CLEVER COOK
MUM-of-eight Caroline Barnett saves thousands of pounds a year by making her own version of takeaway favourites including McDonald’s and Nando’s.
Caroline, 45, spends just £150 a week feeding her family of 10 and her weekly shop includes food for delicious “fakeaways” such as sausage and egg McMuffins and Peri Peri chicken.
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Caroline's version of the McMuffin costs just 41p per person while one from McDonald's typically sets you back £2.49 - so the family saves £20.80 on a takeaway breakfast.
The savvy saver, who gave up work as a customer service advisor 10 years ago to be a stay-at-home mum, also whips up homemade pizzas and chicken shawarma that taste like it has come straight from a kebab shop.
And Caroline isn't the only money-conscious mum saving money by creating her own "fakeaways".
The Sun recently spoke to mum-of-four Penny Campbell who spends just £20 a month making fast food at home.
While mum-of-four Lorna Cooper creates delicious Friday night "fakeaways" for just 81p a head.
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Caroline lives with husband John, 46 a tool and cutter grinder, and children Ellena, 21, Joshua, 18, Daniel, 15, Finlay, 11, Henry, 10, Sophia, 8, Florence, 6, and Emilia, 2, in Evesham, Worcs.
She credits her success to meticulous meal planning each week and says she never buys ready meals or pre-prepared food from the shops.
Instead, Caroline saves money by making a lot of food from scratch, including bread and cakes for her family to help with lunches and desserts.
To save time in the kitchen, she makes each child help tidy up after dinner.
How to make Caroline's version of egg and sausage McMuffins
CAROLINE has shared her recipe for her take on McDonald's egg and sausage McMuffin.
What to buy:
Muffins - 42p per pack of 4
Cheese - 75p per 15 slices
Eggs - £1.20 for 12
Sausages - £1.09 for 12
All items bought from Aldi
Cost of Caroline's version of the McMuffin: 41p each or £4.10 for all 10 family members
Cost of McDonald's egg and sausage McMuffins: £2.49 each or £24.90 for all 10 family members
Total saving: £20.80
How to make them:
Skin the sauages - this is cheaper than buying sausage meat - and season with salt and peper.
Shape sausage mix into patties.
Cook on a grill, griddle or in the oven - however you prefer - for about 10 minutes, or until cooked.
Top with a cheese slice.
Meanwhile toast the inside of the muffin and add a touch of ketchup.
Fry an egg and place on top of the sausage pattie.
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She said: "I'm a mad planner, I plan everything - you have be military when you have a family this big.
"I like to know what's in our food, the only way to feed a family is to cook from scratch, we all eat the same thing.
"When you get into the supermarket you get bombarded with stuff you don't need so I try not to waste anything.”
Caroline does her weekly shop on a Saturday morning - but not before planning what the family will be eating for the next seven days.
Caroline's top tips to save money in the supermarket
CAROLINE is a pro at saving money on food shopping for her family.
Here's some of her best tips to keep costs down:
- "I rarely buy any prepackaged chocolate biscuit - I prefer to make little cupcakes or flapjacks for the childrens lunches or treats."
- "I buy the meat for Sunday lunch depending on the offers that the supermarkets are running. I'll also buy three or four joints of meat if they are on a good offer and freeze them."
- "If I see a good stock piling opportunity then I will splurge out on those. I did have 9 bottles of mustard in my cupboard when there was a big price drop."
- "I will often check the supermarkets websites when I meal plan prior to going out to see what current offers they have and then add them to my meal plan."
Breakfasts usually consist of toast, cereal and fruit and porridge while she always makes sure each child and her husband leaves home with a packed lunch.
When it comes to dinner, nothing takes too long for Caroline to cook and she says she sets herself 30 minutes to get food on the table.
Caroline said: "I cook things that anybody could cook.
“I'm a mum that enjoys cooking and nothing takes too long."
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Caroline gets the bulk of her goods from Aldi but then always hunts around in other supermarkets for the best deals.
If you don’t have time to go from shop to shop, price comparison websites can be used to keep track of what costs what in each store.
You can set up price alerts and compare your weekly shop using mySupermarket.
This will then inform you by email or text when the price of a product has dropped.
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Caroline said: "If I've seen something that week that I like the look of or want to get the children to try then we'll add that.
"I know what I'm going to cook in my head, it's all there and I always try to be one step ahead.
"I start off at Aldi where I get all my staples from such as tinned food, pasta, rice, passata and other sorts of thing.
"We'll go to Tesco after that for other bits and I'll get branded washing powder.”
Caroline recently appeared on BBC show Shop Well for Less where she revealed how she bulk buys bargains to cut down costs.
But she was still stunned when presenters Steph Mcgovern and Alex Jones showed the family they can save £6,000 a year by ditching big name brands.
MORE ON MONEY
The Sun recently revealed 16 ways you can slash your supermarket shopping bill by HUNDREDS of pounds a year.
If you're after more money saving advice, check out how to stretch your pounds further on your lunch break.
And this is how to cut the cost of dining out as a family.
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