Meet the mum who regularly hunts for yellow stickers - and recently bagged more than £40 worth of food for just £1.40.
Lucy Robinson, 31, has been looking for food bargains for a while - and says she treats it like a game to keep her kids entertained. Just days ago she says she took home a haul including three whole chickens, a pack of pork chops, two chicken jalfrezis and a cut of roast beef for less than £1.50.
Mum-of-three Lucy's top tip is to make sure you freeze your yellow sticker finds to beat the use-by dates. She also recommends shopping late in the day to find a real bargain - and asking staff is there is anything being kept back.
Lucy, from Bradford, 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. 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."
Lucy separated from her husband in January 2020 but still looks after her kids - aged 14, 10 and four - every weekend and on school holidays. She is currently studying to be a mental health worker and lives off monthly Universal Credit payments worth £334.91 per month.
Lucy admits that local shops can be hit or miss with cheap products - but there is gold to be found if you know where to look. She said: "I normally don't need to spend more than £20 on my weekly shop.
"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."
Lucy always sticks her budget meals in her box freezer when she gets home too - which helps her cheat expiration dates and gives her enough food "for weeks".
Her latest haul - which she bagged in a local McColl's last Sunday (11/9) - is her best yet, which cost just £1.40. Lucy 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'm not in work at the moment while I study health and social care, because I want to help support people with mental health difficulties. 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."
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