Cost of living hacks and cheap dinners Australia: Melbourne mum makes dinner for $1.60 a serve

A mom has revealed how she makes dinners for her family of six for just $1.60 per serving.

Brooke Schrempf-Dixon, 31, struggled to stay within her budget due to the cost-of-living crisis and was amazed at the amount of money she was constantly spending on groceries.

She was making nearly $400 each week, so the Melbourne mom decided it was time to take on a “$10 meal challenge” and cook dinner for less than $10 every night of the week.

Since then, the grocery bills have dropped to $150 and Brooke is still there able to cook several sumptuous meals on a budget, including bacon fettuccine, chicken curry with rice, beef and potato casserole, and cheesy tomato gnocchi.

“My family went through a rough time after we reverted to a single income when I gave birth to twins,” Brooke told FEMAIL.

“But our new budget has only made me more creative with how I spend money.”

Brooke’s meal prep strategy consists of constantly purchasing discounts and planning meals around specialty ingredients.

“I start with ‘shopping at home’ – I write down a list of everything I have in my freezer, fridge and pantry and build my weekly meals around this.”

She also revealed that most of her meal ideas were inspired by her own mother.

“We grew up wrestling week-to-week on the housing committee, and I often saw her make something out of nothing when I was younger,” Brooke recalls.

“There was always an empty cupboard, but somehow my mom managed to whip up some amazing food – so cooking on a budget just comes naturally to me now.”

The mother of four has children between seven months and seven years old, so most meals are kid-friendly and high in vegetables and nutrients.

“I used to spend really too much, I had no plans and was constantly buying what we didn’t need,” she said.

“I went in blind and bought some sauce every time I needed pasta, and we ended up with ten jars at a time.

“But now I plan a meal every week and I’m really aware of what I’m making.” I look up a lot of recipes online and cut out what I don’t need,” Brooke said.

The mother’s family is constantly asking her for more curries and pasta dishes – one of their absolute favorites being Brooke’s bacon fettuccine.

She recently cooked the $9.83 meal and her family licked their bowls and went back for seconds.

The mother shared a video of her visiting Cole to buy ingredients for the meal.

The mother ended up buying bacon ($1.93), herb butter ($3.50), two mushrooms ($1.08), an onion ($0.32), baby spinach ($2), and fettuccine ($1).

Brooke also used flour and milk from her pantry to thicken the pasta sauce.

She started by chopping the spinach, bacon, onion and mushrooms, also cooking 500g of pasta on the side.

Brooke put a dollop of herb butter in her pan and added the onion and bacon.

“You’ll need some pantry staples — I added some mixed spices, milk, flour, salt and pepper,” she said.

“You don’t need to add the milk and flour, but it will give the pasta a creamier base.”

The mom revealed that you could also use water and chicken stock to thicken the sauce.

Brooke then added the spinach and followed with the pasta and some pasta water.

“You really don’t need to buy cream and cheese, I just wait for the sauce to thicken,” she said.

“It was very simple, and this is one of those dishes where you can throw whatever you want into it and it was actually really good.”

“The pasta also fed four of us with heaps of leftovers,” she added.

Many thanked Brooke for her simple budget ideas.

“This looks so delicious – and for only $10!” said a woman. “I’m going to try the recipe this week.”

“Thanks for your easy meal ideas, it’s hard to come up with them on my own,” wrote a second.

“I love curry but always thought it was too expensive for my whole family, but next week I’m going to use your recipe,” said one mother.