How to Keep Your Groceries Under $150 a Week?

This post was originally written in 2016 when we were a family of 4. Updated January 2020. For tips in 2022/2023, check out how to reduce the cost of groceries in 2022.

The tips below can still help but the cost of groceries has gone up significantly.

This post may contain affiliate links. Read the full disclosure here.  

How We Eat

According to recent Census data, the average Australian family has 2 kids. In our family, we have gluten allergies and eat mainly fresh produce, limited meat and reduced sugar.

As of January 2020, we are completely vegetarian. My kids are 10 and 12, we travel full time so no buying in bulk to save or cooking in bulk.

1. Access Freebies

Numerous companies offer discounts, samples and freebies.

We share any freebies we come across in The Thrifty Issue Facebook group and you might want to check out this post for loads of free and super cheap food ideas.

Get your first box free with HelloFresh.

Get up to $180 off EveryPlate, split across your first 5 boxes with the code THRIFTYEPLATE. This offer is for new and returning customers.

Get up to $144 off Dinnerly (49% off your first order, then 30% off the next two.) Marley Spoon offers up to $190 off 4 orders! That’s 53% off your first order, and 20% off your next three.

If you have Flybuys or Everyday Extra you often get a free product every month based on your spending habits or what they think you might like.

These are usually only worth a few dollars but free is free.

2. Menu Plan and Plan for Takeaway!

Not having a plan is where many people come unstuck. It doesn’t need to be elaborate or take a lot of time.

Humans are creatures of habit and we tend to move towards meals we like and have similar meals each week anyway.

You don’t need 7 new dishes each week. Pick one new meal if you want to, but mainly stick to family favourites which are in season.

We have a simple menu plan that is repeated each week. Typically a stir-fry, vegetarian bolognese, veggie burger, baked potatoes etc.

Simple meals with lots of herbs, spices and flavour. I share my meal plan weekly in the newsletter.

When we try new meals, we make sure we use all the ingredients so nothing is wasted.

Often new recipes have ingredients you don’t normally use so sometimes we have to get creative with it but it’s worth it.

Sample Meal Plan

Our meal plan changes depending on where we are staying, what we have access to and how we can cook.

Our preferences are fresh produce, whole foods and it needs to be gluten free.

Breakfast

Kids can choose between eggs in a variety of ways including scrambled, omelettes, French toast, frittatas and boiled with spinach, mushrooms and other vegetables.

They can make these themselves and sometimes make these as a snack after school if they’ve done a lot of sports or something that day.

Smoothies are another popular choice. Almond or coconut milk is usually the base, banana, fruits, protein powder or cacao and peanut butter.

Occasionally they have gluten-free cereal with milk when purchased on sale or I might bake breakfast muffins.

Lunch

My kids’ school was quite diverse when we were based in Melbourne so leftovers from dinner, curries, soups, salmon, seaweed and various meals aren’t uncommon.

This made it super easy for them to pack their lunches.

They have a thermos each for hot food such as leftover dinner and used to take a selection of salad, a wrap or similar, vegetable sticks such as carrot and cucumber, hummus, fruit, puffed corn, crackers (bought on sale) or corn chips.

Sometimes they will have something I baked. Mostly, it is fresh produce which they prefer.

When we are travelling, we tend to have leftovers, salads, sandwiches and platter-style lunches. Sometimes we do a BBQ or eat at a restaurant.

Dinner

I have a stir-fry with lots of vegetables, tofu, egg and noodles which is similar to Pad Thai we love.

Mexican baked potatoes are popular, pumpkin soup, cauliflower fritters, grilled vegetables and rice, vegetarian fried rice, wraps, vegetarian burgers, quinoa salad etc.

I use an app to track our meals and protein, carbs etc to ensure we are getting all the nutrients we need.

We rarely eat dessert, instead, we have one day a week called Friday Family Fun Night.

This night they get dessert and treats plus we stay up to watch a movie or do an activity together such as ice skating.

It has drastically reduced the request for treats, plus we feel better for it. The kids get to decide what they want and it means those things remain treats instead of every day food.

Note: In 2023, we are no longer full vegetarian although we do have some vegetarian meals.

We enjoy fishing so have fish once a week and buy meat in bulk from a butcher so rarely pay above $10 a kilo for anything, including steaks or roasts.

Snacks

For starters, many people eat more snacks than needed! We include vegetable sticks with hummus, eggs, nuts, fruit and similar for snacks if necessary at home. My eldest also loves seaweed.

Takeaway Tips

Most of us have nights where we don’t feel like cooking or are simply craving a specific takeaway option. For those nights there are a few things you can do.

Plan ahead and cook meals you like to have in the freezer such as pizza or butter chicken.

Budget it in and allow yourself takeaway a few nights a month then look for coupons.

For example, you can get $10 off with Ubereats using the code eats-kyliet591ue.

Or check out this post with ways to get discounts on everything and stack coupons.

3. Shop With A List

By shopping with a list we know exactly what we need and can cross it off as we shop.

When I was in a house I mainly ordered my groceries online with a discounted annual delivery pass.

This enabled me to add it up as we go to ensure we are adhering to the budget. It’s too easy to blow the budget when you aren’t paying attention.

My budget allowed for stocking up on things we used a lot and with delivery, I don’t have to fit it in a car (great since I have lived without one) or carry it up to my apartment when I lived in one.

Impulse buys are reduced and I don’t tend to end up with too many of an item we already have because I couldn’t remember if we had it or not.

Having the same meals each week makes it easy to do our shopping since the list doesn’t change much.

It’s essentially in-season fruit and vegetables, on sale or reduced meat, eggs, cereal, milk, gluten free bread or wraps sometimes gluten-free pasta and we add cleaning supplies, spices or other things as necessary when we run out.

Now we travel, we tend to just get the items we need per day or for a few days.

I’ve found we eat everything we buy now, nothing gets wasted and we are eating healthier.

4. Buy Fresh Produce at the Markets

Shopping at our local market means we know what is in season and shop accordingly.

Boxes of produce can often be purchased for $5 and we rarely pay above $4 a kilo for anything. (The $4kg still applies in 2023! Buy on sale and shop around).

Where I was I had access to a few local farmers markets plus the big Queen Victoria Markets.

I didn’t buy the boxes as they often have bruised or less than stellar fruit and vegetables.

However, I sometimes negotiated a discount if buying a few things or choosing my own full box. Less than stellar produce can still be bought and used.

Boxes of produce can become soups, stews or sauces such as tomato sauce and apricot jam.

We would head to the market with our list, do one lap to check prices and quality quickly then go to the stalls with the best options for the things we eat.

With travelling, I still utilise local markets but more of our shopping is at Aldi or the bigger supermarkets.

5. Buy Reduced or on Sale

Check the use-by dates on anything you buy and use your judgement. The markets in Melbourne slash prices right before close, as do many butchers meaning you can get meat 50% off all the time.

Supermarkets have reduced to clear sections and various discount sites have bulk clearance items.

Most items, such as meat and bread can be frozen for future use. If you think you don’t have space in your freezer, think again.

Take items out of their boxes and you can fit more. Stack and sort, use containers if you need them.

Freeze things flat so they stack easier. There are so many tips to make the most of your freezer space.

Basically, I don’t buy things at full price. We can plan our meals easily around reduced food or food on sale.

Even when travelling we were able to get reduced food or items on sale. It’s a little more to juggle but saves a lot.

6. Choose What to Make Yourself

I used to make my own bread, sauces, jam, cakes, biscuits, stock and anything else I could from scratch.

Now, our lifestyle and eating habits have changed drastically, it no longer suits.

I still cook our main meals and any baked goods from scratch. I make my own seasonings to our taste as well.

For example, in a small jar, I add 1/4 cup paprika, 2 tsp cayenne pepper, 1 tsp garlic powder and a little onion powder for a Mexican seasoning.

We don’t eat bread, cakes, biscuits, pancakes or anything like that anymore unless it is Friday Family Fun Night.

On the rare occasion we do, I make my own from flour, sugar, milk and eggs usually. Plus for cakes or muffins, I usually add sad fruit e.g bananas which are going off.

Weigh up the cost based on how long it will take you to do something, how much electricity you need and the cost of ingredients to decide if making things yourself is the best option.

For us, cooking all our own meals, making our own seasonings and choosing not to have a lot of baked goods or preserves means we have a good balance of time and money used for food preparation.

7. Buy in Bulk Wherever Possible

While I did say I don’t buy in bulk due to travel, there are some things I used to such as peanut butter when it’s on sale.

We like a specific one and my second child loves it. She packs it everywhere we go.

When I was renting, building in extra storage wasn’t an option but there are ways to be smart with storage.

For example, our lounge had a storage compartment, there was space under our beds and we lived a minimalist lifestyle so don’t feel crowded with stuff.

Do a price comparison of the bulk price vs the regular size price. Most of the time it is cheaper to buy in bulk, but not always though.

Buy enough to last until the next sale or if it is always a great price when buying larger amounts, be sure to only buy the amount you will use before it goes off.

8. Cook In Bulk

After we have done the groceries, I spend some time preparing as much as I can for the week ahead.

I throw a pot of chilli onto the stove which makes enough for a few meals while cooking something else in the slow cooker.

I chop up everything we use regularly and store it in containers in the fridge.

This means most nights all I need to do is defrost the meal or throw the pre-chopped vegetables in with the meat to make our meal.

Dhal can cook in the slow cooker underneath a roast chicken. All of it can be split up and frozen in portions which suit us.

The chicken will be eaten as a roast that night then all the meat stripped off the bones and divided into containers for use during the week in curries or in a Mexican meal (usually lettuce, meat, fried onion, zucchini and capsicum topped with salsa or guacamole).

Check out 29 meals from leftover chicken, 28 meals to make with mince and 25 ways to use leftover ham for some ideas on leftovers.

In a couple of hours, I have multiple meals prepared and most of the preparation work done for the rest of the week.

It stops us from getting takeaway, enables us to know what we are eating every night and prevents wastage.

When we travel, I don’t longer do this. However, I do miss being that organised and how much less work it was.

9. Use Everything

When I say I strip the meat off the roast, I mean every single little piece is used. The roast was already cooked with dhal so it made stock to mix with the dhal.

If I was cooking a roast on its own, the bones would be kept and used to make a stock with vegetable scraps such as carrot peel, celery leaves and onion ends.

We don’t peel fruit and vegetables, instead, we wash them and eat them with the skin on. When I make pumpkin soup, I do peel the pumpkin and the potatoes.

However, the seeds from the pumpkin are cooked in the oven or frying pan separately as a snack.

Potato skins, if the potatoes were scrubbed clean, can be fried for chips. Check out more ways to reduce food waste here.

If making a honey and lemon drink because I have a sore throat, the lemons are placed in a bottle of water after squeezing the juice out to make lemon flavoured water.

The rind can be grated and used in other recipes too.

If you have one sausage leftover from a BBQ, slice it up to use on a pizza, in a risotto or stew. Don’t just throw food away. Check out the 20 recipes for leftover sausage here.

Given that the average Australian throws away one in every 5 bags of groceries, we need to take a long hard look at ourselves, how we shop and cook.

So much of what we throw away can be made into something else.

10. Be a Conscientious Cleaner

Use cloths instead of paper towels, containers instead of plastic wrap and plastic bags, use generic bleach when needed and microfiber cloths to clean.

These few steps reduce a lot of the spending on cleaning products and are environmentally friendly.

Instead of buying garbage bags we recycle everything we can, significantly reduce waste and when we need a garbage bag we reuse a plastic bag from the markets.

It isn’t ideal, I’d prefer we weren’t using plastic bags at all. It is free though and since we live in a small unit, all garbage must be put in a bag and sent down a chute.

I don’t use window spray, glass cleaner, surface cleaners or any of those products. I use cloths to clean, bleach in the toilet and shower plus a little dishwashing liquid for surfaces in the kitchen when needed.

We buy both bleach and dishwashing liquid either on sale or the generic brand.

Washing power is bought in bulk and stored in the laundry cupboard. I don’t use fabric softener or starch when ironing.

Simply put, we don’t spend much on cleaning because you don’t need to.

11. Makeover Leftovers

Most people I know hate eating the same thing over and over. Rather than reheating the leftovers, turn them into something new.

Leftover roasts can be used in pasta bakes, on pizza or in soup. Leftover soup can become risotto. Bolognese and similar can become a pie.

Think outside the box about what you can turn your leftovers into.

While travelling, we rarely cook more than we need for the one meal so there aren’t often leftovers unless it is part of the plan for the next day.

12. Get the Whole Family Involved

We walk to the markets with backpacks, come home and unload then cross the road to the supermarket for the rest.

With my kids being involved they see what needs to be done, practice writing and spelling with the shopping list, they learn to check prices and they help cook.

We all have an input on what we buy and eat. Our kids make their own breakfasts and lunches plus occasionally help cook dinner.

By seeing the amount of work that goes into buying, preparing and cooking the food they appreciate it more and enjoy experimenting with recipes and cooking themselves.

13. Forage And Barter

Living right in the city we couldn’t do this easily but have everywhere else.

Growing up we foraged for berries at the back of our school, swapped some of our apricots and nectarines with our neighbours for their plums and bartered other food made or grown by us with those in our community.

I’ve seen loads of foods growing in public areas that can be foraged, plus I know of people who don’t pick the fruit from their own trees.

Stop and ask them if you can pick it, offer to bake them a pie or pick the fruit to share with both of you.

I don’t know anyone who has been turned down when they have been brave enough to ask.

Learn about native foods in your area that are edible and start incorporating them into your diet.

14. Store Everything Correctly

All food has ideal storage conditions. Set your fridge to accommodate this and store your food accordingly.

For the most part, I used to cut up the bulk of our vegetables and store them in a Tupperware container.

Wrapping celery in foil ensures it keeps fresh for a lot longer than any other way I’ve stored it.

Carrots kept in their plastic bag last longer than being loose in the fridge too.

Items like tomatoes and potatoes are not stored in the fridge.

Storing food correctly makes it last longer and reduces the chances of wastage.

If food starts to go off before you can use it, work out how to store it for later use.

For example, if bananas are going brown and no one wants to eat them. Peel them, place them in a container or bag and freeze them to use in banana bread.

15. Reward Programs

While not ideal, most supermarkets have reward programs. Depending on what you buy you may or may not accrue points.

You can’t accrue any points if you don’t have them though.

Sign up to the programs and swipe the cards when you shop. Do not base your shop around how to collect points or you will overspend.

An added bonus of reward programs is the coupons and special offers you get.

If they line up with what you regularly buy, use them. If not, do not spend money for the sake of getting a discount.

Check out our list of Australian reward/loyalty programs.

And the difference between Coles Plus and Everyday Extras.

16. Budget Friendly Drinks

I don’t drink coffee, juice, cordial, fizzy drinks or alcohol anymore. I have water and that’s it.

On Friday nights the kids get fizzy drink (less than $1 from Aldi if they want it but my youngest usually doesn’t). If you want wine, Aldi has award-winning ones for super cheap. 

Herbal tea, coffee and other drinks can be purchased on sale, try different brands and look at buying in bulk.

My kids have never been cordial drinkers, the few times they had it they didn’t like it.

Raising them to drink mainly water saves a small fortune and is better for their health.

17. Bathroom Essentials

We have electric toothbrushes and I use a safety razor in the shower (one where the blades get replaced). I haven’t bought blades in over 6 months.

I use cheap conditioner for shaving cream, make my own body scrub out of oil and sugar and we buy our shampoo and conditioner on sale.

Mouthwash and floss are bought on sale, our toothpaste is Sensodyne so when it goes on sale we get a couple.

Our deodorant is one of the few things we are particular about which brand and scent we each use.

It comes on sale for 50% off at times, so we buy it then.

Tissues could be replaced with handkerchiefs but we prefer tissues. We buy them on sale or in bulk, whichever works out cheapest.

I use coconut oil for moisturiser and have a little kit for manicures, pedicures etc.

18. Do What Works For You

What I do has changed over time depending on our lifestyle, eating habits, where we lived and what worked out to be the best option financially.

Experiment with different dishes, different brands and shops to find the best method for you.

What do you do to save money on groceries? How much do you spend with your family?

For more tips, check out The Ultimate Guide to Make and Save Money at Home. In this guide, I cover everything from ideas to make money at home, how to set up a business for under $100, what you can claim on tax, my top frugal tips for every area of the budget, how to create a budget and stick to it, over 100 frugal recipes plus tips on balancing it all, finding the time and ways to entertain the kids.

For more ways to make and save money follow us on social media:

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