A SAVVY mum has revealed how she manages to spend just £12.50 a week on the entire family’s food shop.
Sammy Hancock, 34, has worked out she can keep her monthly budget as low as £50 per month by using cashback apps and coupons- as well as being on the lookout for bargains.
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She has also been able to save by checking yellow sticker deals, cooking in batches and getting freebies on Facebook Marketplace.
The savvy shopper who works as a retail assistant in Alton, East Hampshire, started looking for different ways to save money back in 2014.
Sammy said: “I try and budget £20 a week for a food shop for me, my partner Darren and my son.
“In total, with all of the savings I manage to get, it ends up being just over £50 a month or less.
“An average family of three spends just over £500 a month on food, and that usually comes with a lot of waste.
“I look out for the yellow sticker reductions for anything that can be frozen, as well as my cashback apps to see if I can get anything cheaper or my money back.
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“I also go to a local community shop a couple of days a week that receives food past its sell-by date from local supermarkets and gives it away for free.”
The mum-of-one added that some of her best supermarkets finds include a 47 pack of pampers, a pack of Johnson’s wipes and an Ellas kitchen meal that she only paid 15p for.
She has also been able to get four loaves of bread from Morrisons for 10p each.
Sammy added: “I got 12 bottles of my favourite Heinz burger sauce for £3, or 25p each from Iceland which usually costs £1 or more per bottle, as they were all reduced to clear.
“I don’t like paying full price for any items, so if I can get the same product for five pence cheaper, I will.”
Sammy uses her savvy shopping skills to make budget meals which she will bulk cook in order to eat leftovers throughout the week.
She said: “We eat a lot of pasta dishes, a 3kg bag of pasta from Tesco is £3.30 and that can last up to a month or more.
“By looking at the yellow sticker sections, I have been able to bag a lot of fresh fruit and vegetables for less than 20 pence each to add to meal times as well as big packs of mince and chicken for under £2.”
The savvy shopper has even managed to get freebies through contacting companies about their products.
She has also managed to furbish her new home with discounted and free second-hand appliances she found on Facebook Marketplace.
She said: “I’m quite an impulsive person, so became obsessed with trying to collect as many coupons as possible in order to cut down on shopping.
“When coupons were more popular in the UK, I’d use a website called ‘CaringEveryday’ that offered coupons for toiletries and medicines which was really useful.
“Some newspapers still do coupons for days out, so once Covid restrictions are calmed, it would be nice to go somewhere like Legoland.
“Even though there aren’t really that many UK coupon sites now, there’s a whole community online which will share voucher codes and freebie offers which is basically the same thing.
“I’ve found that one of the best way to get free items these days, is by sending feedback to companies which you like.
“In doing so, I’ve actually managed to get a free Yankee Candle worth £13 and a Lush bath bomb box with three different bombs in that was worth £16.
“Facebook Marketplace is really useful, we managed to get two sofas from there for £50, a free gas oven and even a washing machine for £15. “
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This post first appeared on thesun.co.uk
