A mum has explained how she saves hundreds of pounds by hunting out yellow sticker bargains to feed her family of seven.
Abi Hallam, 29, who lives in Nottingham, says some of her best bargains include ham that’s been reduced from £3.50 to 18p and scotch eggs reduced from 80p to 12p.
She’s also managed to find roast pork legs for 35p instead of £3.49, and blocks of cheese that cost 43p instead of £2.14.
Ms Hallam, who lives with her parents Carolyn and Shaun, her partner Colin and her three children - Jacob, 10, Miley, 8, and Jackson, 3 - says she tries to visit certain stores at the same time each day to nab the best yellow stickers.
The savvy spender doesn’t go to one supermarket in particular - instead, she shops around as much as possible for the cheapest prices.
She told LatestDeals.co.uk: “We get the reduced food we find from a few different shops, such as Morrisons, Co-Op, Lidl and Tesco.
“‘We usually go at around 6pm on a weekday and check all the reduced sections before doing our weekly shop.
“We then check back at the reduced sections before we go to the checkout. I would say we have saved hundreds of pounds by buying reduced foods.
“Find out when your local supermarket tends to reduce their stock, and where they tend to place them.”
For example, Ms Hallam says Lidl reduced items are normally placed back on the shelf as well as in a reduced section, whereas Morrisons have a specific place for all fresh reduced items.
Each store will likely be different, so it’s all about familiarising yourself with its layout and when they usually start discounting items.
Once the food is home, Ms Hallam makes sure it stretches as far as possible by freezing what she can.
Of course, you should always make sure what you’ve purchased can be safely frozen before you go stashing it away.
Ms Hallam said: “Our freezer mostly has reduced foods. Hardly anything inside was purchased at full price so most meals we eat have something reduced.
“Don't forget to check the bread and cake aisle. We buy ready iced cakes which we either chop up into portions and freeze in food bags for lunchboxes, or we keep them whole and freeze them for a family member's birthday.
“We recently used two packs of the discounted Betty Crocker cake mix to create a planets-themed cake for my son Jackson’s birthday and he loved it.”
Tom Church, co-founder of deals blog LatestDeals, said: "The best time to get heavily discounted foods from a supermarket often depends on the shop and where you live - why not try going at a few different times each evening, on different days of the week, to see when the best bargains become available?"
Abi's best reduced deals
- Curried thigh fillets reduced from £3 to 75p
- Topside beef reduced from £4.68 to 94p
- Roast pork leg reduced from £3.49 to 35p
- Roast turkey breast reduced from £2.79 to 70p
- Two blocks of mature farmhouse cheddar, reduced from £2.20 to 44p and £2.14 to 43p
- Four packs of scones (16 total) reduced from £1 to 10p each
- Betty Crocker Vanilla cake mix reduced from £2.50 to 63p
- Four double pepperoni stuffed crust pizzas reduced from £4.20 to 84p each
- Cheese and onion quiche reduced from £2.70 to 54p
- Ham trimmings reduced from £3.50 to 18p
- Pack of four croissants reduced from £1.70 to 34p
- Minced beef reduced from £2.59 to 75p
- Sausages reduced from £2.50 to 19p
- Cooked chicken pieces reduced from £1.99 to 50p
- Chicken escalopes reduced from £2.50 to 25p
- Wraps reduced from £1.75 to 17p
- Scotch eggs reduced from 80p to 12p
- Sushi reduced from £2.20 to 33p
