One Mums journey to find #lockdown money-saving tips continues after discovering Common Sense isn’t a flower growing in everyone’s garden!

Dear Mums,

Have you found the last 6 weeks #lockdown one endless round of feeding? Is your bank balance leaking money?  Are you fed up finding empty boxes in the fridge?

Are your ears exhausted forever hearing:

  • I’m hungry,
  • OMG!!! Who the hell ate it? It was MINE
  • Can you get me a drink?
  • How long will dinner be?

You’re not alone.   How can we save money keeping up with demands and cutting down our supermarket trips?  Desperate I typed ‘savvy Mums tips feeding #lockdown kids’ into Google.  I was spoilt for choice.

An abundance of national press links popped up, luring us in with stories of how one Mum has cut her #lockdown food bills in half ready to share her secret with us all.  While another Mum, fed up with her kids all suffering from ‘HATT’ hungry all the time shared her secret.

I clicked: Mum shares clever tricks for saving money during essential shop’

Wait, But What is this?

The article was confusing.  Where was the tip?  Frantic, I started scanning the page, shit had I’d just clicked some dodgy article masquerading as a Mum offering solid money-saving ideas?  Had I unwittingly opened the door welcoming the scammers in to help themselves to my personal details?  I felt a cold chill run down my spine.

I held my breath as I searched for the tip?  Where the fuck was it.  ‘I’ve been scammed’ I yelled out.  ‘Help, quick, someones just helped themselves to my personal details and I let them’ I screamed.

Fearful I might wake the kids with all my shouting thus ending his peace, my husband appeared.  If it wasn’t for him double-checking the article, I would never have found it.

Pointing it out, I read it: ‘buy food with yellow stickers’.  What a revelation said this Mum..never!  Not content with her offer of one tip she generously offered another: consider switching to supermarket own brands.

NB: For all you Mums who’ve been living under a rock – ‘yellow stickers are what Supermarkets use to indicate a reduction in price. And supermarket own brands are cheaper than branded goods.

She went on to suggest asking supermarket staff the time customers can attend to fight each other for the stickered items.

Slightly problematic given the current climate, way more problematic obtaining the information.  Reduction times are a closely guarded secret.  You’ve more chance of finding supermarket shelves filled with flour.

I can see you!

Worse still are Marks and Expensive.  Staff policy dictates they must not hand you the reduced ribeye steak you’ve just eyed up on the reduction trolley.

You’ll have to wait, feeling awkward as you hover eyeing up your opponent ready to run the gauntlet when the staff member finally places said item on shelf.

My search for tips continued.  I read how one Mum saves money prepping and freezing everything, she buys, including bananas.

All lovely, but kids like mine won’t care you spent 8 back-breaking hours batch cooking just to be told they can’t have their chosen bag because it’s for next Tuesdays dinner, they’ll want it now.

In theory, freezing bananas seems a good idea.  In practice, giving a banana to my kids from the freezer will render it no longer a banana as it’s guaranteed to now taste funny!

But I have kids??

Another Mum who just fell short of being hailed a national hero, instead branded ‘brilliant’ revealed the secret to making jars, more so the contents last longer: store them upside down.

Sadly, she forgot to put the warning at the end of her article: Do not try this at home if you have teenagers

Part of teenage make up is an inability to put things back properly.  Lids are no exception.

It’s a game of deadly assumption:

  • The assumption the lid is on as you lift the jar from the fridge
  • This move resulting in the jar contents spilling all over the kitchen floor.
  • Thus, ending with no contents and the expense of getting a new one #nosaving
  • With it finally being your fault for not checking first #teenagewords

Another Mum, championed her love for ready-made roll out puff pastry, her staple essential food item branding it: amazing.

Educating all ready-to-roll virgins how it works: “You simply roll out, cut to any shape, and fill with any filling you have’.

Wow! I found it amazing, truly amazing she didn’t make her own seeing as it’s all about saving money.

So, what did I learn from all these tips?  1) Nothing

What do I advise?  Shop at Aldi.

Join me next week, when I share the wealth of online advice in keeping teenagers from boredom in #lockdown.

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