This week's top reads

Shared from a friend? Subscribe or see past wins

Can you feed a family for $10? Not anymore according to Canstar’s in-house testing guru Jasmine, who has put Curtis Stone’s famous ‘Feed Your Family For Less’ $10 meals to the test. That $10 cottage pie is now a very uncool $20.65.

My solution would probably be to try to pass off a bowl of Weet-Bix as a well-rounded dinner, but Jas has some far better solutions, including swapping out half the meat for beans, which will see the nutritional value skyrocket, while the price takes a nice cold shower.

Saving at the checkout is becoming even more critical as other costs spike. Our latest Canstar research shows that the majority of households have already seen their electricity bills rise following the end of the government rebates and as a result, one in six are now struggling to pay their current electricity bill.

Now if that’s you, get on the phone to your provider. Ask to be put on their lowest priced plan but also ask what payment options might be available to you.

Everyone else – it’s time to take your electricity account shopping. Canstar research shows opting for the lowest-priced plan instead of the average could deliver some decent savings. Just look at these potential savings over the next for a typical household switching from the average-priced plan to the lowest:

Canberra      $382

Adelaide       $311

Brisbane       $300

Sydney         $296

Melbourne   $246

Hobart          $109

With grocery prices soaring, Australian families are feeling the squeeze at the checkout. We went hunting for the $10 meal—here’s what we found.

Australia's two major airlines are boosting their frequent flyer programs with offers of bonus status credits and points. Learn how you can earn these extra credits.

Remember the days when shops offered up free testers? The COVID-19 era played a big role in ending a lot of this, but it is possible to find free stuff on the internet. Pharmacy Online is a great starting point, although a $1 minimum order applies and you’ll need to pay for shipping unless you spend $125. Or go direct – Huggies and BabyLove will let you try its products for free. Joining the Woolies and Coles rewards programs can often unlock free grocery samples, while beauty giants like MECCA and Priceline offer curated sample boxes to some members. Just be wary of the inevitable marketing emails and the temptation to spend on unnecessary items. 

Were you a Pokémon card collector back in the day? If you’ve got old cards tucked away–or you’re still storing them for your adult kids–some might be worth a small fortune. Research from eBay Australia says more than one in four Aussie Millennials regret selling their childhood card collections as values surge. Collections are now serious money–eBay sales data found a 1999 Base Set Charizard sold for $25,800 in 2025, while searches for Pokémon booster boxes have jumped 89% year-on-year.

It might be time to dig through that old shoebox.

The self-managed super fund (SMSF) lending market is heating up with AMP announcing it’s re-entering the fray in coming months. The number of lenders offering these loans has been noticeably limited since CBA and Westpac bowed out in 2018 and the re-entry of an established bank should help boost competition in the sector. Right now, our research shows there’s around 18 lenders offering residential SMSF mortgages, with advertised rates starting below 6.50 per cent to options that are over 7.00 per cent. There’s plenty of fine print that comes with these loans so make sure you read it, even when refinancing, and get some independent advice.