Hints From My Great-Grandmother's Cookbook

I mentioned in an earlier post that I had a cookbook belonging to my great grandmother. Today I want to share a few excerpts (hints, rather than recipes) from it.

Let me start with the comfortable, homely words from the foreword:

All recipes are simple and practical.

No expensive ingredients are used and all can be bought in any New Zealand town.

Special attention has been paid to utilising odds and ends of vegetables, fish, meat, stale bread and cakes etc in many appetising ways.

A young housewife following through with the recipes given here can order her household without one ounce of waste in food.

Cookbooks like this one (Una Carter's Famous National Cookery Book, 7th ed, no year or publisher given on cover or fly) are *really* the way to find recipes to help you save. Look for old cookbooks written before World War II; or at least before 1960 - these are the recipes and tips which will really help you save.

Hints from the Recipe book:

• Use a wooden spoon for stirring
• Sieve flour for lightness
• Use breakfast cups to measure a "cup" in recipes
• Use old magazines as pot stands
• Keep lids on pans when cooking soups and stews
• Measure all ingredients before commencing to mix
• Have all tins greased or prepared before commencing to mix

I'll bring you more excerpts and of course a few recipes from this book as well as many of my favorites from other sources. Old-fashioned notions still have a lot of merit, even coming up to a century later :)

Tips for Travelling without spending a fortune

Travelling - from time to time, we all do it, and sometimes it's for fun; other times it's for business; and still other times, it's for duty.

Now this post isn't about doing your OE on the cheap or the best way to backpack through Europe - there are many other wonderful resources out there which can tell you how to do that much better than I.

This post is about those last two categories - travelling for business or duty.

If you're travelling for business and your employer pays; great - little of this applies to you. But, how about if it's your OWN business, if you're a contractor, or if you're self-employed, and every penny comes out of your own pocket?

• When you have to travel, try to plan as far in advance as possible. The further out you book, the cheaper the options often are.
• Consider booking the cheapest, unchangeable fares and taking Cancellation Insurance: if the event you are going to is cancelled or changed, cancellation insurance usually covers your airfare costs.
• Look at all your transport options. Weigh up the benefits and costs of driving your own vehicle, taking a rental vehicle, and using public transport/flights. Drving your own car a long distance is often less of a saving than you might imagine, by the time you factor everything in.
• Check out accommodation options. Think outside the square - look for B&B's and homestays in the town you're headed to; factor in camp-grounds and chalets. Are there friends, workmates or relatives you could stay with nearby?
• Eating while you're away is one of the biggest hidden costs. When out of town, there's a huge temptation to eat all 3 meals at cafes or restaurants, or use room service. Don't be afraid to use the supermarket and purchase items to eat in your room, or to make your lunch.
• Familiarise yourself with the town you're going to. Check out a map before you go, and know your destination, the public transport and your accommodation. Don't get stuck with $100 cab fare before you've even begun!
• Use Wotif to find accommodation, and look at Grabaseat for flights.
• Finally, consider when you are travelling. Avoid peak hours of the day (between 7.30 and 9am, 5pm - 7pm) and peak holiday times. Know when the school holidays are, even if you don't have kids yourself.

Great Lunchbox Recipe - Creme de Menthe Cake (Arsenic Cake!)

Creme de Menthe cake (or Arsenic Cake, which is what we affectionately called this tasty treat :)) was one of my favourite childhood recipes - and simple enough to make that it was one of the first cakes I learned to bake alone.

Basically, it's a chocolate peppermint cake - a plain cake, flavoured with peppermint and tinted with green food colouring; and iced with rich chocolate icing (frosting). It tastes wonderful, and it's startling colour makes it a lunchbox or party favourite - as well as making it perfect for birthday cakes, St Patrick's Day or halloween!

Creme De Menthe Cake

4 oz (115g) butter
6 oz (170g) caster sugar (Don't buy it specially if you don't have it to hand: use plain white!)
2 eggs
6 oz (170g) flour
1/4 c milk
1/2 baking soda
1 t cream of tartar*
1 t peppermint essence
1 t green food colouring (optional of course)**

Cream the butter and sugar (Check out a post later in the week for directions if you're not sure what this means!) Add the eggs and stir gently. NOTE: Never beat a cake mix, unless the recipe specifically calls for it. Stir gently :)

Dissolve the baking soda in the milk. Add it alternately with your remaining dry ingredients (flour, cream of tartar). NOTE: this means, stir in some of the dry ingredients, then an equivalent proportion of milk, and repeat until all have been added. It's to help you achieve a smooth cake batter :)

Your cake batter should be a nice gold, and reasonably thick. add your peppermint essence and green colour, and stir through until mixed. The batter will turn a pale grass green - don't get it too bright, it always looks brighter when it's cooked!

Grease your cake pan, or line it with baking paper, and pour in your cake batter. I prefer to make this cake in a square pan, so as to have lovely squares with four green sides when it's cut, but use your favorite cake pan for the occasion. Round is usually better for birthdays!

Bake the cake at 180 deg C (350F) until done - it takes around 40 minutes in a standard oven. A fan oven will be faster.

The edges of the cake will brown, but when you cut it you'll find the cake is quite a virulent green. if it's for a birthday or St Patrick's Day, you might like to trim the edges off to make a nice bright green edge - you can serve these offcuts as desserts with icecream.

Ice with your favorite chocolate icing/frosting recipe - I'll bring you mine tomorrow, but this cake will take your own favorite.

*Unfortunately, there's not really a good substitute for cream of tartar, if you don't happen to have it. You could try popping in a teaspoon of baking powder instead. You'll find recommendations to leave out the baking soda if you do that, but I wouldn't recommend that course for this particular recipe.

Serving suggestions

• This cake is a lunchbox favorite - very tasty, and great looking!
• Un-iced, sliced thinly and topped with chocolate sauce as a dessert
• Birthday party - either as the birthday cake or sliced into fingers
• St Patrick's Day or Hallowe'en party fare
  

**TOP TIP: If you are making a "grown up" cake, add 1/2 cup of cocoa to the mix, and another few drops of peppermint essence. This will give you a real chocolate peppermint cake, with a night light fluffy texture.

Baking Staples - things for the pantry!

Note: In this post, by "baking" I mean: making cakes, cookies, slices, breads and other things you'd find in the baked goods section at your supermarket, or at the bakery.

If you want to be able to bake "at the drop of a hat", it pays to keep a set of baking staple items in the pantry. That way, when you suddenly realise you need something extra for the lunchboxes in the morning, or feel like treating yourself for Sunday lunch, you'll be able to choose your favorite recipe and be ready to go in minutes.

It means no special trip to the supermarket too - and we all know the dangers of those "special trips" when you're on a budget. "I'll just get one of those"... perhaps the worst words ever to pass a penny-saver's lips! I bet everyone reading knows exactly what I mean there...

So without further ado, what items do *you* need in your pantry to be ready to bake?

Flour
Plain white flour is what I buy myself, with a small bag of wholemeal on hand as well. There are lots of wholemeal and wholegrain flours available and I'm sure they're all excellent, but healthy-choices not withstanding, my family prefers white. And while I'd *love* to get them eating better, I'm weaning them off store-bought sweet treats, so I figure white flour is a compromise I don't mind making - for now!

Choose your favorite brand of flour - I buy what's on special myself - and if you prefer to use a wholemeal flour, substitute at will.

When it comes to self-raising flour, I don't buy it. Why not? Make your own.**

• Baking powder
• Baking soda
• Cream of tartar
  
• Salt
• Sugar - many recipes use brown sugar, raw sugar, caster sugar etc. Now, you *can* buy all those kinds of sugar if you want, but pretty much, you can use whichever kind you have on hand. I try to keep white sugar and either brown or raw sugar in my pantry, but on those tight weeks, I stick to just plain old versatile white.
• Cornflour or cornstarch - a lot of recipes use it for thickening. It's a nice to have; you can do without it - but it *is* handy for thickening savoury dishes and sauces, and I do try to keep it myself.

With these basic items, you can pretty much consider yourself baking-ready. As well, a lot of recipes use eggs, butter and milk, but you can find plenty of egg-free recipes if you look - our own Honey Loaf is an example. And butter can usually be replaced by margarine or any other fat you have on hand (sour cream, yoghurt, or even cooking oil, to name 3 I've used in a pinch), and milk can often be replaced by water.

Flavouring Pantry Items

These definitely come under the heading of nice-to-haves, but most of them last a long long time - often you'll need only tiny amounts of these items. I try to buy one every second shop, and then I have a stack before I know it, without having a huge outlay all at once. And of course, your family may not like some of the flavours (chocolate and peppermint are big in my house, but orange rarely goes down well, for example) so that will also determine what you buy.

Flavoured essences to keep on hand:

• Peppermint
• Vanilla
• Lemon

These are the only three I consider *essential* for myself - but essences come in all flavours. Others you might like to try include:

• Almond
• Brandy
• Rum
  

If you have kids, the investment of a couple of dollars in some food colouring can really pay off - both in interesting kids in cooking, and in getting them eating the results! I like to keep green and red food colouring at home, blue is also a popular choice.

The other key food flavouring I keep is cocoa. Essential for chocolate cakes!*

Of course, you can also keep ingredients like dried fruit, crushed nuts and cooking chocolate to hand. But you don't *need* them to bake successfully!

**TOP TIP: To make your own self-raising flour, add one and a half-teaspoons of baking powder and a half-teaspoon of salt for every cup of plain flour. Simple, huh? :)

*TIP: If you run out of cocoa, you can substitute instant chocolate drinks such as Drinking Chocolate, Milo or NesQuik. The flavour will be slightly different, but if your wee one or significant other really wants their favorite chocolate snack, it can save your bacon!

Second hand shopping for the kitchen - even the celebrities are doing it!

Last Night on Campbell Live, celebrity chef Richard Till talked about "retro" baking utensils.

He had a lot of items that many of us still have and use at home, but he also made a key point - the young presenter didn't even *recognise* a lot of the items that our mothers and grandmothers used every day.

Two of the items discussed last night:


These are a flour sifter (left) and a Gem iron (right). (Watch this space - next week LastPenny will bring you Mum's wonderful Gem recipe. It's not exactly healthy eating, mind, but we all need comfort food, right? *vbg*)

Baking at Home

The point of today's post is twofold. The first key point is that baking at home provides a more cost-effective and often healthier alternative to buying snacks.

By looking out those old recipes (or following LastPenny!) you can keep the family in cakes, biscuits, desserts and many other tasty treats, all without spending a fortune.

Here's the SECOND key point. With the busy, instant focus of life in this new millennium, many of us simply aren't set up to bake at home. We're missing a number of the key items we need to get going. But don't despair! Don't put home baking in the too hard basket, or think it will take a lot of expensive equipment to get going.

So what utensils I need to bake at home?

• First up, you don't need a food processor, blender, or any other fancy electronic equipment. While those are nice to haves, your gran didn't have them, and quite likely your mother started without them too - and they all baked, very successfully.
  
• What you do need are a couple of good heavy tablespoons, a set of measuring spoons, a set of measuring cups, a fork, an egg-whisk, a rolling pin and a measuring cup or bottle with a fitting lid (that you can shake liquid ingredients in).
• If you don't have a rolling pin, a wine bottle or something similar-shaped and reasonably heavy will do the trick.
  
• A sieve or sifter for flour is desirable, but you can live without it.
• A rubber spatula for scraping out bowls is a nice to have.
• A set of kitchen scales is helpful, but you CAN do without it - many recipe books including the Edmonds Cook Book have conversion charts at the front, listing the conversions from weight to volume for common ingredients.
• The final key thing you need, especially if you're a new baker, is a RECIPE BOOK. And I don't mean Jamie Oliver's newest coffee table masterpiece, either. Find your mum's favourite old recipe book - I have one of my mother's grandmothers, that gives the method for regulating the temperature in a wood-burning stove. That's the kind of recipe book you need. In the front of those books are a whole lot of lovely tips for the first-time baker - all about what terms such as "cream the butter and sugar" mean, and advice on really how to rub the butter into the flour. (LastPenny will bring you those in due course, too - but having them at your fingertips is a great idea)
  

Now, don't go off to Farmers and spend a couple of hundred dollars in the kitchen department! The VERY BEST THING about all of those things listed above? You can buy them all at your nearest Salvation Army Op Shop, or at garage sales. All those items together will set you back less than $20.00.

While you're there, pick up the other items you'dd need. These vary depending on what you're intending to cook, but will likely include:

• Cake pans*
• Muffin trays**
• Cookie sheets
• Loaf tins

*TOP TOP: If you have a smallish lasagne pan or a square baking dish, you can use it as a cake pan. Many casseroles will also do double duty.

**TIP: You can buy muffin and cupcake papers at the supermarket, and if you don't have a muffin pan, many muffin or cake doughs will hold their shape in a paper receptacle. The key here is not to overfill the muffin or cake paper.

We'll bring you some top baking recipes and tips over the next week :) Look out for them, and if you've got an old favorite, drop us a line in comments or by using the form on our webpage here, and we'll find your favorite recipe for you! Or, if you have a recipe to share, send it in - we'll include it, with a link to your website or blog.

Dinner Recipe: Honey Mustard Chicken

This is one of my favorite recipes, very fast and easy to make and it's always popular. It takes less than 15 minutes, start to end, and it's a one-pan, one bowl dish!

LastPenny uses only free range chicken products: they cost a little more, but here at LastPenny, while we're committed to saving your dollars, we wont save money through animal suffering.

400 - 500g chicken meat, or you can use chicken pieces Either skin your chicken or buy skinless - it's a healthier choice and it takes the flavour better
1 heaped T honey
2 t wholegrain mustard
1 T white wine*
lemon juice
2 medium carrots

Mix honey and mustard in a bowl. Together they will be very gluggy and the honey will stick to the spoon - don't worry, this is normal :). Add a good squirt of lemon juice - the equivalent of half a small lemon, or around a teaspoon. This will "cut" the honey's stickiness, and allow you to mix up a nice smooth paste of the honey and mustard together.

Mix until you can see the grainy mustard through the honey and your mixture is smooth and stirable. Set aside, and put the kettle on to boil for your hot water!

Cut chicken into bite-sized pieces, and sear in frying pan. Once chicken is lightly browned, pour your honey mustard mix over and lower the heat.

Pour the boiling water into the bowl you mixed your honey mustard, and swirl to ensure you get all traces. Add half of the water to pan, and stir chicken mixture til simmering. Add the wine.

If you want to add other veges, add them now. I sometimes add courgettes. Whatever you use, chop it into bite-sized pieces.

Cook for a further 7 - 10 mins at a gentle simmer. Stir occasionally as the sauce reduces. Add more water from your bowl if needed.

*TOP TIP: if you don't have wine or don't like to cook with alcohol, use 1 t white vinegar and a splash of water instead

Serving Suggestions:

• Stir through pasta, with a green salad on the side
• Serve with boiled potatoes and fresh steamed green veges - asparagus is perfect, or try broccoli or celery
• Leftovers reheat beautifully in the microwave for an office lunch, or top a cold salad for a yummy summer lunchbox
  

Transport: One of your biggest saving options

Driving your car every day is an expensive exercise, what with the price of petrol not to mention the incidentals - running costs such as:

• Insurance
• Registration and warranty
• Repairs and maintenance
• Tyres
• Vehicle depreciation as the mileage increases

There are several ways you can save in this area. One of the simplest is to downgrade your car. Choose a small, light vehicle with a low CC rating, and see your insurance costs drop, your petrol costs drop, and depending on your choice of model, possibly your maintenance costs too. This is often an overlooked facet when purchasing a car - popular small makes are often cheaper to repair and maintain.

Carpooling was once popular, but in these days of school runs and the "instant" society, no-one wants to wait or have the "bother" of having to go home at a certain time. But rethinking these ideas can save you a lot of cash.


Even if you carpool two out of five days a week, or combine the school run with your neighbours, there are opportunities for saving. Maybe you and your neighbour start at the same time, and you and your spouse finish at the same time, and there's a way that can be combined?

Public transport is often the best way of saving money. Not only do you save on gas, you also don't have to pay for parking. Check out public transport options in your city - buses, ferries, trains.

When you use public transport, look for discount deals. Often there are monthly passes, ten trips, and other combination tickets that deliver extra savings.

TOP TIP: Many public transport options have chep deals *after 9am*. If you are able to start after 9 and employ flexi-time, even one or two days a week, this can deliver a SIGNIFICANT saving.

Top dessert/lunchbox recipe: Honey Loaf

Honey Loaf is a sweet-tasting, cake-like loaf, perfect as morning or afternoon tea, as a lunch-box filler, or as a dessert.

And best of all, it's very very simple to make and uses a selection of relatively cheap ingredients.

Also, it is dairy free, egg free and nut free!

We make this at home all the time - it's a family favorite!

Honey Loaf

Note: These recipes use NZ measurements. 1 c = 1 cup = 250 ml. 1 T = 1 tablespoon = 15 ml. 1 D = 2 teaspoons. 1 t = 1 teaspoon = 5ml. If you're in the US, you may find you need a little extra baking powder in recipes that use it.

8oz (225g) flour
4oz (110g) sugar
1 t baking powder
1 t baking soda
300ml water, boiling
2 T honey

Mix flour, sugar and baking powder. Slowly, add the boiling water with honey and soda dissolved in it. Stir well.

When I make it, I hand-stir. I find the food-processor over-mixes, but it may work for you.

The batter is quite liquid when made, about the consistency of yoghurt or perhaps a little thicker.

Pour into greased loaf tin and bake at 180C (350F) for 1 hour.

Serving Suggestions

The loaf is an attractive golden colour when cooked, and just very slightly sticky (thanks to the honey!) to touch. It rises nicely to a loaf-shape, and when cool, holds its shape well and is easy to slice.

As a dessert:

• Serve warm, cut into chunks with vanilla icecream or your favorite fresh or tinned fruit
• Serve warm or cold to taste with fresh fruit and custard
• Slice into squares and serve cold, topped with sliced berries or other fruit as dessert "nibbles" or "tapas"

As a snack:

• Serve cold, sliced and buttered
• You could spread it with jam, too, but I find that a little too sweet, myself
  
• Top with icing sugar and drizzle with lemon juice and slice into fingers
• Cut like a cake, either topped with icing sugar or iced with lemon or vanilla icing

In the lunchbox, wrap in clingwrap or lunchwrap and the slight stickiness will not be a problem. Kids wont end up with it all over their clothing, faces etc :)

Competitions - why?

I just entered this draw, and when AA gave me the opportunity to share it, I thought, well, why not bring it over here and let mt fellow penny-savers try their luck?



And that brings me to the point of today's post. When cash gets tight, it's time to think outside the box for other sources of income and necessities.

Out there on the internet, every day, are hundreds of competitions for you to enter. If you're between jobs or unable to work, spend a little time every day looking for competitions to enter - the kind with products or cash as prizes. Normally, all it takes is a few clicks of your mouse - and as they say, "You've got to be in to win!"

Here's another place to go: The Great New Zealand Survey where you can win prizes for completing surveys, and gain draw entries by merely clicking links. Plus, you receive some interesting info and special deals you might not otherwise.

Staple Pantry Items

Saving cash - and eating better - can begin with dining at home, cooking family dinners, making your lunch to take with you to work or school, and eating a proper breakfast so you're less likely to want to buy expensive and unhealthy snacks during the day.

Items to keep in the pantry so you're always ready to cook:

• Tinned tomatoes - whole or chopped
• Tinned whole kernel corn
• Tinned fish - smoked fish, tuna or salmon are the most versatile. Choose your family's favorite and keep it on hand. Don't buy the flavored kind - it costs more and is less versatile!
  
• Pasta - whole grain is most healthy, but buy to taste. There are lots of different shapes available to keep kids interested!
• Rice
• Beans - whichever kind your supermarket stocks! Or choose the kind yhour family likes the best.
• Flavoured beans such as baked beans, chili beans for instant meals and healthy after-school or after work snacks
• Canola cooking oil and cooking spray
• Wholegrain mustard
• Plain flour
• Honey
• Lemon juice, if you don't have access to fresh lemons
• White vinegar
• Balsamic vinegar
• Sweet chili sauce - my personal favourite is Mae Ploy brand, but buy for price and personal taste
• Peanut butter
  

a) - Always buy the cheapest brands! There is very little difference in quality between store's own brands and the more aggressively marketed kinds. ** Exceptions - do READ the ingredient lists for preprepared foods. More on this in a later post.
b) - If we've labeled a brand, we used it in our recipe-testing. BUT, we have no affiliation with any marketing company nor do we receive payment for this - at LastPenny, be assured, any brand or product recommendations are simply our *own personal taste*. PLease substitute for your own favorite brand.

Recipes using these staples will follow, as will staples for fridge, freezer, fresh goods, etc

Tips: Grocery shopping

Shop at discount stores: For New Zealand, this means Pak N Save, The Warehouse Extra, cash 'n carries such as Moore Wilson's. The Mad Butcher is an excellent source for meat, and also for petfood!!

Look for advertised specials and buy in bulk eg New World coupons, Foodtown Wine Sales

Buy fresh produce from orchards or growers - you can often achieve savings of up to 50%

Buy fresh produce seasonally.

Be flexible. If broccoli is $3.00 per head, substitute cauliflower, silver beet etc.

Check prices and buy what is on special.

Making Your Pennies Last

Check back often for top tips on saving cash, getting things for less and making your money work for you.

Top tip for July: Cook at home. Exciting recipes coming soon!