Homemade orange tea

I've recently started to make my own teas, rather than buy dehydrated, over-processed bags from the shop. Fruit and herbs teas are made from the same ingredients as juices or soups. The major difference is that the pieces have been finely diced, dehydrated and had, in some cases, preservatives mixed in. The real irony is the same ingredients in the tea bag often get chucked out in the food waste bin.  For example, if you want orange tea all you need is orange rind.  Stick into in a small pan with water a sugar to taste and a few minutes later you have orange tea. Great part of a healthy diet as the rind has plenty of various vitamins and minerals that usually end up tossed.

Other suggestions for old rind

Candied - Boil to soften then roll in raw sugar

Addition to stir fries and salads.

Cheap cleaning products: bicarbonate of soda!

In my house bicarb can be used for most things because its gentle on sensitive skin

Home made soap

This is what happens when I get bored; I make stuff. :)  This is my first completely successful batch of soap.  To the left is an example of one that has just come out of the mould.  It is free from unnatural colours and fragrances and made from Virgin olive oil, water and 100% pure lavender oil.  It smells so nice.

Then problem is I now have too many so I'm attempting to offload some on ebay.

Making soaps seems almost theraputic in some ways.  It was fairly okay except I wasn't as careful when mixing the caustic soda as I should have been.  Got myself a mouthful of the gases that came off the water.  The irony is when I did the first batch I didn't have that problem because I was right next to a large open window when I mixed the soda with the water.  The second batch I mixed in the kitchen with a open window and an open door but the ventilation in the kitchen is no where near as good as in my bedroom clearly.  However, I choose to mix the soda with the water in the kitchen so I didn't damage any of my things if it spilt.  Will just have to give up and wait for my mask to get here.

Cheap ways to to avoid the laundrette

I have not fallen off the face of the planet, although it feels like it this week.  I have been called in for extra work shifts almost every free day this week.  This is fantastic money wise.  It means I can start replacing the items that got destroyed/broke down in the past few weeks (it's been a really bad few weeks luck wise).  But I'm shattered and have no energy to do anything but sleep. (Working from 7am to 8pm has that effect). Today is the first day off in a what feels like a looong time.

One of the items that broke down recently was my twin-tub camping washing machine.  After nearly 18 months of constant use (definitely not what it was designed for!) my twin-tub stopped draining.The annoying part is that the wash tub and spin tub are both still in working order - meaning i can wash and spin dry clothes but can't drain the wash tub of water.  This actually made me a little sad because it has been such a good machine and, it still usable fir the most part.  However once they stop draining getting the water out will take the better part of an hour or two, so it needs to be replaced.

I live in housing which has no proper clothes washing machine or anywhere to hook one up.  I used to use the laundrette down the road.  However, at £3.80 at wash, this was getting very expensive.  Depending on what I needed to wash during the week I was spending between £16-£24 a month on laundry.  This is a lot of money when on a limited income so I was desperate to find a way of cutting down.  Then I came across these twin-tubs on amazon.co.uk.

The twin-tubs are electrical, but they use very little power.  Every function, aside from spin and agitation, is manual.  Water has to be poured in through the top and clothes have to be moved manually from the wash tub to the spin tub.  IT does do a good job at cleaning everyday stains, however I have needed vanish for stronger stains.  It is overall a very practical option.  They are ideal for shower cubicles however mine has been rigged up my desk in my room as my kitchen and bathroom do not provide the appropriate set-up for the twin-tub.  I find it need a level surface or the spin tub will not balance correctly.  The drainage pipe also needs to be horizontal for it to drain correctly.  These factor catered to and it makes for a very good washing machine.  I would recommend it highly for anyone in a situation where they can't have a household washing machine.

Budgeting tips: Reduced items.

On Wednesday I blogged about saving money by shopping around.  This is just one way of saving on your necessities bills.  Today I would like to introduce another way of saving on your grocery bill: buying reduced items.


Supermarkets such as Tesco's, Sainsburys and the Co-operative often reduce stock simply because they have a new shipment coming in or because there are slight cosmetic marks on the product/product packaging.  They also reduce items because they are about to go past the the use-by/display-until date.  This means that quite often reduced items are of high quality.  This is often t he case with items nearing the use-by date.


Use-by and Display-until dates are often inaccurate.  Food and product safety legislation and control tends to veer towards the side of caution.  Most foods will be safe for consumption after the use-by date if they have been correctly packaged and stored.  Generally speaking, it is usually easy to tell when a food product has gone bad and this can happen before the use-by date in rare cases.  This is why it is is always necessary to have common sense when it comes to food.  Buying items when they are reduced can save you so much off your food bill that it is worth chancing the rare this that might go off quicker then you would like.


This week I have been food shopping three times.  Between the three trips I have saved £30+ Pounds on items that had been reduced to clear; £17 pound of that tonight.  There is the argument that I am spending money I otherwise wouldn't of food just because it is reduced.  However I have found this not to be that case - A lot of what I have bought is stuff that I would like to get but normally don't because the original price is to expensive.  So, in essence, I am saving money on food I would like to begin with.

Budgeting tips: Shopping around

A simple way of saving money on your essentials is by doing a simple price check of other stores.  An obvious example of this is mobile contracts - these differ from provider to provider as the result of competitive pricing.  This logic also carries over to essentials such as food, cleaning products and other day-to-day items.  The same item will be priced differently in different chain supermarkets.  So it is worth checking around before you buy.   This simple tactic can save you pounds off your bill.  It is also important to check with in chains of the same supermarket as stores base there pricing on the location they are in.  I went to buy some vitamins the other day.  In the Boots on North Laine, Brighton, UK, the box was on sale for £14.99.  At the Boots on George street, Hove, UK, The same product was on sale for £11.25.  With the 3 for 2 deal this came to £22.50 instead of £29.98.  Big price difference!

Dish liquid: cutting the cleaning costs.

Ordinary washing up liquid is very versatile and can be used as a replacement for most cleaning products. it can handle everyday grease and grime on every surface, from toilet bowls to shower tiles and glass. It can serve as a replacement for toilet disinfectant, cream cleaners, shower and bathroom cleansers, window cleaner, and everyday disinfectant. A mixture of hot water and dish-washing liquid is enough to kill household bacteria, as well as remove grease, grime, and dirt. When used on tiles and window glass it serves to remove built-up oils and can be buffed to a shine that competes with commercial window cleansers. It is pleasantly surprising how much dish-washing liquid removes. The only household duties it won't handle are heavy duty jobs such as the build-up of lime scale or stains such as coffee or tea (if you are staying away immediately you are fine, but if you allowed it to sit for a while the coffee or tea stain will burn into the surface).

If you are using products like Ecover (an environmentally friendly dish-washing detergent made from plan to derived sources), the washing-up liquid is so gentle that it can be substituted for hand-soap, shower gels, and soaps.

Dish-washing liquid:
Glass Cleaner
toilet cleaner
antibacterial spray
general-purpose surface cleaner
floor cleaner
shower and tiles spray
and so much more

Cooking from scratch saves you money

Food prices are constantly increasing.  More often we are being forced to shop around for cheaper prices because it save us maybe a few pennies.  This doesn't seem like much of an achievement, but we all know that over time those pennies can add up to pounds saved off the weekly food bill.  However, even more can be saved by cooking at home, because at some point we all rely on prepared food; whether it is Gluten-free bread bread or an instant meal.

Let's take bread as an example.  The average gluten-free loaf costs £2-£4. Of course, this is dependant on your local region and where they source their ingredients from.  In general, companies always boost the price so that they make a profit.  Flour, by UK standards is £3 pounds per kilo - this can be used to make 4-5 loafs.  Eggs - £1.50 per dozen (6 loaves) or Egg Replacer at £3.00 (Equivalent of 50 eggs).  A pinch of salt coast all of a penny and soy milk is £1.2 a litre (Almost 2 loaves) and yeast is £2.50 a box (20 loaves).  Adding this all up using the price for egg replacer - £0.75+£0.06+£0.01+0.60+0.13 =£1.55 per loaf. This is only a rough amount, depending on how much you use this amount would be more or less.  But £1.55 to make it at home of £2-£4 pounds to buy in store.  Which do you prefer?

The best part is this doesn't just apply to baking, it applies to cooking in general.  Pasta dishes, lasagne, sauces, pies ect.  All these are items that are cheaper to make at home.  Cooking from scratch can effectively halve your food bill.

The benefits of cereal

I went off cereal for a very long time.  This is partly because my dairy allergy was not fully picked up on until I was well into my 20's.  Having cereal with cow's milk when you're allergic to it is just a recipe for a bad tummy.  Needless to say, that for quite a while the thought of eating a bowl of cereal was enough to make me feel ill.  However, I have recently started eating it again and realised there were benefits. :)

1) It's cheap.  No-Brainer there.  A 500g box of Gluten-free cornflakes will last me 7-10 days.

2)  It's simple.  There's no possible way it can upset your stomach unless you are actually allergic to one of the ingredients.

3)  Cereals are mostly starchy carbohydrates rather then sugar.  This is an important point in that quite often nutritionist will tell you how sugary cereals can be.  Coco pops, for example, has 35g of sugar per 100g.  On the offset, this sounds like a lot.  What people don't realised that this sugar content is halved when milk is added; slowing down the overall absorption of the sugar and giving your body time to burn it off before converting it to fat.

4)  Most cereals are fortified.  Those of us with dairy allergies can really struggle to meet our daily calcium requirements.  Most cereals now contain 57% of the Recommended Daily intake of calcium.  Making it just that bit easier to get enough calcium.  Fortified cereals also contain Thiamin, Riboflavin, Niacin, B2, Folic Acid, B12, and Iron.

Shaving the electricity bill

Those costs just keep rising.  It is getting harder then ever to prevent the money from leaving our pockets. I've complied a list of ways in which to save on your electricity bills.  Some require money, so require none.  Hopefully there will be a suggestion here everyone can use.  Of course, if anyone has suggestions to add, feel free to leave a comment.

1)  If it's not at use, the object goes off at the wall.  Most important tip there can be - as this automatically cuts down on consumption.

2)  Question whether you need to run the item or not. eg. tumble dryer - Clothes will dry just as well on a clothes line or an airier.  Vacuums - do you need to vacuum?  On hard floors sweeping is just as effective.  We have so many electrical appliances at our disposal, quite often we forget that there are other ways of getting things done.

3)  See what other companies are offering to sell kilowatt hours at.  Do your research, the quickest way to a lower bill is to switch to a cheaper Company.  A note of warning however, make sure you do your research on the companies reputation as well.  The last thing you need is to end up in a  contract with a cowboy company.

4) See what alternatives you can get hold off.  Solar power generators are quite easy to get a hold of and will run quite a lot of you electrical appliances if it is placed in sufficient sunlight.

*  If you own your own property it is well worth seeing what alternatives you can have installed on your land.   Solar power is good by wind turbines can be better.

5)  Make sure your property is well insulated and that windows are thickly glazed.  These will cut down on the cost of heating/air conditioning.

6)  Heating or cooling your property/room.  Have your heater set to the lowest temperature you can stand and rug up.  Conversely, set your air conditioning unit to 25 degrees and find other ways of keeping cool.

7) Moderate the temperature of your bathes/showers and use less water.  The less water used and the lower the temperature you desire the water to reach, the less electricity is used heating the water.

8) Upgrade any electrical appliances to newer appliance with good energy use ratings.  The older alliances and electrical are the less energy efficient that are likely to be.  Items made in the last decade have had to pass much stricter codes then their predecessors.  Again this an area in which you will want to do your research.  Just because it's new does not mean it is the better option.

9) Upgrade all your light bulb to more energy saving versions.

Spiced Honey Chicken: Cheap, easy and Gluten-free

This recipe for Spiced Honey chicken is not only absolutely yummy, it is also easy to make and completely gluten-free.  Funnily enough, it is also very cheap for those of us on a budget.  It makes an excellent addition to salads or as part of a roast dinner.

Ingredients:

Chicken Pieces (legs, wings; whatever you have).
Honey.
Thyme.
Mixed Spice (or any spices you have handy)
Corn Flour.
Salt.

Preparation:

Preheat the over to 180 degrees Celsius.   Slice or cut the chicken into the desired size and shape.  Gently heat the honey so that it runs smoothly and place in a plastic container.  In a second plastic container mix the cornflour with the spices, thyme and salt.  Dip the chicken in the honey, ensuring the chicken surface is completely smothered.  When the chicken is covered, roll the piece in the flour-spice mix.  The flour-spice mix will soak into the honey - this perfectly fine.  After this place the chicken onto a baking tray.  When all the chicken has been prepared, place the tray in the oven until the chicken is cooked through.