The MOAB meal-planning method

Shop the catalogue, then write the menu

Open the Woolies, Coles and Aldi specials on Wednesday night. Circle the proteins under $10/kg and the produce you’d actually eat. The menu comes after the specials, never before.

Pick one “hero” protein that can do two dinners. Chicken thighs this week. Pork shoulder next. Beef mince only when it’s honestly on special.

Overlap on purpose

If Monday needs onion, Wednesday should too. If you open a bag of carrots, two meals should use them. That’s how a $3 bag stops being waste.

Cook rice and a pot of something on Sunday. Future-you at 5:40 p.m. is not a meal planner.

The freezer is a bank

Label with the dish and the date. Not “leftovers.” You will not remember.

A full freezer is cheaper than a packed fridge. Fridge food dies. Frozen food waits.

When the plan is not cheaper

Most members of the nationwide Mums on a Budget group say meal planning is cheaper. Most of the time, it is. There are times it is not.

If Tuesday is taco night on the plan and you pay full price for the kit, the meat and the toppings just because the plan says so, that meal is not cheaper. It might be easier. It is not a saving.

1. Cook from what is already in the house

Download the free SuperCook app, or use the website. It takes what is already in the fridge, pantry and freezer and turns it into recipes. There are thousands. Build next week from food you already paid for. You do not need a $2 lemon for a recipe you have not started.

2. Shop the specials, with the budget you actually have

$50 is fine. $300 is fine. The rule is the same: stock up on the chicken that is on special and freeze it. Stock up on the half-price taco kits. Stock up on the long-life milk. You are stretching the dollar, not paying full price.

Wiselist compares Coles, Woolworths and Aldi. Half Price shows the half-price specials. Both are free. Use them before you leave the house.

3. Use a meal kit only when the promo is cheaper than the shop

This is the bit that saves the big money: a meal kit, a fruit and veg box, or a butcher box, but only while the intro price is on. Promo serves often land around $2.09 to $2.89. That can beat the supermarket, and someone else chopped the onion.

EveryPlate — up to 40% off your first 5 boxes. Get 40% off box 1, and up to 20% off boxes 2–5. Valid for new and past customers only (cancelled 12 months). Use code BUDGETFLASH.

HelloFresh — up to $230 off across your first 6 boxes. For new customers, and past customers who cancelled more than 6 months ago. Use code MUMSONABUDGETHF.

Youfoodz — up to $200 off across your first 5 boxes. For new customers, and past customers who cancelled more than 12 months ago. Use code MUMSONABUDGETYF.

Farmers Pick is 15% off the first box with MUMSONABUDGET. Our Cow is $50 off a first order of at least $199 with code 2403ULS2.

The rest of the meal-delivery codes sit on the Linktree under the meal delivery and food discount sections.

This is the MOAB method

It takes a little while to get used to. Once it is a habit, you save without giving up food you actually like, and you still get the odd convenient kit without paying the full kit price.

It costs nothing to try, unless you opt into a kit trial that is already cheaper than groceries. This is the MOAB meal-planning method — Mums on a Budget. It is the one that stays cheapest without swapping your taste for a smaller bill. The recipe cards also mean someone else can cook dinner.

Tweak it. If you only want EveryPlate and you will not rotate kits, keep it, and still do steps 1 and 2. If you only shop Woolworths because Everyday Rewards works for you, that is fine too. Still cook from the cupboard, and still stock up when Woolies has the special. You do not have to do all three perfectly for it to work.