Feed your family for less during the school holidays with our cash-saving tips
FAMILY dining isn’t always friendly on your purse, in the school holidays especially.
This is the first week of the long break so is a good time to reassess how you plan to feed everyone — perhaps on a tighter budget.
One recent survey suggested we spend nearly £40 extra on groceries each week with everyone at home.
Hopefully you enjoy these fresh ideas to help you cut back on extras.
MEAL DEALS: Takeaways might be stretching your budget right now but you can opt for cheaper treats that have a takeaway feel. The Co-op’s £5 freezer deal is back with an even bigger selection, including chicken nuggets, onion rings, potato dippers, garlic bread and a tub of Oreo ice cream for just a fiver. If you bought all five of those frozen foods separately, it would usually cost you around £12.70.
Saving: £7.70
APPY ABOUT IT: I bang on about meal planning because it works! But if you are struggling, there are a few apps and websites I swear by. Mealime is a great app because you can add simple and healthy meals to your own meal plan and it will automatically generate a shopping list for you, so you stick to buying only what you need.
ARE YOU FEEDING LUCKY? Make one meal a week a “pot luck” dish, cooking up any leftovers or bits left in the fridge and serve. It is a bit random but essentially a free meal a week.
BIG REWARDS: Are you with Tesco Mobile? If you’re due an upgrade or take out a new contract with the provider, it has just this week revealed that you’ll get six months of Clubcard Plus free, instead of the usual £7.99 per month. It means you get ten per cent off two big food shops a month (limited to a maximum £20 saving for each).
Saving: Up to £40 a month at Tesco
TOP BOX: Morrisons has launched another essentials box. This includes five family meals for £30, working out at £1.50 a head. It is not the absolute cheapest way to eat, as picking up fresh veg can work out even more cost- effective. But it is a huge timesaver and includes tasty family-favourite dishes such as lasagne.
- All prices on page correct at time of going to press. Deals and offers are subject to availability.
Deal of the day
THE Beldray Revo cordless handheld vacuum cleaner is £39.99 at , down from £49.99. Ideal for a quick clean-up of the car.
SAVE: £10
Cheap treat
TREAT yourself to a bag of Young’s Gastro Jumbo Wholetail Scampi, £3 at Tesco, down from £6.
SAVE: £3
My Sun Savers fiver
MARIE TREVIVIAN, of Ellesmere Port in Cheshire, says: “I’ll use my Sun Savers fivers for afternoon tea so my husband and I can celebrate our 60th wedding anniversary with family.”
- Send your Savers fiver story to sunsavers.co.uk/fivers and get 28 codes, worth £5, if we print it. Please include your name and town.
Top swap
A PACK of Boots Tea Tree & Witch Hazel cleansing wipes is on sale for £2.33.
But at Wilko, you can snap up a pack of Skin Therapy Tea Tree wipes for just 50p.
SAVE: £1.83
Giselle's little helper
SAINSBURY’S is trialling a virtual queuing system to eliminate waiting in line outside its stores. Customers can instead join the “line” on a smartphone app, Ufirst.
The scheme will begin at five branches: Uxbridge, Pimlico and Newham Royal Wharf in London; Dome Roundabout in Watford; and Leicester North.
Collect Hols From £9.50 tokens so you don't miss your bargain break
READERS’ favourite Sun Hols from £9.50, is back with thousands of getaways to go for.
Take your pick from more than 150 holiday parks across the UK.
For more details on all the holiday parks available, check out .
Breaks are available from later this year until June 2021.
You can choose from either a three-night weekend break – or for those who can go Monday to Friday – try our midweek offer of four nights for the price of three.
Plus with our coronavirus money back guarantee, book your holiday is safe in the knowledge that if travel restrictions are in place you will have the option to move your holiday to a future date or opt for a refund*.
To book a holiday, simply collect SEVEN tokens or codewords (Sunday’s is printed on Page 26 of the paper) or SEVEN Sun Savers codes (Sunday’s is on Page 30 of the paper) from those printed daily in the paper from July 18 until July 30. For those collecting tokens, post them back with the booking form found in Saturday’s pullout.
Or if you choose to collect the codewords, just enter them at to book.
Collecting Sun Savers codes? Download the Sun Savers app or sunsavers.co.uk then click “Start Collecting” on the “Hols from £9.50” page found in the “Offers” section. Enter or scan your Sun Savers codes to unlock booking.
Those who book their break with Sun Savers can even pay or part-pay for their holiday using the cash in their Sun Savers wallet.
The best holidays go quickly so make sure you are ready when booking opens on Friday, July 24.
Ts&Cs:
Price per person based on four sharing. Multiple token/code collect. Subject to availability. Further terms and conditions and date restrictions apply. For full T&Cs see .
Play now to win £15,000 on the The Sun Raffle
JOIN thousands of readers taking part in The Sun Raffle.
Every Sun Savers code you enter will earn you a ticket for our £15k monthly Raffle.
There is no limit to how many tickets you can collect.
So the more you enter, the better your chances.
To take part go to or open the Sun Savers app.
Then opt in to each month’s Raffle by clicking “Yes!” when prompted and start collecting the Sun Savers codes printed daily in the paper.
Every time you scan or enter a code into Sun Savers, you get a Raffle ticket in the £15k Raffle.
Not yet a Sun Savers member?
Just go to or find “Sun Savers” in the app store to get started.
- T&Cs apply. Full T&Cs at .
Fancy a free fiver?
Download our easy Sun Savers app and quickly scan your code using your smartphone.
Or go online and enter your code at .
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- PRICES correct at time of going to press. Deals and offers subject to availability.
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