Savvy shopper gets entire Christmas food shop worth £45 from Asda for just £3.50
GETTING through the festive season on the cheap can be tricky, but one shopper bagged her entire Christmas food shop for just £3.51.
By planning ahead, Bonita Aguilera, 22, got food worth £44.60 at a £41.09 discount at Asda.
The purchase includes pigs in blankets, stuffing, bacon, tuna steaks, pork shops, pepper ribs, as well as a pigs in blankets fondue for just 11p, down from £5.
Bonita wrote "Christmas is sorted" alongside the photo, and quickly racked up over 200 likes and comments from fellow bargain hunters congratulating her on the find.
The young shopper got the cheap food by popping by her local Asda at 6.30pm to hunt for reduced-to-clear yellow stickers.
Bonita told Latest Deals: "The best part of finding all these yellow sticker items is that they were all freezable.
"They had loads of packets of stuffing, cocktail sausages, bacon and some blue cheese.
"I also got some cheesy mash, tuna steaks, pork chops and salt and pepper ribs.
"I’ve worked out that all the yellow ticket items I bought cost £3.51 and in total they should have been £44.60."
Here's how to cut the cost of your grocery shop
MONEY.CO.UK has shared some top tips with us to help you keep your supermarket spend down to a minimum.
- Write yourself a list - Only buy items that you need. If it isn't on your list, don't put it in the trolley
- Create a budget - Work out a weekly budget for your food shopping
- Never shop hungry - You are far more likely to buy more food if your tummy is rumbling
- Don't buy pre-chopped veggies or fruit - The extra they'll charge for chopping can be eye watering
- Use social media - Follow your favourite retailers to find out about the latest deals
- Be disloyal - You may want to go to different stores to find the best bargains
- Check the small print - It’s always worth checking the price per kg/lb/litre when comparing offers so you’re making a like for like decision as a bigger box won’t necessarily mean you get more
- Use your loyalty cards - Don’t be afraid to sign up to them all. They all work slightly differently - work out what bonus suits you better and remember to trade in your points for additional rewards
Bonita added: "I’m going back to my mum's for Christmas with my boyfriend and she always spends so much on food for Christmas.
"She calls me up and says ‘Bon, how come you always find the deals and I don’t?’ so I decided I’d stock up for her and take it down.
"I was excited when I saw all the items as I love a good bargain and it always makes me happy that I can have quality ingredients for a fraction of the price."
She reckons her best deals come by hunting for items that are going out of date and politely asking store staff for a reduction.
If you're keen to do the same, you'll also need to get familiar with when your favourite supermarket reduces items and be there on the dot, she added.
For example, Aldi usually slaps on reduced stickers first thing in the morning, meaning you might need to get there for as early as 8am to find the best deals.
Tom said: "Throughout the day supermarkets put on yellow stickers, starting at mid-day and steadily increasing until store closure time.
"While every store is different, generally 6.30pm is the perfect time to go.
"You can expect discounts to be about 50 percent off or more."
If you don't mind waiting with your Christmas dinner until December 27, or you like to eat turkey, gammon or roast beef at other times of the year then you can save a lot of money too.
Tom added: "Everything gets reduced to crazy cheap because there's always excess stock leftover that no one's bought.
"You can shove it in your freezer and use it for Sunday roasts throughout spring."
If you're keen to cut the cost of your Christmas dinner, then you should head to Aldi as it's been named the cheapest supermarket.
The discounter is also offering the Christmas turkey with a £9 bird.
Meanwhile, Asda has rolled out a Christmas Day food bundle with everything you need for under £15.