Queensland mum of 16 shares her grocery saving tips

A mother of 16 children in Queensland has shared her grocery savings tips.

In an interview with David Campbell and Belinda Russell on Today Extra this morning, Jeni, who shares nine sons and seven daughters with her husband Ray, said theirs is a "busy household."

"We're up early," she told the hosts, explaining that some of her children work while the rest are in school. Their eldest child is 31 and their youngest just turned seven.

"So I actually have a few hours of quiet in the daytime which is really nice," she added.

School is back in Queensland so Jeni began by explaining her "go-to" lunches for her school-age children, saying if she or Ray make the lunches the kids don't eat it, so she gets them to make their own lunches with some rules.

"They must have a piece of fruit in there, they must have some dairy, they can have one snack and all four are a good balance between homemade snacks and convenience foods and then a sandwich or a wrap as well," she explained.

She said her older often children step in to help the younger ones with their lunches if they are struggling to pull it together.

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Only 10 of the kids still live at home so Jeni spends on average about $500 to $600 per week. This includes six three-litre bottles of milk as well as plenty of sliced bread and in season or on sale fruit and vegetables as well as frozen goods.

"Knowing that at any one meal we could have 10 or 12 people eating here or sometimes when the older kids come home with their husbands and wives and grandbabies we could be feeding 25 people at a meal," she said.

Jeni said the family does a lot of cooking at home including pasta bake, casseroles and savoury pastries.

Share your grocery savings tips by emailing 9Honey@nine.com.au.