A savvy mum has managed to make consistently delicious homemade meals from scratch from just 62p per portion.
The cost of living crisis rages on, with many families on the hunt for new methods to reduce their monthly outgoings. Food is a constant cost, with rising supermarket prices leaving many shoppers feeling the pinch - but one mum is sharing her tips to slash the shopping bill.
Mum-of-two Laura Light cooks up family favourites including carbonara, chicken chow mein, slow cooker peach chicken and more for mere pennies, with enough leftovers for her husband to enjoy at work the next day.
READ MORE: Lark Lane takeaway Woo Tan Scran is 'back' just weeks after closing
Laura, from Southampton, has been shopping frugally for years, after bringing her weekly spend down from £215 a week to just £40 after she had her second daughter eight years ago. Now, she shops at discount retailers and relies on own brand products to keep costs down.
The savvy mum also stocks up on meat by snapping up value hampers from online food retailer MuscleFood.com to help ensure her shopping bill remains manageable. Organisation is another key element in the budget-saving mum's action plan.
Laura meal plans each week, always shops with a list, and checks her cupboards, fridge and freezer to make sure she's using everything with no waste. Among her favourite family meals to whip up is carbonara at just 62p per portion, slow cooker peach chicken coming in at 67p each, Chinese beef stir fry at 99p per portion, and maple and honey pork loin traybake for a pound each.
Laura also rustles up sausage rolls for packed lunches which cost her just 22p each to cook. The mum, who runs the blog Savings4SavvyMums, said: "When we first seriously looked at our finances eight years ago, I was shocked at just how much we were spending. We went from two salaries to one so we had to make some serious savings.
"I found that making small changes was the best way for us to cut costs. Small things like my husband taking leftovers for lunch saved £3 a day, switching to the budget own brand lines saved us a fortune, and buying in bulk to keep costs down.
"Now, with food prices going up all the time, my strict budgeting and everything I've learnt over the last eight years is really helping us keep costs down. Buying our meat in bulk from MuscleFood certainly helps.
"I've always bought chicken in bulk and the quality from the online retailer means I use less meat than if I was buying frozen, essentials chicken from the supermarket. For example, I use two chicken breasts for the four of us in my chicken chow mein. That provides enough for all of us for dinner in the evening with leftovers for the next day. I'm making that for 77p a portion so it's a really cheap, healthy meal.
"My children love chicken nuggets and chips, just like all kids, so rather than buying them frozen, I'm making them from scratch and saving money." Laura continued: "Cooking from scratch really can save you cash and it doesn't have to be as time consuming as people may think. When I recently made beef lasagne, I compared making my own sauce to buying the cheapest, own brand sauces from the supermarkets.
"Mine worked out at 15p cheaper. Those 15ps soon add up. Cooking and eating on a budget is now more important than ever so I've put a few tips together to help people wanting to save a few pounds on their weekly shop."
Laura's top tips for budget cooking
-
Check your cupboards and freezer - always check what you already have before you go shopping. Tinned and frozen veg are great staples to have - you can use them in anything and they taste good too. There's also zero food waste.
-
Use the slow cooker - make the slow cooker your friend. If you're short of time, throw it all in before you head out and cook on low for around eight hours. You can prep and freeze bags of meat and veg to pop in the slow cooker. Just remember these will retain moisture so finish off the last 30min to an hour of slow cooking with the lid removed.
-
Eat own brand - always buy the cheapest own brand item and move up to the next one if you don't like it. Most people can't tell the difference. This is a no-brainer with pasta, rice and budget vegetables.
Get the top stories straight to your inbox by signing up to our what's on newsletter
READ NEXT:
