I don't know whether to laugh or cry at this thread. I found it particularly bemusing to think of "crisps, squash, kids muller yoghurts and cheese strings" as luxury goods .... though I suppose that depends whether or not you mean luxury as in quality, or luxury as in expensive. What I will point out however is that invariably hardly a week goes past without at least one of those items being massively reduced or on a BOGOF deal at Tescos .... hence why "poor" families may have filled their trollies with it. Actually, I find it quite soul-destroying that if you analyse the special offers in a typical supermarket, the largest proportion of them tend to be on "crap" food (e.g. processed, full of chemicals, sugar etc) .... which means that if you are "poor" and trying to spend as little as possible, you are frequently put in the position of buying stuff you'd prefer (for health reasons) not to simply to make your budget stretch further. But that's another thread ......
BTW, these trollies full of cheese strings .... how do you know their owners "claim to be hard up" .... are they wearing T shirts with "hard up" emblazonned across their backs ? How do you know these trollies full of "luxury" items don't belong to "rich" people with a fetish for processed fiood in garish packaging ?
As for living "within your means", last time I looked that meant not spending more than you have. Buying a particular item does NOT mean you are living outside your means FFS .... if it is accommodated by your budget. I have quite happily lived on (grotty bread) toast and soup day after day in the past so I can treat myself to an M&S seafood platter at the weekend, and how dare anyone else tell me I can't do that !
The incredibly arrogant attitude coming from some posters here is gobsmackingly condescending and downright nasty .... the idea that if you aren't well-off or have the temerity to complain about your financial situation, you only "deserve" to eat anything if it's the lowest possible price. So you come down to "value" ranges, but by extension, some "value" ranges are more expensive than others .... where do you stop ? ..... will the "poor" only be allowed to shop at designated "poor" shops in future where government control guarantees you can't get a loaf of bread anywhere else in the UK for less ? .... and why stop there ? How dare the "poor" buy "poor" minced beef in the "poor" shop when they could have a bowl of "poor" lentils instead. Tell you what, why don't we simply draw up "poor" food plans for the week - with just enough food needed to survive. The "poor" could then go to their local "poor" shop and simply pick up a box containing a week's worth of food already chosen and packed up for them - brilliant ! Think of all the time you could save not having to traipse about the shops looking for bargains as someone better else had already done all the hard work for you .... and there'd be no more arguments about what's for tea tonight !! Most importantly, the pleasure of a supermarket trip where you can deservedly choose what you're going to buy would no longer be sullied for "rich" shoppers who will breathe a collective sigh of relief knowing they'd only be rubbing shoulders with their "own kind" from now on ... and no more worries that the whingeing scrounging poor might have snapped up the last bargain batch of cheese strings.
(Wonders if George Osborne would be interested in the idea ... hells bells, standardising food for "poor" people could lead to justifiable benefit cuts once the temptation of seeded bread, Heinz beans, cheese strings et al were taken away from them because they simply wouldn't be allowed to buy anything else. Billions saved - do I get a prize for enterprise ?)