I wasn't too well at the end of last year. Luckily, there's Deliveroo, a speedy buy as and when you want delivered to your door service. Costs are variable, depending where you are shopping and whether you tip the rider, but between £4 and £6.
I tip the driver: the receipt says delivery costs .79p and although it's a short trip, maybe quarter of a mile, the driver isn't going to get rich. Conversely, the variable service charge is £2.99. The bags are .35p to .40p and reasonably sized, strong paper bags. I used them recently to bag the books I was donating, and I can see multiple other uses for them.
The fastest delivery came in seventeen minutes - I'd barely had time to find my ID and come downstairs before they were at the door. You're able to give very precise details about where to deliver to, including adding a pinpoint on a map, it saves lots of time and frustration. You can track their progress on the website, so you know just when to be peeking outside your door to welcome them.
I thought it was a really good service, although my friend railed at the additional costs and "not being able to choose your food yourself". I've found that everything I've received so far has been good quality, perishables have a reasonable sell by date, and your shopping is packed carefully, so your chocolate eclairs are not crushed by the weight of a sack of potatoes.
But I think it saved me money, as well as meeting a need: grocery expenses were only 76% of my usual grocery expenditure, including Deliveroo fees. This is compared with:
- September 96%
- October 135%
- November 81%
When I was shopping in store in-person. October also had an Ocado delivery with a minimum spend of £60. You can buy what you need with Deliveroo, although there is a small order fee if you are spending under £12.50 (the fee and the threshold vary depending where you are buying from).
I used to have a tight budget for household expenses covering food, toiletries and cleaning materials. Even though we lived quite frugally, we usually had a take-out once a week and the budget covered feasts and festivals (although not alcohol).
I think I'm going to re-introduce a budget as part of my no-buy year this year. It seems keeping out of shops saves me money, so I'm going to keep doing Deliveroo, too, say weekly.
Healthwise, I'm a half-arsed vegan (that is, turning up and doing what I can) and aiming to get more fibre into my diet. I also want to spend less time messing about in the kitchen. I've come up with a skeleton meal plan that will keep me focused, help me budget for shopping and keep me out of the kitchen. The categories are broad suggestions, so that I know where I am and days, especially Thursday to Sunday, can be swapped around depending what I'm doing.
It looks very plain, but having spent hours in the kitchen trying out new dishes (and often finding I'm not enjoying them that much), I'm going for a simpler menu of things that I like eating during this time of year.
Three grain porridge is the mainstay with chia seeds, cacao nibs, cinnamon, dried fruit, yoghurt and seeds. I can prepare this in advance and then add water to cook and top with yoghurt and seeds.
I like the little tins of baked beans from Marks and Spencers. They have a short ingredient list and a ring pull top which means they're ideal for travelling. Although I've put baked beans five times a week, in reality this will probably be variations of home-cooked legumes, depending what I'm doing. Mainly, I'm making sure there are legumes most days to keep the fibre content high.
I've put leafy greens for evening meals, but that will include a variety of vegetables including roots, leeks and cauliflower. Carrots, celery, onions, garlic, tomatoes and peppers will find their way into the ragu and pie and maybe things like fennel and aubergines.
I've built in snacks because a leftover habit from school and college days is afternoon tea and these are better than bread and jam and cake! I often eat out when I'm in London and I've been watching Gary Eats, so I feel I will be making my way to some of the cafes and restaurants that he's reviewed in London.
On the weekend, I often like to have breakfast or lunch out, or maybe just a coffee with a book or newspaper to read.
| Day | Breakfast | Lunch | Tea/Snacks | Dinner | Activities |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mon | Porridge | Sardines, Salad | Hummus, Nuts, Fruit | Shepherd's Pie, Leafy greens | Gym, Knitting Group |
| Tues | Porridge | Baked Beans, Salad | Hummus, Nuts, Fruit | Butternut Pasta, Leafy greens | Walk, Work, Tuesday Tips |
| Wed | Porridge | Sardines, Salad | Hummus, Nuts, Fruit | Ragu/Pasta, Leafy greens | Gym, Work, Art Group |
| Thurs | Porridge | Baked Beans, Salad | Hummus, Nuts, Fruit | Jacket potato, Potatoes/rice, Leafy greens | Walk, London, Work |
| Fri | Porridge | Baked Beans, Salad | Hummus, Nuts, Fruit | Fish Friday, Peas | Gym, Sewing Group, Tidy Friday |
| Sat | Free choice | Baked Beans, Salad | Hummus, Nuts, Fruit | Free choice | Walk, Saturday Savers, Galleries |
| Sun | Free choice | Free choice | Hummus, Nuts, Fruit | Mushroom and Kale Pasta, Leafy greens | Walk, Savings Plan |
These services really depends. I mean if you have transportation it doesn't make sense because the cost of the service keeps getting more and more expensive. But for someone like me without transportation, I actually saved a bit though these days I also try not doing this often. I want to save up as much as possible 😊. Just like you, having that meal schedule helps and I have them too except they're all carnivore based diet with little veggies to no fruits 🤣
🤣
Wow, delivery services here cost WAY too much. It definitely costs more money to use them than not. I'm impressed that yours is so reasonable!
I've used them a few times in a pinch, but not often due to the cost. But also, I am not prone to loading up on random unplanned things when shopping in person, due to all the allergies. I might be tempted by a new thing, look at the ingredients, and ...nope, can't. LOL
The one thing I keep meaning to look into is if I can possibly get milk delivery (assuming I can find one that sells the type of milk I can drink - either grassfed or A2. I think I looked a few years ago and couldn't find it). The allergy diet being more restrictive than ever, I am very heavily dependent on dairy these days, and I go through SO much milk. But it might end up being more expensive to do that, too, I'll have to see what I find.
Happy new year! :)
!BEER
They may be reasonable to get everyone to use them, and then they put the prices up! The couple of times I visited the local co-op in person, it was very quiet (no customers) and all the staff were scurrying around picking deliveroo orders.
Allergies add another dimension to shopping. It's good that you've found food that you can consume. It is still possible to have milk delivered here from a dairy. I used to have a milkman three times a week who left milk in glass bottles and collected them again at the next delivery. He retired last winter, his message said that someone else was taking over. There are a couple of farms that sell organic milk and one, I think, that sells unpasteurised.
Happy New Year 🥳
I’ve never used Diliveroo or Uber Eats or any of those services despite constantly getting emails asking me to “Save £10” on this and that :)
It's helpful when you're in a fix. I think I've had about £24 worth of vouchers. Uber Eats looked more complex, with scheduled deliveries and mostly from large supermarkets - I'd tend to use supermarkets direct delivery service then.
I used Ocado a lot during the lockdowns. Good times :)
Happy New Year @shanibeer 🎉
Happy New Year 😍
There you go again - being all organised and sorted. Soooo impressive.😂 I'm still faffing around with a million ideas in my head about what I may or may not want to do/change this year. As an example, I thought I might want to make some crafty process videos but ended up overthinking it, exhausting myself and giving up. 😂
I made that one of the of the junk journal flip through last year though so I must have worked out a way to do it with what I already have.
So, I decided to see if I feel inspired to make a video and then, if I do, and it gets frustrating, find a better way of doing it then.
P.S. I sent you a WhatsApp but it was the number you had when you were in Cambrige so not sure if it's current.
I've been in the doldrums for most of 2024 and I need/want to get out of it. I think you/we/I have to just do it, a bit like Tengo is talking about in this post. For me, it doesn't matter what it is, I need to do something, maybe it will work, maybe it won't, but I am absolutely sure, either way, that I could be having a lot more fun! 🤩
My doldrums have been going on for a couple of years now for all sorts of reasons. It's been some of the hardest years of my life but I've turned a corner now.
I'm definitely up for just doing it. Hence my whatsapp. And we both just did it and booked our catch up. Yay! Look at us go!!! Exciting!
👍 💪 🚀 🦍
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BEER.Hey @shanibeer, here is a little bit of
BEERfrom @phoenixwren for you. Enjoy it!We love your support by voting @detlev.witness on HIVE .
I wish I had your kind of commitment to being frugal, I'm sure my family would be better off.
You're welcome to join the Saturday Savers Club - it launches tomorrow on the @eddie-earner account 😍 We've just been discussing the final details for next year's plan on this post, so you can get a bit of a feel for what it's all about and whether it's something you'd like to do.