'What's all this then?': Policewoman feeds family of five on just £50 a week
A policewoman saves a fortune on her family's meals each week with savvy grocery shopping.
Lindsey Bebbington-Colbourne, 47, is able to budget just £50 a week to feed her courier husband Mick, 58, and their son Toby, 14, and daughters Poppi, 12, and Elise, 19.
In order to keep costs down to £10 a head – while still serving up delicious dishes – the mother of three scours the supermarkets for discounted items and keeps waste to a minimum.
She stocks their Lincolnshire home's freezers with everything from pork and lamb slashed from £5 to around £1 to whole chickens and fish reduced from £6 to £3.50.
Bebbington-Colbourne, who lives with her family in Market Rasen, explained that growing up in a Manchester council house on free school meals – and often finding herself hungry – taught her to be cost-effective when it came to food.
The thrifty mother said: “Now I’m determined that will never happen again. I’ve got five freezers and 11 slow cookers at home, so I can cook and freeze as I go along without wasting anything."
She saves a fortune by doing one big monthly food shop, with smaller top-ups each week, to keep the family grocery bill to an incredibly low total of £200 over four weeks.
On how she keeps the costs down, she revealed: “I look for reductions of 30-50% at least. I often spend £100 on yellow sticker stuff for the month."
Watch: Easy budgeting tips for when you leave home
In order to get her hands on the best bargains, Bebbington-Colbourne will pop to Lidl, Tesco and her local Co-op several times a week – and has also found “great deals” in ASDA, Aldi, Morrison’s and even Waitrose.
She said: "I’ve had pizzas for 30p and sausages for £1.09, and caramel vodka which should have been £24.50 for £15 – I don’t normally buy alcohol but that’s a massive saving.
“I don’t usually shop in Waitrose, as it’s an expensive supermarket, but I went recently and the reductions were unbelievable.
“I got £140 worth of food for £60 and it was all good quality."
She added: “I’ll also spend £20 a week on basics like bread, milk and yoghurts for the fridge."
Stocking her freezers with normally expensive items like meat, fish and pre-prepared foods such as pizzas meant Bebbington-Colbourne had no worries about running out when the pandemic initially saw people panic-buying.
The busy mother said: “I get chicken fillets, pork mince, beef, lamb, anything I can condense into a freezer bag and get rid of all the packaging.”
She also buys fruit and vegetables to freeze them and extend their shelf-life.
In the garage of her semi-detached four-bedroom house, Bebbington-Colbourne stockpiles long-lasting reduced items year-round – including breakfast cereals, kitchen rolls, tins and staples like rice and pasta.
She said: “I always bulk buy as it’s cheaper. Dry goods and tins sometimes get reduced and I’ll always look for reductions throughout the shop.”
The mother-of-three also cooks many of the family meals in one of her 11 slow cookers, explaining: “I’ll make meals with the reduced meat and veg and throw it all in to whip up a casserole, a chilli, a curry or a spaghetti Bolognese.
“It makes things easier and if I make too much, we pop it in the freezer.”
Bebbington-Colbourne’s five top savvy shopping tips:
– Shop around at different supermarkets.
– Do not be ashamed to ask in store when things are reduced.
– Find the best times of day to go to each supermarket.
– Go with an open mind and do not have a set shopping list.
– Know what you have in your freezer at home.
Watch: How to save money on a low income
