Southend mum feeds family on £150 a month with strict plan

Sarah-Jane Cerullo, 23, has tried every trick in the book to keep her food shopping budget to a minimum – but it’s been her latest meal plan which has kept her shopping prices at an all-time low.

Although the mum-of-one has tried yellow sticker shopping, extreme couponing and picking up wonky vegetable boxes, it’s her new organised regime that is saving the pennies.

Now it’s all about getting multiple meals out of one main ingredient.

The mum, from Southend, now feeds her partner Jack, her six-month old baby and her mum Jane for a rock-bottom £2.35 a day.

Miss Cerullo said: “The best way to start is to think of a few evening meals you like and stretch a main ingredient to use across three dishes.

“I know how daunting and scary it can be when you don’t have much money and need to plan meals and feed a family.

“Previously, my mum did a big shop each week which cost £100. Plus we’d spend £30 on extra stuff we forgot.

“This meant we were spending £500 a month, and my baby wasn’t eating solid foods.

“We’re planning to move out of my mum’s soon so I wanted to be sure we could stick to a £150 a month budget.

Thrifty - Miss Cerullo

“It only took me an hour or two to come up with the plan, as I love using spreadsheets.

“As a starting point I chose some recipes from our favourite cookbooks and I also asked my partner for some suggestions for dishes he likes.

“Next, I looked at ways of getting multiple meals out of some of one main ingredient. For example, I could use one large chicken for three different meals, such as a roast chicken dinner, followed by soup and enchiladas using the leftovers.”

She also recommends bulking out meals with vegetables.

It features an itemised shopping list for a month, 31 days, totalling £72.

Grub's up!

Ideas for breakfast, lunch and dinner are included on the premise of feeding a family of three – two adults and a baby.

Breakfast options include banana porridge, eggs on toast and frozen fruit smoothies.

Lunch ranges from chicken soup and bacon omelets to sandwiches followed by a piece of fruit.

Dinners differ from cottage pie with broccoli and carrots, savoury crepes with bacon, spring onion, mushrooms and cheese; and creamy garlic chicken with sweetcorn, carrot and mash.

Tom Church, Co-Founder of LatestDeals.co.uk said: “It’s easy for your food shopping bill to creep up over time but meal planning is a tried and tested way to take back control.”