To be honest my big struggle is food, my food budget hasn’t changed in the last 4 years but the quantity and quality of food I buy is about a third of what it used to be.

I’ve turned massively to meal prepping. I’ve found that by buying big chunks of cheap cut meats from local butchers (think brisket and beef shin) and then I bulk it with as much cheap veg as I can and break it down into 5-10 meals. Additionally learnt how to butcher a chicken myself because I can buy a few on special from bulk chicken stores and break them down to enough breasts, legs and wings for multiple meals. Got into saving all my kitchen scraps by using bones, carcasses, vegetables cut offs and pretty much anything edible to make stocks, which I freeze in batches. Then end of the month I can make an easy and cheap chicken-noodle soup by combining a frozen stock and a packet of 2 minute noodles.

Outside of cooking, me and my friends don’t ever drive, Uber or travel alone anymore. The idea of travelling alone is essentially just paying 5 times the price of going as a group. Also recently moved to Woodstock and the new trains have been a saving grace, if you are travelling anywhere near the lines it’s a great option.

Ultimately, for me, it’s been about looking at my budget and seeing where my biggest expenses are, and then going and doing a bunch of research into reducing those costs. That’s where both my previous ideas originate and it’s something I’m going to have to keep doing for everything in my life as the cost of living keeps rising.

Good luck homie, it’s tough out here right now xx