Penrith mum of 11 shares secrets to driving cost of living down

As the cost of food and utility bills soar amid rising inflation, a Sydney mum of 11 kids — with nine still living at home — shares her hacks on how to get the best value out of grocery shopping.

With 11 children, a husband and a guide dog to feed, Heather McIntyre has to be an expert at stretching the budget.

The Penrith mum may be legally blind but she can spot a bargain, knows many ways to save – and is happy to share her tips.

With nine children still at home, ranging in age from 22 to four, the weekly shop usually consists of 45 litres of milk, 11 loaves of bread, five jumbo boxes of breakfast cereal, several chooks, a few kilos of beef, turkey and kangaroo mince, four dozen eggs, 7kg of potatoes, lots of rice and pasta, a couple of 3kg cans of baked beans and plenty of fruit, vegetables and salad.

“The grocery shop is around $350-$400 a week for cereals, milk and bread, pasta, mince, turkey and kangaroo and on top of that I’d spend $120 on fruit and vegetables,” she said.

“I’ve noticed a huge increase in milk, it used to be $3 for 3 litres and now it’s $4.50.”

Heather McIntyre and husband Garry along with 9 of their 11 kids at their Penrith home. Picture: Sam Ruttyn

And, buying 45 litres a week, that’s $67 dollars per week just for milk and $20 a week just for bread.

“Bread was $1.50 a loaf, now it’s $3.50 and some boxes of cereal are $10 or more,” she said.

“One box of cereal – we’re lucky if it lasts a day and a bit. We have more than one cereal choice but yes, we go through five boxes a week.”

Inflation has driven grocery costs up across the board but by far the biggest hike has been electricity, she said.

“It’s gone up dramatically. We used to be happy if it was under $800 a quarter but now we hope for it to be under $1400,” Mrs McIntyre said.

The mortgage on their Penrith home has also gone up $100 a month, so the family has had to make cuts.

“We used to do a slow-cooked meat dish weekly but we don’t any more as meat is too expensive. We maybe have it now once a fortnight but we might have curried sausages instead,” she said.

“Chicken is quite affordable, usually $4kg for a whole chook, which is usually 2kg, so two chickens will feed us with leftovers – we have that twice a week. We also add oats to mince to make meatballs to make the meat go further.

The McIntyre family consumer 45L of milk a week. Picture: Sam Ruttyn

“Frozen plain fish fillets are $10 a kilo, which is half the price of the fresh, so we have that twice a week in fish curries or stir fries.

“If you serve meat with lots of vegies and salads it goes a lot further, so our roast chicken we’ll have with pasta salad, bean salad and a potato salad. Put your lettuce and cucumber in and stuff – and rice and pasta makes things go a lot further too.”

The family buys in bulk at a wholesaler called ABCOE in Penrith, where items like a 3kg can of baked beans sell for $3.99, against buying it at the supermarkets where a 425g can costs $1.50.

One smart find for baking is flaxseed meal.

“It is a great egg substitute in cakes and muffins and pancakes and is a fraction of the price of eggs, it’s very economical,” she said.

As for the mortgage, the family always tries to put a bit extra on the repayments for anything that goes wrong.

“With our mortgage, we have always put that little bit extra into our home so when something comes up, like when out hot water system blew up, you can pay it (by redrawing) on the home loan, which is not as expensive as paying it back on a credit card,” she said.

The family mostly uses public transport and keeps petrol costs under control by only using the car when absolutely necessary.

“We just have to live smarter,” she said.