SAVING A HEAP
I’m a mum-of-16 – here’s how I feed my kids for just £1 each
A MUM-of-16 has revealed how she manages to feed her kids for just £1 each.
Jeni Bonell, 53, from Queensland, Australia, has to budget for children Jesse, Brooke, Claire, Natalie, Karl, Sam, Cameron, Sabrina, Tim, Brandon, Eve, Nate, Rachel, Eric, Damian and Katelyn.
5
5
5
After finding it difficult to manage funds in recent years Jeni and husband Ray, 54, were on a mission to scrimp and save where possible.
The household was living off of Ray's electrician income and were struggling to make ends meet.
During the cost-of-living crisis, the mum found she was spending a fortune on feeding her family-of-18 and had no choice but to perfect her shopping list.
The now-savvy mum has found a way to buy "cheap and tasty" meals which work out at £1 per serving - while filling her freezer.
READ MORE ON THE FAMILY
Heading to Australian store Woolworths, Jeni stocked up on veg.
A simple way she gets around soaring costs is by buying the fruit and veg which isn't perfect - so the price is slashed.
In a Youtube video documenting her life, Jeni said: "They might be a different shape, size or colour but they’re still perfectly good to eat."
A cheeky hack she also shared was to have a look on the bottom shelves because that's where the cheapest products are.
Most read in Fabulous
She added: "Now I needed some spaghetti as well, so always check your brands, your pricing and your unit pricing as well.
"Sometimes on the bottom shelf, you’re going to find the cheapest product."
Once securing the essentials such as sauces and packets, she headed for the till where her total came to around £190.
The busy mum then headed to buy meat such as steaks, chicken and sausages.
She added: "I got a large bag, about six kilos worth of thick beef sausages and two large bags of the thin beef sausages.
"I think one was around about seven kilos and one was about six-and-a-half kilos.
"I bought some steak – this is just barbecue steak, so it’s a little bit cheaper, and I think I got about eight-and-a-half kilos worth of that."
The entire meat shop came to just under £400.
Despite spending nearly £600 on the shop, after cooking and portioning up the meals each family member's dish was a bargain.
She made curried sausages, sausage hotpot, sausage spaghetti bake and more.
READ MORE SUN STORIES
Jeni previously told The Sun how she was still sending all of her kids to private school even though it was a huge cost.
And in 2021, despite the struggles, Jeni and Ray said they would be open to having more kids.
5
5
Topics