Family dodges cost of living crisis and saves £100 a week by foraging for all their meals

A savvy family is swerving the cost of living crisis by foraging for all their meals - only spending £5 a month in the supermarket on pasta and olive oil. Jim Parums, 32, discovered foraging at a young age after watching his grandmother, Anne, 84, pick mushrooms and fell in love with the wonderful world of fungi.

Now Jim has also taught his wife, Kat Parums, 35, and his two little girls, three and one, the art of survival with the power of foraging. Every meal in their home, in Altrincham, Manchester, is cooked with ingredients grown in their garden and foraged from their local woods.

Their meals even include birds left behind from pheasant shoots during the season. In January 2020, Jim trialled giving up weekly food shops after becoming sick of processed, frozen and expensive meals.

The family loved their new way of life so much they stuck with it and continued to source fresh produce from the environment around them. The family now save over £100 a week by living off their land and only need to go to the Tesco, Sainsbury’s and Morrisons boost petrol and diesel profit">supermarket for a few basics, spending just £5 a month.

Jim, who has worked as a professional forager since October 2019, said: "Some of the tastiest ingredients are waiting outside your doorstep. With a little bit of guidance, foraging can be used in every meal, and that expensive weekly shop can be reduced drastically.

‘’My family and I rarely visit our local Tesco because we have everything we need in our garden or outside. We only buy pasta and olive oil which barely breaks our £5 spending limit in the local shop.’’

After a childhood of adventures with grandma, Anne, Jim discovered his talent for foraging after easily identifying mushrooms with just a glance as a young adult. Dad-of-two, Jim continued his passion during his degree in Electronic Engineering at Ashton University in Birmingham in 2011.

During this time, Jim would forage berries and make wine for his friends. Jim said: ‘’We were young and we just wanted something to drink, so I thought why not, I’ll create it myself.

‘’It was awful, but it definitely did the job. My wine-making has improved quite dramatically in recent years.’’

In 2015, April, Jim met his wife Kat on a job when they both worked in hospitality, and they moved to Manchester in 2019. But he quickly became unfulfilled with ‘’the daily grind’’ and decided to do something he loved instead.