Dairy-free oat milk for 26c per litre

I make dairy-free milk for my allergic daughter for just 26c per litre! I make oat milk at home, and it tastes just like the shop-bought version that we used to buy on special for $2 per litre. I also use it in desserts, baking and cereal, even though I’m not dairy-free. It’s even cheaper than prepared powdered cow’s milk, which I recently priced at 80c per litre!

Here is the recipe (costed out using Coles home brand ingredients) -

Ingredients:

1 cup rolled oats 120g (22c)

4 cups water

1 tsp brown sugar (2c) - optional

1 tsp sunflower oil (2c)

Method:

1. Blend all the ingredients in a blender for one minute

2. Strain through a muslin or a nut milk bag (I use old muslin baby swaddles).

3. Store in the fridge for up to five days.

My husband and I eat other dairy products and my daughter still has two cups of calcium-fortified, shop-bought, non-dairy milk per day as a drink, but we now use at least three litres less of shop-bought milk per week, working out to a saving of over $300 per year!

No more shopping lists with free app

We have eliminated paper shopping lists by using a free app called Our Groceries. You can link the app via entering one email address, so everyone who does the shopping at your house has the up to date grocery list at any time. The best thing is, you can customise the list to be very specific about what you want. There is a paid version of the app but we have been successfully using the free version and love it. No more wasted paper and no more forgetting things as the list is always with us!

Save a fortune with gift hampers

I came up with a great gift idea last year, which looked sensational without breaking the bank. I wanted to give families items that they really would use and enjoy, and that would not send my spending into overdrive! I created personalised gift baskets.

Each family member has their own personal likes so I decided to work with them. Most of the items were found in the supermarket, so I added them to my weekly shopping. A few dollars extra each week made little difference to my budget but provided excellent gifts for family and friends. For example, my brother likes hot and spicy food so I purchased minced chilli, hot salsa, oil infused with chilli and hot spices and presented them in a basket wrapped in red Cellophane. Two of my sisters-in-law love fragrance and candles so I made up baskets with different candles, incense, drawer liners, pot-pourri and sachets.

Others included:

• Garlic hamper - fresh garlic, minced garlic, garlic salt, garlic oil and a garlic mincer.

• Chocolate hamper - Jarrah chocolate, Cadbury, chocolate sauce, chocolate ice cream topping and chocolate curls.

• A herb bowl with 'boutique' herbs such as bouquet garni, cinammon sticks, oils infused with herbs and herb cook books.

• DVD hamper - a DVD, microwave popcorn, salsa, corn chips and jaffas.

• Gardening hamper - gloves, secateurs, Osmocote, plastic pot, hedge trimmers and Zero.

• Tea lover's hamper - a trivet, tea cup and saucer, UHT mini milks, tea bags, tea leaves and biscuits.

It is easy to pick a loved one's interest and tailor make a hamper/basket to match. Crazy Clints, $2 Shop and The Reject Shop have heaps of baskets and boxes to present your gifts in. Bowls, platters, saucepans and the like are ideal and useful containers for presentation. All it takes is some Cellophane and ribbon and you have a lovely (useful) hamper as a gift. It also works well for new baby gifts. Fill a box/basket with newborn necessities such as baby wipes, powder, nappy sacks, bibs, bottles, bootees, mittens, singlets, bath items and so on and wrap in Cellophane for that professional look. I saved a fortune last Christmas, yet everyone loved and used the gifts they received.

Green thumbs saved me $1000

This Christmas, I have saved myself over $1000 on buying gifts AND was able to afford a holiday for two to Queensland, just by using my green thumbs!

Instead of spending $50 on each Christmas present this year, I decided to use up some of my left over garden pots. I wrote a list of all who would receive presents this year and allocated a pot for each person (I also set aside five extra pots for those last minute gifts).

I thought about each person and what might compliment them, then I set to work! My garden is full of herbs, so I took cuttings from each herb and began growing them in their new pot for their new owner. I gave them plenty of time to settle in by Christmas.

When it comes time to give these lovely potted herbs as gifts, I also attach a recipe, so the recipient knows how they can incorporate their new plant into their cooking, or make up a lovely hand cream or bath bomb.

If you have herbs of your own and pots sitting around it's a great way to put them to good use. These lovely gifts didn't cost me a cent! I already had the herbs in my garden, the pots in my shed and instead of buying extra potting mix, I used soil from the garden that the plant was already used to growing in!