To feed my family on £1 per person per day

[Dramatic]

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?

The answer imho is too much competition for low-skilled jobs which drives wages down for all. Migrant workers that live 8 in a house, of which i know many, can afford to work for minimum wage as they have low outgoings. If employers can fill their jobs with cheap labour, what incentive is there for them to offer a proper, living wage.

off topic careeristbitchnigel - have you heard of this?
no dig allotment:
www.charlesdowding.co.uk/node/73

'In my universe Slebs are famous & rich. WHY THE FIG WOULD YOU live on such a strict budget for "fun"? I can't figure out the angle, what does it matter what Slebs might have done?'

Natasha Kaplinsky did it last week to raise money for Africa. I'm not sure if she stuck the entire five days, though.

For me one tray of mince makes 6 portions of bolognaise or chilli. I could easily stretch it to 8 if some were child sized and i cut down. More if i bulked out with veg.

Now, MrsD, you know magic mince, like magic chicken, can easily stretch to many meals! Don't forget to add lentils. It's all just there for flavouring, of course, to make the sawdust more interesting.

OP, I really don't see how you can spend any less on food without compromising your children's nutrition. I, too, am perplexed at you eating meat every day on that budget. I said up thread that I spent about £30 on a single adult and even I don't eat meat every day!

One of the cheapest meals that is cheap we enjoy chickpea soup. EAsily under a pound per person.

One onion. 2 sticks of celery. Veg stock (either a cube or from when made a veg soup and left overs frozen). Tin of tomato. 2tsp cumin (check out independent stores or markets, usually cheaper than supermarket for spices). A bit of garlic. 250g chick peas (I use dry and soak. Works out about a pound a kilo)..100g grams of beans (broad, kidney, or broad although the best is broad. The beans are either frozen or dried).. A bit of coriander (dried, frozen, fresh, doesn't matter) a bit of black pepper. Lemon juice.

Fry the onion and celery until soft, add the garlic, coriander and cumin. Chuck in the liquid and chickpeas. Simmer for about 10 minutes. THrown in the beans and lemon. Cook until the beans are cooked. Season to taste Takes about 30 minutes to cook, cheap, nutritious and really tasty. If like mine, yours don't like chickpeas, blitz it so it's smooth.

If your kids don't like chickpeas, why feed them to them?

Floggingmolly, off the top of my head Amanda Abbington (actor from Mr Selfridge) is doing it this year and Tom Hiddleston did it last year. But I don't really understand why you ask in that sceptical tone?

I do not know why people are obsessed with meat. Because it takes your body a lot of energy to process meat, and we do not need meat as a heavy staple diet all of the time. At the same time, we do not have to work and bulk up our muscles as if we are an athlete, especially if we do not do a manual job.

If I recall, I think my mother used to just buy one chicken, and we get to use it for the whole week. If we do not finish our food in one sitting, then we save it for the second day. I do not understand the "stuff eating" mentality that exists now.

My mother used to provide meat, fish, and vegetables all in the same meal. Each time. You're supposed to eat a little bit of this from each dish, and then served with rice. So a piece of fish, probably weighs around 200gm is served for 3-4 people.

expat That is because some celebrity need endorsement, and for others to point their fingers and say "ah ha", so now you know what I mean. In order to get validation, and feel that justice has somewhat been served, even if it is for a little bit, but then only to realise that, this kind of validation comes at a cost at the consumer who buys the magazine or reads the magazine. So really, the consumer is the mug. For paying to laugh at someone for faking their lives. Magazine sells and it keeps them in that kind of lifestyle. That is how it works.

Does school still provide milk for children ? Do they still have this in schools now? I remember this was available to see when I was growing up.

My kids are having sandwiches for tea. They are also having grapes, cheese and crisps. Then they will have yoghurt, then they will be mithering for something else - fruit or cake probably. It isn't the main part of the meal that costs me - it is everything else they eat!

I easily lived off about that amount when I was a student, but I ate nothing but jacket potatoes with beans or tuna and pasta with tinned tomatoes and sweetcorn, and porridge for breakfast... I had also just come home from a year abroad where I stretched 6 months money to stay away a year by eating once a day and sleeping on roofs instead of in dorms (that was an official place to sleep, just muh cheaper, in backpacker places in SE Asia, in the 90s...) Oh yes, and it was the 1990s... :o

These days I shop in Aldi (in Germany, not the UK) and spend about €80 a month for a family of 5 - so what's that €2.50 per person per day... plus top up in non Aldi shops for things Aldi doesn't sell - probably another €30 a month, so bumping it up to €3.50 per person per day - 2 adults, 3 kids (only one preschool but no teens). My 6 year old boy does have a teen-esque appetite and size 3 UK feet! Hmmm

Anyway I am mainly shocked and jealous about how cheap jam is in UK Aldi apparently - the cheapest Aldi jam here is €0.99 and they don't sell weetabix or beans

OP is you buy mince and chicken, is it one 500g pack of each for the 5 pounds you quote? Even for 1 packet of mince and one of chicken sounds very cheap even for Aldi, to me. I am wondering how you get it to last a month - you could freeze the mince and use the chicken first (or the other way around), but chicken opened on day 1 will have gone off long before day 13, and the amount you are putting in one portion to make 500g last 14 days for 4 people must be tiny... do you batch cook on day 1 and freeze a portion per day of a meal containing a tiny amount of meat? I am wondering what you pad it out with if you buy no fresh veg and only 1 bag of frozen veg.

You're being ripped off at 500kg for a fiver. 2 quid in ASDA and that's not the cheapest one

OP has been unfairly criticised in my opinion. She could usefully add a pint or two of milk and some fish to the diet. Apart from that it's fine. I've observed so many families who think their children "need" five bowls if cereal a day. As a nation we are heading into total obesity. And nutritionists say our healthiest diet was in the 1940s and 1950s when sugar and fat was seriously limited, and the normal amount of meat per adult was 4oz in a meal. That's about 125 g. I think the OP's shopping list is way healthier than some that have been posted on this thread.
Recently travelled with some young people who were like eating machines. They snacked from dawn till bedtime. I bet the OP's kids are way healthier.

When you say a 'tray' of mince, what is the weight? I buy a tray which is 750g. I think 100g-125g of mince is about one portion. So I'd get 6 adult portions out of a tray like that plus extra for toddler. I buy one tray of each pork and beef then freeze in 250g portions ( i also get a chicken in the tesco 3 for a tenner) which do me and dh and the toddler. I make a chilli with 250 each of pork and beef, 2-3 carrots, 2 sticks celery, 2 onions, garlic, chilli, cumin and oregano, 2 handfuls red lentils, 1 green pepper, 1 tin value toms, a squirt of tom puree and 2 tins value kidney beans. We have chilli and rice one night, then chilli and jacket spuds another, or I roll some in wraps and top with grated cheddar and bake. There is also usually one lunch worth over for someone and enough for ds.

I also get large tins of mackerel from the 99p shop and make these

Not sure if you have a sainsbury near you but they do basics bacon for £1.10 and you get loads. A bacon, cheese, onion and veg/potato frittata is easy and cheap,. I get 2-3 meals out of the pack, I usually do a pasta bake with some and then if there's a little over mix with chicken bits leftover from a roast chicken and mix with a white sauce and leeks/mushrooms and make a pie or top with mash and bake served with greens.

I get 750g of mince and 500 (or 450)g of chicken or turkey. The mince does us 3 meals and the chicken does 2 bulked out with onions and mushrooms usually. Yes kids get milk and fruit in school up to year 3.

Well I think considering your dc are 6, 3 and 2 I don't think that 's too bad on protein in dinners, if you added some lentils/beans then I think you could boost the protein content. I would try to get eggs in too for lunches/dinners as they are good for vit d if your dc don't like milk ( like mine). And try for fish once or twice a week ( I buy frozen pollack from lido for fish pie in a white sauce - more sneaky milk dinners!) Cheese too is good for vit d.

They do eat beans too, they have jacket potatos with beans or beans on toast for lunch on weekends. I will try to get some fish into their diet, I don't buy it as I don't like it and tbh I didn't realise it was so important. 2 out of 3 of them don't like cheese so it would be a bit of a waste to buy it as I'd still have to buy other stuff for the two who don't like it.

You are eating far too much wheat sorry. Wheatabix, sandwiches, then pasta in one day is not healthy. You need to mix your grains more. So oats for breakfast or egg. Sandwich for lunch. Potato or rice or other grains for tea (not wheat).

You need a palm size amount of protein at every meal. Your palm size will be bigger then your kids.