A THRIFTY dad who saved over £10,000 has shared his top tips for eating well without breaking the bank.
Al Baker, 49, from Aldershot, Hampshire, has managed to save money and feed his family premium food using various cost-cutting methods.
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The former supermarket worker made headlines after sharing how he lived on yellow sticker bargains after his £300,000 debt forced him into bankruptcy.
Al previously shared a series of extreme cost-cutting tips, including reusing toilet roll and drying tea bags on the washing line for a second brew.
He has now revealed everything you need to know to help you save that extra cash while keeping quality high.
Al, who shares money saving tips on his blog The Penny Pincher said: “Feeding your family is getting awfully expensive in the UK at the moment.
“Keeping an eye out for deals on food is becoming the norm, and a lot of parents struggle with keeping the freezer full.
“But it’s quite possible to eat well without paying those premium prices.”
Grow your own
One tip for ensuring you eat good, whole foods during the cost-of-living crisis is creating your own “window sill garden”.
Al said: “As a family, times are tough, especially so at the moment, not helped by cost of food right now, and so by growing some of our staple fruit and veggies it can really help lower food costs later in the year when everything is ready to eat.
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“What we don’t eat immediately will be frozen, and things like tomatoes will be made into pasta sauces that I jar up and keep in the cupboard until needed.
“This keeps us fed with homemade sauce for a good few months if we get a good tomato crop, and homemade always tastes better, and is all-natural, so no nasty preservatives – just old fashioned food preservation!
“I tend to start planting seeds in April and will let the colder weather move away and then plant them mostly outside apart from herbs which I keep on the kitchen window sill to grow, and they are a bit more protected and also makes the kitchen smell nice.”
To get started, Al said: “Buy a seed packet, get some plant pots to fit on the window sills around your house, and then find instructions online to sow them the right way.
“Lots of shops sell this time of the year – Aldi and Lidl had them from just 49p this week.
“Of course, you don’t even need to buy seeds; use the ones that come in your veggies, or even your food scraps. In a couple of weeks, you should have some seeds sprouting.”
‘Fakeaways’
Al also recommends trying your hand at “fakeaways” and ditching pricey dinners to save the cash.
The savvy saver said: “The expense is common in the spending diary every month, and many people love to just grab something on the way home so they don’t have to cook.
“But whilst eating at the Best Indian Restaurant near you is a lovely treat, the prices can add up if you go too frequently.
“However, if you find out what goes into your favourite dishes, you can make them from home and usually for at least half the price.”
“There are so many recipes online these days to for you to make takeaway quality at home.
Al adds that going to shop at a local Asian supermarket can provide you with the ingredients to make your own takeaway with recipes readily available online.
He continued: “The cost is massively cheaper, and you can shop about for the best prices.
“I go to an Asian supermarket locally and pick up authentic ingredients cheaper than at the supermarket and that really helps.
“Why spend £30 on a takeaway when you can make it for a third of the price or probably less?
“Plus, you can make it in advance, or batch cook your favourite recipe and you’ll have it ready to go, just take it out the freezer the night before and reheat!”
Cheap eats
Finally, he says it’s well worth scouting out your local supermarket’s reduced items, and taking advantage apps like Too Good To Go or Olio to buy or swap leftover foods.
He said: “Every supermarket marks items down day by day. Things that are near their ‘use by’ dates, as well as items with damaged packaging or missing elements, all get reduced down to prices that are much more healthy on the wallet.
“All you need to do is get to the supermarket at the right time to get the best selection from what’s put out.
“You can also use apps, such as Too Good to Go or Olio, to buy and/or swap leftover foods for only a fraction of their usual cost.
“Of course, you’ll be unable to choose what items you actually get (and how much of them), but it does mean a few extra things in the fridge that you can throw into meals to pad them out.”
In the past, the dad-of-two has been particularly thrifty over Christmas time.
He bought a yellow sticker turkey for £8 from M&S down from £60 on Christmas Eve last year to tuck into this December, and saved money from doing side hustles like market research, which paid him in vouchers.
Al, who is dad to Heather, 20, and George, five, has now managed to save for Christmas Day without having to budget – with £1,000 in the pot to spend on gifts and food.
He also sold items on eBay and Facebook Marketplace to fund the holidays, as well as using receipt scanning apps for cash back.
Christmas Day costs are totally taken care of for the thrifty dad, thanks to his forward thinking.
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