Let's face it, times are pretty hard. Inflation is sky high, it costs an arm and a leg to fuel your vehicle and literally everything seems to be a lot more expensive than it was 12 months ago.
As a result, people have been getting very creative when thinking of inventive ways to save money on everyday expenses. And during a five day experiment, YorkshireLive journalist Jaimie Kay discovered that necessity definitely is the mother of all invention.
For seven days the trained chef scoured shelves and fridges at his local supermarkets for those coveted 'yellow sticker' items - and challenged himself to make delicious, wholesome and filling meals with his reduced cost purchases in the process.
Here he documents his cut-price culinary journey on a day-by-day basis in his own words - and the result were pretty varied...
We all know the cost of living is rising, for a lot of people it's a struggle and difficult to come to terms with. Many people have turned to food banks and trying to save money by cutting out certain items or luxuries that they otherwise cannot afford.
With the cost of everyday food items increasing, I was set the task of trying to live off reduced supermarket items for five days. This is something I do a lot - mainly because I am very bad at doing a proper shop.
I don't drive, I don't ever eat enough to require a delivery really and generally I just grab ingredients as and when I need them. So for me, this sounded simple, however, it wasn't that straightforward.
I must prefix this by saying I already had things like pasta and rice, spices and seasonings in so they were added to bulk out the meals. I managed it pretty much, apart from the odd spend where it just wasn't viable to get something reduced.
The main shops near me, slap bang in Leeds City Centre are M&S, Co-Op and Tesco Express. There is one massive issue with all of these places because they are in the city and they are more classified as convenience stores, they are generally quite expensive, to begin with.
Anytime I get something from M&S or co-op to be fair, it's usually reduced because I personally think the prices are a little over the top.
So, here are a few of the things I managed to grab reduced, most of these items were ingredients because I like to cook and try to eat nutritious meals where possible.
MONDAY
On Monday I had a few things in that I had got the day before - let's take best before dates out of this equation, they are more trouble than they are worth.
I managed to find some bread that was reduced from 2.50 to 80p it was decent sourdough and I love bread. Along with this, I had found some reduced tomatoes and hummus.
As I said, I eat quite simple meals most of the time and because I was lucky enough and privileged enough to train as a chef, I can come up with recipes on the fly.
Due to the somewhat lacking reduced sections in my shops, I had to get creative and this meant some of the meals were a bit naff in all honesty. Often times I found a pack of carrots or a lone aubergine and while I can do something with it, it wouldn't exactly be a meal.
TUESDAY
Tuesday was frankly dire. Ever had pasta with coleslaw? Don't, it's like a bowl of sick.
However, because that's what I could find, that's what I did. It didn't necessarily taste bad but it was not appetising and just sad to be honest.
The issue I found with this test was that there were very few options - besides cheesecake, Tesco always had reduced cheesecake but I value my life so that was not going to be a meal.
The coleslaw was reduced from £1.50 to 70p which is a decent saving but with it being mayo-based it kinda had to be used all at once.
WEDNESDAY
Wednesday was better, I found a haul of reduced veg at M&S. M&S is my favourite for reduced sticker items because you can find some proper bargains.
In the past, I have found soups reduced from 2.50 to 80p, I've found frozen pasties for half the price and generally always been quite impressed with the discounts.
I got a range of things from M&S that I could use to make a few meals with. Yes, it does get boring eating the same things but if you try and make them different enough you can have a sufficient meal.
I got an aubergine, some potatoes that were a little on the way to being less than desirable let's say, I got some chilis from Co-Op and I got a cucumber and some thyme.
For my lunch, on Wednesday I made a simple aubergine, and cucumber salad. I love a salad and with a decent dressing, this was a satisfying meal.
THURSDAY
Thursday rolled on from Wednesday. I used the potatoes, some onions I had left over and the thyme to make a non-mayo potato salad.
I don't like potato salad with mayo, so this worked out. It was simple to do, I boiled the potatoes, sliced the onions and when warm added them all into a pan with some olive oil, salt, pepper and thyme.
It was really fresh, tasty and cheap. All together that meal worked out at around £1. Another prefix, I live alone and cooking for one when you're not too picky is easier so for families it's understandable how much of an impact the rising costs are/are going to have.
I also found some cheap noodles. Dressed them with some chilli oil and used the leftover bread and made a decent meal out of that too.
FRIDAY
Friday I was feeling lazy. There is nothing wrong with being a bit lazy after a long week.
I nipped to the Co-Op during my lunch and usually, they have an array of sandwiches reduced on a trolley at the front. These are some of the best deals in the shop.
I got a Coronation chicken and chickpea sub roll for 70p. Reduced from £3.50 so that is quite a saving, though some (myself included) would argue that £3.50 is expensive to start with.
This was good, it was on a spiced naan sub roll and although it didn't look amazing, it was a decent sandwich and got me through lunch.
This whole process was a lot harder than I thought because I had to go to shops at late times to get the best options and because my shops are small there was very little on offer.
However, with some 'creativity' it was doable and overall I probably saved around 50% of what I would normally pay over five days.
However, this shouldn't be a necessary thought. People shouldn't be looking to buy reduced or discounted items because the relevant support and financial security aren't there.
We should be managing the cost of living and not allowing the prices to rise as they are.
