to spend £280 a week to feed a family of 5?

[TempleOfBlooms]

I spend about £280 a week on food. This includes my work lunches which tend to be salads from places like Leon plus coffees etc. The rest is food eaten at home.

Breakfast for all five of us tends to be things like Bircher muesli or chia based stuff with fruits and nuts. Fresh juice too.

Lunches in summer are usually a selection of dips and cheese and meats and salads.

Dinner is usually fish or chicken with a selection of salads and grilled veg.

So fresh food but not caviar or ridiculous indulgences.

It seems like everyone else on here can feed a family of four on tiny amounts. How? We certainly could eat more cheaply but that would mean fewer veg, fewer fruits, less fish etc.

Is it really so unusual to spend so much on food? I never see anyone else admit to it.

Family of 3 plus a cat and our online bill is usually about £130 a week including alcohol. Doesn't include any lunches which would probably add another £60 a week. Met a lady on holiday that feeds a family of 4 for £45 a week. How can she afford wine!

See, I spend a lot on food and cook it all from scratch, because I really bloody enjoy it.

(And I have a SN child so don't work, and cooking bloody lovely food for family and friends is one of the few things that gives me a sense of personal worth these days, but if I had to do it on the cheap I could).

Sounds pretty reasonable to me, tbh. We spend at least £100 per week (not including work lunches/coffees) on food and are a family of 2+a barely eating baby.

I think that 280£ is surprisingly high. We are also a family of 5,
And my weekly online shopping usually is about 120£. That will cover breakfast and dinner for all plus lunch for DH and me most days ( children have lunch at school)
Then I probably do a top up shop for about 30£.

Even if I included our weekend lunch out I don't think we would get up to 280£ so I am definitely wondering what you are buying...

I'll let you off then Sprinkles.

It is a skill though.

WTF is a bircher muesli and chia pudding.

Kikidelivers - no, and I didn't word that well.
Salmon one meal with potatoes and lettuce
goats cheese and walnut pasta with spinach and tomatoes another
and all the bitty stuff with as a lunch

:)

Next week: Piss Smells

I have chia on my yogurt and I don’t spend a grand on my monthly food shop.

Mine is expensive but I buy for 6 adults and top ups for sons’ home and a holiday home.

I find I spend a significant amount every week on toiletries etc. I also buy food and treats for a friend who has fallen on hard times. I like nice things and life is not a rehearsal.

I’m so impressed with people likemetodear, I would be so pleased with myself if I could come up with food like that on anything other than an odd weekend. I think that’s something to aspire to, well for me anyway. Posters accuse the OP of stealth boasting, I think there is much more to boast about in coming up with the food on page 3

Honestly it all depends what you eat and how elaborate your meals are and what you eat in between etc. And I'd rather have amazing food all the time than an amazing holiday abroad

My dh just did a bit of looking at our general finances the other day. (First time he has taken an interest in this in 23 years btw)

I have never totted it up, but his sums show we spend far more than the OP on food and there are only 3 of us (4 when one is back from uni). We eat out at least once a week, but that cost was not included.

It was an eye-opener, especially as a lot gets thrown out. Almost all our meals are cooked from scratch and we do entertain a fair bit.

Absolutely agree and I'm taking some ideas from those pics!

Interesting.... I rarely have to throw anything out. I plan and I cook round what needs eating!

We entertain too but I don't count that in my budge as it's not every week.

I've just spent time in the kitchen with music on, pottering quietly making use of some leftovers and overripe fruit.
Some of it was stewed and then mega cheap porridge oats added to soak overnight. DC will have with Greek yoghurt and cinnamon in the morning.

I've had a non stop day but the above was fairly relaxing.

That's a lot of detail but I really get offended by the idea low budget means eating crap. I make more of an effort now I have less money.

I love Leon food by the way. I understand the appeal at lunchtime.

But I would it find it difficult to ever go back to spending £00s every week in food.

I’ve reduced my weekly food bill since discovering Lidl, but I do like luxuries so will prob spend £80-£100 for 2 of us & 2 cats. My DH & I take it in turns to do the weekly shop & he’ll prob spend £40-£50 when it’s his turn as he prefers no frills so I end up spending more when it’s my week lol.

I’m cooking from scratch a lot more, but wish I could cook like @Metoodear - your meals look amazing!

Ed, wow.

Chia seeds - not expensive in Aldi. Off to look up Bircher muesli....

I feed 6 on about 70-120 per week.

I find pottering in the kitchen very relaxing Orange, and certainly don't think a low budget means crap food. It just requires more care I think, and obviously some ingredients are off the table.

But crap? Absolutely not.

2 adults and a toddler in our house and the bill varies between £60 and £90 per week (depending on toiletries/cleaning products/ if we're entertaining etc). We eat really well and 90% of our foods is cooked "from scratch".

We don't really have a budget but that's what it seems to consistently come in at but to be honest, I could spend a lot more if I tried, especially if I shopped somewhere other than Aldi.

The way I see it you could cut the budget to 180a week with. Omreal difference in the quality of your food. That would save you 5k a year. If an extra 5k a year would not make a real difference to you life, fine get on with it.

@Metoodear - why have you photographed your meals? Do you do that every night?

Also how on Earth do some of you have time to cook meals like that every night?

By the time I pick up kids and get in from work at half six there is no way I could stand and cook something like that - boiling pasta and putting a tin of tomatoes on it is an achievement!

I do not understand how people have the energy to cook faffy meals when they have been up for 14 hours and stood on their feet all day?

Also I do not batch cook at all as the weekend is spent trying to clean/do laundry and run kids things and doing the work I have brought home with me for the Monday. I end up going to bed at midnight or so on Sunday anyway (am up again at 5am) no way I could fit batch cooking in as well! That would mean bed at 2-3am?

Why can't you tell us how much you're spending on bought lunches and how much is left.

I feed 3 on £30 a week, I shop at Aldi or I do a Tesco shop online for about £35, I don't have chicken or meat every day, I make my own pasta salad and noodle salads on a sunday evening and that's my lunches sorted for a week.