Thursday thrift....

Entertaining essentials.

I was thinking back to the early days for His Lordship and I and how little money we had. Our first mortgage, a wedding to pay for, two children with a third soon to follow!

We rarely went out together-we just couldn't afford the cost! With no family nearby we couldn't even afford to pay the teenager down the road to babysit-in fact, we would book my mum a year in advance to stay for a weekend in Decmber so that we could both attend a work Christmas Party!

Sounds like a dull life doesn't it? Nothing could be further from the truth! In those days we had far more dinner parties than we do now!


Friends seemed to love coming to our house for a 3 course meal-all cooked from scratch with very cheap ingredients!

Our street at the time resounded most Saturday nights with lots of laughter as we took turns gathering at one home or another-sometimes it was bring a dish, at others someone or another would host us all

In the years since then our income improved-and at times we became "busy" with the number of social outings to attend. Our children are no longer at home, so babysitting isn't an issue!

Now however, I find playing host at home much more satisfying. Once again I am enjoying cooking those meals for appreciative friends & family-these days the young children playing in the house are our grandchildren and their friends and I couldn't be happier!

It doesn't take much to pull together a meal for people and in this colder weather something cooked in the slowcooker is always a hit!

Pasta, roasts, curries-all relatively cheap to provide and please most! Homemade Pizzas are usually met with enthusiasm by younger generations-especially if they are allowed to assemble them!

What do you do to entertain on a budget?

Thursday thrift....

I haven't "cooked" a meal since Saturday.

 How does that relate to Thursday thrift? Well...on Saturday night we had 12 people here for dinner. I cooked a lasagne, french onion slowcooker chicken casserole, homemade apple pie, bread & butter pudding and tossed a large salad.

When I cooked the bolognaise sauce for the lasagna I made extra-which has since been sighted at our dining table as Chilli Beef and Fettucini Bolognaise. The chicken casserole was also resurrected-as Chicken Crumble Pie ( sourdough crumbs and cheese sprinkled over the top and baked until crispy) and Chicken Risotto.

Leftover lasagna also went down a treat!

I had spent $8-96 on the beef mince ( 2 kilos ) and $9-20 for the kilo of chicken thigh fillets-so for a grand total of $18-16 in the meat budget I have served 22 meals! Less than $1/serve for the meat component!

The other thrifty part of the whole process is the fact that other than boiling some water for the fettucini ( the risotto used up leftover rice from Saturday night) all the cooking was done in a couple of hours!

Thursday Thrift..........

The past week has been a busy one-which included a quick trip to Sydney to enjoy a few days with some dear friends. I came home mentally refreshed-which is just what "the doctor ordered!".

Just as well, because this weekend we will be hosting a baby shower for 30+ people! Our youngest daughter is expecting a girl and requested that the baby shower be held here..along with " Mum, can you do a little bit of cooking?" Which brings me to today's thrifty topic...catering for a crowd!

I've come to realise over the years that with a little planning and a few "tricks", catering for a crowd can be reasonably cheap. I try to keep the foods available bite size-which avoids a lot of crockery and cutlery being required...napkins will be needed.

Menu planning which utilises everyday ingredients will keep the cost down. For example, 4 eggs will provide egg whites for individual pavlovas and little meringues..... 18 individual pavs plus 30 mini meringues were made from the 4 egg whites I used....

...the yolks can be used to make custard for individual trifles-which will also utilise some cupcakes which didn't hold their shape when being baked.

Wine glasses are perfect for individual trifles. For the individual pavlovas, I find it easy to use a jar lid the size you want your pavs to be and draw around it on baking paper. Turn the paper upside down ( just in case any of the ink bleeds into your pavs) and pipe or scoop the meringue mix onto the circles.







Strawberry babycakes will also be on the menu....

and because we have sufficient ( OK, more like enough to feed the starving hordes in the Third World)  zucchini supplies, I will use the mini cupcake pans to make individual zucchini and bacon muffins.

We will also be having various games on the day...such as "Sniff the nappy", Guess the girth ( if the Mother to Be agrees! ;) ), Guess what the baby bottle holds, Spit the Dummy and Team Jigsaw Challenges.

I'm looking forward to an enjoyable day with the knowledge that I haven't had to spend exorbitant amounts of money for catering!