Living high on the cheap

Sue from A Smaller Life blog has set herself a challenge to live on £1 a day for the next few weeks. She has done the "live below the line " challenge several times in the past.
Sooze from Her Indoors, Him Outdoors blog is planning on a similar challenge for her and her husband.
I want us to "eat down" the freezers over the next few weeks. I have said this a few times over the past weeks/months and have made space and then promptly filled it again. Mainly on yellow sticker bargains, I do this as my preferred time to shop is when the rest of the country is eating, around 6-7 o'clock, happily that is when my local Tesco is doing the final round of mark downs.

I was talking to the SO and he feels that we should focus and not only do the eat down, but have a bash at No/Low spend November. We have done this a few times in the past and it has helped to use up the older dried goods and make room for new, fresher supplies.

As we do like a bargain, and I needed some soft cheese for tomorrows dinner we pootled off to Tesco for 2:00.

Lots of fresh stuff here, and some really good savings.

I do normally make our bread, I can not make it for these prices, plus it will make portion control so easy. I have 2 packs of the rolls and 2 of the loaves, all safe in the freezer.

I spent £8.36, the cost at full price would have been, £26.85 giving me a saving of £18.49.

This is not a true saving as some of these items would not usually figure in my shopping.

A. Because they are too pricey, I would buy "own label".

B. Because I do not normally use them.

There were 2 items that I paid full price for, bananas 35p and Oatcakes 99p, these were the cheapest per 100 grams on the shelf. I bought these solely to use for the base for the cauli cheesecake. I would normally make them myself but it would involve running the big oven for one item, something that just does not happen.

Sugar snaps for 25% of full price, very nice. 1 pack went into tonight's masala and the other will be eaten tomorrow. I would never buy these, I grow them and eat them as often as possible in season.

The sprouts, another 75% saving are prepped, blanched and in the freezer. Boom, one Christmas Eve job taken care of.

Le Roule, 43p from £1.70, Oh Wow. One of these will be in the Cheesecake and the remaining 4 are in the freezer, they will be an instant jacket potato filling or a pasta sauce.

The Ricotta, again a 75% saving will also be in the cheesecake. I would not pay the price for these big name brands, I buy the own label closest item for a far lower price.

That's because I am a bit of a tightwad, it is never a case of "can I afford it?" but always "will I afford it?". Most often the answer is a resounding NO I WILL NOT.

I did pick up a pack of fresh chestnuts reduced from £3 to 99p, I have some vacuum packed ones in the pantry but these will be roasted and enjoyed through the pain of burnt fingers. 

                           Because they are worth it.

Now I need, with the help of the SO, to draw up a list of meals, making the most of all these goodies and the contents of the freezers. Which, I hasten to add, I emptied and listed the contents (tidying as I refilled) before we went shopping.

We will see how well we do, and if we can resist the temptation to buy bargains for the sake of it. I would love to start December with very little in the freezers. Starting to use a good dollop of common sense in what I put into them, rather than buying willy nilly, with no thought of planning rather than instant saving.

It is Tea O'clock so I will catch up with you all tomorrow.

                               TTFN                                    Pam