A mum-of-two has revealed that she saves £2,000 a year on supermarket food by purchasing reduced items.
Helen Rosbotham started being savvy with her money in her twenties, when she was a single mum to daughters Freya and Rose – who are now 22 and 19.
The young mum, who was living in social housing and relying on income support at the time, shopped in the reduced aisle to keep costs down.
Since then, she’s maintained this handy shopping tactic and does her weekly food shop for just £40.
The project manager, from Norfolk, said: ‘When I was in my early twenties, I had nothing. It was really quite tragic.
‘I remember one time, I had enough money for milk and one potato, and a little bit of frozen veg for my daughter.
‘I went without meals myself sometimes.
‘I remember getting quite upset that I could not get the shopping down to where I thought it should be. Prices kept going up and up and up, so I got into that mentality of having to figure out what I could make quick and cheap.’
Helen estimates that her yellow sticker hack now saves around £40 a week – the equivalent to more than £2,000 a year.
She even has her own Instagram page @helenshomecomforts, with almost 3,000 followers who enjoy reading her money-saving tips.
The mum recommends going to the supermarket after 4pm, when products are being reduced for the day, and says weekdays are usually the best time to find bargains.
Once the shop is completed, Helen carefully plans meals for the next week to ensure they are not wasting any food – but also has ‘back-up’ dinners in the freezer.
The 43-year-old says the method has meant she’s been forced to get more creative with cooking, as it’s difficult to have a meal plan when you don’t know what food will be reduced.
Recently she’s rustled up brie and caramelised onion tarts, homemade gammon-en-croute and shredded lamb samosas.
She added: ‘I was quite impressed with myself, because the samosas were not something I would ever normally make. I used a massive piece of lamb that was reduced to £2.59 and added celery, onion, carrot and peas.
‘The tarts cost me just over £3 to make four and I’ve also made a hearty fish stew with some fish fillets I got for £2.18.
‘That’s the other thing about doing your shopping this way – you end up trying different recipes and different ideas that you wouldn’t necessarily have made.’
For more money-saving advice as well as chat about cash and alerts on deals and discounts, join Metro.co.uk’s Facebook group, Money Pot.
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