A Hamilton mother has shared her tips and tricks for feeding her family of four on a budget of $100 for an entire week.
Katherine Lynch runs a blog, Busy Happy Kids. She provides cooking and budgeting tips, along with recipe ideas for New Zealand families.
Ms Lynch shared some of her tips and tricks with TVNZ1’s Seven Sharp last night.
“One of the top tips that I do share is to jump online, and we’re lucky to have all the major supermarkets online now where you can hop on and view their specials and look at their prices.
“I always go on there the day before, have a look at what’s on special and then from there I can create my own meal plans and create my shopping list so that I’m not getting to the check out and all of a sudden I’ve gone $20 over budget.”
She says it is tough when it comes to stocking her pantry with fruit and veges on a budget, but shopping seasonally can help with that.
“It’s really important that people are shopping in season when it comes to the fruit and vegetables. And if there isn’t anything on special, there’s not much in season at the moment, you’d be able to head over and get some of the frozen vegetables, which is a really great alternative - they’re packed full of nutrition."
Variety is also key, and she says if you’re on a budget it’s important that you’re not wasting any food.
“My dad always brought us up saying wasted food is wasted money, so if you’re throwing something out then it’s just money that you’re throwing out.
"If you’re on a $100 a week for your budget you don’t want to be throwing anything out."
And if her kids bring home food that has been bitten at or not finished, like an apple, she says all is not lost.
“I’ll slice it up and pop it on a little platter for them. And the third chance, if they haven’t eaten it after school, is peel it, stew it up… and you can mix up with porridge the next day.”
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