A mum has shared the secrets behind her spreadsheet hack which helps feed her family of five for less than £65 a week.
Like many, Jody Jones, from Bangor in North Wales, has become worried about the increasing cost of living crisis and decided to try and save as many pennies as possible.
The mum-of-three, who works at her local Asda store, began creating food plans on Microsoft Excel as well as shopping lists for groceries and cleaning products in an attempt to keep costs down.
Jody, 37, purchased items from the new Just Essentials range which was introduced earlier this year by the supermarket chain, the Daily Post reports.
The new range has previously been criticised for embarrassing poorer families.
But that didn't stop Jody who was able to reduce her £100 a week shop to around £62.
She said: "Shopping can get really expensive really quickly. It took a few hours over two weeks. to finalise it all.
"First I got together a list of all the essential items available and the costs. I made a basic meal plan for a week and then costed it. I then did the same for the following weeks.
"I did it because the cost of living is so high I wanted to see what I could get for my money and to help others.
"I’ve read so much about people having to choose between food and bills so I wanted to see what the cheapest way I could feed my family would be.
"It’s not necessarily the healthiest but I’ve done my best to include plenty of fruit and veg where I can and I’ve based it on what my family - with some food fussy kids - would actually eat. At the end of the day with the cost of living, I see it as them eating something is better than nothing"
The Wales' mum's explained it can be expensive to feed her children, who are aged between seven and 12, and has even taken to social media to help other families save some money.
Jody added: "I just hope it helps people who are struggling. I’ve had comments from some people saying it isn’t a healthy balanced diet but I see it as my kids are fed, they have plenty of fruit and there’s veg in there too.
"And I’d rather they don’t starve and actually have food when money is tight. If it’s a choice between buying expensive “wholesome foods” and not having enough to pay the bills or eat myself, and all of us eating food and managing to pay the bills then for me it’s all about the second option.
"It’s definitely worth it. Asda has now brought in the three item rule which makes a couple of bits difficult but if you plan it like this then you could buy one or two of the items the week before ready for the next week when you need them in the food plan. It's worked really well for us."
Jody also revealed that before she started meal planning and choosing the more cost-effective items in store, her family were spending in excess of £400 a month on shopping.
Now it’s between £50 to £100 a fortnight because she plans ahead, and also puts any left overs in the freezer for future nights.
