I tried feeding my family on ONLY yellow-sticker food & found hack to save £4.5k – one fellow bargain-hunter stunned me

AS I scoured the kitchen for something to feed my family-of-four for dinner, I couldn’t believe the cupboards were bare after three days despite spending my usual £150 on shopping that week. Thanks to the school holidays, my kids, Alex, 17, and Adriana, 12, were on the road to bankrupting me with their appetites. What was I doing wrong? Julie Cook set herself a challenge to try five different stores over five days to find out how much she could save with yellow sticker food Credit: Chris Balcombe Julie was left stunned by what she caught one bargain-hunter doing Credit: Not known, clear with picture desk “Perhaps I need to get better at bargain hunting?” I thought, as I read that 40 per cent of Brits shop for yellow sticker discounts on items nearing their use by dates. I’ll be honest, I avoid yellow stickers usually as I always assume they’ll be out of date. With supermarkets cutting prices by as much as 75 per cent to save waste, surely I could make some savings seeking them out? So I set myself a challenge to try five different stores over five days to find out. DAY 1 – ASDA I begin by researching on Facebook money saving groups to see when yellow sticker seekers swoop in for markdowns. My online tipsters inform me that Asda staff start discounting from 4.30pm, ready for when people finish work. I start in the fruit and veg aisle and find a salad slashed from £1.64 to only 22p. What a saving! It would make a side salad for the four of us that night. My rummage also turns up a pack of pre-made mash (94p to 60p), cherry tomatoes (75p to 49p) and a bag of stir-fry veg (£1.08 to 22p). There are more goodies in the meat aisle and I get a 500g pack of pork mince for £1.73, marked down from £2.47. I’m feeling rather proud of myself as I saunter about picking up bagels (£1.87 to £1.31) for breakfast, pitta breads (50p to 36p) and a wholemeal loaf (75p to 55p). Buoyed by my bargains, I also get some treats – a four pack of Cadbury Dessert Pots (£3.10 to £2), a pair of GU cheesecakes (£3.77 to £2.07) and an eight pack of KitKats (£2.18 to 77p). “Can we do this every week?” my 17-year-old son asks. SPENT: £10.32 SAVED: £7.15 VERDICT: Absolute bargain, but exhausting peering into shelves high and low – yellow stickers were all over and not in one place. DAY 2 – TESCO Julie was happy with her yellow sticker finds at Tesco – but she was shoved aside by another bargain-hunter Credit: Chris Balcombe I’m thrilled with my start but my musician husband Cornel, 45, is whinging and asking if everything will be pre-made food. Beggars can’t be choosers but when I head to Tesco after 6pm, I try the chiller section first to see what fresh food I can snag. There’s a hake Florentine (£5.90 to £2.36) and a cheese feast party pizza (£2.15 to 86p) – that’s everyone fed tonight. I’m still looking when a rather sharp-elbowed woman with a wheelie shopping bag shoves me aside as if I’m taking too long. She rummages with an aplomb that says: ‘Leave it to the pros, love.’ Then I spy a smoky chicken and chorizo pasta ready meal for £1.58, down from £3.75. I grab it fast as the woman side eyes me with disdain. Next stop is the fruit and veg aisle, where I get a pack of five oranges (99p to 53p), a punnet of blackberries (£2.65 to £1.48) and four kiwis (£1.60 to 64p). I head to the sandwich chiller, remembering from my research that they get massively marked down – this could be my kids’ lunch sorted. Trying to look nonchalant, I grab a sweet chilli chicken wrap (£3 to £1.38) and BBQ chicken wrap (£3 to £1.62). After picking up a two-pack of all-butter dark chocolate fresh croissants (£1.91 to £1.70) and a pack of finest hot cross buns (£2 to 80p), I think I’m done. Then I spot a Tesco worker with a yellow sticker gun and my ice-cool exterior melts. As he stickers away, I grab a pack of six tiger rolls (£1.15 to 86p) and two yum yums (£2.55 to £1.91). SPENT: £17.38 SAVED: £13.37 VERDICT: A worthy haul but I don’t want to face down wheelie shopper woman again. DAY 3 – SAINSBURY’S Julie was happy with her Sainsbury’s haul but wasn’t able to get any fruit or veg Credit: Supplied The experts tell me to hit Sainsbury’s between 5pm and 7pm for reductions – and the moment I walk in, I see the lady with the magic sticker gun. I’m getting used to this game but still feel awkward, so I pretend to peruse the shelf next to her. I see I have company – a man is also eyeing up her knock downs and we’re locked in a Wild West-style standoff. It’s the most British of battles and I’m determined to win. I mosey along and spot one large quiche that would feed four. “Is that being reduced?” I smile sweetly. She nods and gets out her gun. I feel a frisson of excitement as I see the price cut from £4.50 to £2.47. “I’ll take it!” I hear myself shriek. Over the next hour, I find a cauliflower cheese ready meal for four (£1.40 to £1.25) plus six ready-cooked chicken drumsticks (£3.75 to £2.43) that we can use for a planned picnic the next day. I add two packs of hot and spicy chicken breast for sandwiches (£1.79 to £1.29) and the next 24 hours are sorted. SPENT: £8.73 SAVED: £4.54 VERDICT: A great success but no decent fruit or veg reductions, possibly due to the timing. DAY 4 – MORRISONS Julie was able to get some decent discounts at Morrisons – but it was mainly stodgy stuff Credit: Supplied I’m finding my feet now but for my Morrisons trip, I’m torn between waiting until later to get better reductions and worrying it might be gone.It’s a gamble. In the end I arrive just after 6pm – and I’m glad I did. I find the last 1.2kg pork joint that would feed my family for ages, reduced from £9.67 to £6.63. I also grab a pack of 12 stock cubes (£1 to 50p) so I can make soup or stew with the leftovers. I think I’m done – I have more food at home than I know what to do with. Then I spy a pork pie for four (£2.55 to £1.58), a pack of McVities Golden Caramel Digestives (£2.25 to £1.18), noodles for four (£2.75 to £1.38) and some PiriPiri ready-prepped fries (£2 to £1.10). My daughter rolls her eyes. “Are we getting ANY fruit?” she groans. I survey my basket and it looks rather beige. Thankfully I find a punnet of strawberries (£1.19 to 54p) to add a bit of colour. SPENT: £12.91 SAVED: £8.74 VERDICT: I scored well – but only if you like stodgy stuff. DAY 5 – LIDL Lidl was the best spot for chilled goods and ready meals Credit: Supplied It’s the last day of my experiment and I’m going for broke. Maybe the true wins are if you wait to play your hand late in the game? I’ve already got enough food to last the weekend so decide to chance Lidl after 8pm, just before it closes. Here, the stickers are orange. There seems to be no reduced section – but there are stickers everywhere and only two other shoppers to outgun. I load my basket with four fresh pollock fillets in breadcrumbs (£2.99 to £1.49), a ham and mushroom tagliatelle ready meal (£2.79 to £1.39), premade mash (89p to 49p) and a chicken, leek and bacon pie (£2.99 to £1.49). I’m about to leave when I see half price quiches galore and grab three (£1.39 to £1.11 each). At the bakery, I pick up six hot dog rolls (99p to 49p) and a fruit loaf (£1.29 to 63p). The veg aisle is less fruitful, but I do find a huge stir fry mix (95p to 47p), before a final sweep of the chillers – where I get some mini Scotch eggs (£1.49 to 74p). SPENT: £11.14 SAVED: £8.25 VERDICT: The best spot for chilled goods and ready meals but I think I was too late for fruit and veg. WAS IT WORTH IT? OVER the five days, I got £102.53 worth of food for £60.48, meaning I saved £42.05 – a 41 per cent overall saving and well below my usual £150-£200 weekly bill. Multiply that over a year, and it’s a considerable amount back in my bank balance – as much as £4,655.04. But shopping exclusively for yellow sticker products was exhausting and time consuming. Instead of just wandering round my local supermarket for an hour once a week, I had to shop daily and drive more, using extra petrol. Meals were harder to plan as I couldn’t guarantee what ingredients I’d find and a lot of the reductions were pre-prepped ingredients or ready meals. This was fine during the summer holidays as the kids loved the picky dinners, but that wouldn’t wash in winter. Usually after school and college they come in ravenous but other times they’ve eaten and I’ll have to bin stuff. It was also strangely tiring hunting the shelves and battling other shoppers. Am I a convert? Not 100 per cent – but I did enjoy the thrill of snagging a yellow sticker bargain, especially from under the nose of Mrs Sharp Elbows.