'By just buying what you need you can halve your bills'

SENIOR business broker Adele Cope lives in Madeley with her husband Jonathan, aged 36, a Phd student, and their sons Solomon, aged seven, and four-year-old Levin.

The 35-year-old said: "I spend most of my income on food because I've got two boys and a six-foot-five husband and they've got large appetites.

"Our shopping bill used to be at least £150 per week. I used to do it all at Sainsbury's, but now I do a combination of online shopping from supermarkets, and buying from local stores.

"Buying online is good because it saves my travel time and costs. If you buy at certain times of the day, the delivery charge is lower. And online I can get a full costing before I pay.

"This helps me to budget – if I can't afford the total I take out the things that are not necessities.

"You can supplement local purchasing with items you can only get from supermarkets, but by combining online and local shopping you're not tempted to buy anything else. And by doing this I have managed to cut the cost of my weekly shop down to £60. I never exceed £90 a fortnight from supermarkets, and buy additional stuff from the local stores."

Adele and her family are also very keen to grow their own vegetables, and are looking into getting an allotment or developing a vegetable patch in their garden.

She added: "This is because of the credit crunch, but it's also a lifestyle choice. I want to be more involved in the production of the food, and lowering my travel miles.

"I don't care what my vegetables look like or what size and shape they are, but by growing my own I'd know they are not full of chemicals.

"It's also very important to make food go as far as possible. I'm very good at meal planning, and there is no food waste in our house.

"By just buying what you need for the week you can halve your bills.

"We've never used packet meals, and we compost all our vegetables. And the food we cannot eat just goes to our dog, Sammy.

"It's a matter of keeping a track of what you purchase, having a choice of where to buy from and looking around to find the best deals, and thinking sensibly about what to eat. Also, we've always bought certain products like rice and pasta in large bulk. We buy the massive bags because you can make so many different meals out of these staple foods, and it lasts for ages. It's much cheaper this way."

Adele is also keen to encourage people to take packed lunches to work and school, instead of buying a meal each day.

She said: "There was some research done which said people who buy out every day add £2,000 a year to their food bills.

"I do sometimes buy lunch instead of making it, but a lot of the time I take a packed meal to work, or I heat up some soup and have it with some bread. I often share a loaf with a colleague, which makes it cheaper, and the bread doesn't go off before you can use it up.

"Another money-saving tip is about substituting. When making a fish pie for example, instead of buying cod or salmon, which are quite expensive, we buy mackerel.

"Four salmon steaks can cost £6 or £7, but you can pick up two nice, big mackerel for only £1.50.

"These are just small ways to make quite a difference."