louisevn's Profile

Yummmmmmmmmmy recipes! I like buying whole chickens on special, roasting and then shredding the chicken up, and freezing up portions - ie one big container for stir fries, one big one for pasta, and a couple of small ones for salads/sandwiches. Takes minutes to defrost, and if you only need to make rice and steam some veges for dinner, then it is dinner in 20mins tops (incorporating time to peel and wash veges and boil water).

Sigh. I live in Auckland, New Zealand... jobs are tight, money does not go very far (it is normal to spend $100 a week at the supermarket, no matter how tight you are and how little you eat) and the salaries are very very low. We currently spend $330 a week on rent, for a one bedroom flat underneath a main house. It's expensive, but the house is not damp and is built soundly, so it's worthwhile but still... expensive. Other problems in NZ for rental housing is lack of care from landlords, many of them are cold, damp and badly built with old or no insulation, and what insulation there is is usually far below par. Many of the old villas have the original windows for the house (so thin and not very water tight).

It sucks, as I love Auckland and New Zealand, but it is hard to find a decent job that pays... yet, we cannot go elsewhere because the jobs are even tighter, even though the rent is (mostly) cheaper. I am seriously considering moving overseas after my degree is done.