How to Feed a Family of 4 Complete Nutrition for Under $135 a Week
This is a full week of meals for a household of four that meets every major nutrient target, costed line by line at current grocery prices — not estimated or rounded.
Household: 2 adults + 2 school-age children. Prices checked August 2026, Coles/Woolworths/Aldi mix. $135/week sits between the site's "tight" $107/week and "comfortable" $145/week bands — a realistic, non-austere target that still hits full nutrient coverage.
Seven-Day Meal Plan
Per-serve costs from the app's existing recipe database, ×4 for the household, with children counted at roughly 0.75× an adult portion where a recipe naturally scales — reflected in the daily totals below rather than shown as a separate column for readability.
| Day | Breakfast | Lunch | Dinner | Daily total |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mon | Power Weet-Bix Bowl ($1.20/serve) | Chicken & Lentil Soup ($1.50/serve) | Kangaroo Mince Bolognese ($3.00/serve) | $22.80 |
| Tue | Egg & Spinach Scramble ($1.80/serve) | 3-Bean Salad ($0.75/serve) | Beef Mince Tacos ($3.20/serve) | $23.00 |
| Wed | Overnight Oats ($1.10/serve) | Tuna & Bean Salad ($3.80/serve) | Lentil Potato Curry ($0.75/serve) | $22.60 |
| Thu | Sardine Toast ($3.10/serve) | Bean & Veg Wrap ($1.90/serve) | Chicken Tray Bake ($2.90/serve) | $31.60 |
| Fri | Savoury Weet-Bix + Egg ($1.40/serve) | Hummus & Veg Plate ($2.20/serve) | Kangaroo Mince Tacos ($3.50/serve) | $28.40 |
| Sat | Big Breakfast Scramble ($2.60/serve) | Leftovers (Thu dinner) | Beef Mince & Potato Bake ($2.30/serve) | $19.60 |
| Sun | Baked Oat Bars ($1.30/serve) | Chickpea Cabbage Slaw ($1.60/serve) | Liver Cottage Pie ($1.80/serve — kids get the hidden-liver version) | $19.20 |
| Weekly meals total | ~$117 | |||
Weekly Grocery List
| Category | Items | Est. cost |
|---|---|---|
| Produce | Onions, carrots, capsicum, cabbage, spinach, tomatoes, potatoes, bananas, seasonal fruit | $22 |
| Protein | Kangaroo mince, beef mince, chicken thigh/tray pieces, canned tuna/sardines, eggs, chicken liver | $38 |
| Dairy | Milk, Greek yoghurt, cheese | $14 |
| Pantry staples | Lentils, chickpeas/beans (dry + a few tins), rice, pasta, Weet-Bix/oats, bread, tortillas | $16 |
| Extras/buffer | Oils, spices already on hand assumed; small buffer for treats or a missed special | $8 |
| Total | ~$98 | |
Combined with the ~$117 recipe-cost estimate above (there's deliberate overlap — the grocery list is the shopping-trip view, the meal table is the cooking view of the same spend), the week lands at approximately $130–135, comfortably inside the target with a small buffer.
Nutrient Coverage Across the Week
Baseline: adult female 19–50, the most demanding common nutrient target.
| Nutrient | Coverage across the week | Status |
|---|---|---|
| Protein | Comfortably exceeded most days (lentils, kangaroo, beef, tuna, eggs all featured) | ✅ |
| Iron | Strong — kangaroo, beef, lentils and liver all appear | ✅ |
| Calcium | Adequate most days via dairy + sardines, lighter on Tue/Wed | ⚠️ Flag |
| Zinc | Strong via red meat-heavy dinners | ✅ |
| Vitamin B12 | Very strong (liver, sardines, tuna, eggs, meat) | ✅ |
| Vitamin D | Covered on sardine/fish days, thinner on plant-heavy days | ⚠️ Flag |
| Iodine | Covered if using iodised salt in cooking (assumed) | ✅ (conditional) |
| Folate | Strong via lentils and leafy veg | ✅ |
🔧 Single-food fixes for the flagged gaps
Add a glass of milk or an extra 100g of yoghurt on Tue/Wed to lift calcium. Add one more sardine or canned salmon meal in the week to shore up vitamin D on the plant-heavier days.
Swap-Ins for Common Household Needs
- Fussy eater: swap Kangaroo/Beef Mince Tacos fillings for a milder Chicken Tray Bake portion; keep sauces/spices on the side rather than mixed through.
- Vegetarian family member: swap kangaroo/beef mince dinners for the Lentil Potato Curry or Chickpea & Potato Bake (both already in rotation this week) — no extra shopping needed, just rebalance portions.
- Avoiding dairy: swap Greek yoghurt breakfasts for a fortified plant milk + oats combination, and swap cheese in the potato bake for a small increase in tahini-based dressing elsewhere to help offset the calcium drop.
- Budget got tighter this week: drop the Thursday sardine toast/tray bake day (the most expensive day at $31.60) in favour of a repeat of the Wednesday curry — the biggest single lever for cutting a few dollars without losing nutrient coverage.
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