Budget mum teaches South Aussies how to make weekly meals on a strict $100 budget

Grocery prices are on the rise, but the Frugal Fun Mum has tips on how South Australians can save at the checkout and feed their families for just $100 a week. Here’s how.

“Frugal Fun Mum” is teaching South Australians how to pinch their pennies despite rising costs, and all on a weekly budget of $100.

A mother of two, Kelly started to save on her weekly shopping bill after shopping the aisles for home brand products and markdowns.

“We used to spend about $800 a month and now halved that down on a really good week that we can get really good markdowns,” she said.

“We’re not brand loyal, unless it’s like Nescafe or Milo, everything else is a home brands.

“That’s also why I do so much markdown shopping because if I find a brand product that’s cheaper than a home brand, then that’s what I’ll buy.”

It comes as cost of living prices have continued to soar with grocery staples rising more than 13 per cent since last year.

Kelly the Frugal Fun Mum at home with her shopping. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Brenton Edwards

Kelly said she rotates meals depending on whether she can find meat marked down at supermarkets.

“I have a list of meals that we have all the time and there’s about 30,” she said.

“The meals will rotate around the meat, so we might have spaghetti bolognese because we found mince marked down that week, or it could be a chicken mince instead, just depending on what we found.

“I won’t pay any more than about $10 or $12 for meat, I know that’s impossible, but that’s where markdown shopping helps me stick to that rule.

“I’m forever looking at meat, so I have a little bit of a stockpile in my freezer that I can rotate through.

“(If) I don’t happen to find anything that week, I’ve always got food here that I can fall back on.”

Not an ounce of food is wasted in Kelly’s household as she freezes and portion controls her weekly shopping list.

“If we buy fresh fruit and vegies, we’ll use those within a couple of days and make sure we finish them and then move to frozen to do anything else with meals,” she said.

“We don’t really have leftovers because I portion control everything out by measurement.

“It means I never have any food waste in the house.”

Kelly’s YouTube channel Frugal Fun Mum aims to educate South Australians on how to save at the supermarket and go where the bargains are – and look for fun and practical ways to do things.

“I’ve had to learn the hard way how to save money,” she said.

“I think that people just don’t have the time and energy.”