We budget $120/week for two adults and a large teenager. I first visit a local fruit/veg wholesalers on Saturday morning, grab specials ($10-$15), then come home and plan meals around them - then go to Coles (closest).
Meal planning is a must, along with alternating between meat and non-meat meals.
I try to stretch out meats in meals, for example, will use one chicken breast in a stirfry, with lots of veg and rice, or half of a 500g pack of mince for spaghetti Bolognese (with beans).
Example of a week of meals:
Breakfast
-Quick oats, coffee, raisin toast. Cereal if its on sale. Occasionally homemade pancakes (flour, egg, milk, with lemon/sugar topping).
Work lunches for me-
I aim to bulk cook a meal in the slow cooker over the weekend, and take that for lunch daily. This week was an Indian-type curry (potato, carrot, lentils, tomatoes, spices), which I had with fruit, crackers and my water bottle. When I'm organised I try to freeze a couple of meals, so I can alternate my lunches to avoid boredom.
Lunches for DS/DH (DH has the palate of a teenage boy).
piece of fruit, chopped up carrot, sandwich or wrap, chopped up sausage, mini flapjacks with jam or a cupcake (homemade), pack of chips/biscuits.
Snacks - biscuits/chips, instant noodles, whatever fruit/veg I bought that week and whatever snacks were cheap. I try to cook muffins/biscuits 1x a week.
Dinners
-Stirfry (chicken, veg, vermicelli, sauce made from whatever we have)
-Spaghetti Bolognese (250g mince, passata, veggies grated in, pasta)
- Dahl or curry (an indian dish with lentils or beans and spices)
- Pizza and chips (the coles brand stone bake, with extra cheese added)
- Burritos/nachos etc (1ch breast, with beans to bulk it out)
- Fried rice or Carbonara (both with veg and a bit of bacon)
- Leftovers / easy meals night with salad
A lot of things will last us more than a week (a 4 pack of ch breasts, cheese, eggs, 8kg bag of rice).
I shop carefully, mostly buy cheaper brand stuff, and try to make things last. Also, I (Carefully) take advantage of the coles flybuys deals (like, spend $100 a week for 4 weeks to get $50 worth of points). We save our points throughout the year (we are up to $120 now), and I just cashed them in for $120 worth of Coles gift cards. We then use this for an annual Christmas grocery trip(will buy a few hams/chickens, some Christmas treat foods, ginger beer, candy canes/xmas cards, a box or two of chocolates for unexpected gifts).