MILLIONS of families are looking for ways to cut back as the cost of living crisis bites, but our expert feeds her family of four for a week on a budget of just £38.
Naomi Willis runs the Skint Dad website with husband Ricky and is a whizz at budgeting and finding bargains after clearing her own mountain of debt.
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The mother-of-two, who is one of our Squeeze Team experts here to save you money, Naomi has shared her secrets for slashing your bill at the supermarket checkout.
She said: “As a family of four, my husband and I managed to slash our weekly shop almost in half.
“We went from spending £70 to now just around £38 with just a few simple tweaks.”
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Meal planning
Naomi’s most important piece of advice is to plan your meals.
She said: “It sounds like a very boring thing to do but once you start deciding on the meals you are going to eat in advance, you will instantly see your food bill drop.”
Naomi suggests planning ahead three days of meals to start with, so that if you get bored you can easily swap one meal for another without the food passing its sell-by-date
“Meal planning enables you to know what you’re going to shop for in advance so you can better plan your budget as you’ll know exactly what you’ll need to spend.
“Plus you’ll be able to see if you need to adapt your meal plan in order to spend less.
“You will waste much less food as you will only buy what you actually need.”
If you’ve got questions about how to beat rising costs or you need help resolving a money problem, email us at [email protected].
Naomi’s meal plan
PLANNING each meal means far less food waste and it’s much easier to stick to a budget at the supermarket.
BREAKFAST: Naomi feeds the family with cereal and fruit or toast and eggs.
LUNCH: Naomi alternates between leftovers from the previous night’s dinner, cheese and ham toasties, soups or beans on toast. On top of this she’ll add snacks such as yoghurt, crisps, fruit or biscuit bakes.
DINNERS:
Monday: Carbonara, made with bacon, eggs, cheese, spaghetti and served with broccoli.
Tuesday: Vegetarian Shepherd’s Pie, made with mushrooms, onion, tomato puree, mashed potatoes and frozen peas (plus tock and marmite from the store cupboard)
Wednesday: Meatballs and pasta with garlic bread, made with minced beef, penne pasta, tin of tomatoes (plus herbs and spices from the cupboard).
Thursday: Slow cooker Spanish chicken served with peas and rice (this doesn’t need to be in the slow cooker, but Naomi says she does so for a lazy day dinner). Chicken thighs and chopped peppers in the slow cooker, sauce on top and cook it for eight hours.
Friday: Three bean chilli and rice, made with tinned mixed beans, tinned tomatoes, onion, pepper, sweetcorn (stock, herbs and spices from the cupboard).
Saturday: Chicken drumsticks (seasoned with spices from cupboard), served with rice and sweetcorn.
Sunday: Tuna pasta bake, made with tinned tuna, penne pasta, tinned tomato tom make a pasta sauce, sweetcorn, covered in cheese.
In the Skint Dad Facebook group, the subject of food waste comes up time and time again.
“People don’t know what to do with food leftovers so we have threads of answers from other members suggesting recipe ideas so no food ever has to go to waste.”
Shifting to eating more vegetarian food has also helped Naomi slash her families’ food bill.
Yellow sticker bargains and food waste apps
Find out what time your local supermarket puts out their yellow-sticker reduced stock by speaking to staff, says Naomi.
There are great savings to be made if you are flexible and creative.
“For example recently we had a group chat on making your own butter. Instead of buying it for £2 you can buy a yellow sticker cream for just 30p and make your own by blending it up. ”
She is also a huge fan of the Too Good To Go food app, which allows shops and restaurants to sell “magic bags” of stock they need to shift at knockdown prices
“I highly recommend it. Every day, delicious, fresh food goes to waste at cafes, restaurants, hotels, shops and manufacturers – just because it hasn’t sold in time.
“You won’t know exactly what’s in your order until you pick it up – it’s all part of the surprise.”
Although it might not be such a good idea for people with food allergies or fussy eaters, it’s a great money saver if you’re happy to take pot luck.
“We have done it a few times and it is an excellent way to pick up a bag with £10 worth of food for much less.
“It’s a lot of fun too as it enables you as a family to get together and make an off the cuff meal.”
Another great money-saver is the Approved Food website, which she describes as “yellow sticker shopping online”.
“You can find up to 70% off products and it’s a great place to buy your kids treats.
“There is nothing wrong with the products that are on sale, they are just closer to their use-by dates than food you buy elsewhere.”
Yesterday, a Morrisons worker revealed the best times to get yellow sticker bargains.
And a savvy shopper revealed how she spent just £163 on food over the course of a year by living off yellow-sticker items.
Plus a supermarket insider has laid bare the layout tricks shops use to encourage you to spend more money.
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