Supermarket Swap: We saved £40 a week by switching to M&S ‘fakeaways’

In our series, Supermarket Swap, we challenge a family to change where and how they do their weekly grocery shop. Can they save money by trading old habits for new – and will they decide to switch to another supermarket as a result? This week, we speak to Emma Geary, 43, of Hertfordshire, whose hungry teenage boys come with a never ending food bill. The family’s Saturday night takeaway is a tradition, but at £60 for four, can Emma get a better deal with a supermarket “fakeaway”? Old supermarket: Saturday night takeaway – £60 New supermarket: Marks & Spencer New bill: £54.59 Saving: £5.41 Keeping two hungry teenage sons fed is a constant battle for Emma Geary. With a rugby playing 17-year-old, and a golf-mad 15-year-old, Emma has become the queen of vouchers and discounts to keep costs under control. Emma, 43, spends around £130 a week in Sainsbury’s for the family of four, which also includes her husband, 63. They also do the occasional top up at Aldi specifically for drinks, as they’re significantly cheaper. But as the boys have gotten older, eating out – and going out generally – has become considerably more expensive. “Even going out for Sunday lunch now, it’s about £150 by the time you order four adult Sunday roasts, and drinks and desserts,” says Hertfordshire-based Emma. “We just don’t do it anymore, unless it’s a real special occasion – it costs more than a whole weekly food shop.” A family tradition the Gearys have stuck to, though, is their Saturday night takeaway, which costs around £60 each time. That’s on top of the boys’ trip to McDonald’s with friends, and the weekend treats they crave.“They want things that are a bit more special at the weekend. It’s what they have got used to, and what they look forward to,” says Emma. Emma was keen to see how far her £60 takeaway budget could go and decided to try “fakeaway” equivalents at M&S. “Usually I’m scared to go into Marks’ because I get three things in my basket, and its £40 and I think, ‘how did that happen?’” “I took my youngest son with me, and he was absolutely loving it because I never let him loose in Marks’.” Emma and her son tasked themselves with getting as many weekend breakfast, lunch and dinner items they could for £60 or less. They picked up a packet of two almond croissants for £2.60, plus two pots of fresh porridge for £1.60 each, making a treat-like Saturday breakfast for everyone for a total of £5.80. For lunch, they picked up ciabattas, breaded chicken tenders, chicken kiev dip and potatoes to make air fryer chips which came to a total of £13.25. And in place of their Saturday night family takeaway, they picked up a premium ready meal of slow-cooked Massaman style lambshanks, which came in at £13 for two portions for Emma and her husband. They already had rice at home, which they used to go with it. Emma already had a pizza at home for the boys, which would have cost £6 at M&S had she picked one up. They also had doughballs as a side which they had bought at M&S for £3.25. This alone meant she saved about £40 on the takeaway they otherwise would have bought. For Sunday breakfast, they went for bacon sandwiches, purchasing two packs of unsmoked bacon for £8, plus a farmhouse loaf for £1.75. The family’s Sunday lunch came in at £16.66 for minted lamb rump steaks, organic broccoli, ready made cauliflower cheese and buttered greens. For dessert they had a chocolate sponge pudding for £5.50, covered in extra thick double cream for £2.10. Other treats included chocolate raisins for £2 and another chocolate bar for £1.40. The family didn’t miss their takeaway, and were delighted with how much food they got for the same price of a single takeaway. “The boys loved their ‘fakeaway’ meals, as they felt like they were having a treat,” says Emma. All in all, Emma spent £54.59 at M&S. Her full basket actually came to £84.59, but she had a £30 voucher from Perkbox, the employee perk and discount scheme her company, Vetnique, has signed up to. Perkbox allows managers to award up to £150 worth of points each month to recognise team members who have done exceptional work in that time. It can be anything from meeting a deadline early to going out of your way to help colleagues. Everyone gets £5 worth of points per month regardless which can be spent at a range of brands and retailers. Emma’s now hoping to save even more money by having more frequent “fakeaway” weekends. She says they’ll put the money saved towards family days out, which they hardly ever do these days due to the expense for meals out and an activity for four people. “Even if we just replaced our Saturday night takeaway with an M&S ‘fakeaway’, that would save a lot of money over the course of a month. So it’s definitely something that we would do again,” says Emma.