arrive at 5.40pm (LOL), and were quickly seated. We ordered our food which didn’t take very long to come, the chicken satay skewers were the best! The curry puff was OK, the Hainan chicken rice was very nice, could have done with more sauce. The prawn laksa is good and very filling, it was a very cold night when we went, so laksa was the perfect meal! Dessert was a little disappointing as the voucher said “exotic” flavours...... but it was just vanilla, chocolate and green tea. Our waitress was wonderful though. 

Overall, date night went really well! We enjoyed our food, but being the first two customers, it was very quiet, there needed to be some white noise, like maybe some music playing in the background would be nice as we were almost whispering to each other. 

These satay chicken skewers were the amazeballs! 

Curry puffs are OK. 

Chocolate ice cream was the best flavour out of three but I was really expecting something more exotic. 

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Breakfast for four: Pancakes

I love entertaining! I love having people over and on Friday, our friends form Melbourne came up for a visit and stayed the night. And I take any excuse to get the pinecones out and decorate our table. 

Also, can you see our Mickey Mouse tongs? Aren’t they just the cutest? We received them as a housewarming gift from another friend who was in Japan at the time and I am just so in love! They are so adorable! #love

Now, I hadn’t made pancakes in a while so I was very excited to for this on Saturday morning. We received a Random Harvest Apricot, Peach & Vanilla Jam for Christmas last year, it’s now September and we still hadn’t tried it so what better time than now? It was delicious! 

I used the recipe found on Taste

Know that I’m not kidding when I say this is the easiest recipe ever and look how lovely the pancakes turned out! #humblebrag 

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Roast Chicken Ravioli in Pasta Sauce

This roast chicken ravioli was bought from Aldi in the previous week which we hadn’t eaten, so I bought a jar of pasta sauce this week to have it together. As I was working from Melbourne on Thursday and flew back to Sydney at night, by the time I got home, I was buggered and hungry. So this was perfect. 

You will need: 

1x packet of pre-made ravioli 

1 jar of pasta sauce 

To do: 

Cook the ravioli per packet directions, drain 

Put the ravioli back in saucepan and pour in pasta sauce 

Stir occasionally until pasta sauce heats up 

Serve with chilli flakes 

As you can see, I garnished mine with chives which we had in the garden to make it look prettier. Jase found some tasty cheese in the freezer and mixed that in as well. 

The ravioli cost $4.49 and the sauce cost $1.69. Total = $6.18

And there you have it! This is enough to serve two dinners and two lunches. 

Follow me on Instagram to see what up I’m to! 

With love,  Em

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September 2015: Baby Shower for Mumma Diaz!

Eeeek! It’s baby shower time! 

A friend of mine is due to have a baby girl late October and we’re throwing her a baby shower to help her get a few things ready. I love shopping and since I am saving for a few things right now, I can only go shopping for other people (any excuse, right?) 

So I picked up a few things and wrapped it in pretty pink and girly paper which I already had at home, I bought a few metres of lace a few years ago as well and still haven’t finished using i, plus I always have a few spare cards around the house for events like this. So I didn’t have to buy any gift wrapping items.  

Would you like to know what I bought? 

I couldn’t resist.... How cute are these little soft toys and blankies and little pink shirt and hat? I also love DIY so I thought this keepsake mould would be a great idea! Mumma can take a print of the tiny baby hands and feet from the first day the baby arrives. 

Can’t wait to see these being used and I hope she liked them! 

Have a great day! 

Em

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MANIAX - Sydney’s newest coolest hangout. 

I saw a short vid on urbanlisted which was a guy throwing an axe at a target in slo-mo. It looked easy but I didn’t know as I had never thrown an axe before. 

So we gathered our group of 8 (8 is the min. people) and came in for some fun on Saturday afternoon! The axe throwing session itself costs  $50 per person and you have to pay a 50% deposit when you make the booking and pay the rest on the day. They don’t accept cash on premise, so you will have to pay by card.  

I do have some vids on my Facebook and I will upload one to my Instagram but all I have to say is... throwing an axe at the target, is A LOT HARDER than it looks. Like.... you can throw the axe at the target, but it’s very difficult to get it to swing and land blade first on the target, stay in the target and exactly where you want it. 

If you have not done this before then I would highly recommend it! The crew are so chill and super cool. They have an honesty policy with their food and drinks purchase so the whole atmosphere is just amazing. There’s plenty of parking available which is free so $50 is all you pay for the 2 hr session. You get lots of practice rounds before they do the tournament and the points sytem works very well (ie. you have to lose two games in a row to be out of the tournament). 

We will definitely come back for some more fun but might give it a few weeks before we organise it again. 

Check them out at: http://www.maniax.com.au/

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Chicken schnitzel w. polenta, broccoli & carrots

I made this on Tuesday night, schnitzel is one of the easiest and simplest things to make and it is freggin delicious! 

Ingredients: 

Three large chicken breasts, 

Two eggs 

1.5 cups of breadcrumbs 

1 cup polenta 

1 broccoli

2 carrots 

Method: 

Slice the chicken breasts in half from the side so they are thinner and easier to cook

Season with salt/pepper (I found a thing of Masterfood seasoning I had in my cupboard, so I used this instead) 

Whisk two eggs in a bowl

Pour breadcrumbs on a plate 

Heat a frying pan with some olive oil 

Dip the chicken breasts into the egg and into the breadcrumbs, ensure the breast is fully coated with crumbs, fry both sides until cooked, repeat. 

Meanwhile, cook polenta per packet directions (mine was 1L water to 1cup polenta, stir constantly for 10-15mins at medium heat and then let rest for 5mins) 

Steam the carrots for 2-3 mins to soften, add broccoli and steam together for further 5-8 mins (until the veg is at its brightest colour) and done!

I was going to have this with gravy, but we ran out of gravox (probably for the better), so we had it without any sauce, we actually didn’t feel the need for sauce as the chicken was cooked perfectly. So I’m not going to replace the gravox to keep costs down (lol). I also think polenta is a great substitute for mash as I already had polenta at home and was not prepared to pay for potatoes this week #livingthepovolife, haha! 

Hope there was something for you to take away on this post. Please click on my hashtags for similar posts! 

Cheers!  Em

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Prawn, pork & chives wontons w. pak choy

I try to get my meal plan and grocery shopping done on Saturday so that I can relax for the rest of the weekend. Last week, I had a housewarming on Saturday night and Date Night on Sunday night, so I had plenty of time to prepare these wontons on Sunday morning. I love dumplings!

To make the wontons, you will need: 

500g raw green prawns, peeled, tails removed 

500g pork mince (I used the heard smart mince)

Large bunch of chives (ours were home grown) 

2 eggs (optional)

Some garlic (optional)

Some oyster sauce 

Some sesame oil

Some soy sauce 

Tiny bit of sugar

Black pepper 

Wonton skin (about 60)

Lucky for me, I already have all of the seasoning at home, so I only needed to buy the prawn and pork mince this week. The chives are grown at home by Jason, they grow very fast in the warmer weather and are super easy to maintain, so if you have space for a small veggie patch and like making dumplings, then growing your chives can save a lot of money. 

Method: 

Mince the prawns, dice the chives (about 5mm width)

In a large bowl, mix the prawn mince, pork mince, chives, eggs 

Add seasoning, you can cook a few in boiling water for about 12 mins and adjust to your taste. I do make mine a with a little more oyster sauce because I don’t eat the dumplings with any more sauce after they’re cooked. 

This recipe ended up making 60 dumplings with some mixture leftover which I have made into patties. I packed the wontons into individual serves of 12, so there was 5 servings, I used this for two dinners on Monday night as I had to work late and didn’t have much time to cook after work. I also made two lunches for Tuesday, and I have a spare meal at home for later in the week, or maybe next week. 

Hope there is something for you to takeaway in this post. Please click on my tags to see similar posts :)

Cheers, 

Em

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Week Two: Monday 21/09/15 to Sunday 27/09/15

Ahh, almost the end of another week, this means we are closer and closer to our holiday! Over the last two weeks, with budgeting and bringing lunches from home, we’ve actually saved about $1,000! Etihad airways also casually sent us an email asking if we wanted to upgrade to business class for $900... HECK YES! was my immediate thought. 

But no, **reality check** it was an auction, you have to bid, and it’s only for a quarter of the way there. The price is currently sitting at $1,800 per person. So we will not be upgrading to anything. I mean, it would be super freggin’ awesome to be flying business class, but $1,800 x 2 people = $3,600 and with this money, we can pay for our flights & accommodation for a holiday in Hawaii. So back to saving for now... 

This week, I didn’t have to stock up on any cleaning products, the $10 budget from is being saved and will be spent on laundry powder / fabric softener / things that cost more than $10 in the future. 

For groceries, I spent $46.92! Can you believe this? I am actually very proud of the this week... I even lashed out and bought the heart smart pork mince and RSPCA approved chicken breast, living the high roller healthy life we are! 

For date night, I bought another Groupon voucher, this one is for dinner at a Malaysian restaurant, 5 courses with wine, the menu actually looks pretty good: 

Two curry puffs

Two pieces of chicken satay

Two main courses 

One serving of roti

Three scoops of exotic flavoured ice cream each

Two glasses of wine

In summary, this weeks’ spending is $46.92 on groceries + $39 on date night. Total spend this week: $85.92 = WIN!

This weeks’ meal plan: 

This weeks’ items from the pantry: 

Wonton skin (2 packets, I over bought in the past, so have heaps of these in my freezer)

Wonton seasoning (oyster sauce, soy sauce, sesame oil, garlic etc)

Bread

Bread crumbs

Roast chicken ravioli (packet from previous week not eaten)

Pancake ingredients (self raising flour, sugar, eggs from previous week, vanilla extract, butter, jams)

Seasoning

Tea bags

We had friends who came up from Melbourne to stay with us on Friday night, we ordered pizza as this we got home around 10pm and this was the easiest option. For Saturday morning breakfast, I was originally going to do pancakes, bacon, eggs, toast, muesli with coffee, tea or juice. But this seemed like too much food, so I only served pancakes since I already had all of the ingredients. I think I got away with it! 

Hope this post inspires you to save in some way. Check out my other posts for similar articles and follow me on Instagram to see what I’m up to!  

With love, 

Em

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Melbourne to Sydney: Thursday 24/09/15

Tonights’ flight is my last flight to Melbourne for work as I am going on leave as of Wednesday! Italia, here I come! 

The last few times I flew with Virgin, the evening snack was cheese and crackers and it was delicious! So imagine the disappointment on my face when they handed me this parmesan biscuit thing with a salsa dip..... I wasn’t really sure what to do with it, do they go together? Anyway... I took it home and gave it to Jase. #firstworldproblems

Surprisingly, Melbourne weather was much better than Sydney today, I ran a training session in the morning, went for a long walk to the shops, did some shopping for the baby shower I’m going to on Sunday, had some rice paper rolls for lunch, hit my 10,000 steps on my Fitbit, did some more work and then came home to a very rainy Sydney. Ergh. 

Hope there will be some weather like this when we go on holidays so the plants get watered! We’re growing chives, chilli and some other herbs so we can save money when we cook ;) 

But for the next 5 days, please bring good weather so we can enjoy Sydney before we leave! 

I flew out of Melbourne at sunset and these pictures don’t do it justice, but you get the jist...... 

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The Bachelorette Australia: Sam Frost

Save Money: Watch Shows on Free to Air 

I never followed The Bachelor series, but of course, everyone has heard about the girl who won, got engaged and then broken up with on national TV, like.. why would you put someone through that? A-Hole! I have my reservations about how much is staged though.... But Sam Frost seems like a sweet heart, she seems genuine and very down to earth, so I wish her all the best in this series **insert heart eyes emoji**. 

She is gorgeous! Can you believe she is only 26?! 

I’m also following The Biggest Loser AU, so I guess the next few months is all about Channel 10 for me! #teamauvale

Image from www.mediaweek.com.au  

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Bake Sale for The Black Puppy Foundation

We did a bake sale last week to raise money for the Black Puppy Foundation. 

Established in 2007, The Black Puppy Foundation funds research in to mental health issues affecting Australia's youth. It is so important for us to raise awareness in mental health because often the sufferers don’t even know they are suffering and are left undiagnosed. Mental health affects not only the person who is suffering, but also their friends and family. 

Please read more about the Black Puppy Foundation here: 

http://www.blackpuppyfoundation.org.au/home

For the bake sale, my contribution was: Tim Tam Balls! 

They are absolutely delicious and super easy to make, I left them in the fridge overnight to set. I had some clear baggies at home from when I made chocolate dipped oranges so I just packed them in single serves and tied them up with some cute ribbon and lace. We sold them for $1 each! 

To make the Tim Tam Balls, you will need: 

2x 200g Packet of Tim Tams 

1x 395g condensed milk 

2 cups of coconut 

Step 1: Crush tim tam balls  Step 2: Stir in condensed milk  Step 3: With a spoon, scoop mixture into balls, then roll into coconut Step 4: Set for 2 hours or over night

I found this recipe online and only modified the quantity of condensed milk as the mixture got very runny, also I didn’t want to open the second can. 

You can find the original recipe here:

http://www.bestrecipes.com.au/recipe/tim-tam-balls-L11291.html?page=2