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Mum bags over £40 worth of food for just £1.40 by buying reduced items

Mum Lucy Robinson and her bargain hunt food shopping. (SWNS)
Mum-of-three Lucy Robinson shares her successful top tips on yellow sticker food shopping and making meals last at home. (SWNS)

One mum who regularly hunts for yellow stickers to help her financially at home and with the cost of living crisis managed to recently stock up on more than £40 of food for just £1.40.

Lucy Robinson, 31, from Bradford, has been on the lookout for food bargains for a while, so much so that she now also treats it like a game to keep her three kids entertained.

But her hunt is also worthwhile, as just a few days ago 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.

This has been her best bet yet, which she bagged in a local McColl's on Sunday.

Read more: 12 easy ways to save money on packed lunches

Meet the mum who nabbed three whole chickens for just 30 PENCE in a 'bargain shopping' jackpot this weekend - and says you can too.  See SWNS story SWSYbargain.  Lucy Robinson, 31, grabbed over £46 worth of food for just £1.40 on Sunday (11/9) and says a few simple tricks can help you do the same.  Alongside three whole chickens, Lucy grabbed a pack of pork chops, five pasties, two chicken jalfrezis, a cut of roast beef, a pack of couscous and a mac n' cheese ready meal.  All of the items were on sale for just 10p each at her local McColls convenience store - leaving the mum from Bradford, Yorks, with well over a week's worth of meals.  A regular bargain shopper, Lucy, who is studying to become a mental health support worker, says the trick is to shop late in the day and look for yellow label items on sale.
Lucy Robinson hunts for bargains while balancing studying and looking after her children. (SWNS)

"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," she says.

She's currently not in work while she studies health and social care to pursue her dream of supporting people with mental health difficulties, with her living off monthly Universal Credit payments worth just £334.91.

"I have three kids, and while they normally live [with] their father it means I have to find budget deals in the shops to feed them while they are staying over," she adds.

"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."

Robinson separated from her husband in January 2020 but still looks after her children, aged 14, 10 and four, every weekend and on school holidays.

Thankfully, she says, she has an all-electric flat, so she's not being affected by rising fuel costs. "But budget shopping does help," she emphasises.

Read more: Frugal mum shares savvy tips for slashing bills during cost of living crisis

Meet the mum who nabbed three whole chickens for just 30 PENCE in a 'bargain shopping' jackpot this weekend - and says you can too.  See SWNS story SWSYbargain.  Lucy Robinson, 31, grabbed over £46 worth of food for just £1.40 on Sunday (11/9) and says a few simple tricks can help you do the same.  Alongside three whole chickens, Lucy grabbed a pack of pork chops, five pasties, two chicken jalfrezis, a cut of roast beef, a pack of couscous and a mac n' cheese ready meal.  All of the items were on sale for just 10p each at her local McColls convenience store - leaving the mum from Bradford, Yorks, with well over a week's worth of meals.  A regular bargain shopper, Lucy, who is studying to become a mental health support worker, says the trick is to shop late in the day and look for yellow label items on sale.
Lucy Robinson nabbed three whole chickens for just 30p and much more in a successful shopping bargain hunt this weekend. (SWNS)

Other than yellow-sticker shopping, Robinson's top tip for when you do stumble upon a good deal is to freeze your finds to beat the use-by dates and make the most out of them.

She also recommends shopping late in the day when there are the best bargains and not hesitating to ask staff if there is anything being kept back.

And this isn't the first time her eagle-eyed shopping efforts have paid off.

"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," she says.

"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."

While she is aware that local shops can be hit and miss for cheap products, she is proof that knowing where to look or just trying your luck can make it worth it.

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Watch: I cleared £40k of debt with money saving tips like only buying yellow sticker discount food at the supermarket

"I normally don't need to spend more than £20 on my weekly shop," she explains, sharing more details on exactly how she keeps her costs so low.

"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."

Sticking to her own golden rule, she always puts her cheap and treasured meals in her box freezer when she gets home, which helps her cheat expiration dates and provides enough food for her and her family "for weeks".

Additional reporting SWNS.