Once upon a time I was really good at budgeting and putting aside some “what if” money, even if only $5. I sat down worked out what my expenses were and put money in several accounts to cover that. One account was for bills and debits – so I didn’t get caught up having funds come out of my regular account.

Cooking your own meals using basic ingredients is the best way to save money. Eating out is a treat for us and not something we do often.

I use any left over or nearly past it veg to make soup and then freeze for lunches.
Try to make things myself instead of buying, Pasta and bread are easy and cheaper after you have bought the ingredients which cost more to begin with, unfortunately you cant just but enough to make one batch but a bag of flour will last a few weeks/month if making regularly.
Also try to buy larger meat portions, chicken breast instead of strips, beef steak instead of cubes and cut it yourself, this is sometimes cheaper depending on the offers available at the time.
If there is something you use regularly that is on offer it is best to stock up.

Meal planning, bulk shopping and signing up for free deals / events locally is a good way of staying within budget and having a good time.

try to make more of your own stuff in regards to food. try to grow some vegies and herbs etc. maybe if you are willing and able, get some chickens for eggs

we eat pretty much just chicken or mince meat. Its amazing how many meals you can make from them. going to parks is always fun and free!

There is some fantastic advice:)

I totally understand, once a month I try and do games night at home and make the treats and things like that so everyone is getting something fun and yum. Good Luck

I water down, what ever I can to make it go further. Juice, pasta sauce, hand soap etc

I bought a slow cooker. In this you can really cook the cheapest toughest meat there is and it will just fall off the bone when cooked. My mother was given a pressure cooker for a wedding present (over 60 years ago) and she has always said it saved her money because she could cook any meat in it in fifteen minutes, thus saving by buying the cheaper meats and saving electrical costs by cooking for only 15 minutes. Stews are usually cooked for an hour in a pot on the stove but buying a pressure cooker she saved on meat as well as electricity.

excellent ideas here. will try them out. it’s always good to have a planned budget

It’s hard, and it’s painful and it’s gonna suck at the start, but you pay your bills, you put aside enough money for groceries and out the rest away, no personal spending, no fun money spending, but it works to start a little nest egg going

Ive been saving quite abit off my food shop by walking down and getting whats on special including the reduced stuff also works for us.

Have an amount (you choose) taken out of your pay automatically or you can manually put an amount in if you can afford more or less that pay into a savings account. Online shopping is great as you don’t have “impulse” purchases.

Meal planning is a great way to budget. And ordering online so that you’re not trapped into buying random items at the supermarket that you don’t really need.

We have started buying in bulk, we have a big chest freezer to store bulk meat in, buy fruit and veg from the local farmers market, start stocking up on things like nappies, wipes etc, meal plan for a fortnight or a month. I have an automatic direct debit that comes straight out of our everyday account into a saving account as soon as dp gets paid. Split your bills in to weekly, fortnight or however you are paid and make payments in the day you are paid, I do this via bpay.- round up to the nearest $5 for example my home and internet is $78 a month so I make fortnightly payments of $40, you will eventually end up in front, you can stop a payment if you need to and you will have no nasty surprise bills. Rounding everything up to a $10 or $5 will make it easier to budget

I always buy everything in bulk and always have meals planned. I usually cook 2-3kg of mince and make bolanaise sauce and freeze into portions and also make chicken breastfeeding crumbed snitzel and divided it up.

Cooking in bulk I’ve found can really lower your grocery costs without sacrificing your health. When we found ourselves in a tight spot, I started using cheaper mince & cuts of meat but found that our health started to deteriorate. Google bulk freezer meals and research the butchers in your local area to get the best deals on good quality food at the cheapest prices. Look for factory outlets to get an even bigger discount.

Planning counts for a lot – planning your meals so you don’t waste food, planning your outings so you don’t incur unexpected expenses (like buying a meal out when you didn’t mean to), planning your kids’ wardrobe so you can buy clothes on sale… Little savings do add up.

Always buy in bulk when on sale.
Buy fruit and veg that’s in season.
Make our own biscuits, muesli bars, càkes, muffins, etc most freeze really well.
Have a vegetrian lentil/chickpea or pasta meal once a week.
Buy reduce/quick sale items and freeze.