Food on a budget

Our Home has come up with five steps to help you do this.

Buy pre-packaged meals to help you save time and money by only buying the nutritious meals you need to eat.

Fresh 5 owner Lisa Billingham Bailey knows how much buying pre-packaged meals can save you time and money.

“When we go to the supermarket, we buy things we don’t need, like chips and ice-cream,” Lisa said.

“Because our meals are nutritious and part of a balanced diet, you eat them and stay fuller for longer, which cuts down the need for snacks.

“This stops us from snacking on non-nutritious snacks and reaching for a chocolate bar, saving us money on food.

“A chef cooks our food, so you know it is nutritious.

“The meals are cooked and, if need be, snap frozen.”

Cooking and eating out of your freezer can also help reduce your food budget.

“It reduces waste as you only defrost and eat what you need, reducing your food budget and it is cheaper than getting an Uber if you don’t want to cook,” Lisa said.

Use an app to make a meal plan.

Many meal-planning apps will help you make a balanced, healthy diet for you and your family while keeping you within your budget.

In Australia, both the big supermarkets have apps with meal plans that will let you see the cost per serve of a meal.

The apps will create a shopping list for your five or seven-day menu, then let you remove the products from the list you may already have in your cupboard, cutting your food budget.

Where and when you can, buy in bulk.

We are lucky to live in the heart of the food bowl of Australia.

Unlike our city neighbours, we can directly buy bulk from producers and food manufacturers without purchasing a membership.

You can visit a local factory sales centre and pick up goods in bulk (or single servings), possibly discounted between 20 per cent and 70 per cent.

Eat seasonal fruit and vegetables.

Part of living in the heart of the food bowl of Australia is that many farmers have direct to the public sales of seasonal fruit and vegetables throughout the year.

Local Facebook groups are the best place to find who grows what and when it is available.

Grow your own fruit, vegetables and herbs.

Anecdotally, home-grown food tastes better than store-bought.

Setting up a fruit and vegetable garden can be expensive, but you can grow a few things at home to help keep your food costs down.

One of the easiest things to grow at home and enhance the flavour of your meals, all while cutting your food budget, is herbs.

Check out page 15 of Our Home for tips on growing your own herbs at home.