Cost Comparison: Make your own muesli bars from scratch

This is a cost comparison on how to make your own muesli bars from scratch to save money and know exactly what ingredients are going into them.

Muesli bars are something that are worth making from scratch compared to if you buy them from the supermarket.

Using very basic ingredients you keep on hand all the time, you can make these muesli bars in no time and you’ll know exactly what ingredients are in them.

MUESLI BARS & OTHER LUNCH BOX SNACKS

Don’t worry. I get it. We’re all very busy and grabbing a $5 box of 12 muesli bars to throw in your child’s lunch box is super convenient.

I’ve tasted those store bought muesli bars and I don’t think they compare in taste to anything you can bake at home. Muesli bars (or oat bars, flapjacks, etc etc) are such an easy thing to throw together while you’re getting dinner ready.

They’re so easy for the kids to make as well. It’s just melt and mix. All you need is rolled oats, a few other very basic pantry staples and then you can let your hair down and throw in whatever your child’s favourite things are.

Things like:

• chocolate chips
• nuts
• dried fruit
• or check out the supermarket aisle for recipe combination inspiration

My biggest problem is what’s in the supermarket muesli bars. Check this out for a popular brand of Chocolate Chip Muesli Bars.

INGREDIENTS:

Rolled Oats (34%), Glucose ( Wheat ), Whole Grain Wheat (11%), Compound Chocolate Chips (9%) [Sugar, Vegetable Oil, Milk Solids, Cocoa, Cocoa Mass, Emulsifiers (492, Soy Lecithin), Salt], Breakfast Cereal (Wholemeal Wheat Flour (5%), Wheat Starch, Sugar, Vitamin E), Chicory Root Fibre, Sunflower Oil ( Soy ), Sugar, Humectant (Glycerine), Modified Wheat Starch (1412), Invert Sugar, Coconut ( Sulphites ), Honey, Milk Powder, Emulsifier ( Soy Lecithin), Flavour, Salt, Preservative (223) ( Sulphites ) Contains Gluten Containing Ingredients, Milk, Soy and Sulphites. May Contain Lupin., Uncle Tobys Rolled Oats (34%), Glucose ( Wheat ), Whole Grain Wheat (11%), Compound Chocolate Chips (9%) [Sugar, Vegetable Oil, Milk Solids, Cocoa, Cocoa Mass, Emulsifiers (492, Soy Lecithin), Salt], Breakfast Cereal (Wholemeal Wheat Flour (5%), Wheat Starch, Sugar, Vitamin E), Chicory Root Fibre, Sunflower Oil ( Soy ), Sugar, Humectant (Glycerine), Modified Wheat Starch (1412), Invert Sugar, Coconut ( Sulphites ), Honey, Milk Powder, Emulsifier ( Soy Lecithin), Flavour, Salt, Preservative (223) ( Sulphites ) Contains Gluten Containing Ingredients, Milk, Soy and Sulphites. May Contain Lupin.

Seriously? You need a science degree to know what half of those things are!

THE RECIPE I USE FOR MAKING MUESLI BARS FROM SCRATCH

My recipe for Honey Oat Bars (from my high school Home Economics cook book “Day to Day Cookery” which I use as a base for my muesli bars) has these ingredients:

• 1 cup rolled oats
• 1/2 cup plain flour
• 1/2 cup coconut
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1/8 cup honey
• 90gm butter
• 1/4 tsp bicarb soda
• 1/4 chocolate chips (optional)

That’s it! Other than the bicarb soda, everything is natural, they aren’t too sweet and this recipe produces about 18 ‘bars’.

COST COMPARISON OF MAKING THEM FROM SCRATCH

I did the exercise and costed out this recipe.

Compared to the 12 pack box of branded Chocolate Chips Muesli Bars at $5.00 ($0.60 each), the cost to make these yourself as above works out at a total of $1.46 for 18 bars or 9 cents each!

A SAVING OF $3.64 per BOX or $0.51 cents each.

If you bought a box per week, that would cost $260 for 624 bars in 12 months.

If you made a batch per week of 18 (or made a double batch and stored them in the freezer) at a cost of $1.46, it would cost you $75.92 for 936 bars!

That would be a saving of $184.08 over the course of the year.

Not only that, you’ll know exactly what’s going into the bars compared to that massive list of ingredients above.

THE COST COMPARISON & THE RECIPE

I’ve based the cost of the ingredients on current Coles Supermarket prices (as at October 2020) and used the homebrand ingredients and, in this case, I opted to use syrup instead of honey in this recipe because syrup is cheaper.

https://www.domesblissity.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/RecipeCostCalculation.pdf

If you ever want to calculate what it costs to make a recipe, this handy calculator is great.

It’s a bit fiddly because you need to find the cost of the total ingredient, how much a serving weighs (just Google it) and then enter into the calculator above. A good exercise and you’ll soon see how much you can actually save from making your food from scratch.

7 Life Hacks for Busy Parents

Whether you’re a stay at home parent or a working one, getting everyone on the same page and out the door on time in the morning is half the battle. Here are 7 life hacks for busy parents who are juggling home, work and kids. 

Crumpled Clothes

Put crumpled work clothes in the dryer with a damp face cloth for 3-5 minutes while you do your makeup. The steam will flatten out any creases. If your collars are crooked, quickly run your hair iron down them to stiffen them up. A quick tip if you are already straightening your hair anyway.

If your child hasn’t got a pristine clean uniform, don’t worry. Pre-teen children don’t have body odour and a paint stain or bit of dirt isn’t going to hurt for one day. Give it good shake, wipe off any really obvious dirty marks and get the children dressed.

Getting your children changed every afternoon into play clothes will help keep their school clothes or uniforms in great condition.

No Lunch Life Hacks

We all have the benefit of hindsight when it comes to thinking about being organised when school lunches haven’t been made.

Weekly or monthly baking days of muffins, cookies and slices all popped into the freezer can really help on these busy mornings. Even better is baking savoury options like muffins, fritters, etc with grated vegetables, ham, bacon and/or cheese. These are a great alternative to sandwiches.

Here is a handy FREE guide to stick on the fridge to give you ideas for school lunches so you can always keep a supply of everything you need.

Freezing sandwiches ahead of time is another way to be prepared in the morning.

If your school has a canteen, once a month, write up a couple of brown paper bags per child with the correct money to grab on those rushed days you know might happen.  If your school doesn’t have tuckshop open every day or only online ordering, pre-fill some paper bags with packaged snacks (for example muesli bar, chips, boxed fruit juice, muffin, dried fruit etc) and hide them in the back of the pantry.

When all else fails and you have nothing prepared or a back up in the freezer, make yourself aware of what the local stores have available on the way to school drop off. Not that I’ve ever had to do it (but know it’s available if I need to) but our local corner store has a lunch pack you can buy with a sandwich, cheese/cracker snack, muesli bar and boxed fruit juice for less than $10. A lifesaver on those busy mornings.

Create a Drop Zone

One of the best habits I got into, right from the moment my children started Kindergarten, was to create an area close to where they walk into the house after school that had a hook for their backpack, a basket for their school notes plus a noticeboard for a chore chart and step by step process in the mornings.

Getting your child used to a morning routine and helping them to know this is where all of that daily school stuff goes, helps you and everyone else to grab it all from there in the mornings.

This can include umbrellas, swim bags, music equipment, sports uniforms or other essentials that might need for the school week.

Dressing Toddlers

Put toddlers and children who’ll be staying home with you to bed in the clothes they are wearing the next day. An absolute lifesaver for those who have toddlers that tantrum about wardrobe changes. 

A toddler dressed in their pyjamas at school drop isn’t going to mean the end of the world either.

Lost Shoes

If mornings are always hard, try to remember to put children’s socks and shoes in the car the night before and they can put them on during the drive to school.

Makeup Life Hacks

Invest in tinted moisturiser, coloured lip gloss and mascara. This will take you only 1 to 2 minutes to apply and will make your face look fresh and natural. 

This quick makeup routine can be applied on the bus or train on the way to work or in the car before you get out. A lip gloss or lipstick in your bag, when all else fails, can sometimes be enough to get you through the day.

Quick Breakfast Ideas

Buy a bottle of fresh juice or squeeze your own and make ice blocks and freeze on the weekend.  One orange fills one mold. The kids will love having ice blocks before school and you will know they are getting their Vitamin C every day.  

A muffin or muesli bar, toast or even a sandwich in the car on the way to school is better than nothing. Use leftover or uneaten cereal in your next baking day to create homemade breakfast treats.

Breakfast style bacon and egg muffins or burritos can also be pre-made and frozen then re-heated in the microwave or sandwich toaster while you’re waiting on everyone to get ready.

These are the things that used to work for me, so I hope this helps you. At the very least it may help you to know that you are not the only one struggling.  Being prepared as much as you can the night before is a life saver. You’ll thank yourself in the morning and it will be your contingency plan when your precious cargo are being at their most difficult.

7 Life Hacks for Busy Parents

5 ways how learning can help you organise your life

We have no time anymore. Our homes are a mess. We’re working full time and we rely on takeaway to feed our families. There is always another way. It’s not by copying what other people are doing on social media. It’s about ‘learning what works for you. Here are 5 ways how learning can help you organise your life.

You may not remember how you learnt to walk, use the toilet properly or even eat but it takes a bit of practice and learning to accomplish those skills. New brain cells are growing every day and they don’t ever stop. Studies show that creative and innovative thinking processes in our brains are built on the foundation of knowledge.

You’ve heard the saying “familiarity breeds contempt”? If you’ve done something the same way for a long time with no results, isn’t it in your best interest to learn a new way of doing something? Where do you learn it? How do you know what you need to learn? Here’s how.

Learning can come in the form of online or face to face courses, books, ebooks, live demonstrations, Youtube videos, and other social media channels.

Fine tune the problem

What’s the problem you’re having? Messy house? Can’t cook? No time?

Identifying the problem will help isolate what you need to do to learn how to solve that problem. Breaking it down even further will really help you fine tune the solution.

For example, if you can’t cook your solution might be to search for a basic cooking course or no cook meals. Messy house? You might like to search for something like how to keep a clean house with a new baby. What about too much clutter and you don’t know where to start? How about working on your mindset first before you even think about decluttering.

Practice mindfulness

Practicing mindfulness is so beneficial for so many areas of your life. How to get fit, how to improve your health, how to relieve stress.

If you don’t know how to change bad habits, form new ones and create an organised life, practicing mindfuless and allowing yourself time to breathe and focus will help you see more clearly what you need to learn.

At each stage of my children’s lives, I’ve always encountered issues. Whether that’s fussy eating, toilet training, starting school, being bullied or teenage mood swings. Instead of feeling down about my life and wondering how I’ll get through this stage, I’ve practiced mindfulness and a clearer picture of what I’ve needed to learn has presented. Getting books from the library, doing online courses, speaking to other parents going through the same things. Whatever it is, take time out to being more mindful and the solutions or ways to find out solutions will present themselves.

Love what you do and have

Nothing, and I mean nothing can improve your life more than loving your life and what you do. Do you love your home or are you constantly being negative about how it’s not big enough or stylish enough. It doesn’t look like the magazines or other people’s homes. That is what other people are doing. It’s not your life. Learn to love what you have and what you do by being grateful.

Think of how fortunate you are to have what you do. Many people have a lot less than what you do. Be proud of the fact you have a roof over your head and food on the table. Stop worrying about what other people are doing and do what you love and what works for you.

Be grateful

There has been so much proof that being grateful creates more positivity and a willingness to do more and do better, just naturally. It’s like you’re automatically rewiring your brain to seek a better way of life and your brain points you in the right direction on how to do that.

Journalling, that is writing in a simple notepad, just 3 to 5 things every day that you’re grateful will significantly improve the way you feel about your life and you’ll automatically want to improve it. Whether that’s being motivated to clean your home, learn new ways to improve your skills for a new career or just how to create exciting and simple meals.

Don’t be influenced by social media

There is a lot of great stuff on social media but only if it’s going to benefit you and not hinder your efforts for a more organised life. If you’re following someone on social media who has it all together. They share their beautifully styled homes and it’s leaving you feeling less satisfied about your life, unfollow. That’s not helping you. That’s only making you feel worse.

Your life is not their’s. They have completely different circumstances to you and could only be showing half the story. Sure, if it’s something that you can implement, you have the time, the energy and resources to organise your life that way, then sure, do it. That’s what I’m here for. Here at Domesblissity, I live a simple and well organised life that is full of abundance.

I have all the time I need to do all that I want. It’s not from copying what someone else has done. It’s what has felt right for me. That will fit in with my schedule and my family’s schedule. If anything, I get a real kick out of doing it my way.

Once you work out what areas of your life you need to improve on, take time out for yourself to work out what that is, show gratitude and not be influenced by other people, you’ll start to implement solutions that are tailor made for you and will work for you because you love what you do and what you have.

How to get organised in your home no matter what stage of life you're at

When I say who I mean whether you’re a mother, single, married no kids, married empty nesters, with babies or toddlers, with older children, working out of the home, female or male. There is a way to get things done in your home so you can enjoy more freedom doing what you love. Here’s how to get things done in your home no matter who you are.

As humans, we’re always evolving. From the moment we’re born and growing up in our parent’s home, to the time we move into our own place, our home life is always changing.

We study, we work, we move in with someone, we have children, the children grow through various stages, they leave home, etc, etc.

As does everything about who is living in our home changes, so should our expectations and standards of home organisation.

Establish a daily routine

Right from the start, you should establish a daily routine. This will set you up for a lifetime of success in staying on top of your home and keeping it tidy.

Just like brushing your teeth, having a shower or having breakfast, establishing a daily housework routine of no more than 5 chores that take no longer than 30 minutes will allow you to have a tidy home that you’re happy with.

These chores can be anything you find irritating or frustrated if they’re not done like making the bed, clearing the breakfast dishes, getting a load of laundry on or whatever. I call this the Roadmap to Routine.

First time living out of home

It’s our first time out of our parental home. We’ve got the opportunity to set up house exactly the way we want. We can choose to live in a mess or keep it tidy.

I know when I first left home, I had everything set up just the way I wanted it. I respected Mum’s and Dad’s home and kept things where they wanted it but once I got my own place, I had the opportunity to play house and kept things really neat and tidy.

Your first flat mate

This could be your first share accommodation or when you first move in with someone. it’s going to be a learning curve and you’re going to have to respect each other’s property and space.

One person might be really organised and the other may not. From the start is a great opportunity to set up ground rules on what each other’s expectations are.

When baby arrives

You may have already experienced living with your partner, getting married or just deciding to start a family. When baby comes along it’s time to lower all of your expectations.

Even before baby comes is a great time to really give your home a good declutter. Even if you don’t get rid of stuff but put it into storage it will mean that you won’t have as much dusting or tidying to do.

Keep your possessions to a minimum. From my first hand experience in raising 2 children, they are going to take up the majority of your time.

Even if you do have help from friends or family, getting into a regular routine right from the start with your baby will help you.

Establish regular nap and feeding times. When the baby sleeps, you sleep. While the baby is having some tummy time, grab a coffee and practice some deep breathing or other forms of self care. Get out of the house and go for a walk. Whatever it is, this is the time when your child needs you the most so concentrate on the essentials of homemaking like eating, doing the laundry and self care, along with caring for the baby of course.

The toddler years

You can’t wait for your baby to sit up, start solids, crawl, walk etc but once the toddler years start, you wonder what happened to that fully dependent little baby. A toddler has just found their independence and will be in to everything. You’ll be run off your feet.

Still keep everything to a minimum in your home. Don’t worry about buying too many toys. You’ll only have more to tidy up and to find storage for. A couple toys in a toy box, rotated regularly is more than enough.

Encourage your child to seek out nature, play in the mud, run barefoot on the grass and splash in the water. It will develop a sense of creativity in your child.

Again, keep to the bare minimum of housework. Worry only about food, laundry and self care. Fit self care in whenever you can.

The school years

You can’t wait for your child to start school because you’re going to get so much done. This might be the case but you’ll probably find you’ll be asked to volunteer for so many things at your child’s school, that free time is still elusive.

You will, however, have a bit more time on your hands during the day, depending on if you still have younger children at home and this is the time when you can take a bit of extra time around the home to factor in more chores into your day.

Maybe take up an old hobby or pursue a new one. Join the local gym or tennis club. Make some new friends with other school parents and catch up for regular coffees.

Working out of the home

When your children start school you might want to return to part time or full time work, if not before they start school. I’ve tried this a couple times and it’s just too hard. I did manage though but it’s a hard slog just to do the basics.

Try to get the whole household on board with taking part in the upkeep of the home. Try to get up early or stay up that bit later to do a few chores and make meal times easy with tray bakes, easy to throw together salads or other quick and easy meals.

Use the commute to and from work or your lunch break to practice self care.

When the children have gone

I can’t write this from a parent’s perspective but thinking about my own mother (my father passed away before he was of retirement age), she wanted to start enjoying life. She was passionate about her hobbies and travel so didn’t want to be tied to the house doing housework all the time.

Keep your possessions to a minimum, keep up your daily routine and enjoy plenty of time pursuing your dreams. It is definitely your time if you haven’t already made those previous years a priority for yourself.

Conclusion

I’m currently at the teenage years so still have a few more years to go until they leave home but the point is, no matter what stage you’re at in your personal life, you adapt your home life to suit.

What you used to do before baby arrived is hard to upkeep unless you pay for or get help from family and friends. Adjust your standards and level of expectations. The time will come again when you can have your home exactly the way you want. The house will be a lot quieter and you’ll wonder where the years went.

Remember, it’s not about what is in your home but who.

Letter to my daughter starting high school next year

Dear Daughter

Well, my dearest lovely girl, today is your last day of primary school, forever, so I wanted to write you this letter as you’ll be starting high school next year.

It was pretty much 7 years, to the day, since you graduated from Kindergarten. You had the best learning experience at that Kindy and we wished you could’ve had those teachers all your school life. They instilled such a love of learning in you but we kind of knew you were destined for good things because you were already so clever.

You loved dinosaurs and everything relating to dinosaurs. You wanted to be a paleontologist at the age of 4. You’ve since changed your mind but it made us realise that you were very clever and knew what you wanted in life.

From the time you were born, I started looking at which school to send you to. I only ever wanted the best for you and send you to a place where I know you’d get a good education and set you off on your learning journey that you’d already started.

The first year was great and you had a wonderful teacher but the second year, you were terribly bullied by one girl and it seemed to fall on deaf ears when I complained to the school. Also, the teachers weren’t extending you, rather giving you very simple work that you already knew. It was then your Dad and I decided to send you to the local public school.

It was going to be tough making new friends but we knew you could handle it. You were put straight into a special academic class and shone. You made a couple friends and made the adjustment easily. Unfortunately, the school didn’t have the funding for another academic class the follwing year but you kept up the good work and always picked up new things easily.

There was bullying at that school too and there was a daily lesson to be learnt. I was always teaching you not to let it worry you, that you’d done nothing wrong. To build up your resilience and just avoid these people. It’s not easy and you’ll still come across bullies in your adult life but again, you can’t do anything about it. There’s two types of people in this world, bullies and those who are bullied. You have a very assertive side to your personality and if you learn how to channel that into confrontations, you’ll never have to worry about bullies and the way they treat you.

The end of Grade 6 for you didn’t go off without a hitch but I have to commend you for the way you handled yourself for being poorly treated by the staff at the school. I wasn’t very happy and you probably saw an angry side of me that you’ve never seen before. You picked yourself up and went onto celebrate your graduation and now your last day of school.

Mummy just wants to tell you that school, both primary and high school, is only a very small part of your life. It will give you a good start into how to follow instructions, how to obey authority and those in charge, how to deal with difficult personalities and how to decide exactly what career you want to pursue. You really are blessed with so many options today compared to when I went to school and because of how clever you are, you’ll have no difficulty in choosing the right career path.

I don’t really care what you want to do with your adult life as long as you are happy doing it. There’s nothing worse than taking on a job that you hate waking up for in the morning. It’s a real drag to turn up every day and you hate it. Find something you’re passionate about. Find something that you’ll feel like you’re not working at. Something that fills your soul, your mind and your heart.

Be diligent at school. Unfortunately your marks do count. Everything is based on a score and if you want to get into University to study for any reason, you’ll need good grades. Take note of the basics. You may think you’ll never need to know what ‘pie’ means or how making custard may never come in handy because you hate custard but learning the basics will help you in the future. I thought I’d never need to refer back to my 4 years of studying German at high school but it does come in handy if you glance at a word or read it somewhere. 

Remember too that the girls are going to get meaner and the boys are going to look cuter at high school. Your hormones are already raging and you’ve started to be interested in boys. Don’t waste your teenage years on serious relationships with boys. I know there’s nothing nicer than your heart fluttering when he walks by or shows some interest in you but boys that age are also discovering themselves and will only probably be interested for a short time, until something better catches their eyes. Hopefully you won’t be heartbroken but if you are, just remember, Mum will be here to talk to. Mum has been heartbroken more times than she’d like to remember and I know that you always get through it.

You’ll have some nice teachers and some not so nice teachers. You’ll start to want to take risks. It’s biological. It’s preparing you for the world. Just remember that with every risk there is a consequence. You might be lucky to survive it or escape it but it will catch up with you. Drugs just aren’t worth it. You can get high on life without taking drugs so don’t think you need to fit in with the ‘cool’ bunch to try a cigarette or drugs.  You’re much better than that.

Find out what those qualities are that you’d like in a friend and find that friend. You’ll have them for life. 

I really can’t believe where the last 7 years have gone but I’ve enjoyed every single one of them, raising you and see you graduate from primary school. You’ve done me, your Dad, your stepdad and stepmum very proud. Harness that fiery temper and conquer the world. We know you can do whatever you set your mind to.

Love,

Mum xx

"Smart Choices" or Better Choices

In case you didn’t hear, I am working as what’s known as a Tuckshop Convenor alongside another lady at my children’s school. I’ve been in the position for nearly 2 months. The Tuckshop Convenor runs the school canteen, or tuckshop, as we like to call it here in Australia. If you’re in Australia, no doubt you’ve probably heard of the “Smart Choices” initiative which is encouraging school canteens to sell more healthy food as per the guidelines set out by the State government.

The other convenor and I are very similar in the foods we like to cook and provide for our family. We’ve transferred that over to the school tuckshop and we’re seeing very favourable results. We’ve basically rewritten the menu at the start of the year and except for hot dogs and party pies (mini meat pies) everything we make is made from scratch and it’s made with love. These initiatives are an absolute ‘minefield’ of facts and figures, fors and againsts and a whole lot of contradiction, if you ask me. We’re still trying to get our heads around it and I’m not sure we ever will. Let me explain.

The “Smart Choices” initiative has ‘rated’ foods into three different categories. Green foods are those that ‘tick’ all of their healthy boxes and should be served in abundance. According to this initiative, these are foods that are excellent sources of important nutrients and are low in saturated fats/sugar/salt.  Amber foods are foods that have some nutritional value and have moderate amounts of saturated fats/sugar/salt. Lastly, red foods are foods that lack adequate nutritional value, are high in saturated fats/sugar/salt and may contribute to excess calorie intake. 

Green Foods

When you look at the document which we have to abide by, these are foods that belong to the five basic food groups and include bread, cereals, rice, pasta, noodles, vegetables, fruit, reduced fat milk, reduced fat yoghurt, reduced fat cheese, lean meat, fish, poultry, eggs, nuts and legumes. Water is also included in this group. I totally agree with this and this is the regime I try to implement at home.  This is what I learnt from my mother and what I learnt in Home Economics class at high school but what I don’t get is the reduced fat part, especially for my 11 and 9 year olds. In the 1960’s, when I was born, there wasn’t such a thing as reduced fat and there wasn’t in my mother’s time nor my grandparents time. And guess what? There wasn’t a problem with obesity as we’re seeing in the world today. So many things are added to foods when you take out the fat, for example sugar and salt. When we started to introduce reduced fat, lighter versions, low fat etc etc, that’s when we started to see a rise in obesity. That and a lack of exercise. When I was a child, we didn’t stop until we went to bed. If we weren’t running around at school, we were running around the streets playing with the neighbourhood kids until Mum called us to come in when it got dark.

From the “Smart Foods” Initiative, the foods they suggest are green foods and should be served in abundance. They are as follows:

Breads: White, multigrain, wholemeal, rye, hi-fibre breads or rolls including: burritos, English muffins, focaccia, lavash, Lebanese, pita, raisin/fruit, tortillas and Turkish. Some corn crispbreads and rice cakes also fit into GREEN.

Cereal foods: Rice, pasta, noodles, polenta and burghul (often used in tabouleh salad).

Breakfast cereals: Wholegrain breakfast cereals that are high in fibre and lower in salt and sugar.

Vegetables: Fresh and frozen vegetables used in a variety of different ways.

Fruit: Washed fresh fruits, frozen, canned and dried fruits.

Legumes: All forms of prepared beans and peas – baked beans, red kidney beans, soy beans, mung beans, lentils, chick-peas, peas, bean curd, tofu and pappadums (made from legume flour).

Reduced-fat dairy products: Reduced-fat milk (plain and flavoured), yoghurt, cheese and custard.

Lean meat, fish, poultry and alternatives: Lean chicken, beef, lamb, pork, canned tuna and salmon, and eggs. Unsalted plain and mixed nuts.

Drinks: Water is the best drink and a great thirst quencher! Reduced fat milk and soy drinks also fit into the GREEN category.

Let me continue with the other foods in these groups.

Amber Foods

This is a really ‘grey’ area for me and you could basically put any food item in this category and probably the most confusing part for me. For example, if you were to make a banana muffin say with wholemeal flour and you use full fat milk or butter, does it automatically become a ‘red’ food item and not allowed to be served? I think this is where it’s bureaucracy gone mad. Let me show you the food list as suggested from the “Smart Choices” initiative.

Full-fat dairy foods:  Milk (plain and flavoured), yoghurt, frozen yoghurt, custard and cheese. Full-fat flavoured milks in large serve sizes can contribute excess energy (kilojoules).

Savoury commercial products: There are many savoury commercial food products in the marketplace. Check labels against the nutrient criteria to ensure products fit into AMBER and not into the RED category. Examples include savoury pastries, spring rolls and dim sims, pasta products such as lasagne, pizza, oven-baked potato products, sausages, frankfurters, meat patties (not crumbed), meat balls and chicken drumsticks. Choose foods from a registered product list.

Processed meats: Use in small amounts only, as larger serve sizes can provide too much saturated fat and/or salt. Examples include devon, ham, salami, bacon, chicken roll, corned beef and pastrami.

Margarine, mayonnaise and oil: Choose polyunsaturated or mono-unsaturated varieties and use sparingly. Make sure you can see the bread through the spread!

Spreads: Use sparingly. Choose reduced-salt varieties where available. Examples include peanut butter and other nut spreads, fish, chicken and meat paste, yeast and vegetable extract spreads.

Sauces and gravy: Use sparingly. Choose reduced-salt varieties where available. Examples include tomato sauce, sweet chilli sauce and gravy. Some sauces (for example satay) also contain nut products which are a common allergen.

Snack food bars: Check the label against the nutrient criteria. Examples include breakfast bars, cereal bars and fruit bars.

Savoury snack foods and biscuits: Check the label against the nutrient criteria. Examples most likely to fit here include oven-baked snack biscuits, popcorn and some dry biscuits.

Cakes, muffins and sweet biscuits: Check the label against the nutrient criteria. Some un-iced cakes, muffins and sweet biscuits that are a small to medium serve size or have been modified (for example reduced levels of fat and/or sugar and include fibre) may fit into the AMBER category.

Ice-creams: Ice-creams that are not coated in chocolate, premium or of a large serve size are likely to fall into the AMBER category, such as plain milk-based ice-creams and frozen yoghurts.

Ice blocks, fruit-based ice confection and slushees: Check the label against the nutrient criteria. Watch the serve size and choose carefully.

Drinks: Stock fruit juice of no more than 250 ml, as in large amounts it can contribute excess kilojoules. Fruit drinks – choose those with greater than 50% fruit juice. These drinks contribute to tooth decay because of their high acidity level and should not be consumed frequently. Full-fat soy drinks also fit into the AMBER category.

Breakfast cereals: Refined breakfast cereals with added sugars and/or saturated fat fit in the AMBER category.

This is the confusing part. On one hand they are suggesting we promote ‘green’ foods, ie foods containing whole grains, lots of fresh fruit and vegetables, reduced fat milk, cheese and yoghurt, lean meats and water but on the other hand it’s okay to serve full fat dairy foods, margarine (for goodness sake!), processed commercial products like pastries, savoury and sweet processed foods that we should check the nutrient labels, ice creams and ice blocks, juice that contains at least 50% fruit juice (what happened to 100% juice?) and refined breakfast cereals with added sugar. Like what? 

The other convenor and I are luckily pretty good cooks and if you know me, I like to make everything from scratch as does the other convenor. I just can’t understand the hypocrisy with this initiative. This is what they define as a ‘red’ food.

Red Foods

Sugar and artificially sweetened drinks: Soft drinks, artificially sweetened soft drinks, energy drinks, sports drinks and flavoured mineral waters

Confectionery/lollies

All types Deep-fried foods

All types Savoury snack foods: Crisps, chips and other similar products

Ice-creams Chocolate coated and premium ice-creams

Cakes, muffins, sweet pastries and slices: Croissants, doughnuts, cream-filled buns/cakes, sweet pastries, slices Medium to large serves of many cakes and muffins

And I get that. But from the start of 2017, they have stipulated that if any food contains chocolate or is iced, for example, that will be deemed a ‘red’ food and only be available on two occasions per term. How does a homemade chocolate chip muffin, made with butter, flour, eggs and real banana and probably 10 tiny chocolate chips become a banned food over say a commercially produced muffin (amber food) with ‘who knows what’ ingredients in it that you need a science degree to work out what the ingredients are? I’m just not really understanding it at all.

And don’t get me started on the margarine over butter or reduced fat dairy products over full fat ones. We’re talking about children that are aged between 5 and 12, at the very oldest. I don’t have a medical degree or am an expert in nutrition but I know what constitutes natural, wholesome ingredients and how they should be cooked. After a bit of searching on the Internet, I found these interesting facts.

• Children need fats.
• Low-fat foods can create fatty-acid deficiencies.
• Children especially need saturated fats and cholesterol to maintain healthy tissues and healthy cell membranes.
• Cholesterol and saturated fats from breast milk, organic eggs, cream, coconut oil, and meats are essential parts of your child’s diet.
• A diet high in polyunsaturated oils impairs growth and learning, and promotes heart disease, cancer, and immune system dysfunction.
• Saturated fats are necessary for calcium to be effectively incorporated into bones.
• Omega-3 fats are retained better in tissues in the presence of saturated fats, and saturated fats promote healthy immune systems because of their antimicrobial properties that prevent the buildup of harmful microorganisms in the digestive tract.
• Saturated fats do not cause heart disease, they prevent heart disease and cancer.
• Cholesterol acts as a precursor to vital hormones including sex hormones and corticosteroids that protect the body against heart disease and cancer.
• Cholesterol is also a precursor of vitamin D that is essential to bone growth.

And the list goes on. (Source) That’s not the only information out there that supports the diet include saturated fats from natural resources. It’s common sense really. Both of my grandmothers lived well into their 90s eating a diet of natural foods, full fat cheese and milk, homebaked goods with a little bit of sugar, fat from the meat (which adds flavour) and both ate very little, if any, processed food. One of my grandmothers was raised on and had her own dairy farm for many years before her and my grandfather retired. I can remember as a young girl dipping my finger into the cream that sat at the top of the vat in their dairy. My grandparents won prizes for their cream. What’s happened with the world? 

Sure there’s an obesity problem with both children and adults alike in the world but I dare say that the problem isn’t from full fat, natural food. It’s from processed food and little or no physical activity. I don’t think you need to be a rocket scientist to work that out. 

The other convenor and I are off to a Tuckshop Convention this coming Saturday and I’m sure we’re not the only two who are up in #tuckshoparms about this issue. I think a lot more will be said before (and hopefully not) this initiative is fully implemented.

[Tweet “We’re up in #tuckshoparms about the @smartchoices. Real food over reduced fat, processed food any day.”]

Podcast # 3 - Back to School + a Special Guest

Welcome to my third podcast, “Back to School + a Special Guest”. This coming week, the children return to school for another year after a very long summer break. As much as I miss the rush of getting them off to school each morning, I miss the routine that comes with school life. I’ll be touching on a typical school day for my children here in Queensland and the usual hurdles us Mums have to jump each school day with uniforms, food and routine.

I have a very special guest appearance on the podcast today. I hope you enjoy it.

Listen on iTunes

Listen on SoundCloud

 

School stationery gone mad

source

Sometimes, when I think about something, I think I must be going mad. I think 'surely no one else thinks like this'. 'How did it get this way?' I know. Major first world problems but when you're on a low income and you save where ever you can, it's so damn hard to justify buying what's on the ludicrous school stationery lists.

I have my daughter starting grade 4 this year and my son grade 2. I have spent $215 on school stationery supplies between the both of them. Nothing like leaving it to the last minute (they go back to school this week) but as I was naming everything, I just started scratching my head asking why the hell do they need so many of the same thing.

These look similar to the scissors I had at primary school over 40 years ago. I found them in my Mum's things and am still using them.

For example, on my son's stationery list he needs 2 pairs of scissors. One would like to think that ONE pair of scissors would last until the end of time. I found my old primary school scissors my Mum had kept. They'll never break unless you try cutting aluminium or leave them out in the rain to rust. Why? Why does he need two pairs of scissors?

Then there was the 4 erasers or the 20 lead pencils or 4 packets of 12 colouring pencils AND the 4 packets of colouring CRAYON pencils. Yes, I'm all for colouring but this is just ridiculous. In fact, I don't remember doing much colouring at school. That sort of stuff was for home. There is also TWO pencil sharpeners. Have we become such a terribly bad throwaway society that we just keep buying pencil sharpeners and rulers every year just because they're on the book list?

I know things are different these days. Maybe schools were more subsidised in my day or things were just done differently. I remember we had to buy probably two new lead pencils, an eraser if we didn't have one, (there was only one type to buy in those days too not like the millions and millions of varieties of erasers there are these days) a pot of glue and maybe some felt pens. I remember we had to do a lot of projects on cardboard sheets and lots of time was spent going through Mum's magazines cutting out pictures. That might've been one or two sheets a year but how do you justify 18 actual exercise books of varying ruled lines for a grade 2 pupil? It's exactly the same story for my grade 4 daughter.

Tell me, am I strange for thinking this or has the school stationery lists got totally out of hand? I'm keeping a lot of it home and only sending a few things up to school and he can take more from home as he needs it. I am DEFINITELY not buying what's on the school list next year. They'll be using everything that's left at the end of this year for next year.

School stationery gone mad

source

Sometimes, when I think about something, I think I must be going mad. I think ‘surely no one else thinks like this’. ‘How did it get this way?’ I know. Major first world problems but when you’re on a low income and you save where ever you can, it’s so damn hard to justify buying what’s on the ludicrous school stationery lists.

I have my daughter starting grade 4 this year and my son grade 2. I have spent $215 on school stationery supplies between the both of them. Nothing like leaving it to the last minute (they go back to school this week) but as I was naming everything, I just started scratching my head asking why the hell do they need so many of the same thing.

For example, on my son’s stationery list he needs 2 pairs of scissors. One would like to think that ONE pair of scissors would last until the end of time. I found my old primary school scissors my Mum had kept. They’ll never break unless you try cutting aluminium or leave them out in the rain to rust. Why? Why does he need two pairs of scissors?

Then there was the 4 erasers or the 20 lead pencils or 4 packets of 12 colouring pencils AND the 4 packets of colouring CRAYON pencils. Yes, I’m all for colouring but this is just ridiculous. In fact, I don’t remember doing much colouring at school. That sort of stuff was for home. There is also TWO pencil sharpeners. Have we become such a terribly bad throwaway society that we just keep buying pencil sharpeners and rulers every year just because they’re on the book list?

I know things are different these days. Maybe schools were more subsidised in my day or things were just done differently. I remember we had to buy probably two new lead pencils, an eraser if we didn’t have one, (there was only one type to buy in those days too not like the millions and millions of varieties of erasers there are these days) a pot of glue and maybe some felt pens. I remember we had to do a lot of projects on cardboard sheets and lots of time was spent going through Mum’s magazines cutting out pictures. That might’ve been one or two sheets a year but how do you justify 18 actual exercise books of varying ruled lines for a grade 2 pupil? It’s exactly the same story for my grade 4 daughter.

Tell me, am I strange for thinking this or has the school stationery lists got totally out of hand? I’m keeping a lot of it home and only sending a few things up to school and he can take more from home as he needs it. I am DEFINITELY not buying what’s on the school list next year. They’ll be using everything that’s left at the end of this year for next year.

Darth Vader @ Book Week

The force is strong with this one!

Not every day you get to drive Darth Vader to school. Yesterday my son's school celebrated Book Week, that once a year event that sends shivers down every Mum's spine.  The school my daughter goes to doesn't celebrate it but for the 2 years she went to the school my son goes to now, she got dressed up for Book Week and I soon learnt that she would change her mind at the last minute.

The theme for this year's Book Week was "Across the Universe" so my son was in his element going as one of his favourite characters, Darth Vader. Just about every child comes dressed up as a character from a book and they do a little parade around the teachers and parents. They get so excited. The costume was relatively easy to put together. I just used a few things from other costumes.

There was the black cape from my daughter's Halloween costume last year.

There was the black top and black pants from my son's Ninja Halloween costume from last year (plus his every day black rubber boots).


I printed out this control panel, laminated it and then pinned it to his top. The helmet I did fork out $20 for but he absolutely loves it and I'm sure it will come in handy for many years to come. He's already planning his Star Wars 7th Birthday party in November.

It was great to see the teachers getting into the spirit. There were plenty of Cats in their Hats, witches, Mrs Wishy Washys and the school principal was a Stormtrooper who was well aware of Darth Vader being in the crowd.

So from the early days of my daughter wanting to go as a "winter fairy welcoming spring" (based on a fairy book by Shirley Barber) I can pretty safely say that my job here is done with Darth Vader's mask being pulled out every August for at least the next 3 year's worth of Book Weeks. 

Did you celebrate Book Week where you are? 

What last minute costumes did you put together?

Darth Vader @ Book Week

The force is strong with this one!

Not every day you get to drive Darth Vader to school. Yesterday my son’s school celebrated Book Week, that once a year event that sends shivers down every Mum’s spine.  The school my daughter goes to doesn’t celebrate it but for the 2 years she went to the school my son goes to now, she got dressed up for Book Week and I soon learnt that she would change her mind at the last minute.

The theme for this year’s Book Week was “Across the Universe” so my son was in his element going as one of his favourite characters, Darth Vader. Just about every child comes dressed up as a character from a book and they do a little parade around the teachers and parents. They get so excited. The costume was relatively easy to put together. I just used a few things from other costumes.

There was the black cape from my daughter’s Halloween costume last year.

There was the black top and black pants from my son’s Ninja http://kinfonet.org/profiles/3686-paulsen-brobby/ Halloween costume from last year (plus his every day black rubber boots).

I printed out this control panel, laminated it and then pinned it to his top. The helmet I did fork out $20 for but he absolutely loves it and I’m sure it will come in handy for many years to come. He’s already planning his Star Wars 7th Birthday party in November.

It was great to see the teachers getting into the spirit. There were plenty of Cats in their Hats, witches, Mrs Wishy Washys and the school principal was a Stormtrooper who was well aware of Darth Vader being in the crowd.

So from the early days of my daughter wanting to go as a “winter fairy welcoming spring” (based on a fairy book by Shirley Barber) I can pretty safely say that my job here is done with Darth Vader’s mask being pulled out every August for at least the next 3 year’s worth of Book Weeks. 

Did you celebrate Book Week where you are? 

What last minute costumes did you put together?

My son's school fete

Yesterday was my son's school festival (or fete). It was the most glorious winter day. The sun was shining and very warm, with lots and lots of people. Winter is usually the season for fetes and festivals in my hometown as its not too hot. There was another school fete in the next suburb on this same day and I was pleasantly surprised at the turn out we had.

My kids weren't interested in too much of anything else but the rides. I think they must've gone on this super slide about 100 times (they were fast asleep as soon as their heads hit the pillow so that was a good indicator).

There was the jumping castle.

There was this other 'typical' fairground ride and my son was so disappointed he was just that little bit too short to go on it (thank goodness). I always worry too much about them when they go on these things. They always look really old and dodgy (as dodgy as their operators sometimes) so I'm happy once the ride is finished and they're back on terra firma.  In fact, one operator looked like the lost love child of the guy playing "Duelling Banjos" from the movie "Deliverance".

My son's class was responsible for the sweet stall. I made a couple batches of coconut ice to be sold on the day as well as volunteered a couple hours selling in the stall. I think I boosted profits with the huge amount I bought. I'm a real sucker for homemade chocolate or caramel fudge and coconut ice. There was such a huge range and it looked like everyone pitched in and made it a great success.

Events like this are always good but such a lot of work goes in to putting them on. I have to hand it to the organising committee and Parent & Friends Association for organising it. It all went off without a hitch and I'm sure they made a lot of profit which will go back into the school and be there to benefit my son and other children.

Do you love a school fete?

Made any good old fashioned homemade sweets lately?

My son's school fete

Yesterday was my son’s school festival (or fete). It was the most glorious winter day. The sun was shining and very warm, with lots and lots of people. Winter is usually the season for fetes and festivals in my hometown as its not too hot. There was another school fete in the next suburb on this same day and I was pleasantly surprised at the turn out we had.

My kids weren’t interested in too much of anything else but the rides. I think they must’ve gone on this super slide about 100 times (they were fast asleep as soon as their heads hit the pillow so that was a good indicator).

There was the jumping castle.

There was this other ‘typical’ fairground ride and my son was so disappointed he was just that little bit too short to go on it (thank goodness). I always worry too much about them when they go on these things. They always look really old and dodgy (as dodgy as their operators sometimes) so I’m happy once the ride is finished and they’re back on terra firma.  In fact, one operator looked like the lost love child of the guy playing “Duelling Banjos” from the movie “Deliverance”.

My son’s class was responsible for the sweet stall. I made a couple batches of coconut ice to be sold on the day as well as volunteered a couple hours selling in the stall. I think I boosted profits with the huge amount I bought. I’m a real sucker for homemade chocolate or caramel fudge and coconut ice. There was such a huge range and it looked like everyone pitched in and made it a great success.

Events like this are always good but such a lot of work goes in to putting them on. I have to hand it to the organising committee and Parent & Friends Association for organising it. It all went off without a hitch and I’m sure they made a lot of profit which will go back into the school and be there to benefit my son and other children.

Do you love a school fete?

Made any good old fashioned homemade sweets lately?