19-year-old Lauren Mudie from Cambridge, UK, has managed to cut her families food bill in half after she took over the cooking and shopping responsibilities from her sick mother.
Her mother was diagnosed with Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma when Lauren was only 15-years-old, it was then Lauren started cooking for her mother, father and their five foster children.
More recently, she took over the shopping duties for her family and thanks to some savvy bulk buying Lauren has managed to reduce her families shopping costs by $10,400 a year.
And the best bit? These meals are nutritious and hearty enough to feed a family of nine.
Pretty good considering at 19 most of us are still living off $5 wine and two-minute noodles.
Examples of Lauren’s frugal meals include tasty curries, hearty casseroles, steak with sweet potato and veggies, spaghetti bolognese and even a full roast dinner.
She told the Daily Mail that taste is something she has never needed to compromise.
“My mum has always shown me ways I can stretch my food further, but it wasn’t until I started helping out in the kitchen I realised how much you can actually do it.”
“I can plan a month worth of meals, which are easily adaptable to feed more mouths (in case we have another foster child to look after) before the hamper even arrives.”
“Bulk-buying my meat plays a big role in my money saving journey, but I always find that it needs to be good quality as well.”
“My advice to anyone that is looking to save money is to meal plan their food before they hit the supermarkets.”
Lauren is an active member of Facebook Group Feed Your Family for 20 Quid, a page which is filled with useful tips and advice for reducing your families grocery bill.
Lauren’s tips for shopping frugally
Buy meat in bulk
Invest in pantry staples
Invest in extra-large tins of tomatoes and 20 kilo bags of rice
Shop online when possible (Lauren uses musclefood.com)
Invest in good knives to get every single bit of meat off the bone
