Can You Eat 3 Meals a Day for £1 in 2026?

Those of you who know me well, will have realised that blogging the other week about the trend that has recently popped up, mainly on YouTube this time, of asking the question 'Is it possible to eat for £1 a day in 2026?' the way so many of us in blogland did it quite a few years back ... would set me off on a mission to see if it was actually possible.

So I decided to do it last week.

My food buying has gotten very erratic recently, what with buying enough food for both me and Alan to eat together at dinner and teatime while he is so busy renovating our bungalow, so I thought that taking a break to concentrate on something like this while still making Alan good but simple meals of his choosing would be a way around things.

I made plans, checked the pricing out online on both the Aldi and Sainsbury's websites and then I visited them both armed with just £7, to see if I could actually manage it with what was available in our small branches.  I had to do a mixture of both supermarkets as Aldi sell very few things loose, whereas in Sainsbury's I could weigh out produce to fit exactly into my budget.  I did get the baking potatoes from Aldi as there they are priced individually and I could choose the largest ones possible at just 24p each.

The Aldi shopping and my receipt are above.

This is what I managed to pick up from Sainsbury's.

The receipt.

Here is my basic menu plan, the prices of the food and my workings out for the calories, protein and '5 a day' information.  I thought that 1282 calories, 50g of protein and 4 of my '5 a day' per day were all quite reasonable for what was going to be just one week of eating.

I wrote out the ingredients list for my very basic recipes, soup, stew, dahl, carrot soup ...

... pizza sauce, lentil soup and slaw.

I decided that I would allow myself the use of minimal amounts of oil for cooking, and anything I needed from my stash of saved sachets ... and of course to keep my sanity intact over the course of the week, and to try and keep myself as human as possible there was always going to be instant coffee allowed.

Then there was only one thing for it ... time to get stuck in and actually eat the food that I had purchased over the next seven days.

I'll be back next time with a round up of the food that I ate and the leftovers ... yes, unbelievably there were leftovers!!

Sue xx

Rhubarb ... and Summer to Winter

I picked the last of the homegrown rhubarb at the start of the week, there was a lot more of it than I had thought.  It's no wonder the end of the garden seemed small, it was cowering under gigantic rhubarb leaves.  😄

Also in that photo is the last but one picking of the blueberries. I am bringing them in as and when they turn the right shade of blue, before the birds spot them.  They are all added to a little tub in the freezer after a quick wash.  There's not a lot but they will be a nice addition to some little cakes or suchlike.

Two big pans full of lovely rhubarb stewed down with sugar and a splash of water.

I got eleven takeaway sized tubs worth of rhubarb in total, which are now safely nestled in my freezer taking up lots of space.

With the much cooler nights drawing in, yesterday was the big changeover from my Summer duvet to the Winter one, this necessitates getting all the vacuum bags out from under the bed and airing both the one coming off and the one going on, on the washing line.  I was very lucky with the weather and it was a lovely sunny and blowy day.  

After swapping the duvets over I am now starting on the clothes swap around.  

Most of my Summer clothes get put away and my Autumn/Winter ones come out.  With only one small wardrobe to hang things in, this has been an annual twice a year thing, but as my collection of clothes goes down maybe not to far in the future they will all stay out all year round.  Although of course it's always nice to put the very summery lightweight and light coloured things away and see them again the following year.  

But as it's as good as going shopping twice a year, and always a good way to declutter a few more things each time I do it, maybe it will continue. 💖

Sue xx

Shopping and Shopping Bags

 

My little black fold-up bag is probably one of the hardest working things I have owned for years.  

I bought it way back in 2013 when we first moved to North Wales and I shopped regularly in Marks and Spencer in Llandudno.  I had simply forgotten my shopping bag one day and didn't want to buy a plastic carrier bag, so a reusable bag that was actually made from recycled plastic and sold at the checkouts seemed like a very good idea.  It used to tell me all this information on the bag, but after thirteen years of constant use the words have faded as has the logo for M&S.

Anyway it came with me yesterday, as it always does, to Aldi and held all this shopping with ease.

14th - Aldi - £16.97

Once again my shopping included some things I don't usually buy, as some of them were for Alan's lunches ... not the Tasty Licks I hasten to add, they are most definitely for Ginger.🐱

Once the bag was unpacked, my bag was refolded and is now happily living in my handbag until next time.

11th - Booths - £52.96

A couple of days earlier I had shopped at Booths for some things we needed and some treats. The shopping was away and in the cupboard and fridge before I even though of taking a photo, so once again there is just a photo of the receipt for posterity. It's proving to be much more expensive to shop for both of us for two meals a day ... especially when there is a hard working man begging for treats.  

 But it's not a problem, he deserves them all.  😄

Sue xx

Seven Different Ways I Have Saved Money This Past Week

1.  Making one meal go further.

Alan was feeling exhausted after working with at the bungalow all last week, so we splurged and had a chip shop tea to round the week off.  It was just too much for me, so I saved half of my fish and chip meal for the next night.  It warmed up beautifully in the Remoska, but it's always a shock to see how much fat comes out of fish and chips when it's reheated.  😮

Enough to put you off getting it again?  No not really, once in a while it's perfectly okay to have a little treat, especially when it actually lasts over two meals.

2.  Using up sad looking vegetables.

I've been using up the contents of my fridge this week, so the tail end of carrots, celery and onion were roasted together, to make us a sort of carrot wellington.  It's on the menu every week at Mum's care home and we have always said that we should give it a go.

Once cooked it was all wrapped in some homemade pastry and cooked until beautifully golden brown.

  Unfortunately, my camera has been playing silly b*ggers recently and deleting random photos, especially the last one in each series I take ... so my gorgeous pastry extravaganza has now vanished into our stomachs and the ether.

I thought I had  gone mad so I did test it out, and yes out of a set of three photos, the last one vanished!!

I am now double checking and taking duplicate where needed ... another money saving thing as I really don't want to have to buy another camera.

3.  Making good use of free food.

I had half a sachet of a 'freebie' tomato ketchup, so I found a burger in the freezer and made sure I used it all up.  It might have been free, but even so I wasn't going to waste half of it.

4.  Using what I already had open.

I wanted a bit of sweetcorn to add to my tuna salad sandwich mix, so rather than open a full can I stood at the worktop and picked some out of the frozen mixed vegetables.

5.  Shopping Lists

A letter came for me with a blank A4 sheet of paper added for some reason.  As I was just about to write out my shopping list, I turned it into six shopping list sized pieces of paper and used one straight away.

6.  Replacement for breadcrumbs.

There were a lot of Weetabix crumbs left in the tin last time I refilled it, so I tipped them all into a jar ready to add to banana and walnut muffins ... I forgot to do that.  So instead I thought I would try them as breadcrumbs to coat two mashed potato and tuna fishcakes.

It worked a treat, and surprisingly didn't taste too much of Weetabix.

7.  Free guilt-laden napkins.

On Sunday when we were getting our motorway services lunch on the way back from seeing Mum, I headed back to the table before Alan, telling him that I would get the napkins.  I had forgotten that he is a bit deaf in one ear at the moment and he didn't hear me ... so he too picked up some napkins.  I felt guilty but there's no way to push them back into the dispenser, so instead I will make good use of them at home.

Just seven of the ways I can think of that I have saved us a little bit of money this week.  Of course there are probably many more, but so many things are done without even noticing yourself do them after a lifetime of watching the pennies.

What have you done recently that helped out your budget in some way?

Sue xx

Saving Money - Absolutely No Waste

One of the first steps to saving money is to have absolutely no waste.

To use everything up of everything that you buy, whether that be eating all the leftovers and composting all the vegetable bits that are inedible, or making good use out of every last drop of something in a tube for instance.

I have spent years now cutting the ends of tubes to get out all the hand-cream, face cream or as in this case toothpaste.

It's surprising what is still left in there after you have already spent a week squeezing, shaking and scraping down the tube for all your worth to get the product out.

Of course I don't want the product to go hard or go off with the tube cut into pieces, so I always cut out a middle section then use the bottom as a top.  It works a treat.

My little nail pencil, which was once the length of a normal pencil, is now just over an inch long, it's hard to sharpen it these days, but I will persevere.  While it is still there, I am still using it.

All I ask of life at the moment is to live simply, to have enough of what I need, to make the best of what I have ... and to be grateful for each and every day.

What is one money saving tip that you would add in the comments to help others that might not have heard of it?

Sue xx

A Case for Slow Living

 

I never thought I would say this but already I am missing the warmer weather.  

I usually find sunny days far too hot, I like being cool. But here in the north of England the last couple of weeks have been cold ...and I mean cold. The central heating has clicked on a few times and it is set to only do that when temperature falls below 15 degrees.   I even added another thin quilt onto my bed last night to keep me a bit cosier.

I love this meme, but in my head I sort of adapted it as I read it to suit our current weather conditions.  Today for instance is the first day for two weeks that I have been able to get the washing out of the line to dry.  I haven't been able to do much in the garden other than remove the decimated lupins from their pots.  I fear there was no way to rescue them, the greenfly have won for the second year running.

The poem that Joy mentions in the comment section.  I Googled it.

But I am revelling in slowness, and the light lingers longer and longer as we head towards the 21st and the longest day of the year.  I lay in bed last night watching the light slowly fade from below and above the curtains, remembering that as a child I hated being sent to bed when it was still 'daytime'.

I rescued the crusts from my toast, along with half a slice of toast that Alan couldn't finish when we went out for breakfast last weekend and I am currently turning them into some oniony, garlicky croutons to have with my homemade soup for tea. 

It will be a nice simple, frugal and tasty evening meal on a day that is already turning just a little bit chiller.

Time to go and get the now dry washing in now I think.

Sue xx

Blogmas Day Eleven - Changing Traditions, Making Memories

 

This meme is so very true, we don't have to do any of the above.

Every year without fail for I don't know how long, I have bought one new decoration or ornament for the tree, a symbol in it's way of another year gone by, another year survived in this mad at times world.  This year we have been to lots of places with many, many decorations to choose between and I have held back.  Picking up things that I have liked and even momentarily thinking of purchasing them.  But I have always put them down and come away empty handed ... and happy.

I had no need to purchase one, and my brain told me that this was better.  The other day we were clearing the garden for Winter, I had left lots of the dead heads and dried twigs in the garden for the insects and small creatures to use as cover while they needed them.  But now after all the non-stop rain and hard frosts, it was starting to look very neglected and soggy, not the sort of cover any self-respecting creatures would choose for a hidey-hole for the Winter.  

I have left some things though, so any little critters that might have gone for an away-day will be able to find alternative accommodation on their return.  😄 

Amongst my prunings were some of the tall, twiggy things that I have growing in the tin bath at the front door, it had really shot up this year.  They started as the twiggy offerings in a large bouquet of flowers that Alan had bought me for our anniversary a couple of years ago, and someone told me that they rooted easily.  So always being one to experiment I pushed them into the soil at the back of the tin bath, and lo and behold whoever it was that told me that was completely right, within months I had growth, greenery and then more bobbly things.

So it came to me in an inspired flash, the twigs were so willow-like I decided to make three tiny wreaths for the Christmas tree.  Two I slightly decorated, but the tiniest which is barely an inch across, was left as it was.

Now they are on my tree and this years decorations have been sourced ... at absolutely no cost in money to either of us, but absolutely filled with memories of Christmas' gone by.

Sue xx

Enjoying Mother

 

'Mother', the Christmas cacti is in full bloom and looking amazing.

She's a very old lady, originally owned by Alan's great-great-great Scottish Grannie, but every now and then she really surprises us, and this 'almost on time' blooming has done just that.  She is obviously loving being sat in Alan's hallway window and getting so much light on her old leaves.

She spent many days over the course of the Summer sat outside on the patio drinking up the sun's rays, and then enjoying cooling showers from the hosepipe before returning to her happy place.  Maybe that has helped rejuvenate her even more than usual.

Happiness can be as simple as enjoying the pretty flowers on a treasured plant.

Sue xx 

Just a Relaxing Sunday Post

 

Abbot's Bay, Derwent Water in the Lake District

Photo copyright Graham Shaw - my brother.

A peaceful, cooling photo for what has been promised to be a hot, hot day.

Cleaning Fruit by William K Blacklock

Something a lot of us are doing at the moment, before jam making, bottling or freezing.

A beautiful green kitchen, and you all know how much I love a green kitchen.  💚

And finally, somewhere to sit and drink the coffee that you make in the beautiful green kitchen.

Hoping you have a lovely relaxing Sunday.  

Sue xx

Sunday, Beautiful Sunday

 

A gorgeous cottage.

Which I think is slightly reminiscent of the fake cottage used in the Christmas film 'The Holiday'.  I was so disappointed when I found out that it wasn't actually real.  The set was beautiful.  😟

A lovely kitchen.

Old books, and china in shades of blue.

Although I have the urge to 'iron' that wall ... and those of you that know me well, know that I don't iron anything!!  😄

And finally a pretty cup, which reminds me it's time to get and get another cup of coffee before we hit the road.

Hope you have a lovely Sunday.

Sue xx

Small Kitchen Appliances

 

These are three of the six small kitchen appliances that I use the most often.  Seen here in action last night earning their keep and cooking my tea.  😀

Usually the rice cooker is kept in the drawer, the other small appliances not shown here, are my toaster, which kept on the little white drawer unit in a basket, my Nutribullet which lives in the cupboard under the sink and ...

... my small sized Kitchen Aid food processor, which also lives in the cupboard until I need to use it.

I don't have the space to leave them all out ready for action so it's just the things that are used every single day that are on the worktop.  The kettle ... what would life be without numerous cups of coffee over the course of the day ... and the Remoska which is used once or twice every day and which normally stands on the back of the hob, I only ever use the front part of the hotplate so it's perfectly safe there.

I did give an air fryer a try for a few weeks last year when my last Remoska broke and was unrepairable, but it didn't suit my style of cooking as well.  So that was sold on and that particular little dalliance ended.

What are your most used small kitchen appliances?

Sue xx