Why single mum-of-two Dani Venn swears by this 'cheap' supermarket staple 'people are scared of'

If you're a foodie who loves scrolling for recipe inspiration on social media, you may have been noticing a sinister trend emerging in recent months.

The growing popularity of 'poverty meals' is well and truly a sign of the times, as Australian families feeling the cost-of-living pinch grapple with the simple fact that with grocery prices skyrocketing, feeding families nutritious and filling meals on a shoestring budget is becoming increasingly challenging.

Three-time MasterChef Australia contestant Dani Venn is uniquely equipped to deal with this problem, as it's something the single mother-of-two thinks about every day as she plans her children's days on a plate.

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For Venn, her solution is one that looks towards an underrated supermarket aisle – the freezer section.

"I think one thing that people are scared of is using tinned and frozen produce," Venn tells 9honey Kitchen.

"But these things are equally as nutritious as fresh or dried [produce]. Don't be afraid of them, and they're really cheap."

Venn swears by frozen fruit and vegetables, as well as using tinned legumes and beans – including lentils, butter beans, canellini beans, and chickpeas – in the meals she prepares at home.

"You can buy a whole can of beans for a dollar, and draining a can of lentils and adding [it] say into your spaghetti bolognese, like half a cup of lentils or beans is a serving of [vegetables]," she says.

"So you're actually adding in servings of [vegetables] and also getting in some really good fibre and carbohydrates into your diet... and the kids don't see it because it's often the same colour as the bolognese."

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Another way Venn cuts grocery costs is by taking a secondary cut of meat, which is cheaper than the prime cut, and using it to flavour the meal rather than be the whole meal – and then using legumes or beans as the main event.

She emphasises how tinned and frozen produce is "just as nutritious" as what's in the fresh food aisle – and their price tags should mean they have a better reputation rather than turn noses up.

$34 difference between fresh and frozen – and you get more use out of frozen

"Berries are so damn expensive," Venn laments – and she's not incorrect. A 125g punnet of raspberries at Woolworths or Coles costs $6, but a 500g bag of frozen raspberries costs $7 at each store.

It might be $1 more expensive at face value, but that's $14 per kilogram if you buy frozen, versus $48 per kilogram for fresh – and you get more use out of a 500g bag than a 125g punnet.

"You can either defrost them by putting them in a bowl and let them sit in the fridge, top those with yoghurt, or put them on top of ice cream if your kids want a dessert," she says.

"I always try and just add in that element because I then know that they're getting more goodness," Venn says of adding frozen fruit to sweet treats.

"You can make your ice cream in a blender with frozen banana and frozen berries, you know, mix it all together, and my kids love stuff like that," she says.

"So don't be afraid to adding frozen fruit into your meals and things like that."

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