From Mind the Small Print with Maggie
The supermarket was built for a family of four. This book is built for one.
Supermarkets size and price everything for families, so people who live alone pay twice: once at the till, and again in what goes in the bin. This handbook is the shop-floor know-how to stop paying twice, in large, plain print.
You could save about £280 a year on your food shop. See how
Launch price · first 100 copiesThe maths
Shopping for one costs more than it should.
Here is roughly where a one-person retired household’s food money goes in a year, and what the habits in this book could take off it. It’s an estimate, built from published figures, with the working shown.
| One person · one year of food | Usual | With the book |
|---|---|---|
| Food you throw awayPlanning, portions and the freezer: Parts 3, 7, 8 and 9. WRAP puts it at £260 per person a year, and we halve it | £130 | |
| Half of the food you eat, bought at cheaper-shop pricesComparing the little number and trying a cheaper shop: Parts 2, 5 and 6. Which? found the same items about 15% cheaper | £715 | |
| The other half, with a loyalty cardUsing the free card’s members’ prices: Part 1. About 3% cheaper in Which?’s comparison | £817 | |
| Your food bill for the year | £1,663 |
Change more of your shop, save more
- Change a quarter of your shop£231
- Change half (the table above)£282
- Change all of it£384
- Change all of it, if you shop at the dearest of the big four£457
Each figure is what you would keep in a year, in the same way as the table above.
These are estimates, not promises. What you could save varies with where you live, which shops are near you, what you eat and how you shop. The more of your shop you change, the more you save, and how much you change is up to you. Figures are rounded, so rows may differ from the total by £1.
Sources: ONS, Family spending (year to March 2024) · WRAP, Household Food and Drink Waste 2022 · Which?, Cheapest supermarket, October 2026
How I worked this out
Step 1: the starting point. The Office for National Statistics reports that a one-person retired household in its ‘State pension’ group spent an average of £37.40 a week on food and non-alcoholic drinks (year to March 2024). Over 52 weeks that is £1,945. Prices have risen since, so this is on the low side.
Step 2: food you throw away. WRAP, the UK waste charity, estimates that the edible food and drink wasted in UK homes cost £260 per person in 2022. That sits inside your £1,945. We assume you halve it, which saves £130. The other £1,685 is the food you eat.
Step 3: where you shop. Which? priced the same 87 items at the big supermarkets in October 2026: £154.34 at Aldi, £181.77 at Tesco with a Clubcard and £191.56 at Sainsbury’s without a Nectar card. The smallest gap to Aldi is 15%, the biggest 19%. Tesco’s Clubcard price was 3% below its price without the card (£181.77 against £187.31).
Step 4: the sums. Half of the food you eat (£842) at 15% less saves about £127. The other half (£842) at 3% less saves about £25. Add £130 for wasting half as much: about £282 a year. Change a quarter of your shop instead and it is about £231. Change all of it and it is about £384, or about £457 if you start from the dearest of the four (19% above Aldi).
Which? warns that its monthly totals are not comparable between months, so we use one month’s gap, as a percentage. Your own shops and prices will differ.
- Office for National Statistics, Family spending ad hoc tables, financial year ending 2024, Table 5, one-person retired households (State pension).
- WRAP, Household Food and Drink Waste in the United Kingdom 2022: £17 billion, equal to £260 per person, £620 per household or £1,000 per four-person household each year.
- Which?, Cheapest supermarket, October 2026 (published 5 November 2026), average price of 87 items.
- Which? on loyalty prices: same October 2026 comparison (Tesco £181.77 with a Clubcard, £187.31 without; Sainsbury’s £182.90 with a Nectar card, £191.56 without).
Maggie’s one rule
“The offer is what they shout about. The small print is what you pay for.”
Thirty years in supermarkets taught Maggie that the big yellow sign tells you what the shop wants you to notice. The little number in the corner of the shelf label, the price per kilo or per 100 grams, tells you what you’ll actually pay. This book teaches you to look at the little number.
- Price
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£49£19 for the first 100 copies - Unit price
- about 3.6p per page
- Contains
- strong opinions about family packs
- Subscriptions
- 0
- Pushy pop-ups
- 0
- Best before
- Never. It’s a book, love.
Product facts
What’s inside
From the front door to the freezer door
12 parts, 76 chapters, and every chapter ends with a box called The Short of It: three to five lines you can read in the shop.
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1Inside the Supermarket
How a shop is laid out and why: eye level, the bottom shelf, end-of-aisle displays, the till area, meal deals and loyalty prices explained fairly.
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2Reading the Small Print
The little number on the shelf label, best before versus use by, ingredients, pack sizes, shrinkflation, and multibuys that aren’t savings.
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3The Living-Alone Tax
Why one person pays more, what a family pack really costs you, and when smaller is cheaper and when it isn’t.
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4The Supermarket Calendar
Reduced-to-clear stickers (and how to find your own store’s pattern), seasonal dips, the run-up to Christmas, and the Year at a Glance.
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5Own-Brands vs Branded
How to compare, and when the brand is worth paying for.
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6Shop by Shop
A chapter on each of the big names: how it’s laid out, what it’s good for, what to walk past, its loyalty scheme and tips for one.
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7The Cupboard for One
Staples, tins, storing opened packs and keeping things in rotation.
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8The Fridge and Freezer for One
Portioning, what freezes well, labelling, fridge temperature and safe defrosting, from Food Standards Agency guidance.
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9Cooking for One
Small-batch methods, the microwave and air fryer, one-pan meals, leftovers, and British recipes for one or two.
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10Christmas and Holidays for One or Two
Christmas dinner without a whole turkey, Pancake Day, Easter and birthdays.
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11Winter on Your Own
Keeping one room warm, hot water bottle and heater safety, icy steps, the lamp in the window and the weekly cuppa.
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12A Pension in the Kitchen
Budgeting the food shop and where to check what help you may be entitled to, with pointers to GOV.UK and Age UK.
Shop by Shop covers: Tesco · Asda · Sainsbury’s · Morrisons · Aldi · Lidl · Iceland · Co-op · M&S Food · Waitrose · Poundland · B&M · Home Bargains · Costco UK · online delivery.
Recipes for one (or two)
- Porridge
- Jacket potato, three ways
- Bubble and squeak for one
- Cottage pie for one, plus a freezer portion
- Soup from a stock cube
- Egg and soldiers
- Fish finger sandwich
- A Sunday roast for one
- Rice pudding for one
…and 31 more. British favourites, small portions, most with a spare serving for the freezer.
16 printables
- Fridge Temperature Log
- Freezer Inventory
- Shopping-for-One List
- Cupboard Staples Checklist
- Best Before vs Use By Guide
- Unit Price Checker card (cut out for your purse)
- My Store’s Yellow-Sticker Times
- Weekly Meal Plan for One
- Batch-Cook and Freeze Planner
- Price Book Page
- Loyalty Schemes at a Glance
- Winter on Your Own Checklist
- Christmas Dinner for One Planner
- “My Hazel” contacts card
- Safe Cooking and Reheating Guide
- Year at a Glance: the supermarket calendar
The Short of It. Every chapter finishes with a boxed summary, so you can skim the book in the shop or on the bus and still come away with the point.
Big print, plain pages, nothing fancy.
Real pages of the book, just as you’ll see them. Tap any page to enlarge it.
Pages 1 of 6
Swipe sideways for more pages
Who it’s for
Written for people who shop for one.
- Widows and widowers learning to shop and cook for one after years of cooking for two.
- Retirees on the State Pension who want every pound to go further without eating worse.
- Anyone who has stared at a family pack and sighed and put it back, or bought it and binned half.
- Sons and daughters buying it for a parent who lives alone.
Meet Maggie
“Mind the small print, love.”
Maggie is 71 and lives in a terraced house in Leicester. She spent thirty years working in supermarkets, the last eighteen as a store manager. Her husband Ron, a bus driver, always did the big shop on a Saturday, and she has been working out how to shop for one since he passed.
She has a budgie called Sergeant, and her neighbour Hazel comes round for a cuppa every Wednesday. Every night the two of them leave a lamp on in the front window, so each knows the other is all right.
On her YouTube channel she walks through one shop at a time and tells you what she knows from the other side of the till. She is cross about waste, never about people, and she will not be told that anybody needs a family pack of anything.
“Nobody needs a family pack of anything, love.”
Questions
Is £19 the normal price?
No. £19 is the launch price for the first 100 copies, down from £49. After the first 100 copies the price goes up to £49. Your copy is yours to keep, and you can download it again at any time from your receipt.
Is it a printed book?
No, it’s digital: a PDF and an EPUB that you download. Every page prints, and the printables are laid out on A4 so you can print them at home or at a library.
How big is the print?
Large. The body text is set at 16 point, with generous margins and plain black on white, so it’s easy to read without your glasses on a chain. (Maggie wears hers on a chain anyway.)
Can I read it on my phone, tablet or Kindle?
Yes. The PDF suits a tablet or computer, and the EPUB reflows to fit a phone or an e-reader, so you can make the text as big as you like.
Can I print the checklists?
Yes. The printables are in the book and also in a separate printable PDF, black-and-white friendly, so they print cleanly on any home printer.
How does it arrive?
As soon as your payment goes through, a download button appears on the screen and Gumroad emails you a link. You can open that link in your receipt at any time to download the files again.
Is there a subscription?
No. You pay once. There’s nothing to cancel and nothing to renew.
Does it work for my local shops?
The book covers the main UK chains, one chapter each, and the general rules work in any shop. Prices and offers vary by store and region and change over time, so the book shows you how to check your own shop rather than giving prices to memorise.
Is it medical or financial advice?
No. It’s general information. On food safety it follows Food Standards Agency guidance, and on benefits it points you to GOV.UK and Age UK rather than telling you what you’re entitled to.
What if it isn’t for me?
You have 14 days. Reply to your Gumroad receipt within 14 days of buying and you’ll get a full refund, no questions asked. Banks usually show it within 5 to 10 working days.
Can I share it with a friend?
Please ask them to buy their own copy; it’s what keeps the channel going. If you’d like to give it as a present, you can buy it and forward them the download link from your receipt.
Do I need to be a good cook?
Not at all. The recipes are short, use a few ingredients and one pan where they can, and most make a spare portion for the freezer.
Is paying online safe?
Payment is handled by Gumroad, which takes cards and PayPal. The seller never sees your card number.
Stop paying twice.
Get the Handbook · £19£49 £19 for the first 100 copies, then £49 · PDF and EPUB, instant download · 14-day guarantee · Secure checkout by Gumroad