A savvy mum has revealed how she manages to save £300 a month on her food bill. Nicole McShane follows some simple steps to cut back on her spending, while keeping up sustainable habits to help the planet.
Nicole, who says she feeds her family six weeks’ worth of lunches and dinners for around £62, took to TikTok to impart her money-saving wisdom. And her advice has been well-received, with her video wracking up almost 50,000 views on the social media platform under the name @mrsnicolemcshane.
The 30-second clip begins with her making a list of meals and their ingredients. Nicole says: “Let me share with you how we have saved around £300 a month by batch cooking.”
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The family-favourite dishes included tacos, fajitas, spaghetti Bolognese, chilli and stew. Nicola continued: “So today is prep day – I’m making a list of all the meals we’re going to make, and all the ingredients we’re going to need.”
Along with her two children, Nicola then heads off to Bury market to source her ingredients. She claims swapping the usual grocery store shop for a food market is 'more sustainable' and is 'a lot cheaper than the supermarket.'
She also claims the food is better quality. At the market, Nicola says she bags six weeks' worth of ingredients for lunches and dinners for around £62. She later shared that she tends to opt for the same meals so that she knows the ingredients back to front.
TikTok users were impressed by Nicola's savings. @vickylake69 commented: "£62 for 6 weeks of meals? WOW," to which Nicola responded: "I know it’s crazy. We didn’t think we could do it but 6 months later and we saved loads."
The mum also issued some advice for those whose local markets might be expensive. Tiktokker @ninjaal.eaf commented: "I really wish my local market was cheaper for meats and veg than the supermarket!"
Nicola recommended: "See if they do deals sometimes they throw extra in. If you go at the end of the day it’s also cheaper."
Impressively, Nicola still treats her families to takeaways. She explained in the video's caption: "We have the same meals each week and we have takeaways/treats at the weekend. We still spend the same on our treats just our grocery bill is a lot less."
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