I tried viral 5,4,3,2,1 shopping method & it cut my weekly food bill in HALF – but here's why I won't be doing it again

The Irish Sun

a day ago

FIVE, four, three, two, one . . . no, not that old Manfred Mann hit from the 1960s – this is the latest food shopping trend on social media.
It's a simple method: Buy five portions of veg, four fruits, three proteins, two grains and one sweet treat each week.
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Julie Cook with the groceries she bought to try out the trend on her family
Credit: Chris Balcombe
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The mum-of-two tried the method for five days and gives us her verdict
Credit: Chris Balcombe
The budget formula has gone viral, especially as mums claim it has cut their food shop bills by half or more. It encourages you to cook from scratch, avoiding the high costs of pre-packaged meals and snacks.
For a family of four, my weekly food bill frequently hits £120 or more.
So can this hack feed a family and save serious cash?
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Julie Cook tried it, for five days, and this what she found.
DAY 1: THE REALITY OF RATIONING
BREAKFAST would often be cereal or an egg — but today it was toast only.
'Bread is all I have in,' I said to my kids, Alex, 16, and Adriana, 11.
They stared at me as if I'd said I'd just seen a unicorn. 'What, no cereal?' Adriana gasped.
They eat lunch at school so when they came home I made them a cottage pie with half the minced beef, an onion, two chopped carrots, some of the potatoes to make mash and some tomato puree I had in the cupboard.
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The meal went down a treat and they asked for more.
Afterwards they usually want something sweet but I explained about the 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 method and how sweet treats were rationed this week to just one pack of six mousses.
I'm an Irish mum & I feed my family of six for three days with €26 shop
Alex loves fruit so was happy but Adriana has a sweet tooth. 'Can't I have a mousse?' she said.
'When they're gone, they're gone,' I replied.
Hubby Cornel, 44, a musician, was happy with the cottage pie and fruit.
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When I also explained this strategy could save us hundreds, maybe even thousands a year, he perked up even more. So far, so good.
DAY 2: COOKERY COMPLAINTS
AFTER a breakfast of, you guessed it, toast, my kids set off for school clutching bananas as extras.
Normally, I'd cook something from scratch one day and, if there were no leftovers, make something simple like
frozen
chicken in breadcrumbs the
next
— but they were off-limits this week.
Besides, I still had half a pack of mincemeat to use up, as it said to use within 24 hours once opened.
I made a bolognese with the mince and added it to the pasta shells I bought. Normally the kids love this dish.
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But Adriana groaned: 'We had mince last night.'
I replied: 'Well, I want to use it up.'
I felt rather miffed. The ingratitude!
Hubby seemed OK while Alex, bless him is 16 and all food's good food to him — although he did ask if there'd be something 'different tomorrow'.
They ate resignedly and I bribed both by offering one of the sweet treats. 'When they're gone . . . ' I began.
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'Yes, when they're gone, they're gone!' Adriana snapped before running off upstairs with hers.
I snuck my mousse out now and decided to eat it before anyone did a late night fridge raid.
I BOUGHT...
Five vegetables:
2kg potatoes, 385g brown onions, 500g sweet peppers, 1kg carrots, 180g curly kale
Four fruits:
600g strawberries, 1.095kg bananas, 800g grapes, 1.5g apples
Three protein:
750g lean mince beef, 950g chicken breast, 520g salmon fillets
Two grains:
1 loaf of bread, 1kg pasta
One sweet treat:
6 chocolate mousses
DAY 3: FRIDGE RAIDERS
WITH my family well and truly tired of mince, I used the four-pack of salmon I had bought.
I paired them with a jacket potato each and some curly kale. I also roasted the sweet peppers in some
oil
.
I was pleased to be serving up healthy fish and greens and definitely eased the mum guilt of no treats in the house.
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At least I was giving my kids their Omega 3s.
Despite all the veg, though, the salmon steaks were tiny and everyone asked for more.
'Er, that was it,' I winced.
The kids raided the fridge and found three sorry-looking mousses.
'Where are all the yoghurts?' Alex asked.
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'They're not part of this week's 5, 4, 3, 2, 1,' I replied.
He grabbed some strawberries and sloped off upstairs.
'I'm starving,' Cornel groaned, looking in the fridge. 'Where's all the food?'
Not a good day, really.
I stared into the empty fridge weighing it up.
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On one hand, I would be saving a ton doing this. On the other, was it really worth it if everyone was starving?
DAY 4: CALORIE CONUNDRUM
DINNER tonight was chicken breasts with roasted potatoes, roasted carrots and some curly kale.
I learnt my lesson last night with the meagre salmon steaks so I used all the chicken up to ensure everyone had second helpings.
The kids were getting used to our fruit pudding now and asked for strawberries. There was a tiny handful left.
'It's a bit, well, monotonous,' Cornel said, helping me load the dishwasher.
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I stared into the fridge and felt the same.
Usually it would be heaving with yoghurts, puddings and chocolate biscuits.
I went to bed worrying whether I was giving my kids enough calories.
Boys are supposed to have 2,800 a day at my son's age and my daughter is supposed to have between 1,400 and 2,000.
I was concerned at this point if they'd had enough.
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Thank goodness they also get a healthy lunch at school.
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The mum spent £63 over the five days
Credit: Chris Balcombe
'Structure helps for a more balanced diet'
MARTIN NEWMAN, the Consumer Champion, says . . .
"The 5-4-3-2-1 shopping method gives shoppers a simple framework to ensure their trolley reflects a more balanced diet – especially useful in an age of ultra-processed convenience.
Going into the shop with this structure makes you more intentional. It shifts you from reacting to supermarket deals or packaging to thinking proactively about your meals.
For parents, this is an easy-to-remember guide that helps ensure kids get nutritional variety without overthinking meal plans.
By focusing on food groups, not brand names, shoppers may save money and reduce waste – especially if they plan meals around what they buy. People with specific nutritional needs – athletes, people with diabetes, allergies, or those on plant-based diets – may need more tailored approaches.
Also, rigidly sticking to a numeric formula might not suit everyone's lifestyle, especially those cooking for larger households or with varied preferences."
See
DAY 5: SOUP SAVES THE DAY
ALL the protein was now gone. I looked in the fridge and felt panic engulf me.
My teen son works out at the gym and if there's no protein on his plate it's a disaster. But it had all gone.
I decided to make a soup out of the bag of carrots, one onion and some potatoes, and blended it.
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Then I made a simple pasta sauce with some of the onion and some tinned tomatoes I had in my cupboard (thankfully.)
'Is there any cheese?' the kids asked.
I grimaced. 'I only had three proteins — fish, chicken and meat,' I explained.
'This is NOT normal,' Adriana sighed.
Afterwards I gave them both the final leftover chocolate mousses, with guilt.
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At the weekend, the cupboard and fridge were bare so I did my normal huge weekly shop, with yoghurts, crisps, biccies and all that.
Oh, and sugary cereals. It came to £110.
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She says she's convinced her kids and husband were hungry by the end of the night
Credit: Chris Balcombe
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An example of the meals Julie cooked at home for her family
Credit: Chris Balcombe
MY VERDICT
THE 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, method of shopping sounds great on paper – and it is, in some ways. It made me meal-plan rather than going off the cuff like I usually do, and made me use up every single thing I had bought.
But it also left very little room for spontaneity, extra portions or even just fun little treats. I am convinced my kids were hungry by the evening – hubby certainly was, I may have heard his stomach rumbling – and I just felt stressed by the whole thing.
I am all for cooking from scratch – but only when you have the knowledge you have enough back-up food, if the kids want extra helpings or just something else that evening.
I can see why people rave about the method – it certainly did save me money – about £63 over the five days, which would work out at £4,599 over a year. But I won't be doing it again.