Battlers on a Budget – Consumers Slashing Grocery Prices

Inflated grocery prices are forcing consumers to find ways to slash their grocery costs. One Aussie mum has devised a simple system for fighting Aussie battlers’ ever-increasing spend at the supermarket reducing the weekly dinner budget to just $35 each week.

Aussie battlers are overworked, tired and struggling to pay rising grocery, vehicle and home utility bills.  According to australian.migration.com the average weekly household spend is a whopping  $1095, which includes an average of $450 per week on mortgages, $110 per week on rates, utilities, insurances and phone / internet bills and TV bills. A further $250 per week is spent on food and shopping and $100 per week on drinking and eating out.  Add to this $5 on schooling, $125 on car costs and $55 on sport and recreation.  These costs do not include clothes, holidays, childcare fees and other lifestyle choices of an average Australian family.

The average cost of living equates to over $56,000 per year requiring a gross salary of $75,000 (one wage) or $36,000 each if both partners are earning. According to the ABS the average individual after tax salary equates to roughly $46,430 after tax.

In response to the inflated prices and current signs of a recession, one Aussie mum and experienced penny-pincher is taking action again. Back in 2008, and then coined ‘The Great Foodini,’ Penina Petersen dished up Aussies a grocery-shopping book that slashed consumer dinner bills to $120 per week and helped consumers get three nights off cooking each week.

But now this Aussie mum has gone further, setting herself a ‘mums’ challenge of slashing her own dinner bill to just $35 per week, while only cooking once a month and getting out of the kitchen completely.

Penina’s family, who were recently spending a conservative $140 per week on dinners, are now saving roughly $100 per week due to the simple system and that $140 is now this family’s dinner spend per month.

“Parents are exhausted. Many mums I’m in touch with are either working full-time or part-time while also managing a home, or they are stay-at-home mums struggling to find the money to do much more than keep up with the bills and housework,” says Penina Petersen, who runs the Savings Room blog and website.

“I wanted to create a system to help Aussie battlers and busy parents with small children, to free up cash and live a fuller day, week and year.”

The result is a bulk cooking system delivered in the form of a bite-sized 28-page eBook. But despite its size the book packs a massive punch in terms of potential savings.

“I’ve successfully worked out a system that reduces my dinner budget to $35 per week.”

The system includes setting up a small pantry, (which generally stays the same each month) and then combines budget ingredients, bulk-cooking principles, strategic supermarket shopping tactics and a small number of convenience meals to deliver 28 meals to Aussies for just $140 for the month. That’s just $5 per meal (for 4 people).

“Having an extra $100 per week, which equates to $5200 each year, for my family is really helping. This money is going to pay for events and items like Christmas, gifts, a family holiday, clothes and those little extras we weren’t able to afford previously. We also do not cook in the evenings, (with the exception of a few 10-min and convenience meals), which means I’m getting entire nights off cooking, not washing pots and pans, and spending more quality time with my family and children.” says Penina.

You can read more about Penina’s money-saving eBook FREEZER MEALS at savingsroom.com.au