VEGANOO Vegan Reviews: Review: Quorn Vegan Meat-Free Pieces

A little about me: I'm 29, British and Queer :) I moved from England to the US as part of a work transfer three years ago and love Seattle. My life has changed a lot over the past few years, I realized I was gay, moved to Seattle, stopped talking to my toxic mum, had a lotttttt of therapy and moved in with my partner, L. My financial knowledge has gone from 0-60 in the past three years thanks to personalfinance, a few finance books and moneydiariesactive. I'm an open book so ask any qs you'd like! I hope you enjoy!
Section One: Assets and Debt
Net Worth: $283,000
Retirement Balance:
401k $30,000
UK 401k $22,000
Index Funds $155,000
(Tip: I used the bankrate.com retirement calculator to figure out how much I actually need to invest for retirement each year. This really cleared up what I need to invest as a minimum each year to hit my retirement target, before I can decide what to live off and save for shorter term purchases e.g. a house.)
Equity if you're a homeowner:
$52,000 in an apartment in the UK (worth $275,000) that I’m selling right now. I bought it with my ex-boyfriend five years ago and loved living there at the time, but owning it since moving to the US has been a bad idea – it hasn’t gone up in value at all since I purchased in 2015, the rent my tenants pay doesn’t cover the mortgage and it requires lots of costly maintenance.
When I bought it, I received $12,000 towards a down payment from my mum. I have three brothers and I'm expecting brothers 2 and 3 to receive the same, but not brother 1, so I'm planning to give half of the $12,000 to him when the sale goes through.
Also, when I sell, I either owe $0, $15,000 or $30,000 to the US government as part of a tax law that assumes I've made profit because of changing exchange rates. Every accountant I speak to has a different answer, so let's see in January! At some point I'll use the rest of the money towards a down payment for a house in the US.
Savings account balance:
Emergency Fund $17,500
Holiday Fund $7,000
Fun Money $4500 (I might end up investing half of this in index funds)
Fund to cover capital gains tax for my 2020 tax bill $2029
Checking account balance:
I leave $1,500 per pay check in my account for living costs, plus enough to cover my rent and bills. I pay for all of my living costs on an Amex Delta credit card to get points and pay it off in full each month.
Credit card debt: $0
Student loan debt: $0. I completed a music degree in England (this cost $35,000 for three years of tuition, rent and living costs). My parents paid for my tuition, rent and 50% of my living costs, and I worked for them during the holidays to cover 50% of my living costs. Once I joined the working world, I realized how much of a big deal it was that they paid for my education and what a head start it gave me having no student debt. I am very grateful.
Anything else that’s applicable to you:
I had a privileged start, my parents paid for my education and I received $12,000 towards a house down payment. I graduated from University at 21, and whilst I have been financially independent since then, there is an emotional safety net that comes with knowing I could go home to my Dad if I needed to.
After working in England from 21-26, I moved to Seattle with $20,000 saved for retirement, $40,000 in my UK apartment and no other savings. My salary doubled moving to the US and as a result I’ve been able to save a lot over the past few years. A few years ago, my Dad suggested I read How To Own The World. It gave me a really great introduction to lots of different aspects of finance (inflation, saving, types of accounts, retirement etc) so I read a few other finance books, started following personalfinance and have had a massive shift in my attitude towards finances.
Section Two: Income and Income Progression
I graduated with a music degree aged 21 and decided that, although I loved music, I wasn't passionate enough to fight for a career in such a competitive field. Instead, I decided I'd like to explore a career that involved lots of people interaction and could pay well: sales. Since then I've ended up working in sales, marketing and engineering, all in tech.
- 2013 - $25,000 - I joined a tech company as a sales graduate selling Healthcare software. Direct selling wasn't a great match for my skillset.
- 2014 - $37,000 plus $30,000 in commission - After nine months, my manager suggested I moved to a technical sales role in the same company and I was given a $12,000 raise. I loved this role! Lots of presenting in formal sales processes.
- 2015 - $47,000 plus $30,000 bonus - After playing a major part in $3.5 million in sales in one year, I negotiated an additional $10,000.
- 2016 - $70,000 plus $30,000 bonus and a $5,000 stock award (vesting over 5 years) - I moved to a big tech company in a similar technical sales role and my salary jumped significantly.
- 2018 - $137,000 plus $30,000 bonus, an end of year $25,000 stock award (vesting over 5 years) and a one off $25,000 stock award for good performance (vesting over five years) - I relocated with the same company to the US in a marketing role and my salary doubled!
- 2019 - $160,000 plus $30,000 bonus and a $25,000 stock award (vesting over 5 years) - I took a new role in engineering as a Creative PM and my salary increased by 15%. A major driver for moving was being told promotions were off the table in my old team unless you had been in role for three years.
- 2020 - $170,000 plus $42,000 bonus and a $48,500 stock award (vesting over five years) - I was promoted in role and my salary increased.
It blows my mind that I earn this much money for a role that I enjoy so much. I'm very lucky.
Main Job Monthly Take Home: $8,500 per month, after maxing my 401k, contributing $510 to my HSA and healthcare/taxes etc.
Any Other Income:
Having received stock awards every year for the past 5 years, I now have stock vesting every year that adds up to about $30,000 pre-tax. I immediately sell and invest in diversified index funds via Vanguard to minimize the risk that would come with having a large amount of my savings in the same company that pays my paycheck (if the company tanks, I'd lose my job and the stock would plummet in value).
I also receive an annual bonus of between 15-30%. This year it was 27% (an amazing, unexpected surprise), it’s usually around 20%. Last year I invested 90% and spent 10% on a vacation to Japan. This year it was a lot higher, so I invested 66%, saved 21% for moving costs/vacations next Summer and kept the rest as a fun fund.
I also get $1050 in rent for my UK apartment, but the mortgage is $1150, so I make a loss.
Other:
My income is completely separate to my partner, L. We take turns paying for groceries/meals out/trips and assume it evens out to 50/50. Right now, I earn a lot more than L, who is a medical resident and earns about $100,000, with no student debt, but we both live off about the same amount per year as I'm focused so heavily on investing.
Section Three: Expenses
Rent and utilities: $1,300/month for my half of a two bed, two bath in Fremont. I moved in with L, last month and we split the rent 50/50. Previously my rent was $2060/month for an open one bed in the Capitol Hill.
Extra costs for UK mortgage/management company fees: $500
Investment/savings: Until this month, I was investing $2,000- $2,500. Now that I’ve reached my investment target for the year (a combination of my bonus, savings and vested stock), I’m re-routing that to a savings fund in a HYSA for next Summer. I’m planning to relocate to the East Coast with L, and hoping to take the summer off between jobs.
Donations: $130/month to Black Lives Matter, Save the Children, an LGBT charity in England and a COVID relief fund. These are also matched by my employer 100%.
Cellphone: $30 in a shared plan with some friends
Wifi: $60 Subscriptions: Netflix $15, Amazon $14, AppleCare $12
Regular therapy: $160/month for two sessions with my UK therapist and $180/session roughly every 2-3 weeks with my tantra coach.
Living: I budget $3000 per month for living, therapy and tantra.
COVID-19: In current COVID times in Seattle, cases are being managed well by the city, we are in phase 2 and can meet up with 5 people per week who aren't in our household network and can go to restaurants with people in our household.
Tuesday:
7am - Bonus day! I start to think about what to do with some of the money in my fun fund. On my wishlist: Glittery Dr Martens 🥾, a vacuum that also steams floors, everything on the Olive website and lift tickets for 🎿 over winter.
8am - Work work work work work 🎶 Every day starts with calls with my team in India to review their product configuration progress. My role focuses around writing product pitches/demonstrations that sellers will deliver to customers. My days are spent talking to sellers about common customer requests, writing narratives to present the value of the products and designing screens to be built by my engineers/consultants.
9am - I spend $50 on an Amazon order for 🧼,🧴and English 🍫.
12pm - I accidentally start a small kitchen fire heating some heat pads in L’s dutch oven. The fire department was involved🔥😭
2pm - I have a call with a design lead about potential roles in their team. I'd love to expand my skillset into videos and 🙋🏼‍♀️
3pm - Our Imperfect Foods box arrives. This week we got eggs, veggies, fruits, goats cheese and gnocchi. $25, but I paid for this last week.
5pm - I go for an early dinner with L at Manolin to celebrate my bonus/destress after the fire🍴🍷 Restaurants are open in Seattle at 50% capacity and everyone wears masks. I pay. $150
8pm - Listen to records with L 🎶 and fall asleep at 9.30.
Total: $200
Wednesday:
8am - More calls, more feedback, more unblocking the engineers👩🏼‍💻
10am - I FaceTime catch up with my Dad ❤️ He just bought a house in the English countryside with his partner, L, and he gives me more excited updates about how renovations are going.
2pm - I get some excellent feedback about yesterday’s call, the manager wants me in his team 🙌🏻
6pm - Vegetarian taco night and cocktails with L ❤️🌮
8pm - I order a replacement pan after destroying L’s. $198
8.30pm - We start watching Normal People 📺
Total: $198
Thursday:
10am - My youngest brother schedules his first therapy appointment! 🙌🏻 I have three brothers and two are at high school or university and aren’t working. I believe we would all benefit from therapy, so this year I offered to pay for both of them. Now all four of us have been at some point ❤️ $59
12pm - Fire fighting at work, trying to fix products that keep breaking in time to deliver product demos to sellers next week 🔥💻
3pm - I do a trial recording with my colleague for a broadcast next week. 🎥🎞 The broadcast goes out to somewhere between 250,000-1,000,000 people. The broadcast is usually in a studio, but because of covid we’re shooting at home this time.
5pm - L comes home with a cuuuute new haircut 💁🏻‍♀️ and a new burner ring for our stove after it was damaged in the 🔥. L pays.
7pm - We make pizzas 🍕 and talk about what time togetheco existing/apart looks like for each of us. Moving in together is big and it helps to understand what makes each other feel good/not so good. The conversation is emotional and really helpful.
Total: $59
Friday:
8am - I have a morning of calls with India/England/US agreeing next steps/fire fighting 🔥
11am - I reflect on how writing a money diary is making me feel guilty about spending money, even if my “normal” spending fits into my budget and my “fun” spending comes from my bonus. One to talk about in therapy I think.
4pm - Another busy afternoon jumping between calls. A good rehearsal for the broadcast ✔️ good feedback on our demo content ✔️ next week planned out in Outlook ✔️
5pm - I meet with my tantra coach for a two hour session. I originally started going to see them to learn more about sex (🙌🏻) but have learned that tantra is much bigger than that, it’s an eastern tradition that is centered around connecting with your heart and body and being present. It’s had a massive impact on my ability to get out of my head. Today we focused on simple body exercises to get me more connected to my body. $200
7pm - L started a 30 hour shift this morning so I have a solo date night ❤️ bath-time + Quorn chicken nugget wraps (I love eating in the bath 😆) + TikTok ✌🏻
Total: $200
Saturday:
8am - I wake up and listen to Jameela Jamil and Katherine Ryan in the iWeigh podcast.
9am - I meditate 🧘🏼‍♀️. I started meditating 3-7 times per week six months ago using the Headspace app and it was a great intro. I’ve been resisting meditating for the past two weeks, and going to see my tantra coach has given me the umph to start again today. I do 20 minutes unguided.
10am - L comes home from work and we catch up before they sleep 💤 I spend the day in the bath, reading The Untethered Soul, eating fake sausage patties, eggs and sautéed tomatoes on toast, on reddit, watching Normal People and napping 🛀📚
6pm - I see my two best friends, N&V, a queer couple in Seattle ❤️ they know how to make me feel loved and buy all of my favorite foods for dinner ❤️ I uber there and back wearing a mask. $30
Total: $30
Sunday:
10am - I spend the morning eating eggs, veggies and fake chorizo, reading The Untethered Soul and The Simple Path to Wealth in the bath, and meditating.
1pm - I FaceTime my Dad and his partner, L ❤️
2pm - L and I spend the afternoon watching Ratchet, snoozing and walking to Gas Works park to get some fresh air.
6.30pm - We cook veggie bolognese with gnocchi and have some quality time after a crazy month of shifts for L.
10pm - L crashes and I order a Dyson vacuum with some of my bonus money #thisis29. $385
Total: $385
Monday:
7am - I wake up and meditate🧘🏼‍♀️
8am - Catch up calls with the India team. I have a fairly slow morning after that, agreeing deliverables for the week with our team.
12pm - I make sweet potato tacos for lunch using up ingredients in the fridge 🙌🏻🌮
4pm - I do a recording for the broadcast on Wednesday. Oh hey there hair, makeup and formal work clothes, where have you been hiding? 💄
5.30pm - L and I listen to a Lake Street Dive concert online on the porch 🎵
7.30pm - L buys groceries and we head for a socially distanced picnic outside.
Total: $0
Food + Drink: $160
Fun / Entertainment: $0
Home + Health: $644
Clothes + Beauty: $40
Transport: $30
Other: $198
Weekly Total: $1072
Lastly, reflect on your diary!
Writing this diary was good for me! It made me see some of the small, happy moments that happen each day.
All in all, apart from the vacuum that I bought with my bonus, this is average spending for me. I'm very conscious of not spending more than $700/week. This means if I have more expensive days, like days when I have to pay for therapy or tantra, I'll make sure I balance it out on other days.
I feel incredibly lucky that I have a high salary that gives me an incredibly good quality of life and enables me to save for the future. I have an "it's too good to be true" fear, so I'm focused on investing a lot right now to set myself up long term.

1) Europe’s meat consumption has dropped by 20 percent in the space of two to three months, according to New Zealand red meat sector representative Jeff Grant https://www.livekindly.co/europe-meat-consumption-dropped-20/
2) Kellogg-owned MorningStar Farms is launching a new "Incogmeato" vegan meat range featuring realistic burgers, chicken nuggets, and tenders https://www.livekindly.co/morningstar-farms-incogmeato-vegan-meat-range/
3) California is the first state to ban fur trapping by way of the Wildlife Protection Act of 2019; the state may also ban the sale of fur https://www.livekindly.co/california-becomes-first-state-ban-fur-trapping/
4) The UK's first vegan bacon sandwich is launching in London next week https://www.plantbasednews.org/lifestyle/uks-first-vegan-bacon-sandwich-next-month
5) Quorn is introducing two new Vegan Spicy Tortilla Escalopes and Crunchy Tex Mex Nuggets in the UK https://www.totallyveganbuzz.com/news/quorn-launches-vegan-spicy-escalopes-and-tex-mex-nuggets/
6) Kroger's Simple Truth brand launches plant based collection https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/krogers-simple-truth-brand-launches-plant-based-collection-300912738.html
7) Jaden Smith encourages 8 million followers to reduce meat intake https://www.plantbasednews.org/news/jaden-smith-reduce-meat-intake
8) DJ and produce Diplo tells 5.6 million fans to go vegan https://www.livekindly.co/diplo-fans-go-vegan/
9) Canadian Millennials and Generation-Zers are embracing the vegan movement. Seventy percent believe plant-based meat products are here to stay https://www.livekindly.co/70-canadian-millennials-plants-new-meat/
10) Michigan is now a No-Kill State for shelter animals https://www.wilx.com/content/news/Michigan-is-a-No-Kill-state-for-shelter-animals--559845821.html
11) Animal rights activists occupy the biggest pig farm in France https://www.facebook.com/directactioneverywhere/videos/1120084948186801/
12) Plants based doctor Michael Greger release book new book 'How Not To Diet' https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UUUB\_DyH6ww
13) London is now home to a vegan cheesesteak shop. Jake's Vegan Steaks specializes in meat-free Philadelphia-style seitan sandwiches https://www.livekindly.co/vegan-cheesesteak-shop-london/
14) Joaquin Phoenix promotes campaign by BeFairBeVegan, which will be broadcast for eight weeks throughout Toronto https://www.plantbasednews.org/news/joaquin-phoenix-uncompromising-vegan-message
15) Trader Joe’s launches own brand of vegan meat protein burger patties https://www.livekindly.co/trader-joes-vegan-protein-patties/
16) California is taking a stand against the exotic skins industry. The state is finally banning the sale of crocodile and alligator skins https://www.livekindly.co/california-historic-ban-alligator-skin-sales/
17) First ever Direct Action Everywhere demonstration in New Zealand https://www.reddit.com/VeganActivism/comments/d4gbj8/first\_ever\_dxe\_in\_new\_zealand\_this\_afternoon/
18) Voters will have the final say on a people’s initiative aimed at outlawing large-scale livestock production in Switzerland https://www.swissinfo.ch/eng/animal-rights\_swiss-to-vote-on-banning-factory-farming/45233958
19) New pro-vegan documentary The Game Changers, a film which dispels myths about needing meat for top athletic performance, has finally been released and been met with rave reviews https://www.totallyveganbuzz.com/news/new-vegan-movie-the-game-changers-immediately-turns-viewers-vegan/
20) Charity ‘smashes' £30,000 crowdfund target to create vegan documentary https://www.plantbasednews.org/film/charity-to-create-vegan-documentary
21) Due to developing technologies in cellular agriculture and fermentation, think tank RethinkX predicts that in ten years the animal agriculture industry will be “all but bankrupt.” https://vegnews.com/2019/9/beef-and-dairy-industries-in-death-spiral-will-collapse-by-2030-report-says
22) Activist group Slaughter Free Chicago submitted numerous complaints which resulted in the closure of Aden Poultry and a pledge from city officials to inspect the city’s 16 remaining slaughterhouses for violations https://vegnews.com/2019/9/chicago-group-shuts-down-slaughterhouse-with-aim-to-make-the-city-slaughter-free
23) Galaxy and Bounty vegan milkshakes to launch in Asda https://www.plantbasednews.org/lifestyle/galaxy-bounty-vegan-milkshakes
24) Three empty buildings at a chicken farm in Normandel (Orne) were set on fire during the night of September 16-17. “Assassins” and “death camp” were painted in black on the buildings. Damages are estimated between 500,000 and one million Euros https://www.unoffensiveanimal.com/uncategorized/empty-buildings-at-a-chicken-farm-destroyed-by-fire/
25) Tesco – the UK’s largest retailer – launches over 40 new plant-based lines in more than 450 stores! https://veganuary.com/blog/new-vegan-products-tesco/
26) Denmark's Alternative Party wants to see red meat banned from school lunches across Copenhagen to help tackle climate change https://www.livekindly.co/copenhagen-schools-ban-red-meat/
27) Eating meat could be made illegal like smoking in pubs, says top barrister https://news.sky.com/story/eating-meat-could-be-made-illegal-like-smoking-in-pubs-says-top-barrister-11817681
28) Disney to offer more than 400 plant-based food items to parkgoers starting in October https://www.cnbc.com/2019/09/24/disney-to-offer-more-plant-based-food-to-parkgoers-starting-in-october.html
29) Linda McCartney’s expands its range with vegan Southern-style ‘chicken’ and fishcakes https://www.veganfoodandliving.com/linda-mccartneys-expands-its-range-with-vegan-southern-style-chicken-and-fishcakes/
30) Switzerland banned the shredding of live male chicks in its egg industry. The country has been working to minimize animal cruelty across multiple fields https://www.livekindly.co/switzerland-egg-industry-grinding-live-chicks/
31) The UK's largest supermarket chain Tesco just launched its own vegan meat range called Plant Chef. The vegan food brand includes fish fillets and pizza https://www.livekindly.co/tesco-plant-chef-vegan-range/
32) Tickets are now available for Plant Based News' latest documentary Vegan 2019, which will premiere in central London in November https://www.plantbasednews.org/culture/pbn-documentary-vegan-2019-premiere-london
33) Animal rights activists chain themselves by neck to town hall https://www.theargus.co.uk/news/national/17936143.animal-rights-activists-chain-neck-town-hall/