Fill Your Money Box » Recipes

Homemade mosquito (mossie) spray to save money

mitz — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 00:34:49 +0000

Why buy expenisve mossie spray when you can make it yourself very cheaply. I make may own homemade mosquito repellant and it keeps the mossies, sand flies, and flies away.

I am one of those people that always get bitten by insects, when everyone else can’t feel a thing. Here I am scratching and slapping myself while other people are just standing there watching.

I seriously thought that this homemade recipe for mosquito spray would not work…But I am telling you that it really works.

Here is the recipe for the homemade mosquito spray:

1 part Dettol
3 parts Baby oil

Shake the bottle and away you go. I usually put mine in an empty pump spray bottle. Actualy an old aeroguard one. This stuff goes a long way too. It seems to last forever.

I will never go back to paying $5 or more for a chemical ridden can of mossie spray.

Make banana muffins with your rotten bananas!

mitz — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 03:35:00 +0000

Don’t throw out your old bananas! You can freeze them to make smoothies with or make banana muffins with your rotten bananas!

Banana Muffins

2 cups Self raising flour

2 large bananas (ripened) 3 small

1/2 cup brown sugar (less if you like)

1 egg

1/3 cup butter, melted( if unsalted add 1/4 tsp salt)

A few drops of Vanilla

Preheat oven to 400F or 180C. Add dry ingredients together. Sift flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt together. Mix the eggs, bananas, and butter; add to dry ingredients, stirring only until the all ingredients are combined. Spoon into well-greased muffin tins. Bake for 20 minutes.

I usually touch the top of the muffin to see if it is ready. If it is it will spring back.
The less you stir the mixture the softer the muffin
You can add choc chips, walnuts, or coconut to the mixture.
I like throwing nuts on the top for decoration.

You can use other fruits besides the bananas but they may not have as much liquid and you will have to add a bit of milk to compensate.

For example I would use two apples sliced up and maybe a 1/4 of a cup of milk. I would also add some cinamon and walnuts… Yummm

What food and drink can you freeze to save money

mitz — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 02:37:00 +0000

Knowing what foods you can and can’t freeze can save you a huge amount of money. People waste food everyday by waiting until it is spoiled and then throwing it out. Most foods can be saved by freezing them before they go off!

Sliced Meat: Any sliced meats like ham, salami, chicken, etc can be frozen in small portions to use on sandwiches when needed.

Chicken: Break the roast chicken up, getting all the meat from the bone and freeze for sandwiches or maybe another meal. Store in an airtight container.

Toasted sandwiches: With the letover ham I make toasted ham and cheese sandwiches and freeze them. Now all the kids have to do is unwrap them and cook in a toasted sandwich machine.

Cakes/ Muffins / Buscuits: I freeze any cake, muffins, and most busicuts and when you bring them out to eat they still taste the same. This is handy when your family can’t eat the entire cake you have baked. Just simply wrap up the leftovers and bring them out when needed. We usually heat cake up in the microwave and add some fresh cream for a quick desert.

Cooked Rice / Noodles / mashed potato: Freeze any of these in an artight bag. I use a clip lock plastic bag with the air pushed out and flattened out for easy defrosting. It is really handy to pull out something to add to a meal that is almost ready for you to eat.

Premade meals: I usually have some simple meals that you just heat and eat for the kids to grab. Meals like spaghetti bolognaise, lasagne, cheesy noodles, curry and rice, and more..

Bread: I buy bread in bulk because you can get it for $1.00 a loaf, whereas the smaller corner store sells it for $3.00.

Potato chips: There are always leftover potato chips that go to waste. I freeze potato chips in clip lock bags and pull them out and put them in my kids school lunches. It is also cheaper to buy one big pack rather than the smaller individual packs.

Leftover softdrink / cordial: My kids are forever leaving half a cup cordial or soft drink around. It used to really annoy me, however now I make them an icey pole with it. Same with orange juice, coke, lemonade etc… Some people also make ice blocks for drinks. As long as it is just for yourselves, there is no chance of spreading germs.

Fruit: Bananas were continually going bad at my house until I decided to throw an entire bunch into the freezer. Now I pull a banana out and make an icey banana smoothy with it. I cook apples and freeze them or I just make an Apple Tea cake with them. You can put any fruit into a cake. You should experiment.. You can also make fruit smoothies and freeze into icy poles.. The kids love that!

Tomatoes: I usually freeze these to use in spaghetti sauce. Some people blanch them and peal the skin, however I don’t bother as I am going to wizz it up later.

Sandwiches: You can freeze ready made sandwiches for your kids lunches. I usually freeze vegemite, peanut butter, ham and cheese, chicken and cheese, chicken and mayo, and more…. Anything that doesn’t contain a salad item like tomato or lettuce.