For the Carnivor Family

We eat meat!  I cant imagine and dont want to imagine life without it.  But unfortunately the grocery bills for our family is every increasing unless I am very careful, so I try to make our meat last as long as possible.  I have mentioned before that I am a fan of buying at a discount and my local butcher sells better meat at least half the price of the supermarkets.  Every few weeks I plan a vague list of meals and then armed with my cash make my purchases.

Two weeks ago, I spent $40 on the following: 1.2kg chicken breasts, 1.5kg mince, 2 osso bucco, 2 porterhouse steaks, 3 oyster blade steaks and 4 rashers of bacon.  We have had meat every weeknight and I still have another week's worth to go.  There are only 3 of us to feed, but I have managed to have 2 days worth of osso bucco, 2 days with lemon chicken pasta, 3 days of chow mein, 2 days of spaghetti bolognaise, 3 days of beef stew, 2 days of chicken curry, 1 day of egg souffle with bacon which we call 'cheese pud'. 

I stretched out most of the meals by adding heaps of vegetables, and used different sides such as pasta or rice, or even made some of the stew into pies.  And I have to admit that my meal portions have been occassionally smaller as I still feel a little queasy as a result of being pregnant, but there is always still some of my meals that are wasted because we have had our fill.  I feel really thrifty and proud of myself when I see how far I can make the meat stretch. 

I have done an inventory of my freezer today and this week's grocery bill will still not require any meat and very few vegetables.  That means more money that we can put towards paying off our investment property. 

Art?!

The week before Christmas, my husband & I were shopping for gifts, when an awesome bargain caught our eye.  We found an outdoor shower that would look great near our pool at our investment property in QLD.  It was reduced to half price, and then being the cheeky bargain hunter that I am, I asked if we could get more of a discount since it was a display model.  We actually got another 25% off the price again, so it pays to be cheeky.

Anyway, we opened it up at home and it was promptly set up in our living room as 'art'.  My husband thought it looked like a cool sculpture.  I do love the way it looks, but....well....art?  If anyone asks, our living room is a temporary modern art museum.  So anyway after it was displayed for a couple of weeks, it was dismantled yesterday and packed away until it can be installed when we next travel to update our QLD property.  One day when I am able to use it properly, I will enjoy showering under a work of art.