Inside the hectic life of Australia’s biggest family

The Bonell family, from Queensland’s Toowoomba, is made up of nine boys and seven girls – Jesse, 35, Brooke, 34, Claire, 31, Natalie, 30, Karl, 28, Samuel, 26, Cameron, 25, Sabrina, 24, Tim, 22, Brandon, 20, Eve, 19, Nate, 17, Rachel, 16, Eric, 15, Damian, 14 and Katelyn, 10.

Comedian Jim Gaffigan once joked, “You know what it’s like having a fourth kid? Imagine you’re drowning, then someone hands you a baby.” So what’s it like to have sixteen kids?

Jeni, the mother at the helm, spends a staggering $600 every week on groceries just to keep their pantry stocked. With inflation hitting hard, that budget has crept up by $50. For a family of 18 (with 8 kids still living at home), it takes a lot to keep everyone well-fed.

The weekly grocery list is nothing short of impressive: 17 three-litre bottles of milk, 14 boxes of cereal, 45 tubs of yogurt, and a whopping four dozen eggs.

“We go through 50 litres of milk each week and one to two loaves of bread every day,” says Jeni.