Brought to you in partnership with Woolworths.
I want to tell you that I am the most budget-savvy person, and I have all the secrets to saving money, paying off your mortgage in five years and building an empire. I can’t though, because it would be a flat out lie.
My sister told me the other day that friends of ours {five years younger than me} just paid off their mortgage. My mouth stayed agape for around twenty minutes. I was envious {and felt like I was scoring a F-minus in adulting at the same time}. I wished that I could be so savvy, but I’m often impulsive, and in the moment and let’s be honest, I like nice things.
I’m not all bad though. I’m savvy when it comes to maximising my discounts on bills {remember the blog post I wrote where I saved $10,000}. I can balance eating our favourite meal out {sushi!} with cheaper meals at home. I like to think that I live well, but also live smart. And so I bring you the below recipe, for those weeks when you’ve lived REALLY well and you need to feed the family dinner for under five bucks. Or perhaps you are the budget-savvy type and you just want to add this one into the mix to keep costs low. I’m introducing to you, Vegemite Spaghetti. But first, here are my top tips on how you can save money at the supermarket.
Want to know how you can save money at the supermarket? These always work for me.
Meal plan. I always save when I’m organised. It saves buying things I don’t need.
Shopping when I’m not hungry. It’s amazing how tempting everything is when you’re shopping and you’re starving.
Use my Woolworths Rewards card. I don’t know if it’s by some kinda magic, but every time I’m really counting my pennies, I’ll have a $10 reward come up on my Rewards card. The system gives one point for every dollar you spend, and when you hit 2000 points, you get ten bucks.
Shop online. Without a doubt, when I shop online I spend less. Probably because I don’t have the kids begging me for things {and I’m a sucker to giving in!}. I also love that I can click through the online catalogue easily and spot what I want to save money on. I heard a great tip recently that when you’re checking out, you can put in the notes that you would prefer the ‘on sale’ butcher items so your personal shopper will opt for those.
Grab something from the Odd Bunch. Don’t you love the weird and wonky vegetables and fruits? They might not look perfect, but they taste just the same and the price is cheaper. Check them out in the fruit and vege section.
Shop solo. As I said before, I’m a sucker for giving in to my kids. There is one lovely lady who works at our local Woolies, and she knows that I always give in, and she comes over to check out what I’ve let them have this time. It’s much cheaper when I shop solo! Though when we do shop with our kids, they can pick up a free fruit from the Free Fruit for Kids basket.
Pick and choose. When it comes to shopping, there are some things I like to spend more on {cuts of meat, chicken from the macro range, and the best hams from the deli, and local milks} and then for all of my other pantry items I always look for the green Woolworths ‘W’ seal of approval like you can see on the spaghetti packet above. Those items are always reliable for me, good quality, and low prices, always.
Time for the Vegemite Spaghetti recipe. Now, STOP. Don’t click away. I know you’re thinking this recipe is absolutely not for you. I thought the same. I thought it wasn’t for me either, but I made it {it’s inspired by a recipe that I saw Nigella once make with Marmite}, I ate it and I LOVED it. The Vegemite does something with the Parmesan, and it’s just comforting and delicious.
I remember the first time I made it and Lacey refused to try it, but I knew she’d like it… so I asked her to just try one bite. She did, and loved it. And we embraced a new family favourite. It also takes under ten minutes to make. It’s a winner dinner.
Now I’m handing it over to you, how do you make things cheaper for your family? And do tell me, how on earth do I pay off my mortgage at great speed and feel like a proper adult!?
