Jeni Bonell: Mum of 16 reveals how she feeds her family for $451.48 per week

With 16 kids, you’d expect Jeni Bonell’s grocery bill to be huge — but a reciept from the Queensland mum’s latest haul may surprise you.

Supermum Jeni Bonell has revealed when it comes to feeding her family of 18, planning and organisation are key – and she says throw away the rule book of just shopping for the week.

The Queensland mother whose 16 children range in ages from five to 30 said she is a firm believer in the benefits of stockpiling, a tactic that allows her to keep her costs down.

And judging from the reciept she’s given news.com.au — she can feed her whole family for an impressively low cost.

“We generally spend around $600 per week, sometimes more, sometimes less,” Ms Bonell told news.com.au.

But this week, the total cost of her shopping expedition totalled just $451.48.

In the grocery haul were six dozen eggs, 18 litres of milk, 30 chicken drumsticks and 24 rolls of toilet paper, revealing her trick to keeping things cheap was to stockpile.

“I tend to buy up whatever we need to make meals for that week, to add to our own supplies or if I have something that I find that’s on special or half price or a great bargain, then I will buy up on that product,” she explained in a video shared to YouTube earlier this week.

’Supermum’ Jeni Bonell and her 16 children has revealed her tactic for keeping the family fed without blowing the budget. Picture: Supplied

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“There are certain meals we are going to make this week so we have bought certain items to go with them, the rest is to basically fill the cupboards back up.”

The 49-year-old mum, who shops for herself, her husband and 11 kids still living at home, as also caters for her older kids and other friends who tend to drop by.

Fresh produce to feed the family included a 4kg bag of potatoes, two bags of carrots, two bags of apples, mushrooms, two bags of grapes, two different types of salad bags and green beans.

“We’ve bought certain ingredients to go with certain meals that we are going to make this week – and the rest of it is basically we are just filling the cupboards back up to what fits in the pantry,” Ms Bonell said on the clip.

Dry pantry items included three packets of dry spaghetti, a jar of pasta sauce, four tins of corn kernels, two tins of apricot nectar, a 500g jar of Homebrand peanut butter, Vegemite and two tins of apricot kernels.

Other items to feature as part of the 46-item shop included four loaves of Homebrand bread, 24 rolls of toilet paper, 10 litres of water, 18 hot dog rolls and six 3 litre bottles of milk.

“We’re trying to pull back on milk for a little bit just for budget sake so (I bought) six three-litre bottles, and we’re trying to get by with just 12 three-litre bottles per week,” she said.

Mrs Bonell’s shopping haul included fresh produce as well as a range of key pantry staples. Picture: YouTube/The Bonell Family

Normally, she said, the family goes through around 50 litres of milk every week.

School lunch essentials included 500g champagne ham, two 80g packets of roast beef, 125g Peck’s salmon and lobster spread and 245g Homebrand cream cheese.

Extras, which could be frozen or added to meals, included three packets of mini dinner rolls (12 rolls per pack) and three packets of cheese and ham-topped rolls.

Meticulous bookkeeping on the part of Ms Bonell ensures the family’s budget is well-managed. Picture: Supplied/Jeni Bonell

Treats also featured as part of the impressive haul.

These included a box of Nescafe instant cappuccino and instant latte sachets, a 12-pack of Paul’s chocolate mousse and a 24-pack of freshly-baked Anzac biscuits.

While Ms Bonell revealed this week’s menu featured spaghetti bolognese, apricot chicken and hot dogs, she said she also planned to try a new recipe.

“We’re trying out a new recipe this week which calls for parmesan. We normally don’t eat parmesan at all, in fact, I don’t even know whether you kids have even tried parmesan cheese,” she said.

A kilo of bacon and 600ml thickened cream also featured as part of this week’s grocery shop.

Ms Bonell’s weekly shop for her family also includes six large boxes of breakfast cereal. YouTube/The Bonell Family

“It’ll take a little bit of time to dice it (the bacon) up but you can certainly save some money by buying it complete and not just diced,” she said.

Additional items which fall under the category of weekly essentials were four boxes of Homebrand cereal, two boxes of Uncle Toby’s cereal along with 2kg of Homebrand vanilla yoghurt.

A selection of snacks included three Ritz dips, three 12-packs of Yoplait yoghurt and 12-mini sultana packs.

The savvy shopper also nabbed a great deal on Veet wax strips which she said had been reduced to half price.

Six dozen eggs were also bought for the family of 18. Picture: YouTube/The Bonell Family

“That’s the way you save money, by looking out for sales and stocking up when you can,” she said.

“There’s a lot to be said about stockpiling products, especially products that can be stored away – you can certainly save a lot of money that way.”