Cost of living: mum shares tips for getting £40 worth of food for just £1.40 using yellow sticker items

The cost-of-living crisis is hitting families all over the UK hard, and most notably is being reflected in the shopping budgets of millions.

The price of supermarket items have increase rapidly in the past few months, with own brand items even significantly increasing in price. While the cost of living is creating a difficult situation for millions of UK residents, one mum has shared her tips for getting £40 worth of food for only £1.40.

Lucy Robinson, 31 from Bradford, has been tightening the purse-strings for a while now, and has shared her best ‘yellow sticker’ tips to reduce your shopping budget.

‘I’ve made it into a game with the kids’

Only last week, Lucy was able to bag a haul of three whole chickens, a pack of pork chops, two chicken jalfrezi meals and a cut of roast beef for less than £1.50 from her local McColl’s store. The mum-of-three said: “I’ve been yellow label shopping for a while. Just the other week I got an entire shoulder of beef for £4 - it was 70% off.”

‘Yellow sticker’ items refers to those which have been reduced by the store, either because the ‘use by’ dates are nearing or there is damage to the packaging. Her tips include freezing these items as soon as possible to beat the ‘use by’ dates, while also shopping later in the day.

Lucy also said she uses the cost-cutting pasttime to play a game with her children, adding: “I’ve actually made it into a sort of game with my kids too, they all go off and try and find the cheapest items in the shop.”

‘Never buy veg in packets’

She has also advised that shoppers avoid smaller stores as these tend to have higher prices, however there is an exception to this rule. Lucy said: “Asking in local stores if they have any food on sale is also good. They don’t often have much on sale - but sometimes you get lucky.

“Usually smaller stores have higher prices, but sometimes you get lucky and they have too much stock - so they put normally expensive items on sale for low prices. Another trick is I never buy veg in packets - it’s always cheaper to buy it as loose items, like three onions in a packet can be 20p more expensive, or more.”

‘I’m always struggling with money’

Lucy’s cost-cutting methods have been commonplace in her life for a while now. She is currently unemployed, but is studying for a qualification in health and social care.

Lucy, who seperated from her husband in January 2020 but still looks after her kids - aged 14, 10 and four - every weekend and on school holidays, added: “Before I found this latest haul my fridge had been virtually empty all week except for a jar of ham, so this was such a lucky find.

“I have three kids, and while they normally live their father it means I have to find budget deals in the shops to feed them while they are staying over.

“It’s especially important too with the cost of living crisis - I’m always struggling with money while I’m out of work, so finding cheap deals keeps me going. I thankfully have an all-electric flat, so I’m not being affected by rising fuel costs, but budget shopping does help.”