Bargain hunter

The hefty price tags on supermarket foods In Perth has had a great impact on our shopping habits. Whilst we were often careful in the UK, I don't remember looking at special offers or price tags with quite so much interest as I do now. A mere glimpse of a 2 for 1, BOGOF, 3 for 2 or money off sign and I'm there like a shot, analysing said price, said product and how it might fit into our weekly meal planner (or indeed whether the kids will attempt to eat it).

Another thing I've become fond of is supermarket own brands and bargain ones at that. IGA have a 'yellow label' line of goods which are remarkably cheaper than non-IGA counterparts. Whilst Coles have an 'essentials' line much like Tesco's basics. Whilst the snob in me actively skirted anything with 'bargain' written on it at home, here I can't stop myself. I've even been known to delve into the bargain bin featuring food very much on its last legs in order to bag the Green team a cheap find, elbowing the lady next to me with competitive fervour.

Since we're living in the most isolated city in the world it seems doubtful that there's anything we can do to make feeding our family cheaper, aside from protesting outside IGA or encouraging a bunch of bogans to go on hunger strike with us. The mini Green's are the largest consumers of food in our house - they munch on enough fruit to feed a small army every week and require lots of snacks to keep energy levels up and melt-downs at bay. All this heat has also increased their appetite for ice creams - especially white chocolate Magnum's and fruity rocket lollies which are at least 4 bucks a pop.

Perhaps the clear answer is to start deducting pocket money to put towards the fruit cause, I'd doubt they'd even notice....

Now THAT sounds like a plan ;)