The Penny Pincher UK

03/10/2025

Supermarket meal deals, who’s the cheapest right now? 🥪🥤🍫

Did you have time to make a packed lunch this morning? Maybe you thought nahhhh, I'll get lunch out today, ( I know my wife loves a 'Chips and Dips' M&S Friday lunch with her colleague and who can blame her, I'm jealous !

If you are buying lunch, here's where you can find the cheapest main stream supermarket meal deal:

✅ Cheapest mainstream meal deal: Co-op at £3.50, but you need to be a Co-op member to get that price.

✅ Cheapest without a loyalty card: Asda at £3.74 – no membership needed.

Tesco, Morrisons and Sainsbury’s all require loyalty cards to get the lower price, which is all good if you have a loyalty card, but cost more if you don't. Waitrose sits at the top end at £5; is it a better meal though? You tell me, I'm yet to try!

💡 Money-saving tip: most supermarkets (except Co-op) let you pay with gift cards. If you buy gift cards through cashback apps like JamDoughnut, you can knock extra off the cost of your lunch. Even if you need to buy £10 upfront, just keep using it for future meal deals. That way you save twice, cheaper food and cashback in your pocket.

Use code PPUK to join JamDoughnut and you'll get a sign up £3 bonus, and can start saving straight away!

So, what’s your favourite supermarket meal deal?

02/10/2025

🎄💳 Both Tesco and Sainsbury’s are running loyalty card challenges this autumn.

They are a really easy way to pick up bonus points and turn them into free Christmas cash.

The idea is simple. Join the challenges the app, complete a few personalised shopping tasks, and the points are added on top of your usual ones.

That means money off your food shop, presents, or even fuel, just for buying the groceries you would buy anyway.

Nectar Count Up to Christmas

Runs until 11th November. You get five personalised shopping tasks and each one unlocks 300 bonus points when you collect 50 standard points.

Complete them all and that is 1,500 bonus points, worth £7.50. On top of your normal Nectar points, it is an easy way to cut the cost of Christmas.

Tesco Clubcard Challenges

Running until 9th November. Pick your challenges in the Clubcard app, which is choosing products/brands/product categories you are likely to buy (you can choose 10), and then shop as normal, and scan your card.

Complete them and you can earn up to £50 in bonus points, which convert directly into vouchers or partner rewards.

Why it matters

Do both challenges and you could pocket up to £57.50 of loyalty value before Christmas. That is money off your turkey, gifts, or even the petrol to get you there.

Free savings for shopping as normal. Absolute no brainer.

30/09/2025

🎃 October is scary enough…

Don’t let your energy bill haunt you this month.

⚡️ From 1st of October, energy prices are rising. If you don’t have a smart meter, take and submit a meter reading before the change, or as soon as possible afterwards.

👻 Why it matters:

* Don’t get tricked into paying higher rates for September energy

* Avoid a scary surprise when your bill lands

* Make sure you get the treat of lower prices on what you’ve already used

🕷️ It’s quick: log in online, use your supplier’s app, or call it in. Two minutes now could save you from a frighteningly high bill later.

Don’t let energy suppliers play guessing games. Protect your pennies.

👉 Check it. Snap it. Submit it. Before the price rise becomes your next horror story!

29/09/2025

End of Month Weight Update!

I know not everyone here is into these posts. This is primarily a money-saving account, not a weight-loss account, but many of you have followed my journey from the start, and I want to keep you informed.

I’m setting up a new Instagram account just for my personal weight loss journey. I’ll share the details in my early October update. From then on, I’ll only post here twice a month about the weight loss aspect...

Now for this month’s results.

I was nervous. I spent two weeks in America at the start of September, and I honestly thought I’d come back heavier. To my surprise, I didn’t. I actually lost weight! Yeah, I’m not sure how that happened either LOL!

The significant change this month has been swimming.

I got hooked on it while I was away, and I’ve kept it up at the Village Gym since I got back. I swim for about an hour, and ten minutes, three to four times a week, sometimes more.

Last week I even managed eight swims in seven days, but that’s a one-off week! Each session burns 1300 to 1400 calories, which is about triple what I burn on my daily 3.7-mile lunchtime walk.

I’m still following a calorie-deficient diet, walking every weekday, and I also work out with weights and machines at the gym. But the pool has made me enjoy exercise in a way the other exercise methods don’t; it still feels like I’m on holiday every time I dive in!

The result?

I am now 8st 5lbs down in total, and I have only 7lbs left before I move from obese to overweight.

When I first started this diet back in March, I was classed as morbidly obese. I then moved down into the obese category, and I’m about to leave obesity behind and move into the overweight category. A lot of people would hate the idea of being overweight, but I’ve never been happier to be heading there!

My target is to hit a total of a 9st loss by the end of October. That means another 9lbs in a month. Ambitious, but I think it’s possible; time will tell!�

Village Gym

29/09/2025

🚨 Self Assessment deadline is coming fast; don’t ignore it! 🚨

If you earned over £1,000 from side hustles in 2024, (Tax year 6th April 2024 to 5th April 2025), you must register for Self Assessment with HMRC.

Deadline to register: 5 October 2025

Miss it, and HMRC can hit you with penalties and interest that adds up quick

Why this matters:

HMRC is paying close attention to extra income. Platforms like eBay, Vinted, Uber Eats, Deliveroo and many others now have to report your income straight to HMRC, so they already know if you’ve passed the £1,000 threshold, and will be expecting you to have registered for self-assessment!

If you ignore it, you risk:

• A £100 fine just for missing the deadline
• Daily fines of £10 after 3 months (up to £900)
• Extra penalties of 5% of the tax owed, or £300, whichever is higher, at 6 and 12 months

What counts and what doesn’t:

• Selling your own possessions (like clearing out old clothes or tech) = no tax.
• Buying items specifically to resell for profit = taxable trading income.

The good news: you can claim expenses to reduce your tax bill, such as:

• Stock costs
• Mileage or delivery expenses
• Postage and packaging
• Using part of your home for your side hustle

That means even if you’ve made a modest profit, your final tax bill may not be huge.

👉 If you’re unsure, speak to HMRC or an accountant. And don’t guess; it’s always better to be safe than sorry.

🔗 Use HMRC’s tool to check if you need to register:

https://www.gov.uk/check-if-you-need-tax-return

27/09/2025

If you’re out shopping this weekend, it’s a good time to stock up on this deal…

Quality Street & Celebrations tubs are £3.95 with a Clubcard at Tesco until 30/09/25 (normally £7 without). These are as cheap as you’ll likely see them before Christmas, based on past years. Stock up now to spread the cost and take the pressure off your December budget.

Only Quality Street & Celebrations are included in the Tesco offer. When I was in Morrisons on Thursday, they had a 2 for £9 deal on Celebrations, Roses, Heroes and Quality Street tubs (£4.50 each). It’s not showing online today, but it might still be on in-store, so worth checking.

💳 Money savvy tip: Pay with a Tesco gift card bought through a cashback app like JamDoughnut, who are currently offering 5% cashback. Save that cashback in your app and then put that towards your Christmas spending in Decembner - Every little helps! . Join JamDoughnut with referral code: PPUK for a £3 bonus, which gets your Christmas cashback savings up and running!

24/09/2025

Who wants 'Bill's Bottomless Pancakes' for a fiver? We show you when the deal is happening and how to get it!

Bill’s Pancakes Week is back, 29th Sept–3rd Oct. £5 stacks or bottomless with a drink. Normally, pancakes are £9.95+ per stack; so here’s why this deal is worth grabbing.

23/09/2025

Grab a free family pass to one of hundreds of English Heritage sites! 40,000 free tickets available to grab online, while stocks last, and once they've gone, you can still grab a free pass via select newspapers!

Grab a free English Heritage day pass for 2025. Claim online or via newspaper voucher and enjoy family days out at top sites without spending on entry.

15/09/2025

Luggage Hack!!

Don’t get caught out with overweight suitcases! We bought one of those small weighing scales that you hang a suitcase from to make sure your bag isn’t overweight, and it was absolutely pants; didn’t get the same reading twice!

So not wanting to have to unpack suitcases at the airport to redistribute our belongings if they were overweight, we took our suitcases to a local supermarket as I had noticed they had free weighing scales in the entrance!

I know they were meant for people, but they also work perfectly for suitcases too 😉🤓

It meant we could wheel our cases into the supermarket, give them a weigh and see if they were ok or not!

Yeah we felt a bit daft doing it, but it worked a treat; 2 were overweight and if meant we could rearrange them there, and re-weigh them, taking away the stress of not knowing if we were overweight !

We only just managed to do it and did have to remove some new shoes and wear them, binning my old ones, but we got there!

Our airline would have charged us $200 per overweight case, which is horrendous, so yeah we looked like muppets wheeling our luggage into an supermarket, but we saved money and that’s the important thing, so keep your eye out for these kind of facilities next time you need to travel! 🎉👀✈️

13/09/2025

No plans? Here’s a free day out for the family!

Until 21 September, Heritage Open Days is running more than 5,800 FREE events across England.

You can explore castles, museums, gardens, hidden chapels, historic ships and even try out unusual experiences like VR tours or apple picking.

It is all free and it is all about celebrating our shared heritage, community and history. ❤️

This is your chance to see places that are normally closed to the public, hear untold stories and take part in events that bring history to life.

Find out what is happening near you at heritageopendays.org.uk and keep an eye on local community pages and social media for events in your area.



Images courtesy of / Chris Lacey / Paul Harris

12/09/2025



This Sunday, Prezzo are offering a pizza or pasta main dish with a drink for just £10!

The deal is available to ‘Club Prezzo’ app users only, so make sure you download the free app, and then you’ll be able to claim a voucher to use in your local Prezzo Italian restaurant.

If you haven’t got the app, or joined the Prezzo loyalty scheme, then download the Prezzo app and when prompted, add the referral code 91402.

This referral code will add an extra coupon to your app, which is a free portion of Chocolate Nutella doughnuts that you can redeem on the same day, so you get a tasty dessert for free! 

Ready to pay? Don’t pay by card! Nope, instead buy a Prezzo gift card from a gift card cashback app and pay with that instead!

It takes just a minute to grab your gift card, and you can grab it from your Prezzo seat, once you get your bill; it’s easyyyyy!

If you buy your Prezzo gift card from you’ll get a whopping 9.6% cashback on your bill, which could be a decent amount of cashback if a few of you are eating!

If you haven’t already got a Jamdoughnut account, then download it now and use the referral code PPUK and you’ll get a £3 bonus for signing up, so that’s another £3 saving! 

These cheeky little tips will get you a free dessert, plus whopping cashback, on an already pretty darn decent deal! 

Bon appétit!
 
Ps. No idea what the JamDoughnut cashback app is all about? No problem, read my JamDoughnut review and top tips on the blog: www.thepennypincher.co.uk/jamdoughnut
 

09/09/2025

🏊‍♂️ 7.5 stone down and feeling mentally stronger than I have for years!

After an amazing holiday swimming in our villa pool, I finally found the courage to use the pool at my gym, and I'm loving it!

This morning I was poolside at 6:30 am (yes, ME at 6:30 am!) and absolutely loved it. Burned off 1300 calories; that's 4x more than my usual lunchtime walks!

My trusty swim vest is helping me feel comfortable while my body continues its transformation. I'm not ready for bare skin on show quite yet, but all in good time!

The results I'm starting to see, plus lovely comments from people, are really pushing me forward mentally and physically. I still have a long way to go, and I'm NEVER going to be completely happy with where I am, but it's progress!

My wife has said that I'm much more willing to do things I wouldn't have done a year ago, like flying without worrying about the seat size, wearing shorts to work, and now swimming in public, and that’s important to me; my size shouldn’t dictate what I, and my family, inevitably, can and can't do, and hopefully this will have been the last year I insist on holidays with private pools over public ones; which will definitely help with holiday costs!

Years of body abuse haven't left my body unaffected; I'm never going to be a toned and stretch mark free man, and that will always bother me, but it's my own fault. Can't go back, only forward, right!

But I'm much happier in my emerging body and excited to see where it goes. Clothes I wore 12 years ago are fitting again, whoop!

With autumn and winter approaching, I'm planning on switching up my routine. I'm going to alternate my usual 3.7-mile lunchtime walks with swimming sessions, aiming for 3 swims a week. The pool is literally 5 minutes from work, it's warm, and they have a whirlpool bath, steam room and cold plunge pool, perfect lunchtime reset!

Sometimes the biggest barrier is in our own heads, but my increasing confidence and having with such great facilities right on my doorstep is the kick up the bum I need!