Curtis Stone wows with $10 dinner using Coles staples: 'Really affordable'

It might seem like a lifetime ago that Curtis Stone's Coles ads promised to help you feed your family of four for under $10. With a cost of living crisis, Aussies have seen the price of their previously cheap and cheerful meals increase substantially.

So, can you still feed your family of four for under $10? Curtis thinks so!

Speaking to Yahoo Lifestyle, Curtis told us how he recently made an "inexpensive" dinner with ingredients from Coles.

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"Well, you have to, of course, take a calculator with you and add stuff up as you're doing it, that's always how we had to do it," he told us. "And we have beautiful fruits and vegetables that are inexpensive – quinoa, rice, grains, all of that stuff is a great way to sort of stretch your budget, and just be really careful with when you shop."

The celebrity chef added, "The other day, I did a cassoulet. We've got chicken drumsticks at $3.75 a kilo right now, which is really cool. So I did a cassoulet of chicken drumsticks and a can of beans and some veggies. And you know that all of that stuff is really affordable."

It's possible that Curtis was referring to this recipe:

How to stretch your grocery budget further

Many Aussies have pointed out on social media in recent years that Coles assumed you'd have a lot of things in the cupboard already, including things like wine and oil.

One Reddit user shared, "It's definitely still possible to feed a family of four for under $10/meal. Just don't expect a lot of meat or other nice things.

"Dried legumes and grains will get you most of the way there. Throw in some cheap veggies, dairy, spices, maybe even a touch of mince, and you'll still be under the $2.50 mark. You're looking at stuff like pea soup, lentil bolognese, dahl, or rice and beans."

"This. Lentils and other legumes have become a fav even when I have more $$ for groceries in a week because they taste so f***ing good when you prepare them well," another agreed.

Others suggested swapping from beef to pork mince to save money when making dishes that require mince, with one saying, "We swapped to pork mince, the kids can’t tell the difference once it’s cooked in stuff like nachos or spag bol. We also eat more vego now, luckily the kids actually like tofu."

Some also suggested using bags of TVP (textured vegetable protein) to bulk up meals further.

"My favourite way to use [TVP] is to bulk out a meal. So I’ll make spag bol with 60% mince, 20% lentils, 20% TVP," another said.

"Stir fries are great," someone else suggested. "500g of stir fry beef ($10), frozen veggies ($5/500g) and some rice (buy it by the sack from an Asian grocer) and I can feed me, my wife, and the kids for about $5 each."

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"Me and my SO got a vacuum sealer and started buying meat in bulk off our local butcher," one person added. "I haven’t stopped going to the big two but it has made a massive impact on our grocery bill.

"I really feel for struggling Aussies that can’t necessarily afford to buy in bulk."

One user added, "The last time that ad was promoted was in 2017. Inflation puts that at around $13 today. You CANNOT feed your family for 13 f***ing dollars today."

"It's now fed your family for $10 a serve/portion," another agreed.

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