After the husband lost his job, the couple decided to save on food. So they paid their debts and began to eat better

A woman who spent five hundred pounds a month on food for herself and her partner told how she managed to cut her spending in half by abandoning expensive food and buying meat in bulk.

Thirty-three-year-old Greyn McNami and her husband Ryan from Belfast, who owed sixteen thousand after spending money on home repairs and borrowed a car loan, paid off this amount by cutting food costs. After reducing the amount of habitual spending, the couple shortened their working week so that there was time to focus on their blog, which also allows you to earn money.

The couple received an alarming signal that it was time to stop their frivolous expenses and start living within our means after Ryan received the news that he might lose his job at the bank.

Previous expenses

Previously, spouses were fond of takeaway food and often ordered pizza, various drinks or Chinese food at the restaurant. They also spent money on ready-made meals in the supermarket, bought expensive branded products, convenience foods, and so on. At lunch, each of them could spend about a hundred pounds.

Every day, fourteen pounds of the family spent on fresh fruits and vegetables. They bought cucumbers, tomatoes, peppers, broccoli, carrots, bananas, grapes, and potatoes. Another ten pounds flew away to canned tomatoes, pasta, flour, rice, cookies, diluted juice, sparkling water. As a result, daily spending on products amounted to more than fifty pounds. Greyn and Ryan still live with their dog Jesse, who also loves to eat. Assessing their finances, the couple was stunned to find that they were spending a colossal amount per month.

Greine decided to start planning menus and recipes, and also began to visit less expensive grocery stores. She began to combine lean meat with cheap vegetables and fresh spices. Now she often cooks dishes such as chicken pie, Chinese pork, as well as spaghetti and meatballs on her own.

Tidy up finances

The couple was determined to return finances in the right direction. So Greine created an Instagram page to control their family’s daily expenses and keep them in check for the entire time they pay off their debts.

It took some time to make Ryan save too, but in the end they succeeded, they took control of their expenses and changed their approach to money in general. Soon, they spent about one thousand pounds a month, and their total debt gradually decreased.

Menu for the week ahead

From now on, pre-planning meals every week, Grain prepares lunches and dinners for the week ahead, and the remaining servings go for breakfast. One meal now in their family costs only two pounds. Later, the couple recalled with horror how a huge portion of their monthly income was spent on expensive takeaway food and eating out. They also can’t believe now that they used to leave about five hundred pounds a month in stores only for groceries, and this is a huge amount for two people.

And all you had to do was start cooking and buying products in budget stores on your own. Soon, the couple realized that the quality of cheaper food is also amazing, despite the low price. Using chicken breast, minced beef and pork as the basis, they now prepare hearty and wholesome dishes.

They also learned to use any leftovers to make, for example, a large meat pizza that can feed two people for a couple of days for about five pounds.

Grein's Tips

As a result, Greyn wrote a book last year in which she talked about her methods of cutting costs by minimizing spending on food.For example, the girl advises not to throw anything out of food and use any leftover food to prepare other dishes. She also recommends eating monotonous foods, as this also helps to save a lot. Grain, among other things, insists that, as part of the economy, people be procured in bulk.

Thus the journey of this couple to get rid of debt was not easy, but it was, they argue, worth it. Grain boasts that she and Ryan now live without debt and save so much money every month that she can afford to work only two days a week. Actually, this gives her time to focus on her Instagram blog and has contributed to the fact that in December last year, as already noted, she wrote the book “How to Get Out of Debt” - this is an eight-step strategy for paying off debt and correcting financial errors.

Live modestly

People often think that living modestly means being unhappy, but this couple claims to be happier than they ever were. After all, very often all we need is just some time to reconsider our attitude to finance and make small changes that will contribute to productive changes in the future.

Thus, the history of this couple reminds that it is not worth wasting money, you need to learn how to save, and then you can easily live without debts.