New Year New Focus

Until now, my posts have been predominantly about whatever popped into my head at the time I felt like posting but I am finding a lot of my recent thoughts have been centred around this topic and it is an overall lifestyle that I am on the journey towards, so it makes sense that my blog be about it.

My family and friends like to jokingly call me Martha.  In some ways, I feel that I should have been born in 1930 and often refer to myself as a Grandma.  This is all because I have been increasingly making more things from scratch and finding new ways to make money stretch a little further.

I'm hoping this will help inspire some of you to start your own spendthrift journey or maybe just give you some ideas that you may not have thought of already.

If you haven't already got one, get yourself a chest freezer - I bought one a little while ago and it gets used a lot!

The first thing I did when I got my chest freezer was snap up a bargain on whole chickens at Woolworths.  They had been on special for $2.99 a kilo but were almost at the best before date so had been marked down to $1.50 a kilo!  As they were going straight into the freezer that day and would be eaten the same day they were defrosted, there is absolutely no harm in buying reduced meat.  So I bought 21 whole chickens!

My next thought was "Now what the heck am I going to do with them".

With a little help from Gordon Ramsay courtesy of Youtube (Click here to link to the clip), I figured out how to break the chickens down into breasts, thighs, drumsticks and wings and I froze them in meal sized portions.

I didn't stop there though.

I also froze the chicken carcasses and started keeping and freezing the offcuts and peelings of carrots, celery, broccoli etc.  Once I had a fair supply of offcuts, I made chicken stock!  I managed to make litres and litres of stock (normally pay around $3 a litre) using stuff I would have ordinarily thrown away!

The overall process was not that difficult and I don't think there is any other way that I could have bought chicken breast for $3 a kilo, much less for $1.50 a kilo!  And even at the normal full price of around $5 or $6 a kilo, it's still so much cheaper than buying separated chicken pieces.

I don't think I will ever buy already portioned chicken again!

What's even better is that having all the different cuts of chicken in the freezer has encouraged me to be more adventurous and find new ways to use it in meals.

A thought provoking question

I just saw a post on a Facebook group that really got me pondering...

The post read: "If time and money were not a concern, what would you be doing with your life?".

My immediate thought was that I would be travelling around the world in luxury with my husband and our little boy.

While, of course, this would definitely be on the cards, I'm the kind of person that loves going away but equally loves coming back to my own little haven at the end of a fabulous trip.

The reality is that if time and money were not an issue, I would be living in my dream home (especially with my dream kitchen and craft rooms), on a lifestyle block that would allow me to have a Labrador, some chickens and a nice big veggie and herb garden. I would spend my days with family and friends and doing all sorts of cooking/baking/crafting.  

I know this ultimately makes me sound like somewhat of a Nana or a 50s housewife but I guess I'm a bit of an old fashioned girl in some ways!

I am also one to constantly be looking for a new challenge so I'm sure I would find new projects to tackle along the way but if money wasn't a problem, I would probably find myself taking on volunteering opportunities to help spread the love!

I have to say that this really was a great thing for me to consider as its made me realise what I should be focusing my energy on!

So if time and money weren't a hindrance, what would you be doing?

Legacy

I've found myself contemplating the idea of legacy lately due to a couple of recent events.

Firstly, about 6 weeks ago, I went with my Mum and Sister to a medium who connected us with my grandmother.

Secondly, I did a vision board exercise with some of the other local Intimo stylists and it was what the stylist running the session said that got me thinking. She said that when we are creating a vision board, we need to think about how we want to be remembered and what we would like to leave behind that is what should go on our vision board.

I've never truly sat down and thought about it in that particular way but it really did get me thinking about what I want my legacy to be.

If you ask anyone about my grandmother, I'm quite sure they will all talk about how warm and inviting she was.  This woman was the sort of person that bought extra presents at Christmas just in case anyone turned up that didn't already have a present to open.  I can guarantee, those people will also mention food.  You could turn up at her house any day of the week and if you happened to still be around near meal times, you would get an invite and a meal fit to feed a small army would be produced at the drop of a hat.  And if she felt there wasn't quite enough to feed everyone, she would send one of us down to the shop to pick up some hot chips to make it all go a bit further.

My grandmother is the one that taught my Mum (her daughter in law) to sew, to drive and to cook (among many other things).  She always over catered, she was generous with her time and her money, she was fiercely protective of her family, she loved to travel, she exuded an overwhelming sense of love to anyone she considered family or friend and she really knew how to laugh.

Unfortunately, Granny is no longer with us but fortunately, she passed the baton of matriarch to my Mum.

This quote probably sums up the biggest legacy that my Mum has already imprinted on me.

Growing up, we never had a lot of money (I'm sure we probably had less than I even thought we did) but Mum and Dad chose for Mum to stay home with us children because they valued what that meant for us.  It meant that we got picked up and dropped off at school, we always had a home cooked meal for dinner, we always had someone to help us with homework or talk about our day with and while that meant we didn't have the latest game or washing machine, or car or get to go on holidays much, I wouldn't have changed it at all.

These two women are my biggest role models in life and if I live to be half the woman they are/were then I will be one hell of a woman!

So now that I'm a Mum and I'm thinking about my legacy, there are a few things that I will do my best to ensure live on beyond me...

- Family - it comes above everything else

- Food - there will always be enough for anyone that comes over and I will keep the family recipes going

- Travel - it is food for the soul and helps us appreciate everything we have

- Crafts - whether it be sewing, cross stitch, scrapbooking, teddy bear making, quilting or something else - I will pass on the skills that Granny taught us

- Laughter - If we can't laugh at ourselves and each other, then life will be very dull indeed

- Love - the more we give, the more we receive and it's never ending.  You can't buy it but having it will make you richer than all the gold in the world

I encourage you all to think about your legacy too - it's a wonderful exercise to really connect you with what you want out of life and get you focused on what's really important to you.

The humble family dinner

There are so many amazing moments you get to experience as a Mum but some that I especially love are the moments when you see your genes and influence coming through in the ever developing little person in your life.

My little man has recently started to show signs of unadulterated joy while eating his favourite foods.  This is something that is all me.  I recognised the emotion immediately as its one that I regularly experience myself.  I have a passionate love affair with food that I have inherited from my parents.  It's a miracle I'm not 500kg and appearing on one of those TV shows (you know the ones where the people have to have a small, purpose built crane to get them out of bed)!

I think part of our passion and love for food comes from the fact that so many happy memories are tied up with food.  Think about it - birthday parties, engagement parties, weddings, graduation parties, housewarmings etc etc - there is almost always food!  But let's not forget to mention the good old family dinners.

My Mum and Dad were always really big on the family dinner table.  As kids, we all sat around the table for dinner every night.  At the time, we used to wish that we could be one of those families that sat on the couch to watch TV while we ate but looking back, I'm so glad that Mum and Dad insisted.  The simple act of eating a meal together can make a huge difference to the dynamics of a family as you (wait for it) actually end up talking to each other (shock horror)!  Call me old fashioned but I really do think that little things like that help create family harmony which is why at 15 months of age, my little boy hears the word dinner and runs for his highchair!  It was an adjustment at first for my husband and I to change to eating dinner at 5.30pm (the geriatrics dinner time) but it's worth it to be able to instill this value with him.

My Granny who unfortunately is no longer with us, was amazing.  We used to spend a lot of time at her house as a family and often a quick afternoon visit would turn into "are you staying for dinner?".  She would disappear into her huge walk in pantry which also housed a second freezer, and as if by magic, would manage to come up with a generous meal for 4 adults and 3 children in the blink of an eye!  This is also something I have taken onboard - I hate not having back up meals in the fridge/freezer/pantry.  I will think to myself - "I really should have gone to the supermarket today - there's no food in the house" only to have a proper look and discover there's actually enough food in there to feed a small army.

When I was in my early 20s and living in a rental house with some random housemates I had accrued (as you do), we decided to start a Sunday roast tradition.  Each Sunday, we would take turns at making a roast that we would all sit down to eat together.  When you are young and all leading different lives, it's easy to be like ships passing in port but this little tradition meant that we had time to bond as mates and eat a meal that we would otherwise never have (I mean who cooks a roast chook with all the trimmings for one?).

I can't help but feel that with people leading busier lives and the invention of smartphones, that the humble old family dinner is becoming less and less common and divorce and troubled teens are becoming more and more common.

Let's start a social experiment - if you don't already do family dinners or you are in a flatting situation, give it a go and see if it makes a difference.  I'd love to hear how it goes!

Let's get the Ball Rolling

This is my first attempt at blogging so go easy on me.

Back in my younger days while I was touring around Europe without a care in the world, I would send these mammoth emails back home to my friends and family detailing my escapades (this was before the days of facebook, twitter, etc).  I really enjoyed writing those emails and I used to get a lot of replies telling me how much people enjoyed reading them.

I've often been told that I have a way with words but I've never thought much of it - I guess I just related it to having spent most of my life as a bookworm - surely that has to increase your vocabulary?

It's only now that I've thought maybe it's something I should explore.

As part of this process, I started reading a few random blogs that I stumbled across or got referred to and one in particular resonated with me.  

She said that often we put ourselves into one of two categories - creative and not creative.  The truth is that we are all creative in one way or another - the difference is how we express that creativity.  Whether it be through words, acting, the way we dress, writing, cake decorating, baking, cooking, singing, dancing, arts and crafts, building, using tools etc etc.

So here I am, trying out blogging as a form of creative outlet.

My aim for this blog is to give you my take on life's goings on, to share my random thoughts, my passions and anything else I may feel the need to talk about.  Of course that means plenty of food and travel talk!

Please don't forget to leave a constructive comment!