Budget Meal Challenge

Can you genuinely eat well on just $5 a day in Australia? I put it to the test with a full week of meals from ALDI (but you can easily grab these ingredients from another supermarket too) – breakfast, lunch, dinner and snacks – using simple, budget-friendly ingredients.

This isn’t about surviving on rice and beans. It’s about creating satisfying, nutritious meals on an extreme budget. Not only that, I’m not using a freezer or oven for this challenge. So all you need to take this on is a fridge and a stove top! We’re even baking bread using just a frying pan.

This Budget Meal Challenge Cheat Sheet includes everything you need to recreate my $5/day budget meal challenge yourself (based on October 2025 grocery prices).



This includes:

• All recipes with step-by-step instructions
• Complete shopping list with prices
• Full 7-day meal plan layout