06 April 2023 , 08:59
498
0
The Radford family is made up of a whopping 22 children - which obviously doesn't come cheap.
Britain's biggest family spend an eye-watering amount on their colossal weekly food bill, consuming 56 sausages, 16 pints of milk and four loaves of bread a day.
Mum Sue admits work around the house is "never-ending" and the parents have joked that the kids "eat them out of house and home".
But no matter what, this extraordinary family always finds a way and manages to provide for the kids with their bakery business.
So exactly how do they afford to feed all those hungry mouths?
Our Yorkshire Farm's Amanda Owen sparks concern with 'crumbling' Ravenseat pics
Pie business
The Radfords are Britain's biggest family with 22 kids (SWNS)The Radfords are very self-sufficient as they live on the income from Noel's family bakery business.
The Radford Pie company, which is located near their family home in Morecombe, Lancashire, serves fresh, healthy pies to customers across the UK.
On their website, they state: "We have owned our own lovely bakery since 1999 which is how we manage to provide for (and feed) our huge and expanding family as well as for the local people of Heysham and Morecambe.
"We have set up our on-line pie shop so we can share our very popular pies with you all. We're a real family business with both myself and Sue working at the helm along with some of our children to help us."
Noel is the family breadwinner, having been a baker for 25 years and working in several bakeries from trainee to manager to owner.
It's certainly a family affair, as wife Sue oversees all the orders coming in when she doesn't have her hands full with the kids and is "chief taste tester".
Daughter Chloe is the next generation of artisan pie maker, having helped in the bakery for five years, while son Daniel also helps prepare the deliveries.
Noel runs the family's pie business (Radford family)They company did expand to cater for online orders made from around the UK, but they were devastatingly hit by the Covid-19 pandemic.
In December, the bakery had to temporarily close as Noel contracted coronavirus so they lost takings during that time.
Earlier this year, Noel told viewers of their show that he had baked his last loaf and was 'retiring' to spend more time with the kids.
22 Kids And Counting slammed over 'tone deaf remarks' as fans 'stop watching'
"No more getting up early. Hang up my gloves, time to move on," Noel told his wife, before putting kids Chloe and Luke up against each other to see who would take over.
However, Noel struggled helping Sue around the house and decided he found retirement too boring, begging his kids to give him his job back.
Noel told his wife: "I'm not past my best-by date yet, I think I'm going back."
When he asked to be let back into the bakery, Chloe replied: "You're only an employee now."
Benefits
Noel and Sue admit they're not secret millionaires (Instagram)Sue and Noel rely on their own bakery business to fund themselves, so they do not claim any benefits apart from Child Benefit.
"Absolutely not, we're definitely not secret millionaires," Sue said when asked if the family were rich on a YouTube video.
She added: "To me rich would be having the big mansion, the flash cars and quite a few hundred thousand in the bank, to me that would be rich but we are not that."
The only other source of income they get is through brand partnerships on social media.
Their house
The Radford family live in Morecombe, Lancashire (LancLive/ WS)It's a tight squeeze as the Radfords as they live in a 10-bedroom house which they bought for £240,000 in 2004.
There was a suggestion that they could leave the three-storey building, which was converted from a former care home, but now they have big renovation ideas.
"I think a while back I did really want to move house, before we did the house up. But since doing the house up were not moving and actually we've got plans for the house, quite big plans," said Sue.
"We will be sharing them with you once the architect does his thing."
If the family ever did up sticks, they would go somewhere with some tranquillity or some sun.
Noe added: "I think if we were to move house what we would really love to do is move abroad or move to the lakes."
Charging rent
Homeschooling has been a military operation (YouTube)Some of the older kids have moved out of the family home, but some are still living there as adults.
They don't get a completely free ride as the eldest children pay a small amount of rent to their parents.
"Us older ones do pay a little bit of board, granted it's not a lot but I am trying to save up for my own house at the moment," explained Chloe.
Sue added: "We've always said if you want to buy somewhere, rent is dead money so we would rather you saved that money up and stayed at home for a bit longer.
"But me and Noel believe they should pay board, if they are earning we've always been brought up to pay board."