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.

Would much rather have proper food (ie actual brands and not weird German knockoffs) in the cupboards than an extra holiday to be fair though luckily I don't have to pick as I have both.

Thewhale2903

For you, perhaps, and that’s great.

For others, £5k would not remotely give them the kind of holiday that they are used to and enjoy.

proper food (ie actual brands and not weird German knockoffs)

You do realise in Germany, your "actual brands" would be "weird British knockoffs" to them?
The power of advertising is really quite overwhelming.

CantankerousCamel
Are you trying to say that people who can't afford to spend a rediculous amount of money on food a week don't work hard like you? Some of the lowest earners are the hardest workers!

Highhorse1981
Well they don't need to worry about how much their weekly shop costs then.

The quality of food in Lidl and Aldi is far higher at low price points than the other supermarket. E.g. you pay around half for naice ham.

The 5k holiday is making me laugh. On the 'how much do you pay for your holidays' threads, 5k would be held up by most posters as a massive luxury trip. Here it's not worth bothering to save for.

Sorry I would say that is way over the top for a family of five. I spend about £320 a month for 3 adults.
Mnd you I get meals free at work and DH takes a packed lunch so that helps.
Also if we buy coffees out they don't come out of the food budget

Thewhale I think you've misunderstood what Camel was saying. They said they were proud that they could afford to spend more because they had worked hard to get skills to enable them to earn more money to do so. Not that people who don't earn that much aren't hard workers. They were just commenting on how they feel proud of their own hard work. You can acknowledge that and still believe other people work hard but are paid less...

And on brands, my Italian friend is thrilled that Lidl stock her favourite Italian pasta brand. Far better than othe ranges she reckons and she's never been able to buy it in the UK before.

At Christmas Aldi stock Stilton in an earthenware pot that is EXACTLY the same as the one in the F&M Christmas hamper. For £3.

NoSquirrels
They should have worded that better then because that is not the way it came across!

How can you be PROUD that you buy expensive food?!

I am actually quite proud that (after lots of hard work, upskilling and positive life choices) I can afford to spend a decent amount on our diets

I thought this was clear. It makes no judgement on any one else's circumstances, it is merely a statement on how a poster has improved their own circumstances and can now choose to spend their money on what suits them.

How can you be PROUD that you buy expensive food?!

"a decent amount" is not the same as "expensive food".

£5k is more than enough to go on holiday.

It’s not enough for a family to have an “amazing fuck off holiday” however, which to me doesn’t include your yearly holiday driving round France or a week in Jamaica for a wedding

Why not be proud scabbersly? Aren’t you the poster who thought she was lucky to be capable of cooking?

Well fucking hell, hand over your spare 5k then, i'll happily take it off your hands if it's such pennies to you

I may get shot down for this but I do hope that those who are fortunate enough to not have to worry about what they pay for food stick a few extra bits in each week for the local food bank.

Surely 'an amazing fuck off holiday' depends on your circumstances? The posters on here who get to spend £300 for a week in a cheap caravan in the UK would find a fortnight of AI in Greece to be pretty 'fuck off'.

So little empathy on here.

No that wasn't me.

I can't imagine what it must be like to feel actual pride when I buy live clams or whatever expensive food for my family.

I think if I fed them chia porridge and spent 50 quid a day on food I'd just feel like a poncy wanker tbh

Lucky you.

I dont tend to buy live clams waitrose

I was saying feeling pride because you can buy organic meat every day is misplaced

No one should feel anymore "proud" of the fact they shop in somewhere like Waitrose than the people who shop in places like Aldi or Lidl, they are all feeding their families not matter what the expense!

Absolutely

Sirzy I used to put in Foodbanks but I met someone who boasted about the things they were allowed to take a volunteers, sometimes paying pennies in the pound. I know it shouldn’t have put me off but it did. I now buy shopping for a friend who I know is struggling and give directly to anyone in need.

Would much rather have proper food (ie actual brands and not weird German knockoffs)

I wonder if I'll ever get used to the level of utter stupidity on here? What idiots buy stuff just because it's branded. It all comes from the same factories. Heinz are laughing at You, as am I