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Manchester Evening News
Manchester Evening News
Business
Emma Gill

Mum shares tip for getting 'fussy kids' to ditch Heinz beans and other big brands for cheaper food

Parents are loving one mum's tip for getting fussy kids to eat cheaper brands of their favourite foods.

With food costs continuing to rise, many shoppers have understandably been searching for alternatives to bigger brands.

We've already reported on people swapping their Heinz beans and soups for supermarket own brands and earlier this month we shared how some shoppers are no longer buying Kellogg's or the other big breakfast cereal names after discovering the range at M&S.

Read more: 'I got a £3.50 mystery bag from Spar and could smell what was inside without even looking'

But most parents know only too well how hard it can be to persuade children to try something new, especially if they have their favourites.

That's why a tip from mum Stacey Mayer has had such a huge response.

Mum Stacey says kids will never know the difference if you stick the label of their favourite food on a cheaper version (Manchester Family/MEN)

She shared how she managed to get her son and former partner to eat cheaper products simply by swapping the labels.

The mum-of-one would either save the container from a branded product and refill it with a cheaper version, or save the label off a branded tin or bottle and stick it over a cheaper one.

Over the years she's been swapping Heinz beans, Heinz tomato ketchup and Daddies brown sauce for Asda's own brand and says they were none the wiser.

Sharing her tip in a budget Facebook page, Stacey said: "If you’ve got fussy kids and ’big’ kids in your house who only will only eat certain branded sauces like Heinz, save your old container and refill it with a cheaper one. Save the boxes of branded cereal and replace with non branded ones.

"If you want to cut down even more and don’t want to pay silly prices for branded beans, spaghetti etc, save the expensive paper label from around the tin (it comes off easily) and replace it onto the cheap tin a bit of glue stick will work and should come off easily to reuse.

She replaced Daddies sauce and Heinz ketchup with Asda's own without anyone noticing (Manchester Family/MEN)

"They’ll never know, they’ll never know - and for all of you out there who’ll say they’ll know - well I’ll bet you they won’t. And even if they do, as long as you don’t tell them, they’ll continue to eat it and their palette will adjust, then after a couple of months they will prefer it."

It's hardly surprising that people are looking to downshift with their groceries and Stacey's swaps show just how much money shoppers can save.

A 685g bottle of Daddies sauce costs £2, whereas a 460g bottle of Asda's is just 90p.

One 415g tin of Heinz beans is £1.40, compared with Asda's 410g tin for just 50p, and a bottle of 250g Heinz ketchup will set you back £2.30, compared with Asda's 550g bottle for 75p.

She simply stuck the Heinz label on top of the Asda beans (Manchester Family/MEN)

The 40-year-old, who lives in Stoke-on-Trent, told the Manchester Evening News: "I did it to my son and partner as they would only eat branded. After a few weeks and them not even noticing the difference I came clean and they said they had no idea and at first didn’t believe me, so I showed them and that was that.

"I never bought any branded food. It was all in their heads. My partner's reason was because his parents only bought branded food and set in their ways as that’s all they know."

She added: "It's not the cheapest Just Essentials range, but the next one up. A little more than the essentials but still a heck of a lot cheaper.

"I must admit we’ve tried other brown sauces and there is a difference in others but Asda's is spot on."

Have you swapped a well-known brand for a supermarket's own brand? Let us know in the comments.

Read more of today's top stories here

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