Samantha Watkins has just managed to put together a massive feast for 50 people for the bargain cost of £2 a head.
The 40-year-old mum-of-thee started planning for her Nanna’s 78th birthday at home after rejecting plans for everyone to head out to a fancy restaurant for a meal.
"My Nanna Sylvia is very special to our family,” she told money-saving site LatestDeals.co.uk.
“We all adore her, but no one more than me! Myself and my mum Susan decided we would do Nanna a birthday get together with a few family and friends."
And that meant putting together a menu everyone could enjoy.
"I started with my little book that I like to doodle in and started making a plan of action for what food I was going to do," Samantha said.
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"Nanna loves beef curry and rice so that was a must on the list, then I thought that not everyone likes spicy food so I decided to do hot dogs for the children and those who don't eat curry, along with some sides of mini vegetable samosas, spring rolls and naan," Samantha said.
She also got some help from friends and other guests.
"A friend kindly did some lamb samosas and homemade coleslaw to go along with the curry," Samantha said.
"My cousin Mike is also well-known in the family for his homemade foot long sausage rolls and homemade scotch eggs."
Then there were the cold foods.
"The plan was three different types of sandwiches, egg mayonnaise, chicken salad and ham, two lots of different hot food and a few sides of picky bits like sausage rolls, mini pizzas, mini cocktail sausages: the typical food people love to see and eat on a buffet," she said.
But she wasn't finished there.
"I love smoked salmon and beetroot so I decided I'd do a little of what I like and created a mini toast with beetroot cream cheese topped with some smoked salmon and dill," Samantha said.
"A good bright fruit platter and a veggie platter always looks appealing so that was a must to have along with a few naughty mini cakes and chocolate rolls.
"I think every buffet table should have a centrepiece and that had to be Nan's favourite giant fresh cream and strawberry cake, which we stuck a giant sparkling fountain in when we sang her Happy Birthday."
Menu mostly fixed, she went on a mission to track down ingredients for less.
"I shopped around at Tesco, Sainsbury, Iceland and Lidl to find deals," Samantha said.
"For example, Lidl do coriander at 29p, whereas a whole bag at Tesco is £1.25 so big savings there. Four Chicken breasts already cooked at Iceland were £3 against Tesco which was £5.90 for 4.
"Sainsbury's had offers on their salad that week for 49p and Lidl sliced smoked salmon was £2.95 a pack. Looking around all the shops for the best deals and price comparing is the way to keep cost low.
"I like to make sandwiches fresh with good quality meats so I decided to use chicken breasts for the chicken salad sandwiches and for the ham, I bought a small ham joint and boiled it myself, as it works out cheaper to buy a joint of ham and cook it yourself than to buy packs.
"You get far more meat from a joint then you would from pre-packed meat and it tastes so much better.”
And all the effort proved worth it.
"The day went to absolute plan, everyone really enjoyed the food and Nan really had a wonderful day and that is what we set out to achieve,” Samantha said.
"We were going to take Nan originally to the Ned Hotel in London for a two hour buffet priced at £50 a head - we saved hundreds doing it ourselves and had no time limit.
"My mission was complete and it was all achieved for a grand total of just £100!"
