Yellow sticker obsessed woman makes healthy meals for 72p a portion

A self-proclaimed bargain hunter has revealed how she whips up delicious meals from R72 a ​​portion by ditching weekend meals, buying items with yellow stickers from the supermarket and buying her meat in bulk.

Lauren Roddick, 36, cut her and husband Malcolm’s weekly food costs. Lauren, who works as a full-time nurse, uses her days off to batch cook meals for the week ahead and spends her evenings hunting for items with yellow stickers.

With the price of supermarket items rising in recent years, Lauren said she has made more of a conscious effort to reduce the amount she spends on food. Using a 90-piece family feeding basket from online retailer MuscleFood, Lauren whips up dishes including Chinese Sweet Corn Soup with Chicken for £72 per portion, Chicken Tikka Masala with Homemade Bread for £1.36 each and Dragon Fire Kebab at £2.04pp.

Other favorites include Meatball Subs for £1.75 each and Japanese Teriyaki Chicken with Egg Fried Rice for £1.29 a portion. Lauren freezes food so she has healthy, home-cooked meals throughout the week after busy nursing shifts at the Royal Alexandra Hospital in Paisley.

Lauren, who shares cheap recipes via her Instagram page scrimpy_scottie, said: “I’ve loved cooking for the past 15 years and have always had a nose for a bargain. It’s important to me to make my meals as cheap as possible without having to compromise on taste.

“I started learning how to save money by cooking in a group, so I prepared the food for my 12-hour shifts. I would spend my days off cooking meals to prepare for the rest of the week. To cut costs even further, I would spend my evenings trying to find the best yellow sticker items available, which I still do every week.”

Lauren says she has figured out the best times of the week when supermarkets are likely to have the best discounts and items on offer. She was able to purchase items such as tuna steak, mince and sausages for 75% off the final retail price.

Lauren explained: “I’m obsessed with yellow stickers and bargains in general – I’m always checking locally for the best deals. Because I hunt for yellow stickers so often, I seem to know the supermarket discount system so I can get the best deals.

“I’ve found the best time is 6pm after the mad rush rush, as well as an hour before closing when stores do their final sales. I was able to score about 75% off items like tuna steak, bread, fishcakes and more by being in stores at the right time.

“Some of the items I use right away and some I store in the freezer to use for future meals.”

To save even more on food costs, Lauren has changed where she buys her meat, as well as how often she splurges on takeout. Lauren says she and her husband Malcolm used to order a takeaway every weekend, but now they’ve switched to making delicious fake homemade food.

She used the meat from the MuscleFood bin to make cheap fakes. Lauren said: “We used to get a takeaway on a Saturday night but we haven’t had one since March because we’ve loved faking it so much.

“Kebabs were a favorite in our house. The Dragonfire Chicken Breast we used from MuscleFood is absolutely delicious and we loved it. What’s even better is that I didn’t need to buy extra seasoning because the seasoning was perfect.

“Fakeaways are much cheaper to make. The meals cost just a few quid each, which is much better for us than spending over £30 on a single takeaway. My husband doesn’t even miss the takeout!”

Here are Lauren’s top three tips for saving money on grocery costs:

1. Write a list – Go into stores only buying what you need. Make sure you always look in the fridge, freezer and cupboard beforehand so you don’t buy for the sake of it and nothing goes to waste.

1. Cook similar ingredients – Plan the value of the week’s meals and make sure that similar ingredients cross paths. It helps save so much money, especially when it comes to meat.

1. Buy versatile meats – If you are going to spend more money on meat, make sure the ingredients can be stretched. Beef burgers can be used for other meals such as curries and dishes that include mince to save money in the long run.