A game I want to win

Hello. The talk last night was a bit strange, it was in a pub, and the group were due to eat after I had finished. They were short on numbers, only five turned up, others had sent their apologies that they couldn't attend for different reasons. Not to worry, I just got on with it. A small audience is a lot more difficult than a large one, especially as they were in such close proximity to me. Give me a hundred or so any day. It ended up like a chat, I had examples of my arts and crafts to show, and some of my newspaper cuttings. They seemed to like it. The food arrived before I had finished, so they started scoffing while I was winding it up. I didn't want any food, I had eaten before I left home. 

The end of the night was very enjoyable however. After I left I decided to go home via the big Asda store. I don't usually shop there, because it's at the other end of town. It was gone 9pm when I arrived and not many shoppers about. I soon had to change my basket for a trolley when I saw the mound of food that was being reduced to literally pennies. I well and truly struck gold. Everything on this photo was 2p per item. It reminded me of the time I went there with the Rip off Britain crew, we found a lot then, this time I get to keep everything. 

A brief rundown. Three large bags of potatoes, asparagus, grapes, blackberries, raspberries, baby salad leaves, grated carrot, rice noodles, watercress, snacking fruit, parsnips, turnips, casserole veg, diced carrots and swedes, butternut squash, courgettes, 6 bread rolls. My neighbour next door, and the one across the road, each had a bag of spuds this morning, and I shared a bag with my friend up the road.

There were a few other items which cost a bit more. Total shop was 94p. Didn't I do well!

 Who would buy 21 raspberries for £2? Bonkers.

 Who would buy 37 blackberries for £2? Crazy.

I will have them for 2p thank you very much. The banana is from my yellow sticker shop a week ago at Tesco. They might have black skins but they are fine on the inside.

The prepared veg needs cooking, so here are the main ingredients for a pan of stew. Three bags, at a cost of 6p. 

Here's whats in it.

And ten minutes later on the hob, no prepping, I have four portions of stew for the freezer. My ready meals. The second pan is cooling down now, another four portions. By the way, if you freeze them in margarine tubs like this, they are difficult to get out. Never microwave in the tub, I use a pyrex dish to heat them up. To loosen them, because they are like a solid brick, waft a hairdryer over the bottom and sides for a minute, then they will come out.

My lunch today was mushrooms, (needed to use them up), grated carrot, and rice noodles, on a bed of watercress. Very nice.

Someone asked me in an email, a week or so ago, (I am a bit slow at replying to emails), what would I do if I couldn't buy yellow stickers. Well, my attitude to shopping would still be the same.

Know the prices of the items I buy on a regular basis.
When anything goes up and it becomes too expensive, look for a similar product which is just as good and cheaper.
Be flexible with my eating and spending. I don't have to eat the same things week in week out.
I am prepared to eat the same meals three days running, if I find food that is very cheap and must be eaten before it goes off.
If there are any not to be missed offers I will stock up.
I will shop in lots of different places, often looking for reductions in the most unlikely of places. Poundland sometimes sell six eggs for 50p. The discount stores have chiller cabinets and sometimes reduce items.
I check shelf labels. I shop with price in mind. I don't make a list, I buy what's cheap.
I don't meal plan, because to work out what you are going to eat in advance means that you need to make sure you have the ingredients for a particular dish. I open the fridge door and eat what will go off the soonest. I make up meals, I don't have a recipe book.
I treat shopping as a challenge, to get the very best for my money at the cheapest price. It's a game I want to win. I make an effort to pop in shops on the way back, or when I am passing.
If there were no yellow stickers I would survive.

When you think about it, supermarkets will never get their stock orders exactly right. There will always be items that are overstocked and some that will run out. It's best to sell off the overstock cheaply rather than bin it. There are attempts to give any spare food to charities, which is a great idea. This in theory would work best with tins and packets, it would be very difficult to give away food that has to be eaten on that same day or the day after. It would need to be collected by the charity pretty quickly, or delivered by the supermarket. The logistics would need to be worked out. A lot of people wouldn't touch food that has gone past the date, so the difficulty there would be who would want it. I can't see the yellow stickers ending just yet.

That's all for now. Thanks for popping in, we'll catch up soon.
Toodle pip