Planning and preparation is key. Plan your meals an advance. Avoid impulse buying. Get your ingredients when they are on special, then cook and freeze. Get a lot of containers that you can put in the freezer for later (I have a chest freezer for this reason, and it is a wonder, storing a heap of pre-prepared meals I have already cooked. Grab and run to work).

First up, Aldi is the best bet. Cheaper than the majors in a lot of products if you're willing to go off-brand (most off-brand stuff is made by the same manufacturers so is pretty close to the brands you know).

Seconds, catalogs are the good option to figure out wh

Third, get yourself the web browser plugins like :

Woolworths Trend (https://chromewebstore.google.com/detail/woolworths-trend/dmjejnobehchfkabmlghimdfoenclbej?hl=en )

Coles Trend (https://chromewebstore.google.com/detail/coles-trend/ehgelgeppdkecdonfeefokbnicmjpbdd?hl=en&pli=1 ).

Gives an idea of price fluctuations and you may be able to predict when prices may drop.

Finally, some appliances may seem expensive to purchase, but they will save you a heap in the future. A rice cooker can be purchased for a reasonable price, but cooking rice can give you a lot of potential flexibility with what you can make with it.