Food shopping is costly – and it only gets more expensive as your family grows.
But one single mom wants us to know that you can shop on a budget, and it doesn’t mean living on rice, pasta and Super Noodles for the rest of your life.
Karolina Foulger, a 32-year-old mom-of-one from the UK, can spend around £12 ($14.55) on a week’s worth of food.
Her secret for success? She simply shops savvy.
Speaking to LatestDeals.co.uk, she explained exactly how she manages to spend a quarter of what she used to spend, explaining:
“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“Soon after, I realised that the food that goes out of date on that day is reduced by 10% first thing in the morning or late the night before and kept in a specific reduced section place within the department, for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.”
This isn’t just a British thing, either.
Supermarkets in the US also mark down goods reaching their sell-by date by 25 percent in the morning, and increase the discount nearer to closing time.
If you can switch up your shopping habits and hit the store late at night, you’d be surprised at just how much you can save.
You can find all sorts of reduced produce, so your choice definitely isn’t limited.
As Karolina explains:
“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.”
As most of the “use by” stuff can be frozen, while the “best before” stuff is safe to use within a few days, you can often stock up on items that will last you all week – or even longer.
You never quite know what you might find in the yellow sticker section, either.
Karolina’s personal top find was two chickens for 50p (approx. 62.5 cents) each reduced from £5 ($6.97).
Of course, while going for yellow stickers can help you save loads of money, you’ll need the freezer space to store your finds!
And by the way, not all yellow stickers are yellow – they could be orange, white, red; any color.
It’s worth finding out what color sticker your local supermarket uses and train your eyes to pick up on these labels while you’re out and about.
It’s definitely worth checking out what’s available in your local area, or even asking staff at your local corner shop about what happens to their unwanted produce.
If you don’t know, don’t be afraid to ask. When you’re aware of exactly when to expect a discount, you can make sure you’re there to make the most of the offer.
Got any grocery shop-saving tips you’d like to share? Be sure to let us know in the comments below.
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