With the cost of living front and centre of many Australians’ minds, news.com.au asked Jamie during his time in the country what food he thinks people are wasting their money on.

“No one would believe me but it’s processed food,” he said.

“It’s a really expensive way to get your food. It might seem convenient and cheap but actually it doesn’t really help.

“If you can cook, if you can batch cook, you can make food for like a tenth of the price, half the price easily.”

The much-loved British chef touched down in Sydney last week in celebration of his almost 10-year partnership with Royal Caribbean cruises, where you can find his restaurant Jamie’s Italian.

“I grew up in a pub and I lived above the pub restaurant. Mum and Dad worked very, very hard and every now and again we used to go on a cruise — it was one of the things that we did as a family until I was about of 13/14,” Jamie told news.com.au.

“And we used to love it. I think that was the only way that Dad could switch off.

“But now I’ve got eight restaurants in eight ships, and I never, ever dreamt when I was forging my career that, that would ever happen, but it’s nearly a ten year relationship.”

During his visit, the award-winning cook, who shot to fame almost 25 years ago with his cooking program, The Naked Chef in 1999, also spoke to news.com.au about cooking on a budget.

When asked what meal he would make if he only $10 to spend, he quickly said it would have to be pasta.

“Probably it’s going to be some pasta isn’t it? It’s going to be some tomatoes, it’s going to be some herbs, it’s definitely going to be a little bit of chilli, and of course some olive oil,” Jamie said.

And it comes as no surprise given pasta dishes on his cruise menu are some of his favourite.

“They’re cooked with incredible seafood classics like carbonara. That’s my happy place, just getting into that corner, with a little salad, little bowl of pasta, a little glass of wine,” he said as has pointed to a table with a water view.

Reacting to a clip of the interview online, social media users were quick to point out a bottle of olive oil would be tough to buy on a $10 budget.

Many Aussies would remember Coles’ ‘Feed Your Family’ campaign from 2017, which had celebrity chef Curtis Stone touting recipes that could feed a family of four for under $10.

The ads resurfaced this year as the cost of living soared with TikTok users sharing clips showing how drastically things had changed.

In one video, TikTok user @apostolucky bought a loaf of Helga’s Traditional Wholemeal bread for $4.90 and a jar of Nutella for $6.20, coming to a total of $11.10, and in another video a packet of two-minute noodles and a bag of Coles-brand shredded cheese came to $9.50.

Despite being a professional foodie, it was revealed during his trip Down Under, Jamie had no idea what an iconic Aussie Tim Tam was.

“What’s a Tim Tam? What is it, it sounds like some terrible rash,” he joked during an interview with The Today Show.

Tasting the chocolate coated biscuit for the first time, he said: “This is the moment of truth – this thing I have never had before.

“Very, very nice … I will never forget this moment.”