My journey to a debt free life

foxgloves

I think the pandemic has probably caused quite a few of us to take our foot off the pedal a bit with grocery budgeting. I know that happened with us - it kind of began with the lack of things in shops early last year & buying extras when they did appear, then using mostly just one shop instead of the shopping around we used to do pre-Covid. Add in the fact that quite a few food prices have increased & we have all felt as though we deserve treats because we're locked down......I don't think there's any mystery to it! We are doing better now than we were, but I am still budgeting more for groceries than I was pre-pandemic.
F x

Onebrokelady

Sun_Addict said:

Yes that’s what’s meant by a Tilly tidy, just shaving off the oddments. I do something similar and this is my Christmas pot. Usually end up with around £600 which isn’t too shabby 😁 When I eventually get to physically go back to work and see real people I’m sure I’ll burst into tears. I was like this after being off for 2 months with my broken leg last year so goodness knows what I’ll be like after over a year of not seeing real people 😢

Wow that's an impressive amount SA. I would have gone completely bonkers if I had not been into work for a whole year. I moan about my job but the last year had taught me to value it and be grateful I still have a job and I'm also trying to enjoy it more ( that's a bit more challenging to be honest ) I'm definitely enjoying the security it brings me as I know I'm only relying on myself and not some unreliable man and everything is under my control 😀

Onebrokelady

foxgloves said:

I think the pandemic has probably caused quite a few of us to take our foot off the pedal a bit with grocery budgeting. I know that happened with us - it kind of began with the lack of things in shops early last year & buying extras when they did appear, then using mostly just one shop instead of the shopping around we used to do pre-Covid. Add in the fact that quite a few food prices have increased & we have all felt as though we deserve treats because we're locked down......I don't think there's any mystery to it! We are doing better now than we were, but I am still budgeting more for groceries than I was pre-pandemic.
F x

Definitely noticed the prices have crept up, my soya milk was £1.10 at the beginning of 2019 and is now £1.60 🙀  I have also been treating myself a lot and using the situation as my excuse. I think I will be reining it in now for my health as well as my budget 😀

Willowtree222

Hope you have a lovely day at work tomorrow.
Prices have crept up a fair bit. I've been sticking to click and collect orders which has helped me keep the costs down. I usually get my slot a few days before and pick up whatever slots are left to avoid taking them from people that need them. There's always plenty left from my local supermarket. It's the only way I can keep costs down x

Onebrokelady

Nicnak said:

Hope you have a lovely day at work tomorrow.
Prices have crept up a fair bit. I've been sticking to click and collect orders which has helped me keep the costs down. I usually get my slot a few days before and pick up whatever slots are left to avoid taking them from people that need them. There's always plenty left from my local supermarket. It's the only way I can keep costs down x

I would do click and collect if I had my own transport but a big shop is too much to carry home on the bus ,that's why I end up doing lots of little shops throughout the week. 

Onebrokelady

Cancel all the talk about baking my own treats for work. I was chatting to DD earlier and both of us want to lose weight and eat healthier food so I suggested we do a challenge for a month. So she has agreed and we are going to stop eating rubbish for one month, so no cakes, biscuits , chocolate or anything like that. We will be eating more fruit and definitely more veg and I am going to cook more meals that aren't beige oven food, she cooks good food already but eats lots of unhealthy snacks in between. We are both going to keep a food diary to track exactly what we are eating. I'm hoping that even if I don't lose weight I will at least feel less sluggish than I do now. We have done an online shop to be delivered on Friday evening so the challenge will start on Saturday, I'm going to keep a food diary this week to track how rubbish my diet is and then I can compare later on, being realistic I'm,sure we will succumb to the odd desert so I need to find some healthy desert choices so we don't feel too deprived. I would literally eat a bowl of stewed apple and be happy with that but I'm not  sure about DD. If anyone has any ideas for healthy deserts please let me know 

Cherryfudge

Onebrokelady said:

 my soya milk was £1.10 at the beginning of 2019 and is now £1.60 🙀  

I haven't tried making dairy-free milk myself but I've looked at the instructions and it seems very straightforward - and appears to be very cheap to make. Could that cut a few ££ off your grocery bill?

Willowtree222

Good luck with the healthy eating. I can never stick to them but sure you will feel much better with all the veg going in x

IzzyBee

goo good luck with the healthy eating I log all my food in my fitness pal it really helps me I started the day after Boxing Day I have lost weight and feel so much better I have a long way to go and I find it challenging because my husband is such a plain eater and I feel like I am cooking all the time but I am having a few days where I am making myself something different and if it can be frozen doubling up a portion hopefully get rid of this bad weather I always think it is easier to eat healthier in warmer weather not that my husband will eat salad he’s a pain in the A****

milann

Have you tried mixing some lemon curd in quark. I used home made lemon curd but a good shop bought one would do just as well. I used a ratio of 1-3 roughly. A tablespoon of curd and 3 of quark. You just mix it together and leave it for about 24 hours. The quark takes on a gorgeous lemon flavour and is really creamy and feels very naughty. I like a squirt of low fat dairy cream with it too. Quark also makes a lovely savoury dip too. A bit of blue cheese mixed in and left 24 hours is lovely if you like blue cheese, or onion and garlic dip. The secret is to leave it and let the flavours mature. They use it a lot in SlimmingWorld recipes and when I first tried it I didn’t like it and couldn’t understand the fuss - but I was too eager and didn’t leave it long enough. I tried the lemon curd a couple of weeks ago and I’ve had it a few times to use the lemon curd I had left over from ds birthday cake. I’m going to buy a jar and carry on having it as a treat. I tried making tarts with it too out of filo but preferred it as a mousse.
The price of food is definitely going up. I’ve noticed a difference.