A thrifty mother has shared her clever tip for saving money on canned food on TikTok - and it's so simple, we might just try it out ourselves.
The cost-of-living crisis has led to a surge of online content about how to save money this January, as cash-strapped families across the UK look for easy ways to budget in the wake of the pricey Christmas season.
From shopping at the cheapest supermarket to avoiding this costly heating mistake, people have been getting impressively creative to make ends meet as we approach the spring months. Inflation in the UK is currently the highest it's been in 40 years, with prices of energy and food jumping to shockingly steep rates over the past year.
With no end in sight to this worrying spike, money-conscious influencers have been doling out tips online on how to ease the pinch. One popular personality is TikTok's Duchess of Thrift, a self-described "Thrifty Mum" on a mission to help people with her "money savvy & energy saving." Earlier this week, the frugal mother shared a video about how to save money on certain food products - simply by asking for a discount.
@duchessofthrift ♬ original sound - duchessofthrift
The Duchess of Thrift encouraged her viewers to "have a good rummage through" the shelves when buying essentials, such as tins of beans and soup, to try and find the "dented ones." Sometimes, these items will already have a yellow discount sticker, but if they don't, it's also possible to ask a staff member if they can apply one.
"Be cheeky," the Duchess of Thrift says, advising her followers to "go up to customer services" to ask for a price cut if they discover a damaged tin. She even uses her own example, showcasing a dented tin of Sainsbury's creamed chicken soup she had reduced from 90p to 59p.
The simple hack received a flurry of comments, with some people praising the thrifty suggestion as a great idea.
"Nothing wrong with a wonky tin. Totally agree, always go and ask," one person wrote below.
Not everyone was on board with the Duchess of Thrift's hack, though. The suggestion garnered the ire of a handful of supermarket employees, who argued that some customers were damaging food packaging on purpose in an effort to get a discount.
"I work in Asda and we're not allowed to reduce stuff on request for people, as too many people will hoard/damage stuff to get it cheaper," one person said, while another wrote, "I worked in a supermarket and we would say no we will hold that and offer the customer another one lol. Too many chancers."
