I FEED MY FAMILY FOR £25 A WEEK!

Mum-of-seven Simone Roberts, 40, gives her tips on savvy supermarket shopping

- LOUISE BATY

Walking along the beach in the winter sunshine, I smiled. It was January 2022 and I was enjoying a family holiday in Brighton to celebrate my 40th birthday. A week in a beachside apartment certainly hadn’t come cheap but we’d paid for it outright using savings, rather than resorting to a credit card or loan.

With six children and another on the way, people often wondered how we managed to save money, particularly as I was a stay-at-home mum. I understood their confusion, because I’d heard that the average family spent around £100 a week on food. But then again, we weren’t the average family! Frugal living and shopping was the key to our comfortable life.

Most weeks, our supermarket shop cost just £25 and believe it or not, that gave me enough food to feed our entire family, with leftovers to freeze too.

I’d always been drawn to saving money, even as a child. When I was given my weekly pocket money, I’d head to the corner shop and watch my siblings grab their favourite branded chocolate bars from the shelves.

But I’d hang back, not wanting to part with the coin in my hand. Instead, I’d wait until my mum went to the supermarket, where I’d spend my £1 on a multipack of unbranded chocolate bars to last me the entire week.

As a teenager, my friends called me ‘Mum’ because I encouraged them to eat a meal before going to the pub so that we weren’t tempted to splurge on burgers and chips at closing time.

My frugal nature stood me in good stead when, in 2001, I became a mum for real at 19.