Feather your Nest Friday, 12 August, 2016.

The weekend is almost here! Time to take a look at what I actually achieved this week which I know usually makes me feel much better and happier. If I didn't do this I would just focus on everything I still have on my "To Do" list (which is long)

With the Olympics we have had a bit later nights but there have been some wonderful and inspiring stories that we have enjoyed so much.  Another lovely thing is that in our area it is Magnolia season! Everywhere I go there are beautiful Magnolia's. Pretty much every street has them. These ones are down the street...

The flowers are huge I guess the size of a side plate,  larger than your hand anyhow! 

Most of the ones around here are pink but some are white.

Some of the ways I saved money this week include:

I made a lot of meat pies. This gave us two dinners this week.

I made one family sized one plus 17 individual sized ones.

I have realised meat pies are an Australian thing. So for the US and UK ladies here at the bakery the number one lunch is a meat pie or a sausage roll. Millions are sold a day!  They are yummy! 

They are really easy to make. For the Vicky Challenge I checked on the prices as I went past a bakery. Boy am I out of touch with prices! I got a big shock. Anyway more on that in The Vicky Challenge.

The thing is pies are so easy to make. I am going to show a super easy tutorial next week. They freeze perfectly. They are a meal all in one which make them a very easy meal to give someone or deliver. And you can make them in any size. Individual serving size is very handy.  

I made some little ones in my baby enamel pans...

Also I topped some with pastry and some with mashed potatoes and cheese. And some I made in large sized muffin tins as they are about right for an individual pie. 

I use large snap lock bags to freeze meals. Glad wrap often moves when you are re arranging things in the freezer so now I use strong zip lock bags. They can be reused.  

I had some left over pastry and made a dozen of my usual jam tarts as well.

We had a left overs night and used up things in toasted sandwiches. 

Another night we had fridge pizza.

I packed the lunch and drinks for the boys fishing trip plus all work lunches. 

Finally we had several sunny days. I washed the lovely wool blankets that I got from the op shop some time ago. I used the homemade wool mix. They came up so well, soft and fluffy and smell beautiful. I am so thrilled with them plus they are huge! Queen size at least.  Now they are filed and in my blanket chest. And all just in time as then we had rain!

I started a holiday basket. Ages ago I bought four nights in a travel auction for a bargain! It is at one of our all time favourite beach spots! Lucky I did this as otherwise we would not be having this holiday!  From a month or six weeks before going away I start a basket and get things like tea, coffee, milk, crackers etc when on specials. The holiday basket also is exciting as it marks a holiday coming up! This week I put in tea, long life milk, oat crackers, a jar of coffee and sugar.

The day we leave I will take out two meat pies from the freezer. They will thaw on the trip and be night ones dinner.

Some of the ways I got ahead were so many meals frozen. I am using Mum's freezer too! 

I added to the present cupboard. 

All the work in the spare room has added to my supplies and organisation... I have great supplies and am ahead with packaging, wraps, ribbons, cellophane bags etc.

I added to my pantry:

Powdered milk and medical items.

I have a small space under the bed which is part of the emergency pantry. But the bed is low to the ground. I guess the space is 5 inches? I discovered Bed Risers! Do you know about them? They go under the legs of your bed and give you a few inches extra height to your bed thus extra space underneath. I read about them on a blog. You can buy them but they are quite expensive and for our bed they were going to be $100+

I showed Andy pictures and he said he could make them with stuff he has in the shed. 

Then I can use tubs with lids that slide under the bed!  How I didn't know about these I don't know.

We made progress on our solar and had a company come to give us a quote. We have another company coming on Monday.

I hope you had a good week! I know Vicky did, the shelves she showed in her cellar are filling up and she is now harvesting tomatoes and peppers!

How did you build up your home, get ahead, stock the pantry and save this week?

Little things add up!  It is a wonderful feeling to get ahead in small ways.

Have a lovely weekend! xxx