Yahoo Finance How these Aussie mums are feeding their families for $10
Two Aussie mums share their best grocery-saving tips and cheap recipes.
Brooke Schrempf-Dixon started sharing her budget-friendly meals on TikTok a little over two months ago and has managed to save hundreds on her own grocery shop in the process.
The mum-of-four noticed her supermarket costs skyrocket after she welcomed twins and her family went down to just her husband’s income.
Brooke started putting together cheap meals and decided to share them on TikTok using the handle Aussie Mum Cooks.
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She has now shared a ton of budget-friendly recipes, including her popular loaded potato and bacon soup, fish tacos/sliders and slow cooker beef stroganoff, as well as trying her hand at the viral $10 meal challenge - where creators show how to make a dish for less than $10.
“A lot of people, whether they are on good money or single incomes or single parents, everyone is looking to save money. So it has been very positive,” Brooke told Yahoo Finance.
Brisbane mum Emily, who goes by the name Aussie Debt Free Girl, has also been sharing her budget recipes and shopping tips online.
The mum-of-three has a list of more than 100 cheap recipes that she cooks for her family, and has shared a fair few of them online, including $10 meal challenge recipes.
“I think everybody is doing it tough at the moment and there is no shame in cooking chicken nuggets and chips, but also you can make some really delicious meals for under $10 or under $15, and there’s nothing wrong with reaching out and looking at these recipes,” Emily told Yahoo Finance.
“Mum guilt gets to people and you want what’s best for your kids, but sometimes what is best for your kids is to be fed and happy and not stressed.”
Grocery-saving tips
Brooke spends about $150 on groceries for her family of six each week, including formula and nappies, and credits TikTok for helping her keep costs down.
“It never used to be that way, it was always hundreds and hundreds. But ever since I’ve started doing this, it’s really pushed me to try and keep it down,” Brooke said.
“It’s been working - the kids are loving it, the husband is loving it and our pockets are loving it as well.”
Emily aims to spend under $150 each week for her family of five, including food, household items, nappies and wipes.
To keep costs down, Emily recommends shopping independently and bulk buying if you can.
“Shop independently before you go to the supermarket, so your fruit and veg shops and your butchers. Then you can shop seasonally [too],” she said.
Brooke recommended meal planning and said she looked online to see what sales were available and then based her weekly meals around that.
“Or I try to do a ‘shop from home’. So I’ll look to see what’s in my freezer or pantry first and then build around that,” Brooke said.
Brooke also recommended buying meat at the deli (instead of pre-packaged) so you were only buying what you actually needed.
Best $10 meals
One of Emily’s favourite cheap meals is her $10 chorizo pasta. The meal feeds her family of five and uses pasta, chorizo sausages, a brown onion, garlic, carrots and cream.
Brooke said her family loved any type of curry dish. Her red chicken curry recipe, for instance, uses chicken drumsticks, curry paste, potatoes, onion, coconut milk, chicken stock and rice, and rings in at $9.85.
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