$150 Grocery Spend Per Week

So, wish me luck, I'm aiming to spend $150 per week on groceries including nappies, cleaning stuff, toiletries. Being strict as DP and I are going down the separation path so money will be tight.

This is from someone who used to chuck smoked salmon, brie, dips and pate into the trolley with gay abandon :) (Actually worked out I was spending at least $64 per month on smoked salmon and brie alone, not to mention the other stuff).

So this is my budget (for me and two DDs):

$23.50 nappies/wipes
breakfast cereal $6.50
bread $10 (two loaves)
sandwich fillings for lunches $20,
cleaning/laundry/toiletries $$25
milk $14 (allowing 2 litres per day)
Dinners $70 (working on $10 dinner per night)

I reckon there's a bit of leeway in the dinners e.g.. spag bol, chicken cacciatore is about $4-$5 per family dinner. Plus I might be overestimating how much bread/milk we use.

Might get a bigger freezer so I can cook more in bulk.

We are a family of 5 and our budget is $160 a week. Its def doable!!!!

We dont have to buy nappies though. We buy the $1.50 bread as we go through a loaf a day, homebrand milk cause we use 12-15lt per week. I buy fruit and veg from the fresh food places not super markets as they are more expensive

Homebrand and genric is our friend!!! but the girls never miss out on special treat foods and I always shop where the specials are!!!!

We dont need to be very strict but for me its habit, I walk around with my list and phone calculator and add up as I go. When i was a single mum I HAD to stick to a budget and well now I like too!!!

Sorry to hear about the separation path. Hope everything goes well for you and yours. :hug:

As someone who has been on a very tight budget in the past (and about to embark on one again for an entirely different reason), here are some tips from me to you to share:

• Bread: check out the bakery department in the two big supermarket chains. Quite often they have two loaves for $5 and it's nice (nothing added) fresh bread. They also have the buy two for the price of 1 rolls. I buy up big and then freeze what I don't use straight away - either that or make up rolls/sandwiches for lunches and freeze them.
• Sandwich fillings: we bought a sunbeam slicer. Okay, so the outlay was a little exy (arund $200) but I now buy a corned beef, cook it up and then slice for cold meats. Also great for slicing up cheese - you get more slices out of a block.
• Cleaning products: buy up when on special. You might have to go without something else that week but it's worth it in the long run. I spent $50 on washing powder in March last year and used the last of it the two days after Christmas!
• Nappies/wipes: if you don't mind washing consider cloth. I bought some of the AIO nappies on ebay (a non-brand) and got 10 nappy covers and 15 inserts for $30. They've been great and easy to wash and dry quickly. Consider buying some muslin and hem it up to make some cloths that are soft on bottoms and easy to rinse out and use again instead of wipes. Either that or again buy in bulk and not week to week.
• Breakfast cereal: Weetbix are only $5 for the really big packet in the two big supermarket chains. If one of those lasts in my household for two weeks, I'm sure it would in yours! (I have two teenagers, a toddler and husband who would die without them).

I have a million recipes (pasta, mince, chicken, vegetarian) that fill the belly and are tasty (and usually large enough for leftovers to cover another meal).

The $120 Food Challenge blog has lots of cheap tasty recipes archived and great money saving tips

Thanks ladies - all great tips!

I've looked at that zazou and love the concept and the recipes but find it really, really frustrating to navigate.

I will do this with you! Although we are only a family of 3, we spend waaaayyyyy to much a week on groceries. I really have no idea how we do it, I think I need to stop procrastinating and write some meal plans and start doing the bulk of shopping online to stop me buying random thins I *think* we need. We buy nappies as well, I was using cloth but DS is a gorgeously chubby and none of them fit him anymore (nor the million brands I have tried), so we are stuck using sposies as they are all that fit him.

Fionas, I didnt find the $120 challenge very helpful either, its quite hard to navigate and her book was a bit useless. I thought it would have some meal plans to follow and some nice healthy, quick and easy recipes but it wasnt like that at all.

Cass, dont have a way to share those recipes at all? hehe ;)

Shan - I'm pretty good at meal planning for a couple of days at a time but I really need to plan for the entire week and go shopping once. Also, need to go without the kids. It's too easy to get sucked in to buying them a comic/whatever for 2 minutes peace.

I've got things I will compromise on (some frozen veggies instead of fresh) and things I won't (have to have grainy bread). Also, we live in a small town with one supermarket so to buy some things in bulk (like laundry powder) would mean driving quite a distance. Once I've factored in petrol, it might not be worth it. For now, I'm happy buying the $4 staying down special instead of the exxie ones which I reckon will last me a month.

I've been scouring the specials in the catalogues and it's amazing how much you can save on everyday items.

I'll post my meal plans when I start doing this properly.

If you can visit Aldi, most of the products are made by the same companies that make for the other big 2 chains. And most of the fruit and veggies are from local growers so kind of supporting communities.

Or farmers markets! They rock too!

Aldi is a fair way from us and I'm not sure it's cheaper than buying the staying down prices TBH. It's a lot cheaper for packaged things but we don't buy a lot of those anyway. Not sure - will compare in catalogues.

When I start doing this, I'll do a bit of shopping around in terms of markets/greengrocers for fruit/veggies. I may be able to buy my smoked salmon yet!

I started this after starting using budgeting software (YNAB) - but unfortunately started in December and we had visitors so we went over but December was a 4.5 week month really and we only went over by one week worth so maybe didn't do so bad.

I also find it hard to plan more than a couple of days in advance. I tried online shopping in an effort to spend less - but once took into account delivery costs then I don't think it saved me any money. I can get to Aldi quite easily but I don't find I want alot of what is cheap and if anything am tempted into buying stuff I don't need.

For your smoked salmon if you wanted to make a trip to Melbourne every now and again I have heard good things about the smoked salmon at Costco!

I actually find I spend less if I only buy when I need something - buying in advance when specials are on only saves you money if you then actually use the thing and more often than not I forget, tastes change etc etc.

I put everything on credit card and pay off each month, including all childcare costs and health insurance this means I make about $300 a year in Caltex vouchers for petrol which I exchange my credit card costs for. That is about a third of my petrol costs a year.

We only have a small freezer e.g. one that is just a third of normal fridge (bottom half) and we do still cook in bulk alot - DH makes up all his meals for lunch time for probably 3 weeks in one go - but adds rice or pasta the night before.

I think it's totally doable with meal plans and a shopping list...aldi is so much cheaper than the others. But I mean if you shop smart and aren't fussed on 'name brands' it's achievable!

It definitely can be done, you don't have to go home brand either. We are 2 Adults and 3 Kids. I am buying just night pull ups at the moment.

I am spending $150 a week on grocery and fruit and veg at the moment. The only home brand I buy is OJ as that is the one my boys like and Milk. I shop to a list, add things to my list through the week as we run out.

I meal plan, my pantry staples are up to date so I can make a meal up just using pantry staples if need be. On the weeks my pantry stores are up to scratch, I do get some smoked salmon ;)

It could be worth your while taking a trip to Melbourne say once a month and got to either the Vic or Footscray market to stock up on meat and fish.

I'm a 'brie and smoked salmon' shopper, too, and I'm lucky in that we don't have to operate on a strict budget. But I'm curious at the comments suggesting farmer's markets and meat and fish markets - In Perth they are most certainly not the cheap option. They are often very fresh, and organic, and great in other ways - but not cheap.

There is one thing I can suggest that may well make a big difference to your budget - add a few vegetarian meals to your week - homemade hummous for lunches, vegetarian chili or lasagne or bolognese for a couple of meals a week will cut down the amount of relatively expensive meat you eat, and may well help your health, as well. (If it leaves $$ free for smoked salmon, well, oily fish is far better for you than fatty meat, isn't it?)

I spend about $160 a week fir 4, no nappies.
Meal planning is the best way to stick to a budget!

My budget is $270-$300 per fortnight for a family of 5 - which includes cleaning products etc.

I do my bulk shop (about 90%) at Aldi and use the Aldi smartershopper website as they have all their goods and the prices on it so I know how much I'm going to spend before I walk in the door. The remaining groceries I get from Safeway/Woolworths and I do the same get onto the online shopping site and put in everything I need (which is generally more expensive than in store prices) and so I always know what I will spend on groceries with a buffer for the overestimating at Safeway. I purchase my fruit and veg from a cheaper bulk green grocer and find we still eat well as a family on the budget I have set us.

I found shopping fortnightly better though as when I would shop weekly I would always spend in excess of $200 a week so making a change to fortnightly has also helped us cut down our grocery bill as well. I always by in bulk where possible and the only things I need to top up during the 2 week period are generally fresh milk and fresh fruit.

We just bought
52 finish powerball dish tabs
A bottle of harpic toilet clean (with the curvy neck)
A 64 pack of huggies bum wipes
500mls of Biozet laundry dtergent
A 20 pack of penline biro's
An english brand dishwasher cleaner (the one you put in the dishwasher while its empty and do a hot wash)
2 cintronella candles in cute terracotta pots
6 shower scrubby puffy thingies


Allll for a grand total of



$25.92!!!


At woolies or coles, the 52 finish powerball tabs would have cost this alone.

Crazy Clarks is your friend ;)

He sure as Hell is my new BFF :D

Adelaide needs a Aldi!!

Definitely doable! We spend about that for 4 plus our puppy (no nappies but dog food obviously).

What cleaning products do you use? Because you can save heaps by using vinegar/bicarb. Also buy in bulk where you can.

Do you have a veggie garden? We save quite a bit growing our own and the kids love it.

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Adelaide needs a Aldi!!

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I hate Aldi.
So much of the packaged stuff is made in China.
It tastes funky and cheap. The nappys are crap the Peanut Butter is toxic.
And you can never get everything you need, you still have to drop by one of the chains for a couple of items (cat litter is one that springs to mind) And its not like you have a choice if you dont like one brand of spread/cereal/cheese. They only have the one!
Dont rate it at all.

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I hate Aldi.
So much of the packaged stuff is made in China.
It tastes funky and cheap. The nappys are crap the Peanut Butter is toxic.
And you can never get everything you need, you still have to drop by one of the chains for a couple of items (cat litter is one that springs to mind) And its not like you have a choice if you dont like one brand of spread/cereal/cheese. They only have the one!
Dont rate it at all.

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See I find the opposite, lots of made in Australia stuff (more than Coles/Woolies) and I love the nappies! I also find their Aldi brands are comparable to the expensive name brands in quality but at generic prices. Shopping at Aldi saves me heaps :)

I don't like Aldi either. I think it is the same quality as generic/homebrand at the larger supermarkets.

I love aldi! They have chocolate like the stuff I grew up with and often stock UK goods that the bigger supermarkets charge a fortune for. I rarely shop anywhere else.

Aldi has some great stuff, but some things I don't go much on. That said, I've been told that Lindt makes their chocolate ... could be an urban legend, could be true. All is know is that Aldi chocolate is yum, yum, yum.

We need to reign in our shopping bill too - so I'm watching this thread with interest. I shop online, so it's "easy" to stick to a budget, but my maternity leave pay is about to run out so it's time to look at cost cutting a bit. I agree too with the meal planning being the key.

cleaning product is mainly diluted eucalyptus oil. I'm also diluting the pump soap for hand washing so saving half there.

No veggie garden as yet but something that is on the list :)

Livinthedream - that's a dead set bargain. No Crazy Clarks near us I don't think though.

We're going to a farmers market tomoz so it will be good to compare the prices on fruit/veg to the supermarket.

Yes, their Fair Trade, Organic chocolate is yummo.
And I find the meat pretty good too.
But I still could never manage to get my entire weeks grocerys there.
There was always some vital ingredient they didnt have.
Does my head in. lol

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I hate Aldi.
So much of the packaged stuff is made in China.
It tastes funky and cheap. The nappys are crap the Peanut Butter is toxic.
And you can never get everything you need, you still have to drop by one of the chains for a couple of items (cat litter is one that springs to mind) And its not like you have a choice if you dont like one brand of spread/cereal/cheese. They only have the one!
Dont rate it at all.

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Well, tell us what you really think :ROFL:

I've always liked the Aldi stuff we've bought. We use the nappies - fine, except they don't do pull ups and I prefer those (bad back, saves me lifting DD2). Agree that the chocolate is yummo.

I cook most things from scratch and avoid packaged stuff though so I'm not sure it would make that much difference to my bill and I'd need to factor in the petrol to get there.

Sorry, a PP mentioned going veggo a couple of nights per week. I was veggo for 8 years so I actually should do this more often. The other night I made pumpkin soup (with chicken stock made from BBQ chicken bones) and pan-fried gnocchi in blue cheese sauce. Was yummy. (Though not strictly veggo because of the chicken stock).

My secret for vegetarian chilli (apart from all the usual veggies) is sultanas :)

Veggie risotto is easy too - plus I make put the leftovers into little pastries like pasties and they're good for lunchboxes/snacks.

Slightly embarrassed that this is my third reply to my own thread but for others interested in meal planning, these are the dinners I've decided on this week. If I had more time, I'd properly map out lunches too.


Veggie chilli with tortillas, avocado, sour cream
Lamb roast (we cut in half and freeze half so not too costly)
Sausages & veggie crumble
Chicken and veggie curry in a hurry
Spag bol (from batch already in freezer)
Pumpkin, mushroom and pea risotto

F- your dd is 2- is she showing signs of wanting to toilet train? If not I saw a thread in here for cloth pull ups. Cloth def helps save money in the long run.
My dd is a few months shy of 2 and is happy to tell me when she has pee pee'd and show me the puddle- but she'll go and sit on the potty if she thinks she needs to go (normally the puddle is made about 3 mins after the potty) but shes gettting there :)

Im subbing cause in a few months Im gonna be low income again too :(

I think a big freezer will help- specially with meat purchases, buying on specials and making extra portions. I also freeze leftovers- even just 1 serve, and pull all the 1 serves out on days when Im not feeling great etc. The kids love being able to choose- we make it into a restaurant style game for them :)

I done shopping today and spent $132 and took 5 kids with me meal plan didn't included Nappies buying no name brands most of it was for fresh fruit and veg cause I don't like frozen but when we get towards end of the weekend veggies are looking a little sorry I grate them all up and make a veggie slice during summer ( kids love it cold) and throw them in the slow cooker during winter

OK, last week's meal plan went really well.

Just spent $133 on this week's meal plan including breakfast, lunches and toiletries. No nappies this week.

Some of these dinners are pretty simple cos not sure if DP will be home for dinner:

Chicken and veggie Sesame/peanut (and veggie) noodle salad
Pork rissoles with potato salad and leftover veggie crumble
Risotto parcels with baked beans
Tuna Pasta bake
Fish tacos
Hawaian pizzas

Sounds like you're doing pretty well, fionas.

Do you have an IGA near you? We often get a whole rump on special for $5 or $6 a kilo. They call it budget rump but we've found the quality to be generally very good to excellent. We cut it up ourselves however we want - steak, stirfry, roast, mince. Saves a fortune. We've also bought other bulk meats from there when we see them on special in their catalogues.

Not in our town but in the two next closest towns we do. I'll keep my eye out but I'm not sure it would be worth it for me and the girls - they don't eat steak and I don't have a mincer. If we ate a lot of red meat though, would be worth it for sure!!!

Sounds like you're doing a great job! I love all the ideas here. I need to get tighter on my budgeting again, my maternity leave kicks in this week meaning my pay is about to drop for the next year!

I've gone from a budget of £150-200 per month to a budget of less than £300 a month (so my budget is less than half). It is do-able and makes my life easier.

Admittedly, some of my tips won't help you. Such as "you are shopping for food, not clothes, music or other knick-knacks." But a few cloth nappies (just for at night, given the ages of your DDs) and using a warm, damp flannel for a wipe will help. We had a few flannels that were used as wipes when changing nappies.

I go to the big shops once a month. I get in bread, milk and the veggies my menu requires on a weekly basis, but I buy little, walk to the shops instead of drive so that limits what I buy.

I know what I can scrimp on (I still buy brie and smoked salmon, only I buy brie made in this country from the saver range, and smoked salmon trimmings, which is the salmon that they would normally throw away after making a cut - but it's still nice smoked salmon, only really cheap cos it isn't a whole slice itms). I know what I can't (baked beans: too much salt and sugar in the cheap ones so they taste foul). I know what I need to buy the brand names for (very, very, little: mostly cleaning products).

I make a menu list for the whole month. I make sure that if we have stew on Tuesday, we make soup from the leftovers on Wednesday (or Thursday). If I'm opening bacon on Monday, it will all be eaten by Weds-Thurs. A big chicken to roast on Sunday? Chicken curry on Monday. I also plan lunches: I know where I can get quiches on 2-for-1, so we can have one this week and freeze one for another week. I rarely buy sandwich spreads (unless they're on a good offer), but instead buy cans of tuna, sweetcorn and a pot of mayo and make my own. I do bulk cook and freeze down: I cook fresh at the start of the month and eat what I've frozen at the end of the month.

We eat a lot of vegetarian food: it's cheaper than meat. Including the meat-replacement mycoprotein mince. It doesn't taste nasty either, like mince does.

When I see something on offer that will last, I buy big. So I bought a year's supply of dishwasher tablets (will last us longer if I spend more time at home as we use it less) while they were 70% off. Things like that.

When something is on offer, check it is cheaper than your usual brand. Get that calculator out if you can't do it in your head (I like the mental maths challenge, most don't). Sometimes buying half-price Pringles is still more expensive than your normal snacks. When junk food is gone, it's gone. I buy in more than enough for a month of not gorging on crisps/chocolate (ie 30 packets crisps in multibuy, what is on offer): we may have a completely junk-free last week of the month. Or we may not.

Cookbooks are your friend. For inspiration. You don't need the expensive ingredients, you can do just as well with cheaper ones. I have to substitute as DS can't have dairy and I don't like the taste of many meats, so I chop and change recipes a lot. "Buy the best you can get here" means "well, the best I can get is the saver range" and it tastes just as good as when I cook it chez parents and they buy the post name-brand stuff. If not better.

Cut down on alcohol. I do buy wine and spirits on offer, such as a favourite on 70% off, or when there's a good meal deal that comes with wine. DH does get some beers. But we're down to one bottle of wine a week. Sharing. Admittedly, depending on where I'm working, the spirits can go down a bit. But at least I'm drinking under 5% of my earnings.

HTH and best of luck to you.

Sorry, can't edit for some reason, that should be I've gone from stupid amounts per week to slightly over a weekly amount per month.

Hi fionas
Any chance you could post your Vegie chilli recipe? Sounds awesome with the sour cream and tortillas
Also your veg risotto?? I love the idea of using leftovers in pastries too. I'd like to try both of these
I really struggle with keeping the grocery shop low. I went today and spent about $140 and there's no way that will last me the week. Def need to sub to this thread!

I just did a trial shop online, to see how much I spend, and I wanna cry.
Not sure if I should "live it up "while I can (another month or so) or get use to the tight budget now. What do u ladies suggest?

Once you see budgeting as a game BD, it's really quite fun. But then, I really like maths and I really like saving money so I'm literally thinking how low can I go.

Ginger, I don't follow a recipe for my veggie chilli, I'm a make it up kinda gal, so this is in no way precise but here goes.

Fry 1 onion and 1-2 cloves garlic in oil
Add chilli (I use 1-2 teaspoons of the tubey things)
Add 500g mince (in my supermarket this costs $3-7 depending on how lean you want it)
Once that's browned, add a tin of tomatoes (I buy the 69c tins now instead of the $1.39 tins, no difference)
I might add 2 tins of tomatoes actually.
Add one tin of kidney beans (I think these are $1.29 but I might be wrong on that) If you like your chilli really beany, you might want more.
I also usually add 1-2 zucchinis, sweetcorn (frozen, fresh or tinned) and mushrooms.
I usually cook mine for a couple of hours and add some sultanas about 15 mins before the end BUT, you could probably cut down that cooking time by adding the veggies earlier to make sure they're softened.

But, it's not the sort of recipe you can really stuff up!

That usually gives me enough to feed me and DD1 (DD2 is super fussy and she might just eat the tortillas) and usually another 3 freezer bags of leftovers of 1.5 cups of chilli each which again, are enough for 1 meal each for DD1 and I.

You can either do the same with the leftovers and serve them with tortillas/sour/cream and avocado or over a baked potato or with some rice or with wedges.

Will come back with risotto recipe.