Money saving is often on the minds of many Britons, with people looking at ways to reduce costs and cut spending.
Spending can particularly add up when it comes to buying food, especially when that involves feeding a family.
A personal trainer and mother-of-two has now revealed how she feeds her family for around £1 a head.
Tips include shopping seasonally, dicing up meat before judging portion sizes and freezing leftover food to ensure nothing goes to waste.
Rowena Wood, 28, realised she needed to cut down the cost of her food bill when her twins were born.
With the help of MuscleFood.com, she cut the bill down from £80 to £40 and saved herself an impressive four hours a week.
One thing that Rowena recommends Britons do is venture out to local markets to bulk buy rice, pasta, lentils and veg.
Where she used to spend an hour a day cooking for herself and her twins, she now only spends around 90 minutes twice a week, saving four extra hours for family time.
Rowena puts it down to meal prepping, something she started doing when he twins were born in order to shed weight.
Talking about saving money, she said: “I use MuscleFood for my monthly deliveries which include meat and other items and ordering online is so handy as there are no extra items being thrown in the trolley and no temptation to grab junk food.
“As well as ordering online, I will plan recipes and write a list of all other ingredients needed before heading to the shops.
“Where I can, I shop in the basics section of my local supermarket or I go to the local food market to bulk buy items such as rice, pasta and loose fruit and veg.”
Another tip is to always keep cupboards stocked, organised and full of healthy staples such as tuna, lentils, beans, soy sauce, spiced and herbs – which can be added to most meals and used to flavour a host of dishes.
“I also bulk out a lot of my meals with veggies – such as kidney beans, peppers, broccoli and it makes everything stretch further,” revealed Rowena. “Meat dishes stretch further with added veg and you get a more substantial, healthy and nutritionally dense meal.
Another tip is using foods that are in season, as they are usually cheaper. “Going into the winter months I’ll be using my slow cooker to create hearty meat and veg stews, chilli con carne and lean mince spaghetti bolognese,” advised the 28-year-old.
She continued: “If I buy meat, for example, chicken – I will often dice two chicken breasts up and see how I feel about the quantity for portion sizes.
“People often think that one chicken breast should feed one person for one meal – but as they vary in size and weight I think it’s important to judge this once the meat has been diced.
“I can often make one chicken breastfeed two people – which is great when it comes to money saving and making food stretch.”
Bulk making meals and freezing them also stops wastage, as leftover ingredients can be used to make other meals.
Another way to save money this winter is by cooking your Christmas dinner in a certain way – reducing energy bills.