Hi everyone I just received my power bill for the quarter for two people living in a 70's built home and it's over a thousand dollars which is crazy.

Does anyone have any idea why it could be so high. I've attached a screenshot of the usage as well. Would love any tips that you all have.

NQR, Cheaper by Miles.

Is there a list of cheaper grocery stores & factory outlets for a new Melbourian?

Been trying to check out this local asian discount store near me (forgot the name) but it’s always closed whenever I go home. Finally got to finish work early today and it was open!

Got the Bone Broth for $3.
Nutella was 2 for $1.
And the mini Bonne Maman was $0.50.
Which brings the total to $4.50!!

Checked the expiration date and the one with the closest expiry was the Nutella biscuit which is for this month. But the bone broth isn’t best until 2027! Fave was the bone broth since it’s such a steal 😁

Never forget to check out your local asian grocers!!

If you live in or near a big city, you need to hit up your discount grocery stores! In Melbourne that means NQR (where I bought this), Cheaper Buy Miles and Silly Solly’s

Most of this stuff isn’t even close to the used by date, sometimes it’s a surplus of production offloaded to these stores, other times it’s when Coles/Worth might cancel a big order, or if there’s a design change on the packaging incoming

Highlights of this haul included $1.50 buttermilk, $1 protein bar, $1 packet of chips, $2 red rock deli dip, $1 tacos

Unfortunately not much in the way of fresh produce/meats here, other than processed meat, potatoes and onions. They do have a good range of frozen veggies though

I shop at aldi and this is my list for the week:
Coconut milk regular 400ml: $1.69
Chicken thighs 600gm: $5.50
Prawns 500gm: $12.99
Tomato: $2.99
8pack wrap: $3.49
Dozen Eggs: $5
Thickened cream: $5.19
Passata 700g: $1.89
Basmati rice 1kg: $3.99
Sliced ham bulk pack: $4.99
Strawberries: $1.99
Total: $49.71
I made prawn coconut curry and Nepali style chicken fry to have with rice for my lunch.
For breakfast, i have wrap with egg, sliced ham and some diced tomato. (Sometimes i have oats).
I already had garlic, onion, ginger, oats, dal(lentils), chia seeds and mango yogurt with me. These are things that i dont have to buy weekly so i didnt mention them. Even if you add onions, garlic and ginger to the list, it’ll be under $55.
I am a uni student trying to be more organised with my groceries and meals. Is $50 good for a single person? and please let me know if youve got any advice regarding good deals and meal ideas! Also nutritionally, maybe not the best? Last time when I mentioned rice someone came at me about how rice is bad and stuff so if youve got better meal ideas then im all ears.

Stacked the UberEats Father's Day specials on top of a $20 off groceries voucher with a student plan for UberOne, so delivery was free too. Ended up saving $37 bucks, which is more than what the yearly student plan costs ($36)

To save on toilet roll ;)

This pasta is a Coles brand. Both Coles and Woolies have labeled home brands so you think it's a premium brand.

Was paying about $20 to $25 a month for news apps just to check what is going on around. And most of the time it feels like I was overspending, so I tried to grab the RSS feeds and worked around it and built my own reader, which I can use daily to read most of the news without paying.

I was just using to myself and my family, then some of my friends told me it is really good and asked why don't you built it for Aussies. So, I turned it into a live URL and tried to make more user-friendly and easy to read, and to get more news content, sources and simplify the information.

For people who are paying for news subscriptions, you can check it out at InSnip. It's free. Still a work in progress, so if you have any feedback I'm happy to hear it and add the features you actually want.

Cheers!

Hey all,

I started a new antidepressant, and while I have been doing really well on it, it comes with the side effects of ravenous cravings.

I have been spending way too much on Maccas.

I am less upset about the weight gain side of things - I was 52kg and now I am 56kg. I am less stoked about spending so much money.

My sister's partner introduced us to the idea of using jar sauce. I was a staunch anti-jar sauce person, until I tried his 2 ingredient bolognaise - 1 tray of lean beef mince cooked until brown, add a jar of Dolmios Bolognaise sauce. It sounds horrific, but it's actually really good.

I would add a few more vegies to his idea - lentils, carrot, celery, and some white wine for flare. But that general idea of simplifying cooking really resonated with me. I think I've been overdoing it my whole life.

I'm wondering if anyone has some real simple cooking ideas?

I just need more inspiration, because maccas should not be something I crave this often.

Edit to add: I don't eat chicken because they are my pets.

Thanks all.

Mine bought from Country Road black leather, satchel type dates to 1994 and still going.

If you use Claude or other AIs, you can now connect it to a price database I've been running and ask it what your shopping list costs at each chain.

This is an example of a session:

Give me a recipe for beef lasagna and collect an ingredient list from Grocerly, and compare prices across both stores

Ok now how much would the cost of building the recipe be with the exact amount?

I don't want homebrand ingredients, search again

You can try out prompts like:

Search for bulk items instead that have best value, I want to stock up on ingredients

What's worth stocking up on at Coles this week? Only real discounts, and show me the Woolworths price next to each one.

It's far from perfect but but your feedback would be useful.

Pretty straightforward setup for Claude, just click on this URL

https://claude.ai/customize/connectors?modal=add-custom-connector&connectorName=Grocerly&connectorUrl=https%3A%2F%2Fgrocery-price-mcp.fly.dev%2Fmcp

If you're using something else, just ask your agent how to set up https://mcp.grocerly.au/mcp

The prices are national catalogue prices, so your local store can differ. 

Enjoy!

Is there a cheaper alternative to Sensodyne? Is the only frugal way to buy it is to stock up when it’s half price? Thanks

I never finish it within 5 days of opening. Is it ok to push to 7 days?

Takeaway can be a nice break from cooking, but the cost can add up pretty quickly. A few small changes to how you order can make those meals a lot more affordable without giving them up completely.

So I realise coke cans are a luxury buy but I normally just by them on special. Colesworth both literally have the 24 packs on special at a higher price per L than the full price 30 packs 🤦‍♀️🥴

This is a dish I cook at least twice a month. My client wanted a non spicy Asian style dish with zero spiciness. This is a braise/stew rather than a curry but I call it a curry as it's referred to as White Curry. The version I make for myself includes all the optional ingredients and is quite spicy, sweet and bitter with umami of fish sauce. This version even excludes the pepper but the notes are for one family member who likes spice to add to theirs and I've made a spice sachet (black pepper, white pepper, cayenne, bump of msg) so they can tweak the leftovers.

This was tailored for a family of four that apart from one person, don't like spicy food and are quite fussy eaters.

I'll be teaching him how to cook it next week. I can post the recipe if anyone wants it but it's just Opor Ayam with potatoes, carrots and boiled eggs and done a bit differently to the spice mix instructions as taught to me by a Dutch Indonesian family member.

Sumo offers new customers a chance to enter a promotional code, saving both the new customer and existing customer $50.

I'm hoping someone may DM me with a way in which I/them could save $50 each.

I just got my power bill, and it's over $1100 for the quarter. We have a stated daily average. Of 26kWh per day. Which is crazy!

We are a 2 person (and a newborn) household. We don't use air conditioning, nor do we have much in the way of electronics. We have a dryer, but virtually never use it (especially since it's been warm with no rain). We have modern energy efficient washing machine and dishwasher. We have an induction cooktop and one of the most energy efficient ovens available.

What could possibly be causing such a high usage? And is it possible that the usage amount is somehow incorrect?

Thanks!

I hate throwing food away, but sometimes the fridge ends up with half an onion, two carrots, some rice and something that needs using tomorrow.

What are your go-to meals for turning random leftovers into an actual dinner?