Money-Saving Mum Bags A Week’s Worth Of Food For £12 Using This Genius Trick
- Karolina Foulger, 32, bagged £60 of food for just £12
- Karolina goes to her local Tesco in time for yellow sticker deals
- Her finds included two chickens for 50p each reduced from £5
Food shopping is one of the most expensive parts of every family’s week.
And one mum has revealed her tips and tricks for bagging an entire week of food shopping for a fifth of its usual price.
Karolina Foulger, 32, a mum of one and a genetic technologist working in an NHS lab, has revealed how she got a week’s worth of food for just £12 by doing some extremely savvy shopping.
Karolina, who lives in Coventry, told money-saving community LatestDeals.co.uk: "I've been yellow sticker shopping from Tesco ever since I was pregnant.
"One day I went to Tesco after work around 7:30 and I noticed that all the reduced food was really cheap.
"Soon after, I realised that the food that goes out of date on that day is reduced by 10% first thing in the morning or late the night before and kept in a specific reduced section place within the department, for example, all the fresh fruit and veg together, meats somewhere else and all fridge items together.
"Around 6:30 the staff take all the reduced food away, reduce it further and bring it out in trolleys around 7pm.
“Sometimes they would put them back in the reduced sections but most often they bring them out and leave in the middle of the store.
"There's always fresh veg, fruit, meats and fridge items. Sometimes they also bring freezer stock but it can be kept out on the trolley for 20 minutes only so they take it back quite quickly.
“They also reduce all bakery things and bring them on a separate trolley. They also have the canned and packed goods in another trolley at the back of the store.
"These things are usually more expensive yet still reduced from full price so it's worth checking there.
“One day recently, I went to Tesco and as soon as I came in I saw a trolley in the middle, so I had a look and found all this great stuff.
“The new trolleys just kept coming so I had a chance to get a lot of cheap things.
"I paid around £12 and I got two Chicago Town pizzas for £2 each reduced from £4, some Haagen Dazs ice cream for £1.35 reduced from £4.50, two packets of grapes for around 20p each, two packs of raspberries, some McCain chips, a few packs of microwaveable veggies, two bags of potatoes, some sushi, sandwiches and much more!
"My favourite find was two chickens for 50p each reduced from £5, and another crown of chicken for 30p.
"I paid £12 for the shop but I can imagine it would have come to around £50 to £60 pounds easily.
"The two chickens were supposed to be £5 each, the pizzas were originally £4 each, and I got sandwiches, sushi, salmon crescents, filo and puff pastries which are all quite expensive.
"Going for yellow stickers saves me so much money, but having freezer space is essential otherwise you won't be able to make the most of it!
"Some things will last, but mostly I freeze them. You can freeze so many things… all the meats, most microwaveable meals that I get to have them for when I don't have time to cook, all the fruit including brown bananas (they are great in smoothies).
"Apparently you can even freeze some sandwiches as long as they don't have the fresh veg in them! My favourite thing to freeze is the bread.
"If you can get it for 10p a pack and freeze, defrosting each slice in the toaster as you need it, who would pay £1.50?
"My top tips for saving money and making the food last? Go yellow sticker shopping and use what you get smartly.
"That chicken I got I used to make a massive pot of chicken soup, using some of the veg I got as well.
"l then pulled the meat out of the soup and put it in the oven to roast and had enough meat for three days, putting the last bits in sandwiches.
"With all the fruit you get, you can freeze them or make smoothies to make them last longer.
"I am Polish and back home everyone always uses what grows wild. I am shocked that nobody picks the raspberries and the blackberries that grow all over the place.
“As long as you pick them somewhere rural and not close to the road you can get great fruit completely free. My freezer is full of blackberries I pick by the canal so they are nice and clean.”
As well as shopping in the yellow sticker section, Karolina also recommends following certain websites and downloading apps to help with regular money-saving.
"I get a lot of ideas and bargain notifications from the Latest Deals website so it's always good to follow sites like that,” she adds.
"They were the ones who told me about the Too Good to Go app which restaurants use to get rid of food at the end of the day.
"Morrisons is famous for making parcels and lots of people got really good deals this way. There's also OLIO where people advertise things to give away for free.”
Tom Church, co-founder of LatestDeals.co.uk, comments: “The pandemic has been hard on many families and we’re all looking for ways to cut down on spending.
“As your food shop is such an expensive part of the week, I’m all for cutting down on these costs where you can.
“Karolina’s tips are excellent: get to know your local supermarket and what time they put out yellow sticker items, and keep your eyes peeled on apps like Too Good To Go and OLIO to get hugely reduced or even free food!"
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