Healthy Eating on a Budget (with requirements)

As you know I'm trying to become financially fit this year, and that means budgeting.  We're pretty good at not spending a whole lot of money on unnecessary items, but one of the biggest spends for us is food.   We don't really spend money on items like meat (what with having a mostly vegetarian/ vegan diet), but we do spend much more than we should on things like chocolate, crisps, and fizzy juice.  Which is not only bad for our budget, but not very good for our health either.

There is also the added issue of me needing slightly more specialised food as I'm supposed to be a dairy-free vegetarian (definitely vegetarian, not exactly dairy-free all the time) with as little gluten as possible.  I'm actually quite happy to mostly just have vegetables and naturally gluten-free products, but having dairy and gluten alternatives does allow for a bit more variety in the food we eat.  However, these products do add to the cost.

So, this is the plan for budgeting our whilst still trying to be healthy:

• Keeping to a budget of £50 per week (for 2 people) on groceries
• Use as much whole food as possible as it's cheaper and much healthier for us
• Make as much of our own food as is possible, for the same reason as above
• Shop mostly at shops like Aldi and Lidl as their products are generally cheaper (though I'll have to keep away from those middle aisles).  I am slightly in two minds about this one as they seem to have packaging on absolutely everything.  I will keep looking for alternatives, but I'll stick to this for now
• Only buy a few specialised items to fit my dietary requirements

The biggest issue I'll be facing on this is the little sugar addition I've been developing over the Christmas holidays - ops, and the fact that I've lost all motivation when it comes to cooking.  I'm just bored of most of my go-to recipes I make right now.  I'll be on the search for some new ones, which don't have about 20 ingredients as no one has time for that (or at least I don't), and hopefully, that'll help reset my cooking mojo.

Putting this on the internet also means I have a little accountability now, which should give me more of an incentive to actually stick to it and you'll be able to see if we do by the budget updates I'll be doing throughout the year.  The additional plus is that, as well as saving money, we should actually be a lot healthier as we stop buying so much sugar, processed food, and take aways.  Always good.