SINGLE mum-of-four Kimberley has shared her top tips for making sure her kids are well-fed despite rising costs.
Kimberley Shannon claims a monthly bulk shop is the way to go when saving your coins.
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The 33-year-old spends an hour at the start of each month meal planning for the following four weeks.
As a self-employed mum on Universal Credit, her income fluctuates depending on demand for her bespoke cake-making business.
But Kimberly says a bulk food shop at the beginning of each month, and in-depth meal planning, enables her to always feed her family – even if business is slow.
And she claims she’s whittled her monthly shop down to £121 a month, including the use of Healthy Start Vouchers and Clubcard points.
Kimberly, from Norwich, said: “Some months I’m better off than others, but the point of the monthly shop and plan is so I’m always prepared for the worst.
“My tips are for people who, like me, worry about coming up short in terms of feeding their family each month.
“It’s organisation and planning that ensures my children have always got full bellies when they go to bed at night – no matter my financial situation.”
Kimberly has four children between the ages of two and twelve.
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She says that being self-employed means she often feels pressure to ensure there is always food on the table.
So, Kimberly’s monthly grocery shopping technique means she can fall back on it when times are particularly tough.
She’s found that meal planning for each month and a monthly bulk food shop helps her provide for her family.
Kimberly sits down for an hour a week and plans all her children’s evening meals for the month ahead.
Once she’s made her plan, she’ll go out to Tesco where she’ll use Clubcard points and vouchers to save money.
The shop includes all the meats, vegetables and carbohydrates to make each evening dish for the month – plus snacks for in between meals and breakfast items.
Sometimes, she’ll have to do a few small top-up shops for essential items, but Kimberly claims the main food shop comes to around £121 a month.
Kimberly said: “I create a meal plan, just for evening meals – and shop smart and cheap.
“I do one big monthly shop to minimise daily trips, because it saves time, fuel and money.
“And, I keep my meal plan on my fridge and stick to it!
“I do a four week meal plan as week one and three, and week two and four.
“This way I minimise the amount I have to buy, by using the same ingredients in different ways.
“The £121 figure doesn’t include toilet roll, toiletries, animal foods or sanitary products – I’m simply talking about a food shop.
“If you’re on Universal Credit, you may be entitled to Healthy Start Vouchers which gives me £4.25 a week or £17 every 4 weeks.
“If you have more than one child under four, you should get at least that per child – it’s worth finding out.”
Of her £121 monthly food shop, Kimberley spends £27.71 on fruit and veg (frozen, tinned and fresh), and £43.97 on meat and fish, including chicken dippers and fish fingers.
The remaining £66.22 is split between snacks, other cooking ingredients such as pasta, rice, cereals, oats bread, crisps and drinks etc.
Then Kimberly minuses £17 worth of Healthy Start Vouchers to equal the magic £121.
One of her main rules is “don’t live beyond your means – cheap doesn’t mean rubbish”.
She said: “Just because it’s frozen doesn’t mean it’s not good for you, and sometimes filling a plate is the most important thing.
“In Tesco you can get 20 frozen sausages for a £1.36 compared to eight from the fresh meats section for £2!”
Kimberly has one fridge freezer in her kitchen, and one smaller chest freezer in her shed where she keeps a lot of her monthly shop.
She also keeps sealed plastic storage tubs in her shed where she stores tinned and dried food to help save space in her home.
Kimberly creates simple lunches from any ingredients she has left over from the night before, and says before you know it, pay day is coming around again.
She said: “The point of my monthly shop and plan is always to be prepared for the worst.
“If my electrics go out, or I can’t fill up my car, I can work out ways round that, and we’ll survive.
“But if my kid’s are going hungry, that’s a huge problem, so it’s always my priority to make sure they go to bed full every night.
“It’s not easy, and at the minute, times are tough, but I just hope some families read my advice and it gives them a helping hand this winter.”
Around 143,000 families eligible for the Healthy Start Scheme in March this year failed to make a claim, so you could be making a saving like Kimberley.
Families eligible for help through the scheme now get prepaid cards to spend at a range of supermarkets and shops, replacing vouchers.
Healthy Start offers money to low-income families with small children to help pay for milk, vegetables, fruit and more.
We reported last month that according to the Local Government Association (LGA), which represents 350 councils in England and Wales, around one in three people who can get the cash are not claiming.
We’ve outlined what the scheme is and who is eligible below.
What is the Healthy Start scheme and how do I claim?
The Healthy Start scheme offers out prepaid food cards to women who are more than 10 weeks pregnant or women or men who have children under four.
They typically must also be on certain benefits, including:
- Income Support
- Income-based Jobseeker’s Allowance
- Income-related Employment and Support Allowance
- Child Tax Credit with a family income of £16,190 or less per year
- Pension Credit
- Universal Credit with no earned income or total earned income of £408 or less per month for the family.
However, if you are under 18 and pregnant you can get the money, even if you don’t receive any of the above benefits.
Families that qualify get £4.25 a week per child or double that depending on how old the child is.
For example, if your child is younger than 12 months old, you get £8.50 each week.
So in the first year of your child’s life you could get £442.
Women who are more than 10 weeks pregnant get £4.25 a week, and it’s the same amount for each child between one and four.
That amounts to £221 a year.
The food cards can be spent at any location that accepts Mastercard.
That means you can use it at supermarkets, markets, petrol stations, butcher shops and more.
Some supermarkets which are part of the scheme include Tesco, Iceland and Aldi.
The cards can only be used for foods including:
- plain liquid cow’s milk
- fresh, frozen, and tinned fruit and vegetables
- fresh, dried, and tinned pulses
- infant formula milk based on cow’s milk
You can apply via email or phone on [email protected] or 0300 330 7010. You can also apply online here.
To complete the application, you’ll need your name, address, date of birth, National Insurance (NI) number, baby’s due date (if you’re pregnant) and a benefit aware letter, if you’re over 18.
Last month, Sainsbury’s said it would provide those eligible for Healthy Start an extra £2 a week to spend up until April next year in the cost of living crisis.
