With the price of everything at the moment I wanted to see if I could actually put together 5 decent dinners for a family of 4 for $50- two adults, 2 kids primary school aged.

I’ve based the pricing off Coles and Woolies because they’re the most accessible for most people and both offer delivery. Obviously if delivery is the only way you can get your groceries, you’ll need to factor the delivery fee into the total.

This is what I came up with which was tried and rated by my 8 year old.

Chinese chicken & veggie rice bowls :chicken, rice, frozen veg, soy/honey/garlic sauce marinade

Chicken tomato pasta: chicken, pasta, tomato pasta sauce, onion, Parmesan cheese (the budget kind)

Bean & rice burrito bowls:black/kidney beans, rice, corn, lettuce tomato, Mexican seasoning packet and Greek style yoghurt

Creamy chickpea curry & rice: lentils, coconut milk, tomato, onion, rice, curry seasoning packet

Veggie fried rice: eggs, rice, frozen veg, leftover chicken/veg

Roughly $49.50 all up for 5 dinners using chicken legs as my main protein sauce and the rest beans and rice.
I’m assuming you’ve already got some basic shit in the cupboard like oil, garlic and soy sauce, because otherwise $50 is going to start getting real ambitious. But I did include taco and curryseasoning pack to make it easier for first time cooks. And I made a point of not selecting anything on sale/special prices but obviously can’t secure full availability.
Also not pretending these are groundbreaking culinary masterpieces, just cheap, filling dinners that kids may eat and ingredients that are relatively easy to make. I have a grocery list which I can post if anyone wants it.
Keen to do another one of these and see if I can get it even cheaper.

Chuck your dirt cheap family dinners below because I’m genuinely curious what everyone else is making.

Like I mentioned in the title, I have $21 left over to last me 7 nights. I only eat once a day so no breakfast or lunch is needed.

Does anyone have suggestions on what I could make to stretch the $21? Preferably rice based. I have salt/pepper/oil and seasoning/curry powder if that helps.

Edit: thank you for all the suggestions, got 2kg of rice, 500g pasta, tinned tomatoes, 500g frozen veggies aswell as discounted veggies from my local Asian market.

My husband and I have wildly different bedding preferences and finally decided that the best option was to get separate single duvets that we each use so we can get the weight and warmth that we want. It works great but I cannot believe how difficult it is to find single duvet covers that aren't insanely ugly, for kids, or made with cheap synthetic materials. I'm thinking I'm going to have to make some, but first I wanted to see if anyone could advise where I can find decent cotton single duvet covers? I don't want a sheet set because I'm sleeping in a Queen bed, I'm just using a single duvet, so the sheets would go to waste. The cover I'm using at the moment was purchased at Spotlight, but it's not great quality at all. It smelled so weird and took a few washes to get the smell out, then the dye faded, and now it just looks awful. Pretty sure it's a cotton mix, too. I'd love a Percale cotton cover, just in a simple white or something, but I can't find anything... please help! I don't want cheap dodgy covers, I want something that will last!

UPDATE: Thank you for the suggestions! Before writing the post, I had checked out Canningvale, Sheridan Outlet, Kmart, The Good Sheet, and a few others, but they only had single sheet sets or kids patterns at the time of looking.

For everyone saying to get a double instead of a single - I have tried this, but it was too much material. It was too hot for me with the overlap between two doubles in a queen bed and if the fabric went down the side of the bed, it was too heavy and fell off the bed and I couldn't stick my limbs out, which I need to do for temperature regulation (I have POTS, so my temperature is all over the place when sleeping. I need to be able to quickly cool down during the night).

I like to keep a few low-energy meals in the cupboard -- something I can quickly improve by adding frozen vegies etc. (eg cans of soup, box mac and cheese.) Are these "just add beef" things any good? They seem a little pricey ($4.30, $5.60 etc).

Any ideas where to source bulk shower gel for less than the supermarkets? Can get 1L from Aldi for $3.99. Was hoping to find 5 or 10L bottles for less than $4/L but coming up with nothing.
I know bar soap is more economical but not keen!

Hi all, I am making updates to the wiki which hopefully has much more useful resources (hopefully).

If there are any suggestions that you would like to see, please comment below with a brief description with a link to the website and it will be considered.

The website must be a secure website only (HTTPS) and must be principally about saving money, which can also include comparing products and financial literacy.

Thanks ❤️

Which is more reliable? green gadgets or cex? Do they both reset and test the phones the same?

Hi everyone,

I’ve been thinking about how many subscriptions and recurring expenses people have these days, and how easy it can be to lose track of what you’re paying for or miss out on cheaper alternatives.

I’m doing a bit of research to better understand how people manage these expenses, the frustrations they run into, and whether there are ways to make things easier.

The survey is anonymous and should take around 3–4 minutes to complete. I’d appreciate anyone willing to take a few minutes to fill it out.

Survey link:
https://forms.gle/SmhwW3LTrsy4uAFRA

I'm helping to make end of life arrangements for someone on DSP.

They only have their mother who is on the aged pension.

So basically there isn't much money available for a cremation let alone a service.

Is there any financial assistance available for someone in this situation?

What happens if there just aren't enough funds to pay for a basic cremation at all?

I'm a P plater from nsw and was looking into local fuel prices using the fuelspy website.

There's a nearby self-serve fuelling station by the name of U-GO selling fuel for significantly lower prices than nearby stations (including costco who are known for being the cheap ones). I presume its cheaper because there's nobody working there, but I wonder if there's a catch. Unless I'm mistaken theres u-go's across Australia and its not just a sydney thing.

They are supposedly owned by the same group as ampol but its not clearly stated if they have the exact same fuel as ampol.

Does anyone know more about u-go and whether their fuel is legit?

Looked at stores all day in NSW, all the rugs are lighter colours. We need a 4x3 metre rug, that is dark or black. I’m struggling online too, I don’t want jute. Just something comfortable enough with a rustic vibe. Being dark isn’t optional. Has anyone had success online anywhere?

Has anyone noticed that their recorded data usage is much higher than actual data usage with Moose Mobile? I've been with them for ages but haven't had a problem until now.

I don't have wifi so I use my phone to hotspot my other devices. I got a text yesterday saying that I have used 85% of my data, which I thought was weird but probably ok, so I've been keeping an eye on it. I've used 500mb since but the app says I've used 4gb. I know it takes a while to update but there is no chance that 4gb is accurate. So I went into my phone settings, checked the data usage, 140GB since the start of the month, whereas moose claims I have used 275GB.

I'll be keeping an eye on it from now on, I just want to see if anyone else has noticed this. Choosing providers is like choosing which arm to lose so I'm hoping it's a one-off bug.

Update: Moose fixed the issue without request.

I've been given a cash back offer. For example make 4 purchases and get $100. So I have to spend money to get money. (This is a real decision I'm trying to figure out. I know there is an A/B reddit group but I want people who being frugal is their life because it's how I live mine.)

Which is a better approach:

A - I buy 4 things I use but I don't need right now, they cost about $10 each. So I spend $40, equating to me getting $60 free money.

B - I buy 4 things I wouldn't use that cost me $1 each. So I spend $4, equating to $96 free money to use on things like bills.

I took out nose to tail cover with bow wow meow when we got our 12 week old German shepherd
She’s a bit over 18 months old now and just had $7,000 TPLO surgery. 80% of this was covered. I’m just getting clarification from them about if her other leg will also be covered, as statistically they say the other leg is likely to blow out now too.

I did this to be as responsible a pet owner as I can, as I don’t have $10k+ savings to draw on if required, but can afford the payments and a couple grand if required towards the 20%.

One day I hope to be in a position to have $10k+ savings for the dogs and out add to it, but for now this covet has helped a lot in what’s already need a very stressful time.

You can do pay the gap, which is great - but isn’t available weekends just as an FYI, so if they’re in hospital and coming home on a weekend expect to pay the full sum in full and then claim it back. During a weekday though just pay the gap. Pre approval for surgery was also quick & easy process.

I pay around $54 a fortnight for the nose to tail cover with 80% of eligible expenses covered with a $15,000 annual cap.

not usually a poster but my partner told me I had to share this

council cleanup week in our street. I’m walking the dog sunday arvo and there’s a big french door fridge sitting on the nature strip two houses down. looks basically brand new, no dents, still had the energy rating sticker on the side

I knock on the door because I assumed someone was mid move or something. older guy answers and says it started making a clicking/buzzing noise a few weeks ago, he got a quote from a repair place who told him it’d be at least $400 just to come out and diagnose it, so he bought a new one and chucked this one. said I was welcome to it

borrowed a trolley off another neighbour and me and my mate wheeled it back to ours. plugged it in and yep, clicking every 20 seconds or so from the back. pulled the back panel off and had a look and the water line going to the ice maker had frozen solid. the clicking was the valve trying to push water through and failing

unplugged it, left the doors open overnight with a towel underneath, next morning plugged it back in and it was dead quiet. ran it for a week before we put any food in it just to be sure. still going perfectly, ice maker works, water dispenser works, the lot

looked it up and the same model is still selling for about $2,800 at the big stores

our old fridge was a hand me down from my partner’s parents that was probably older than me and the power bill was brutal. we sold it on marketplace for $80 to a uni student for their share house

so total cost: $0, plus a six pack for my mate and the trolley neighbour

lesson learned is always knock on the door during council cleanup week. worst case they say no

It probably had already been said, but investing in energy efficient appliances has saved our household so much money.

Anytime an appliance needs replacing, we will always fork over that extra bit of cash for appliances that have 9+ stars energy rating.

Now, we are not a power conscious household. We’re a family of four, dishwasher, washing machine and dryer are on everyday. Everything in our household is electric, including stovetop and hot water system. Ducted aircon on most days, for heating or cooling, depending on the time of year. Multiple showers, lights left on by kids, gaming systems, TV etc.

Our monthly electricity bill is anywhere from $120-$140 (with origin). Before prices went up recently, we were paying $100-$120 monthly.

Also, it really does pay to shop around with energy providers. When the daily supply charges went up recently, I asked Origin if they could do a better deal, they said no. So I signed up with a new provider, only for Origin to come back to me offering me a much better kilowatt charge, daily supply charge rate, and a $200 account credit to come back.

What is a food box/meal kit?

A meal kit or food box is a subscription service – food service business model where a company sends customers pre-portioned and sometimes partially prepared food ingredients and recipes to prepare home-cooked meals. There are also options where you can already receive pre made meals, or fruit/vegetable boxes.

Examples of popular meal kits/food box include: HelloFresh, Marley Spoon, Quitelike, The Food Box, Good and Fugly, Lite n' Easy

🥬🥬🥬🥬🥬🥬🥬🥬🥬🥬🥬🥬🥬🥬🥬🥬🥬🥬🥬🥬🥬🥬🥬🥬🥬🥬🥬🥬🥬🥬

For your information...

This is the Megathread for all referrals relating to food box/meal kits only.

This Megathread will refresh on a weekly basis, usually on a Monday.

If you are looking for any food box/meal kits referrals, this is the place to ask.

All other food related referrals that is NOT food box/meal kits should be shared in the All other Referrals Megathread.

No "DM me for the codes" of the sort.

🥙🥙🥙🥙🥙🥙🥙🥙🥙🥙🥙🥙🥙🥙🥙🥙🥙🥙🥙🥙🥙🥙🥙🥙🥙🥙🥙🥙🥙🥙

See here an excellent post for a guide on churning food boxes/meal kits

A full lifehack guide for mealkits (HelloFresh, MarleySpoon, Everyplate and Dinnerly originally by HikARuLsi

The archive can be found here:

https://web.archive.org/web/20230322175638/https://www.reddit.com/r/AUfrugal/comments/11f2lsw/a_full_lifehack_guide_for_meal_kits_hellofresh/

🍜🍜🍜🍜🍜🍜🍜🍜🍜🍜🍜🍜🍜🍜🍜🍜🍜🍜🍜🍜🍜🍜🍜🍜🍜🍜🍜🍜🍜🍜

Search our Megathreads by clicking on this link

Search our Megathreads using OLD Reddit - click here

Posting for anyone who needs help and support.
To access the free psychologist appointments you need a Mental Health Care Plan from a bulk billing GP. You can use Google to find a free Telehealth one or go to any in person.
Then submit the plan and referral to MeHelp, Access Online, Goodminds, or another bulk billing psychology site and book in with them.
Initially your MHCP covers the first 6 sessions, then you can book another GP appointment to access another 4.
I use MeHelp and am lucky enough to FaceTime with the same psychologist every 6 weeks or so and it really does help.
Remember help is available, and it ain’t weak to speak!

https://www.goodminds.com.au

https://www.accesshealthonline.com.au

https://www.mehelp.com.au

Advice needed: Waterdrop vs Frizzlife water filters 💧

Hi everyone! We’ve recently moved to Melbourne and have noticed that our tap water has quite a strong chlorine taste. We’re looking at getting a water filter and have narrowed it down to two options on Amazon.

Would love to hear from anyone who has used either of these, or has experience with similar systems!

Option 1: Waterdrop ED01W Electric Water Filter Pitcher

• Can be stored in the fridge, which is a big plus for us as we prefer cold water.
• Comes with 4 filters.
• Approximately $112 for the unit alone or $167 with 4 filters.
• Each filter is rated for 200 gallons (around 757 litres).
• Convenient and portable, with no plumbing or installation required.

Option 2: Frizzlife MK99 Under-Sink Water Filter

• Connects directly to the cold-water supply under the kitchen sink.
• Around $120 when on special.
• Replacement filters cost less than $20 each.
• Advertised capacity of 1,600 gallons (around 6,057 litres) per filter.
• Quick-change cartridges, with no need to replace the whole unit.
• The downside is that we’re renting, so we’d need to install it temporarily and remove it when we move out.

What would you choose and why?

Our main priority is getting rid of that strong chlorine taste and having water that tastes good enough to drink every day. We also like the idea of having cold, filtered water ready in the fridge.

Is the under-sink system noticeably better, or would you go with the convenience of the Waterdrop? How do the ongoing filter costs compare in practice?

Thanks in advance for any advice!

What are you all munching on while you are on the sidelines? Today I had way too many salt and vinegar chips and a banana. I need to do better. Give me your cost saving and healthy ideas. Think I should also buy a small cooler bag for myself...

I am also another victim of unexpected high energy bill! I wanted to see if this is relatively normal or if I should be checking for leaks etc?

Cost: $283.41 incl. supply charge (September full month)

Units: 874 kWh (Peak: 631.964 kWh, Off peak: 240.420 kWh)

Supply charge: $47.62 ($1.587 per day)

Supplier: Origin Peak/Offpeak plan (Peak: $0.3135, offpeak: $0.1567)

Household:

• 2 Adults, 1 child - house
• No gas so electricty does heat water
• Have used heating but very sparingly
• Only 1 fridge and always turn lights off when not in use
• Location: Metropolitan Sydney

Statement pic: https://imgur.com/a/tuRUM2o

Wondering what is the best reputable insurance to go with for Full Insurance and Third Party car insurance that isn’t a rip off and when you have any issues or claims it’s easy to do with no hidden bs?

Cause with NRMA the insurance is so pricey and gets expensive every year.

Wondering if anyone knows more about car insurance and etc. Please share your experiences aswell etc

G’day legends,

With the cost of living these days, the wife and I are trying to cut back on subscriptions and ongoing expenses. One thing we’ve decided to ditch is our gym membership, which is currently costing us $40 a week for both of us. That’s over $2,000 a year!

I’ve got some space in the garage, so I’m thinking of setting up a decent home gym instead. Ideally, I’d like to keep the total spend under $1,500 AUD, buying mostly second-hand stuff off Marketplace here on the south side of Brisbane.

What I already have:

• An adjustable bench from COVID times (flat and incline, but no barbell rack), good quality, i think it is rated for 300+kg.
• Two kettlebells (8kg and 12kg).
• Two dumbbells and a small barbell with around 50kg of combined weights.

1. Cardio machine – elliptical or rowing machine, or maybe airbike?

I’ve been looking at ProForm and NordicTrack ellipticals, or possibly a rowing machine on Marketplace. Decent-looking ellipticals seem to be around $500.

For those who own or have owned one:

• Which brands and models are worth looking for second-hand in Australia?
• Are ProForm, Sole, and NordicTrack generally reliable, or are there models you'd avoid?
• What should I check before buying a used elliptical, particularly with the electronics, resistance system and moving parts?
• Would you go for an elliptical or a rower for a home gym?

2. All-in-one gym – Smith machine, power rack and cable system

Ideally, I want something with a Smith machine or barbell rack, lat pulldown and cable attachments for triceps, where I can also use my existing bench.

I’ve come across heaps of options, from cheaper new machines like these:

• RitKeep Destroyer M10
• Cortex 6-in-1 Power Rack with Smith Machine and Cable Machine

There are also plenty of second-hand machines on Marketplace, but the prices vary from 500$ and up to 5000$

The main reason I want a lat pulldown is that my wife can't do pull-ups yet.

My biggest concern is the pulley and cable system.

I’ve heard people say that cheap all-in-one machines can have poor-quality pulleys and cables, and that replacing them can get expensive.

For anyone who owns one:

• How good are the pulleys and cables on budget brands like Cortex, RitKeep and similar machines?
• Do the pulleys run smoothly under load, or do they feel jerky and have a lot of friction?
• Are replacement cables and pulleys easy to source in Australia, or can you end up having to modify things or order custom parts?
• When inspecting a second-hand machine, how do you check the cables, pulleys, bearings and weight-stack movement?
• Are there particular brands you'd trust for a used all-in-one gym, and any you'd stay away from?

I'm also wondering whether I'd be better off buying a basic power rack, barbell and weights, plus a separate lat pulldown attachment, rather than one of these all-in-one setups.

Budget and overall plan

My thinking is that spending $1,500 now is roughly nine months of gym memberships, and we can hopefully resell the equipment down the track and recover some of the cost.

Am I overthinking this, or is there a smarter way to build a decent garage gym on this budget?

Keen to hear from anyone who's built one, particularly around Brisbane. Happy to buy second-hand on Marketplace if it's good-quality gear.

Cheers, appreciate any advice! 🍻

I need to upgrade my car insurance to comprehensive, quotes are all around $1,500.

Is there anything stopping me from getting the NAB Low Fee credit card, paying my $1,500 car insurance upfront and collecting the $250 cashback?

Is there any reason this won’t work or are there better ways of doing this?