£7 a day the Paleo way

elantan

Wizzbang wrote: »

Perhaps I'm not being clear enough, but it's 100% certain that you don't understand how to create a budget from what you've said here. I'm afraid that you're not going to get on top of your money woes- food spending to otherwise, until you understand how to budget. I would strongly suggest that you visit the CAB, CAP or similar. Never pay for debt advice.

I need to be blunt, as otherwise you will never get on top of your problems. As I've tried to explain, a budget IS NOT what you are currently spending nor what you wish to spend. It is WHAT YOU CAN AFFORD TO SPEND. You have to write down all your incomings and outgoings, FOR EVERYTHING and then work out what you can afford to spend. If you're £1,000 a month in the red (for example), then you've got to cut back in lots of areas, not just food. I'm certain Martin has tonnes of advice for free in his guides on this very site.

We are all still none the wiser as to whether you can even afford and therefore, whether you should even be attempting this Paleo diet. If you fill out the sheet I linked to (and I guarantee it will be the best hour you ever spend), you can link to it here and then people can really begin to help you.

Christian's Against Poverty (ignore the name, they are a well recognised debt counselling charity).
https://capuk.org

Citizen's Advice Bureau
https://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/scotland/ (I've linked to Scotland because I believe that's where you indicated you were located).

I also don't understand how the above poster thinks you are only spending £200 a month. £7 per day, per person is £14 per day on food. That is more than £400 a month (which again indicates how you really don't know how much you're actually spending, let alone how much you can afford).

14 x 365 days in a year = £5,110

5110 divided by 12 months in a year = £425.83 per month on food!!!!

To show you just how much you are spending, the Office for National Statistics states that the average spend for a family of 4 people per day is only £11.52!

You might find this article interesting:
https://www.nhs.uk/Livewell/eat4cheap/Pages/family-of-five-cut-food-bill-by-half.aspx

ok I'm going to be just as blunt here as I'm starting to find your tone a tad patronising, I welcome constructive criticism but you are getting close to crossing that line ... I spend on average £400 a month feeding 2 people, sometimes more sometimes less, sometimes I eat more take always so I spend more sometimes I don't eat as much meat, I don't eat the exact same food every day so I don't have a this month I spent x and will spend x every month unless food prices go up ... and I can afford to spend this, if I couldn't I wouldn't, I don't have any debt issues, I do have debt ... it isn't an issue

whilst I accept that £11.52 May be the average family of 4 spend per day that is not my spend ... my spend is £14 per day for 2 people or on average £7 per day per person ... I can't make this any clearer for you and do wonder why you are struggling to understand this

if you feel you can not be civil any longer I suggest you enjoy spending time elsewhere ... thank you though for your input

lessonlearned

Elantan. Forgot to mention. Noticed you are trying to reduce sugar. Excellent. I use xylitol when I need to add sugar. Not cheap but it is diabetic friendly. I buy mine off Amazon.

Thought you might be interest in today’s menu.......

Early breakfast.........Greek yogurt and raspberries. Surprisingly filling but you could add chopped nuts and seeds.

Brunch.......smoked salmon and scrambled eggs. (I could have added mushrooms and tomatoes but chose not too). I find salmon quite filling.

Dinner.........pork medallion served on a bed of caramelised red onions and a port jus. Served with roasted carrots and parsnips. And green beans. Pudding will be my usual coffee with cream and a couple of squares of dark chocolate if I fancy it. I probably will. :rotfl:

Supper......Will be a couple of slices of ham rapped around cream cheese, served with olives, baby tomatoes. Maybe a few nuts if necessary.

I make that 6 portions of fruit and veg so not too bad, not counting the olives. Ideally I would like to get that up to 9 a day. I could make it up with extra fruit but I prefer not to because I have to watch my sugar levels.

Most of today’s menu came from Aldi. I think it is healthy and not wildly expensive.

Fresh Raspberries £1.49 for two portions.

The pork is not organic but it is nice meat, outdoor bred and good quality. I find one medallion is enough. The eggs are organic. The smoked salmon is farmed.

(I also buy non farmed wild Alaskan salmon from Aldi, £4.99 for two portions, which I think is an absolute bargain. I have some in the Freezer)

I appreciate that not everything on that list is organic but i believe it is good quality food.

I do try to buy organic where possible but sometimes I cannot manage it. Of course when I grow my own I do not use chemical fertizilers or weed killers.

One of the advantages of eating fish is that most of it is not farmed although I appreciate you still have to be careful because there are issues around mercury and micro plastics.

You say you do not like rabbit or venison but there is plenty of other game which by definition will be organic and not intensively farmed, and of course lamb is usually free range. When eaten in season lamb and game can be good value.

I also try to drink plenty of water, have managed 600 ml so far. :rotfl:

maddiemay

Elan you are at the start of a journey in itemising, costing and then possibly refining what you eat and how much it costs, you will mostly get support and sometimes some tips which will fit in with your aims, as for the rest..............:eek:

I have an amount each month for certain household expenditure (non food), fuel for the one car, eating out, clothes, toiletries, treats for me (OH sorts his own hobbies etc), and food. I do not have a clue how much we spend on food as I have not kept a record since the beginning of 2017, I love tasty food, baking, am GF (pricey), high quality, high welfare meat, eggs, milk etc, sustainably sourced fish and prefer to buy locally, only non-British when absolutely necessary. This will never be a cheap option, but like yourself I have made my choices. (Our Friday treat of beautiful fish from our fish shop can easily cost £7 alone, but less than a takeaway and much better for us - not suggesting that you should eat fish, just saying).

Good luck on your journey, I will be following with interest:D

lessonlearned

Ps Elan. I do hope you do not find my posts patronising. I genuinely think you are doing very well. As. I said my spend so far this month is £126 and I have gone off piste and used some non organic produce.

If you can keep it to £7 per day using only organic produce then you will be doing extremely well.

I am hoping to grow a lot more this year and as I said that will be all organic.

suki1964

elantan wrote: »

I have often thought that if someone could sell my stuff on ebay/ gumtree etc take all that hassle off me I would pay them ... it may sound silly but I'm sure I'm it the only person who thinks this ... I would be willing to pay good money as well ... clears me space and gets me money ... do u know anyone that might be the same ? oh and could u be annoyed with all the selling ?

purely thinking out loud here btw ... if it's no help then please totally ignore me xxxx

I can't be doing with eBay either tbh, too much hassle with listings and posting stuff

I use Facebook

Look for buy and sell pages in your area, take a snap , upload, add a few words, set a price, and voila - sold


Everything sells on their eventually, with no fees, no postage, no hassles

Sold a tent last week which I had put up last year and clean forgot about as it didn't sell, fella who lifted it was over the moon, I got a nice wad of cash and the top of my wardrobe free again

Usually stuff sells on the day of posting. Ive sold such things as a lawn mower, chain saw, chicken coop, a crash helmet,a carpet, books, coffee table, old paving slabs, kids toys, lamps, snooker table, table tennis table - you name it - Ive sold it

sure you can get the odd time waster who like to spend time messaging you trying to knock you down in price, but theres always a genuine buyer out there who's more then happy to pay what you are looking and of course as theres no postage to pay or listing fees, you can afford to offer that bit cheaper

lessonlearned

Suki...thanks for that. I might give it a go. I have got lots of stuff but I just cannot face the hassle of eBay.......

Wizzbang

You just can't help some people, this was your opening post:

elantan wrote: »

we have successfully managed to transition from the DFW board to the MFW board through hard work and determination, with many side slips, fall down and get back up again's along the way. We have accumulated more debt again due to many reasons and are working on this, However,

One of the challenges that I have had since first ever coming onto MSE is my food budget, we just cant seem to either get on top of it or even get a real grip on how much we are spending, we have tried the keeping all receipts, joining challenges, we even did the £100 a month for 4 challenge.

Now these are all great and work for many people, however they just dont seem to have staying power for our family, I have wondered if it is because they were not quite individualised for us, or possibly a whole myriad of other reasons that I cant quite work out.

I also realise my budget should be a skoosh to manage, but if it was such a skoosh I still wouldn't be having this issue many years later, if I can manage to get it down to £7 a day comfortably I will lower it till I can reach a budget that is more realistic and affordable for myself.

P.S. I would also like to get on top of other things like face creams, shampoo etc as well

I'm sorry you can't understand or see the need to budget, after all you have said here - you appear to have some level of insight, but don't want to do the hard work. To quote Mr Money Mustache - if you have debt, you should be acting as if your hair is on fire to get rid of it and get things under control. Good luck to you as you continue to see your spending run out of control. Paleo eating is a just your next cover-up, to help you procrastinate from the true problem. I guarantee that this thread won't fix anything for you either - until you're prepared to knuckle down.

Over and out, I'm not prepared to waste my time on someone who doesn't want to be helped. Prochaska and Diclemente's cycle of change comes to mind.

lessonlearned

whizzbang. I too read Mr Money Moustache I love that guy. He speaks so much sense. Especially when it comes to nutrition. He does not eat crap and he does not feed it to his family.

Yes he talks about getting rid of debt as quickly as possible but I do not think he means that you should eat garbage in order to do so. He would put eating well at the top of his must do lists.

One of his favourite hobby horses, along with exercise, is about the need for good nutrition. I agree with him. After all good nutrition does make good MSE sense, especially in the US where there is no NHS and medical bills can cripple you. Good healthy food means less illness and less disease, therefore lower medical bills.

Mr Money Moustache says he and his family only eat grass fed meat and organic produce, and, if I am not mistaken, they have been eating this way for a long time.

Yes we have the NHS (although maybe not for much longer but that is another topic) but even so I do think the same rules apply. Good nutrition equals better health. And if it costs a bit more then so be it.. My grandmother, who raised her family in the days before the NHS, used to say £1 spent on good food will save A £5 doctors visit.

Yes clearing debt is important but not if it means eating crap and becoming malnourished and making yourself sick. If it takes a little longer to clear the debts because you are eating properly then so what.

I think Elans attempt to eat well and try and stick to a reasonable budget is entirely commendable. Yes it is doubtless all a bit hit and miss at the moment but like anything else it is probably a learning curve.

Anyone can save money by eating crap but to eat really well on meat and dairy that is humanely produced, fish that is responsibly sourced and vegetables that are not loaded with chemical fertilisers and weed killers is going to face an uphill battle. This kind of food costs considerably more than cheap processed food. Unfortunately.

As I said I have managed to reduce my food bill quite a bit in recent months but only by not being quite so insistent on organic produce. I am still learning and I too want to go completely organic in future.

I am very concerned about animal welfare, not just for the sake of the animals themselves, although that is important to me, but also for my own health and well being. I do not want to eat meat and dairy that is pumped full of anti-biotics, steroids, and growth enhancers. I do not want to eat fruit and vegetables that are drenched in chemical sprays.

Elan I think you are to be commended for your efforts and I am glad you started this thread. Hopefully we can all learn a bit from each other. I am happy to share what bit of knowledge I have and I hope other posters will also chip in with their experiences.

Elan please do not by disheartened by harsh comments from someone who just does not get what you are trying to achieve. I get it and I think lots of other people do too.

elantan

Wizzbang wrote: »

You just can't help some people, this was your opening post:



I'm sorry you can't understand or see the need to budget, after all you have said here - you appear to have some level of insight, but don't want to do the hard work. To quote Mr Money Mustache - if you have debt, you should be acting as if your hair is on fire to get rid of it and get things under control. Good luck to you as you continue to see your spending run out of control. Paleo eating is a just your next cover-up, to help you procrastinate from the true problem. I guarantee that this thread won't fix anything for you either - until you're prepared to knuckle down.

Over and out, I'm not prepared to waste my time on someone who doesn't want to be helped. Prochaska and Diclemente's cycle of change comes to mind.

and once again you have verged on being uncivil, I can't spell it out enough for you, it does appear that you are incapable of being civil,

I have more than enough savings to cover my debt, my savings earn me money, my debt costs me less than half of this, if you bothered to look you will have noticed I have been here for a while so I have done all that hard work that you speak of, now I am sitting in a fairly comfortable position and can afford to spend money on eating healthy, I have stated many times that I accept many are not so fortunate, I have been that many in the past, this challenge isn't born out if necessity but out of a desire to eat as healthy as I can at a price that is affordable,£7 a day is quite good to start with I think

but you are right don't waste your time go elsewhere your help is not wanted not needed here, this is to be a positive challenge and I have no intention of letting someone who is bordering on nasty to be listened to by myself ... I will block you when I get home


enjoy your life and I wish you peace

elantan

hey everyone else ... Will write more when I get home and have my dinner

hope your day has been fun