A SAVVY mum-of-two has revealed how she managed to slash her food bill from £100 to just £45 a week.
Thanks to a few easy tips and tricks, Nicola Richardson’s weekly food shop is no longer an expensive task amid the cost of living crisis.
The 37-year-old works full time in the education sector but also shares her top budget cooking tips on YouTube.
Nicola’s best advice is to weigh ingredients, make thorough shopping lists, look for “yellow sticker” products with reduced prices, and use apps to bag free food.
She told money-saving community LatestDeals.co.uk: “Life is busy! I feed me and my two children on £45 a week.
“At one point it was nearer £100 so I’ve pretty much cut our food bill in half.”
“The £45 a week includes everything – breakfasts, lunches and dinner for the three of us. It takes a bit of balancing to get it to work some weeks!
“We tend to have similar things each week for ease more than anything; anything that makes a school night go easier is a good thing.
She continued: “I plan all my meals every week, shopping from what I have in already.
“I write a list so that I don’t buy things I don’t need. This really helps with impulse shopping as well!”
Nicola added: “Buying cheaper cuts of meat and more vegetarian options automatically makes this cheaper. Weighing out ingredients so you don’t use too much also helps.”
The clever mum also suggested to keep an eye out for products with a yellow sticker, which indicates that the food is on sale.
But she warned to only buy it if “you will actually use it though”.
Nicola continued: “Definitely meal plan and write a shopping list – planning on what you’re eating and then writing a shopping list means you are less likely to impulse buy and buy things that you don’t need which end up being thrown away.
“If you can manage to time this, yellow stickers can be a really good way of saving money on food.”
Nicola also uses apps such as Olio that give away free surplus food, which she says it has been very helpful, especially towards the end of the month “when money is tight.”
She not only follows shopping lists religiously, but she also believes that cooking in bulk with a slow cooker when she returns home from the grocery store saves both time and money.
