Shopping to feed an army
Shopping to feed six on a budget can be challenging. My family all prefer lamb over beef and in Australia lamb is the more expensive of the two. Some weeks by a lot, some weeks by not so much! Then then are red peppers (capsicum) which can vary in price unbelievably. Likewise bananas.
Organic Vegetables
For our meat, vegetables and fruit we shop almost exclusively at the Queen Victoria Market. PRICE! Bananas at the QVM were $1.20 a kilo today (up 20 cents from the last few weeks). At Coles bananas are $2.98 a kilo (probably up there this week too). When we buy about 5 kilos of bananas, that price difference makes a difference!
Meat is considerably cheaper at the market too. I paid $18 a kilo for some lamb chops in the supermarket the other day – at the market I got lamb chops for $9.99 a kilo. When we can eat 2 kilos of chops in a meal, it makes the trip to the market well worth it!
Meat
I snapped all the shots here on my phone during today’s foraging foray. The fruit and vegetable shots were taken in the organic area of the market. Not an area we can afford to shop in, unfortunately. Let’s do a little price comparison: look at the $19.50 a kilo price on the organic red capsicums in the top shot. We paid $4 a kilo for our non-organic red capsicums. Given we buy quite a lot of this particular vegetable the price of $19.50 a kilo is not a happening thing! Those $15 a kilo mushrooms are a little expensive too.
Apples
There is an apple for every taste! We like Pink Lady apples in this house. At $2.50 a kilo for the non-organic variety, rather than the $4.99 a kilo ones above! Clearly they are popular, as the box is nearly empty compared to the neighbouring varieties.
Prawns
Chillies
There is always plenty of seafood and I love the bright red of the fresh chillies.
We bought prawns for the Nigerian dish we make on a regular basis, but I didn’t buy chillies. One day I will!
Then it was on to actually buy the meat. We did remarkably well today, getting all our meat for the week for $76, if I exclude the prawns from the bill! Six people can chew through a LOT of meat. We ended up with a leg of lamb, 2 kgs of chops, 2 kgs of diced lamb and 2 kgs of minced beef.
The kids love honey-soy chicken drumettes and we can get those for $5 a kilo (as we buy 2 kilos) at the market – already marinated! Chicken seems to be pre-prepared in a variety of ways. We tried the lemon pepper pieces once, but they weren’t a popular choice, not even with me and I usually like lemon pepper dishes. Mr O is not a big chicken fan, but he likes the honey-soy…… and KFC, of all things!
Chicken
More fruit and vegetables: the selection is extensive!
Celery and Corn
Pineapples
Organic Fruit
We have this great little car fridge to keep the meat cool on the trip home. It plugs into what used to be the cigarette lighter in cars until cigarette lighters were banned. I’m not sure what those little outlets are called now! 
Now, this last shot has nothing to do with food. Let’s call this “Road Art”. Is this Road Art or a way to give a driver a heart attack? I drive under this big yellow “Road Art” structure twice a day, every day. Invariably I find myself thinking I do hope the darn thing doesn’t fall down!
Road Art???
How do you shop for your family? What savings do you manage to make on the weekly food bill? I’ve noticed bread is very variable in price. I can buy loaves for $1 at Coles or pay $6 for the fancy breads. We end up compromising somewhere in the middle!
Your food shopping looks quite expensive… no food coops around you? I prefer to buy fruits and veggies at a coop or farmer’s market. The supermarkets charge more.
That IS shopping at the markets, Elizabeth! Also, are you thinking in pounds for weight? We do kilos – 2.2 pounds to a kilo.
still seems pricey no?
But what would we compare it to?
My understanding is the two enconomies are not really comparable, as our minimum wages are much higher than those in the USA, as a single example of the differences. Miss O 1 is still getting over the fact we have to pay for crayfish ($80 a kilo), where they are free in Lagos!
Crayfish is not free in Nigeria… where did you get that idea?
Prices and quality vary depending on which market you go to at home… I’m not comparing the US with Australia just asking you if you find your shopping pricey… It sounds like it is to me, but if you think it’s pretty inexpensive then good for you! $200 a week is a pretty decent sum anywhere. Because of fuel costs, prices have gone up here. We just find the places to shop that remain reasonable and go there. Food prices are not set across the board. :
The kids tell me crayfish is free in Nigeria – they can just be collected on the beach, so they say.
Petrol is MUCH dearer here than in the USA, which will contribute to our prices, just as it does for you.
Trust me, I remember when my oldest children were little, I used to pay 50 cents for half a kilo (roughly a pound) of mince. Now it is about $8.99 a kilo. But then again, back then I was earning a great deal less as well!
I don’t know how people with large families and the “average” wage manage.
Wow, I have really enjoyed your shopping trip. Here the best way to save money is to shop at the source. The open air market. There you get the freshest foods, some which have just left earth like yesterday
So basically you can spend $15 a week to feed a family as big as yours. And most people have kitchen gardens, so they eat what they plant especially the vegetables. Living in Mombasa is awesome 
It’s the best place to be in Kenya, things are pretty cheap here.
$15? It costs us a minimum of $200 to feed us. Usually more. I can’t imagine being able to feed 6 for $15. But then each economy around the world is different. That is one thing Mr O is learning because he still coverts prices into naira and then says “That is expensive”. It might be in naira, but then the whole economy is different, so it is not comparable!
The best way to explain this is the extremes of the cost of living between our two worlds
He he he – a bit like trying to compare the water availability!
I tend to focus on buying weekly specials . . . stocking up when favorite items are on sale. I also start in the produce department and limited the purchase of prepared foods.
And being vegetarian frees up the “meat” budget for more fruits and veggies.
There are times when I think being vegetarian would be wonderful. Think of the amount of fruit and veggies I could buy for $80 a week! We don’t buy any prepared food really. We go through a heap of apple juice and milk, but other than that, we really don’t. We buy groceries (soap, shampoo, cleaning products etc) in bulk from Costco, although as I’ve mentioned before, sometimes our local supermarket is cheaper than they are – and their product selection is not great. No Chai Tea for starters!
I remember visiting The Queen Victoria Market when I visited Melbourne last year, huge and with so much variety and I also found the prices great. In Perth, I also try to buy my fruit and vegetables at the markets as they are fresher, probably have less chemicals and are a lot cheaper. We don´t eat much meat at home, because of that I buy it with the rest of the shopping at the supermarket. But I also remember when my son was a teenager, he would eat me out of the pantry and fridge in a flash. Now as a grown up he doesn´t eat that much any more! Must be just a growing phase they go through.
Yes, Sami, we are very lucky to live so close. It has certainly been a budget saver for us. The price differences are quite amazing really. I have found shopping on a Sunday is cheaper than on Saturday as the market is not open Monday and they want to get rid of everything. However planning one’s whole weekend around getting cheaper meat is not always possible!
I’ve only been once, but I loved Queen Vic Markets. I’m envious you live so close.
Lovely photos of the produce. We are lucky to have such good tucker.
We shop at Harris Farm Markets. Much smaller of course but very good quality for a good price.
My three boys (10, 9, 6) aren’t big eaters. Everyone tells me that will change.
I’d give the 10 year-old about 6 months. Our 11 year-old eats enough for a platoon all by himself. The 14 year-old seems to have slowed down a little, but Mr O Jnr 2? Hed eat a horse at one sitting, I reckon!
Yes, the Queen Vic Markets are great. You are right, we are lucky we are so close – about 10 minutes in on the freeway. Australia is very lucky with our food quality and quantity. We don’t realise just how lucky.
All the shopping around for the best deals takes so much time but I would enjoy the looking as well. The price differences are huge aren’t they? I could compare it with shopping in Waitrose or Tesco basics!
The really silly part is the quality at the QVM is usually better – the vegetables and fruit is fresher than that purchased at the supermarkets.
I have NO idea of the stores you just mentioned!
We are lucky, the market is not far away from us. People who live in the outer suburbs would just find the trek too far, I think.
The produce in the supermarkets and QVM? are probably irradiated ( I think thats the word) so they supposedly last longer on the shelves but it makes it more expensive. The market stuff isn’t usually treated that way so is fresher to begin with but probably doesn’t keep as well – not a problem in your house!
The QVM IS the market – Queen Victoria (QVM) Market!
Sorry if I was confusing!
I don’t know if we are allowed to irradiate here, but you are right – nothing lasts long here. Grapes disappear in 3 hours.
Just checked it out.
To date, in Australia and New Zealand, only herbs and spices, herbal infusions and some tropical fruits have been approved to be irradiated. For each of the permitted applications FSANZ has established there are no safety concerns, that there are no significant changes in the nutritional content of the food and there is a technological need.
http://www.foodstandards.gov.au/consumerinformation/foodirradiation.cfm