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.

You can still eat all you’re eating. Just change where you
Shop. Im sure you can save if you go to ALDI or Lidl.

Is that five adults?

We spend between £40 and £50 a week. There's only two adults, but at least £15 of that goes on the pets. For five adults it would work out about £70, and I could probably decrease that quite easily.

I shop at Sainsbury’s. It adds up. Tonight I bought six salmon fillets. Two packs of mixed lettuce, some nice tomatoes, cucumber, goats cheese, artichoke hearts, olives, bread and walnuts and it came to over £30. That’s one meal for 5 without bits like olive oil.

I dont think you eat like a normal family.

I would say your food is erm on the extravagant side.

There is no way you could feed a family of 5 eating the food you have mentioned on under £150 a week

If you can afford it and the amount doesn't trouble you then crack on. I imagine that if you end up needing to tighten your belt to save for something it'll be embarrassingly easy.

six salmon fillets. Two packs of mixed lettuce, some nice tomatoes, cucumber, goats cheese, artichoke hearts, olives, bread and walnuts and it came to over £30.

no way it did. Then leave out the artichoke hearts and walnuts

It depends where you shop. £280 in Aldi
Would mean that you had a house full of gluttons. £280 in Booths would mean a top up shop mid week.

Like PP have said, shop bought salads cost a fortune. I used to buy a lot of pre work lunches until I realised that they cost about £10 a day. I'm not on a budget but it's a ridiculous amount to spends

TempleOfBlooms

Swap that for a cottage cheese jacket potato with salad and it's about a fiver. See?

Where are you shopping?
We are a family of five and spend around £100 a week including packed lunches for 4.
We eat healthily and make food from scratch (mostly!). Lots of fruit, veg, fish and meats.

We spend about £120 on food for 4 of us (and a baby) and eat very well.

Much like you, OP, I don’t understand people who are reasonably well off, choosing to eat low quality, processed food to save money.

I am happy to spend X amount of our family budget on eating well.

Their are 5 of us we spend 60-70 a week

6 salmon fillets approx 12
Lettuce 1 pound
Tom's 2 pounds
Goats cheese 3
Olives 2
Bread 2

And that's generous pricing, 22

20 is fine for an occasional posh meal for 6

If you spend that everyday that's still only 140 a week

Since when does eating cheaply equate to eating processed, low quality food?

Myself + dp per week =

Breakfast - cereal/yoghurt (either/or per week) = £2

Lunch - homemade lentil soup and fruit = £6

Dinner - pasta, homemade stew, slow cooked chicken, frozen fish, vegetables, baked potatoes, veggie sausages.. that sort of thing = £10

Plus extras like eggs, milk, bread, instant coffee, chocolate = £10

So I'll say around £30 a week. But we only buy reduced fresh meat which I make into stew and casseroles, which I then freeze. I buy the cheapest ingredients and freeze all leftovers.

We also have cupboard food like tins of beans, soup etc, but we don't eat them very often so we only really buy essentials.

Why does it matter if you can afford it? I don't have the money so don't , I imagine if I did have the money I'd rather save it for holidays etc.

if you can afford it so what? I can't afford to spend anything like that but we eat well I but from Aldi, the market for meat and veg and some stuff from Iceland about £100/week two adults two kids its all relative to your budget isnt it.

CantankerousCamel Not everyone who doesn’t spends hundreds just eats pasta have a very high quality diet thanks

Just a snap shot of the dinners we eat

I feel your pain OP I spend loads and don’t know how people do it for so little. Eating more carb heavy meals would probs be cheaper but not necessarily as healthy so that’s a choice you make I guess.

So you’re spending what, £5 a day on lunch? Plus £2 on coffee? Or is it more? That’s £35 per week.

I would probably buy my salmon frozen so then you can get 6 fillets for about £5. Artichoke hearts, walnuts and goats cheese are all likely to be expensive.

Y

Theclockstruck2

So my dinners look in healthy and full of pasta

Jesus you spend more on food a month than my rent and bills!! X

We spend about £100a week on groceries, including toiletries, cleaning materials and washing powder etc. Today we had pasta with sauce comprising of leftover baked beans and sausages from the weekend chucked in with an onion, manky pepper from the bottom of the fridge and some mystery leftover bean and cabbage stew from the freezer. With broccoli on the side. That was a pretty frugal meal for us but meant no waste and it was yum. You sound hugely extravagant. We never buy fresh fish as it uses too much of the budget.