Sun. Dec 22nd, 2024
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MUM-of-22 Sue Radford has revealed the eye-watering amount she pays for a weekly food shop to feed the UK’s “biggest family”.

The 22 Kids and Counting star revealed all in her new book, The Radfords: Making Life Count, where she also opens up about her family’s past debt.

Mum-of-22 Sue Radford alongside husband Noel3

Mum-of-22 Sue Radford alongside husband NoelCredit: Social Media – Refer to source
Just some of the Radford family on holiday together

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Just some of the Radford family on holiday togetherCredit: Instagram/theradfordfamily
Sue also recently opened up on her past family debt and the effect it had on her marriage

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Sue also recently opened up on her past family debt and the effect it had on her marriageCredit: Rex

Alongside husband Noel, the couple have spent a whopping 16-and-a-half years with Sue being pregnant.

But thanks to their Channel 5 show, successful bakery and social media channels, the family have been able to run relatively smoothly.

That does not, however, soften the blow of an almighty food shop every week, which isn’t helped by the fact that none of the kids are picky eaters.

As a result, Sue claims her weekly supermarket bill comes to about £450.

That equates to around £1,800 a month and £21,600 a year on groceries alone.

“We don’t claim benefits, the pie company is very successful and so is our media business,” Sue said. “We work hard but we’re not millionaires!”

“The nastiness is upsetting though. We just want to be able to give our children the best possible life.”

But things weren’t always so smooth sailing, as Sue revealed she considered leaving Noel following difficulties with their business in the 2000s.

Sue and Noel’s love life began 35 years ago in Kendal, in the Lake District, Cumbria, when they were just teenagers.

After getting married in 1992, they invested in a location on Kendal’s high street to expand their pie shop business in Heysham, Lancashire.

Mum-of-22 Sue Radford shows how they fit their kids in their £40k motorhome

The couple had taken out a “huge” loan to invest in their thriving dream, which started off in perfect fashion.

“To start with it did really well,” Noel explained. ‘It was doing good.”

But an outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease across the UK ravaged their business plans, leaving the pair devastated.

“It just killed the tourism,” Noel added, as the family was plunged into despair.

“If anything was going to have caused us to get a divorce, it was this.”

Eventually, Sue, struggled to see how their “marriage would survive”.

“There were days when I’d think: ‘that’s it, I’m leaving the business and Noel, I just can’t do it anymore’,” she revealed to the Mirror.

“I cant even describe it, it just caused so much stress. You used to go to bed thinking about the debt, you’d wake up thinking about the debt, you’d wake up during the night thinking about the debt…

“But our marriage has always been strong – and having the kids kept us right. We stuck together and got through it. It was sink or swim and we chose to swim.”

Now, they have a big family including Chris, 34, Sophie, 29, Chloe, 28, Jack, 26, Daniel, 24, Luke, 22, Millie, 22, Katie, 20, James, 19, Ellie, 18, Aimee, 17, Josh, 16, Max, 14, Tillie, 13, Oscar, 11, Casper, 10, Hallie, eight, Phoebe, seven, Archie, six, Bonnie, four, and Heidie, three.

Sadly, they also lost a son, Alfie, who was stillborn in 2014.

But Sue isn’t done just yet.

Despite having the biggest family in Britain, the Lancashire mum has shared her desire for more children.

With her eldest children leaving home, Sue has opened up about the prospect of fostering or adopting more kids to fill the gap.

The mum-of-22 has also revealed how the family really fit into their luxury £40k motorhome for family trips.

The Morecambe-based family regularly hop in their motorhome for a weekend away or during the school holidays – and Sue shared how her kids fit under one roof.

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