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Going to talk about your financial health today.
Do you know the difference between good debt and bad debt? This is very important.
Bad debt is what we buy ‘toys’ with, cars, boats, jet skis, expensive jewellery etc – non appreciating liabilities.
Good debt is what we use to purchase appreciating assets, like property. Things that go up in value, not down.
You want to be collecting assets so that later you can buy toys. If you do it the other way around, you are destined to be broke. (unless you have a h u g e income)
If you haven’t read Rich Dad, Poor Dad now is a good time.
Yours in wisdom, Arlene
It is winter and school holidays here on the Gold Coast, Australia. Our winter may get as cool as 8c degrees! I love living here, walking on the beach in the middle of winter – its fantastic.
Anyway as it is school holidays, it is a time some parents love and other parents dislike. Some parents love the lack of routine for a couple of weeks others don’t, especially if they are working.
It is a great time to get the kids into the kitchen and helping, though. Even the youngest can put things away or in the bin. The older ones can mix or mash or even peel, they love to be involved. You may even find they will eat more of things they have helped to prepare. It’s a great time to try different fruit & vegies with them, maybe with yoghurt or hommus. Set the right example now and they will thank you for it when they are old enough to appreciate it.
The big picture is – if you don’t have your health, you really don’t have anything. No point being the richest person in the intensive care ward! It only takes a few simple steps to be healthy – eat well, drink plenty of water and exercise (and of course quit smoking and limit alcohol consumption). Not too hard at all!
These are my thoughts. Happy holidays!
It is winter and school holidays here on the Gold Coast, Australia. Our winter may get as cool as 8c degrees! I love living here, walking on the beach in the middle of winter – its fantastic.
Anyway as it is school holidays, it is a time some parents love and other parents dislike. Some parents love the lack of routine for a couple of weeks others don’t, especially if they are working.
It is a great time to get the kids into the kitchen and helping, though. Even the youngest can put things away or in the bin. The older ones can mix or mash or even peel, they love to be involved. You may even find they will eat more of things they have helped to prepare. It’s a great time to try different fruit & vegies with them, maybe with yoghurt or hommus. Set the right example now and they will thank you for it when they are old enough to appreciate it.
The big picture is – if you don’t have your health, you really don’t have anything. No point being the richest person in the intensive care ward! It only takes a few simple steps to be healthy – eat well, drink plenty of water and exercise (and of course quit smoking and limit alcohol consumption). Not too hard at all!
These are my thoughts. Happy holidays!
It’s been a long time between blogs, busy times here at the moment. We are in the middle of two public holiday weekends so this week is a little quieter.
I know we are all trying to get fit and be active so here are some tips on fitness nutrition to help you:
Eat Regularly – graze
Eat every three hours or so to boost your metabolism and control your appetite
Focus on proteins
Women should have one serving of protein every few hours, men should get two. A serving equals the size of the palm of your hand or 90 to 115 gms, this will help control your appetite and blood sugar levels which help you maintain lean muscle
Only have starchy carbs after you exercise
Up to 2 to 3 hours after then back to fruit, vegies & nuts to help with weight loss and gaining lean muscle
Include Fruit & Vegies with each meal
Aim for 8 to 10 servings a day, 2 servings with each meal – easy!
Have healthy fats
A balanced intake includes healthy fats like flaxseeds & flax oil, fish & fish oil, hemp & hemp oil, olive oil, canola oil and walnuts. One tablespoon of oil or two tablespoons of seeds is enough; this will help balance your health and hormones.
Keep drinks simple
Tea (especially green tea) and water are ideal for promoting hydration. No sugar, calories or chemicals that diet drinks have
Eat Unprocessed Foods
You will usually find, the closer a food is to its natural state, the better it is for you. Avoid canned or packaged foods, unless it’s in its own package called peel or skin
Be Organised – Plan Ahead
It’s easy to eat healthily of you do some preparation and have healthy food ready to eat
Variety is the Spice of Life
Don’t limit your food intake by choosing bland, plain foods. Keep your eyes open for new and interesting ideas with healthy food – be brave, experiment
You don’t have to be Perfect
Aim for 9 out of 10 healthy meals; don’t worry if you go astray occasionally. If you are eating healthily most of the time, it won’t hurt
You only get one body so it is worth looking after, these hints should help you look better, feel better and perform at your best, even if it is just a walk around the block. Half an hour a day, you can do it.
That’s the healthy part and the wealthy part is short and sweet:
If you fail to plan, you plan to fail
You can take control of your financial future with our help. Ten years is all it takes to be Financially Free.
Regards Arlene
Healthy, Wealthy & Wise
We have had so much rain here on the east coast of Australia and that has a huge effect on fruit & vegies. When the ground is soaked farmers are unable to get the machinery in to harvest their crops. When they finally do the produce is often bigger than normal from being left longer and may be rain or water effected. There may also be some mould on the outside but just wipe it off or rinse it under a tap. Mother Nature is a hard task master so please try your produce before worrying about how it looks.
The upshot of this is that the price of fresh produce has skyrocketed because it is all about supply and demand. Broccoli for instance is over $5.00 per kilo for us to buy! And the quality is average because of the weather. As we don’t keep stock we can only supply fresh fruit & vegies from the markets and are limited by what is available.
Hopefully it will be over soon and things can get back to normal.
It’s time to say goodbye to summer stone fruit now too. No more nectarines, peaches, plums or mangoes till the end of the year. Time for vegies to take over for the autumn/winter months.
There is your healthy and wise and from the wealthy department -property doubles in value every ten years and this can set you free. See www.tic.com.au
If you fail to plan, you plan to fail.
Just had a couple of thoughts over the last week or so. We laid to rest an acquaintance last week who had been involved in the hospitality industry for over 40 years. I couldn’t help but think “they just don’t make ‘em like that any more’.
People who actually understand the concept of service, of making everyone they come into contact with feel special. It seems to be a lost art and not something taught at hospitality schools. It’s all very well knowing the mechanics of how to serve food but what about great service?
Hundreds of people attended his funeral so it shows how many people’s lives he had touched and thought him special enough to make the effort to go and say goodbye.
I think along with manners and respect we have lost some important values that cost absolutely nothing.
I realise this has nothing to do with eating healthily or taking control of your financial future but I just wanted to share my thoughts. (Although we do pride ourselves on ‘good old fashioned service at Fruit & Vegies on the Move!)
Hi
Hope all you coffee drinkers are enjoying your yummy Marrakech Coffee. Let us know if you would like to receive it on a regular basis and we can make sure we always have some ready for you. We would hate you to run out!
Remember to keep it airtight and cool to maintain the freshness.
Also what a great idea for a Christmas present – our beautiful coffee and a plunger, especially for those ‘hard to buy for’ people.
Haven’t the mangoes been beautiful? Hopefully the trays will be available next week, we will let you know. They also make a great Christmas present!
At this time of the year it is easy to get into some bad eating habits so to get your 2 and 5 each day try:
- Banana on your cereal for breakfast
- Fruit with morning and afternoon tea
- Salad Sandwich for lunch
- Stir fry with onion, carrot, mushroom, capsicum, broccoli, zucchini and even sweet potato
Even if you only have 3 out of the 4, you should still get your 2 and 5.
Only four weeks to Christmas!
Regards Arlene, Barry and Team
Hi
Hope you had a fantastic weekend.
I thought I would share some information on how we run our fruit & vegie business so it may make more sense to you.
We go to the markets and bring back a selection of about 20 different varieties of fruit & vegies. We include all the basics like potatoes, tomatoes, apples and bananas and also a selection of seasonal produce, which we change from week to week. Winter your box is mostly vegies and summer is mostly fruit & salad. If you have crossed off many of our chosen varieties that week all we can do is double up on what is left so please let us know what you go through more of.
Your order is packed the day before your delivery and stored in our coldroom over night so it stays cool at your place for hours. Our drivers arrive at 6am the day of your delivery to start packing up their vans and getting on the road.
Everything is on computer but it takes us time to input any changes and do up the box sheets with your personalised order, which is why we need to work two days ahead. You can email us or ring or fax any changes in quantities or delivery dates. Our answering machine is on 24/7.
As this is a family business and we start early, we don’t work at night or weekends but you can ring and leave a message or email any time.
Hope this info helps you to understand a little bit more of how we do what we do.
The Friendliest Town
A reminder that Sunday 1st November is the Mudgeeraba Street Party to celebrate winning the Friendliest Town in Queensland competition. There will be face painting, balloons, jumping castle, animal nursery, rock ‘n roll dancers, sausage sizzle and lots more. From 11.30am to 3.30pm in and around Swan Lane. We will be around the Chamber of Commerce stall so come and say hello. It will be a great day for the whole family!
Thanks to Jennifer for the recipe below if you end up with too much citrus fruit – turn it into marmalade.
Marmalade
Citrus fruit – approximately 8 oranges, grapefruits, mandarins, whatever you have available, but include 2 lemons
Water – 1 cup for each piece of orange-sized fruit (more for grapefruit, less for mandarins)
Sugar – ensure you have 1 cup for each piece of fruit available, but see measure below
Jars – allow 1 500ml jar for each piece of fruit, but you’ll probably need less
Wash fruit. Cut in half and slice thinly, removing and reserving seeds. If fruit selected has a lot of seeds, peel fruit and remove seeds first, before slicing peel and then chopping flesh. Put fruit in a large stainless steel bowl and add water. Tie seeds up in a small clean cotton cloth (such as a piece from old t-shirt) and add to bowl. Cover with cling wrap and soak overnight.
Transfer to a large, heavy bottomed, stainless steel pot. Pot should be large enough to be only one-third full at this point. Bring slowly to boil, stirring constantly. Simmer, covered, for 45 minutes, stirring occasionally. Remove from heat and allow to cool slightly.
At this point, sterilize your jars by either washing on the sterilization/hottest setting on your dishwasher, or washing in warm soapy water, rinsing thoroughly, and putting in the oven at 120C for 20 minutes.
Measure pulp and add 1 cup sugar for each cup of pulp. Return to pot and bring to a rapid boil. Boil rapidly for approximately 20 minutes, until setting point is reached; it may take considerably longer depending on the amount of pulp, size of pot etc. The marmalade will change to a darker color and thicker, stickier consistency when setting point is reached. To test for set, remove from heat and put a spoonful of marmalade onto a small, cold plate. Leave to cool a little before dragging a finger through: the surface should wrinkle and the channel formed by your finger should remain open. If it’s still too runny, bring back to boil for a bit longer and test again. If you have a sugar/jam thermometer, setting point is approximately 105C.
Once setting point is reached, remove seeds, pour into sterilized jars and seal immediately.
Nothing like fresh preserves!
Regards Arlene and Barry
Fruit & Vegies on the Move
Ph/Fax: 07 5522 7400
Hi, I’m Arlene and I’d like to share how I moved from just “wanting a home based business” to successfully working from home and then on to bigger things!
Back in 1998 I had all these ideas about starting a home based business, however they were just that, ideas – and no action took place.
I dreamt of having my own cash cow business but didn’t know anything about residual income or how to achieve financial freedom.
I was busy being a Mum and like many others I used to shop for groceries at my local Coles or Woolworths store.
Even though the fruit and vegetables at both Coles and Woolworths were OK, my kids preferred something that was fresher and more inviting.
I had discovered this fact when we visited a local farmers market, bought some fresh fruit and vegetables and was told by the kids that it was delicious and tasted great.
In the past I had tried a variety of organic products in order to entice the children to eat more fruit. Sure there is something to be said about the health benefits of eating organic fruit and vegetables. However we found that whilst organic products are well accepted, it was difficult to locate a reliable supplier able to provide consistent supply at reasonable prices.
The farmers market concept of buying farm fresh produce at wholesale prices seemed attractive, particularly when I was assured it could be home delivered, literally right to my door.
Unfortunately we found the quality of the home delivered fruit and vegetables were not consistent and the service proved unreliable.
So after talking to my husband Barry, we decided it made sense to establish our own business as we both liked the home delivery concept. We conducted considerable research and testing enabling us to locate reliable sources of fresh fruit and vegetables.
So we commenced trading in 1999 and based our business ethic on a number of extremely important criteria:
- The farm fresh quality of the product had to be assured.
- Our product offer had to be supported with a money back guarantee.
- Our prices had to be competitive and represent excellent value for money.
- Our delivery system had to be both free of charge and reliable.
- The ordering process must be simple, easy and straightforward.
Above all, it was our firm belief that we could do a better job of home delivering farm fresh fruit and vegetables by dedicating ourselves to achieving excellence in everything we did – without comprising quality in any way.
So with these thoughts in mind we commenced operations and began servicing the local Gold Coast area.
Today the business has outgrown (pardon the pun) its home base and we have developed a model we will ultimately license into other locations.
See me at www.fruitvegies.com.au/
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