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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To feed my family on £1 per person per day

353 replies

Dramatic · 02/05/2014 21:57

I've heard about celebs doing this and finding it almost impossible but really it's not that hard, I spend £25 a week (or less) on me and 3 kids. Am I a cheapskate or do other people spend this much? I shop at Aldi if that makes a difference. Maybe I'm depriving my kids by spending £1 a day on them. How much do you spend per person per day? Surely it's not that unreasonable to think £1 a day is plenty to feed yourself, why are people making such a fuss about it?

OP posts:
RhondaJean · 02/05/2014 21:59

May I ask for a sample weeks shopping list?

YoureBeingASillyBilly · 02/05/2014 21:59

Well i spend £25-£30 on me and two dcs and cat and dog each week so that's roughly the same. We eat well and are never hungry. Not sure if teen dcs would survive on that though. We dont eat large portions either.

itiswhatitiswhatitis · 02/05/2014 22:00

What do you eat?

MrsKoala · 02/05/2014 22:02

i am also interested in the shopping list and what meals you cook and whether you get 7 portions of fruit/veg out of that. What calorie consumption do you all need/have?

BIWI · 02/05/2014 22:02

Welcome to Mumsnet, Dramatic. I'm sure we're all dying to know how you manage this. Hmm

BelindaAllWorkedOut · 02/05/2014 22:02

Quality sources of protein are expensive, so our food bills will always be high.

RabbitSaysWoof · 02/05/2014 22:02

I wonder this too, but I shop in Aldi too. I spend around the same as you for 2 of us (me and ds) but I think if I were poorer I could get this down further by buying different things, eg we have 2 main meals, could have a sandwich for lunch, could have more jacket potatoes and eggs than we do, rather than 2 meat/ fish meals every day.

usualsuspectt · 02/05/2014 22:03

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

SoonToBeSix · 02/05/2014 22:04

Yanbu if your meals are healthy, please could you post your list/ menu.

antimatter · 02/05/2014 22:05

Is that for all 3 meals for 7 days a week?
Are your kids on free school meals perhaps?

CalamitouslyWrong · 02/05/2014 22:05

I had to feed the 4 of us for £25 a week for about three weeks last year. It was not great (and we had cupboards stocked with herbs and spices). We ate a lot of lentil-based food. I haven't cooked with lentils since.

If it were a choice of death or lentil bolognaise, I'd choose death. (Luckily other lentil dishes are available).

redandchecker · 02/05/2014 22:06

I spend that in fresh fruit and veg Hmm yes, also dying to know how you manage this, I'm obviously going terribly wrong

BarbaraPalmer · 02/05/2014 22:06

oh yes, we do this too.
And it's all organic, free-range, locally purchased and we eat seventeen portions of fruit and veg a day.

AlpacaYourThings · 02/05/2014 22:06

That's very wasteful of you, usual

I buy one turkey for Christmas and my family are still eating the left overs on Christmas Eve the following year.

gamerchick · 02/05/2014 22:09

It's easy to say but can you prove it OP? Shopping list and menus for eg?

GiniCooper · 02/05/2014 22:09

I spend approx €25 per day.
It's a bank holiday weekend so Sunday's breakfast will be that alone.
AIBU...

Thomyorke · 02/05/2014 22:10

It does depend on choice or need, I spend more than that on fruit and veg. What is in their lunch boxes? If you have to spread the money and have no choice that must become a grind and people bragging how easy it is can not help.

Sparrowlegs248 · 02/05/2014 22:10

I have no idea how you manage that OP. There is me, DH and the cat. I shop at Aldi but top up in sainsbury for things I can't get in Aldi. I spend about 50 per week on average, including some wine but not cat food.

I read a recent article where someone gad done this. Their menu was truly awful.

She bought oats, rice, lemon curd, eggs, frozen veg, oxo (i think) not much else.

WhistleTopTomato · 02/05/2014 22:11

My view is that if you are lucky enough to have enough money to be able to afford decent quality food then decent quality food is what you should spend it on. I've shopped at Aldi when I lived near one and I don't think I even managed to feed myself alone for £25 a week so I have no idea how you're managing to feed 4. Or why you'd want to if you didn't absolutely have to.

But if your point is just that poor people are whining cunts then I think you should get fucked.

stilllivingbythesea14 · 02/05/2014 22:11

Well, you COULD.

I don't think it would be very healthy food, though. But if you think about the snacks available in bargain supermarkets like crisps and biscuits are really, really cheap.

Big box of value cornflakes, pasta, tuna (basic range?) lots and lots of beans on toast, spaghetti hoops on toast, scrambled egg on toast ... a LOT of toast!

Original poster
Dramatic · 02/05/2014 22:12

My eldest is on free school meals and my other two are not at school yet. I buy meat (chicken and mince) and our meals are based around pasta, rice and potatoes. They eat plenty of fruit and veg (not seven portions though, more like 4). I think they have a relatively good diet.

OP posts:
EyelinerQueen · 02/05/2014 22:14

Sounds utterly miserable to me.

I have huge sympathy for those who have no choice but if you can afford to spend more on food then I just don't understand why you wouldn't. Life is too short to eat badly.

RubyGoat · 02/05/2014 22:14

Any chance of a shopping list & meal plan for the week?

hotcrosshunny · 02/05/2014 22:14

Do you buy one chicken and a pack of mince to last all week?

Are they getting enough calcium?

Valpollicella · 02/05/2014 22:15

You wasteful bastards.

I'm still using the scraps of gammon juice from Xmas to make 4 people s dinner. and it was only 2slices of meat