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.

My point is you can eat for cheap if you have to but if don't why would you want to.

This.

But you keep on saying that you don't believe people can feed their families good, nutritious food on less than the government guidelines:

Again, if anyone wants to show me how you feed fresh, varied food to a family of four on less than £80 a week, I will happily eat my words,

And when you said this earlier in the thread, a pp pointed out that people HAVE shown you how. Just read back through the thread.

The ONLY difference between the lower and higher amounts, is variety, which you are now adding to your claim. You can choose a greater variety of foods, so instead of buying Aldi's Super 6 bag of red apples for 69p, you can choose to buy the more expensive Pink Lady apples. But an apple is an apple, the person eating Aldi's apple, is not having a less nutritious diet, and who's to say that they don't actually prefer the Aldi apple?

Totally with you NOUSER

It is possible, but why anyone would choose it is beyond me.

I hate when TC overpay. I think it’s been the only time in my life I’ve been scared to receive money, you just know it’s not going to end well

MOTO

nobody has shown me, not one person has detailed their shopping other than LADY who announced it costs £4 to make spaghetti and meatballs for 4 people (which is simply nonsense, the meat alone is nearly that)

No one else has posted any realistic way of feeding a fresh diet to 4/5 people without spending £80

Oh, and I know they don’t prefer cheaper apples because they tell me. They like crunchy, sweet apples and, well if I can afford to buy them apples they will really enjoy eating, then that’s what I will do.

Again, really unsure why this is a sticking point or even relevant.

The ONLY difference between the lower and higher amounts, is variety Variety is important but it's not about variety of apples - it's about variety of food in general, eating 5 apples a day, regardless of whether they are golden delicious or pink lady is not the same as having an apple an orange, a pear, a banana and some grapes.

KNOWN

I think variety is important, the kids are both fruit fiends so, especially this time of year, I’ll give them a variety of fruits over the day/week. They both love salads so that gets a fair few veggies in them, plus they try at least a bite of each item we prepare them for dinner.

I don’t think it’s the only difference though, quality of meat, eggs and dairy are all improved if you have a bit extra to spend.

As an example and to take up your challenge. last night husband and I had a chicken tray bake.
I used 4 chicken thighs ( rest went in freezer) that’s less than £2. 2 peppers out of a pack of 3 - 75p. Onion from a big Aldi bag in the cellar, call it 20p and the remains of a bag of new potatoes, say 40p. Small tomatoes I flung over at the last minute about 50p worth. Olive oil, garlic, a sprinkle of herbs and a splash of balsamic at the end of cooking. Let’s call that another 50p. We had some bread off remains of a fresh baguette to mop up the juices so let’s top the amount up to £5. ( we were stuffed). Glass wine each from a £6 bottle gives us another £3. My breakfast was spoonful Yoghurt from a big pot and fresh fruit ( banana and blueberries) Husbands was muesli and banana Let’s call that £2.50. For lunch we sat in the garden, had a tuna salad with iceberg, beans and red onions, vinaigrette dressing I made myself and fresh 🥖 let’s say £5. I think we eat well and don’t stint ourselves. Not meat every day ( although husband moans) so some days cheaper and others more expensive.
Assuming a couple of kids on half the portions we eat (not the wine) that’s £18 for 1 day. That’s being generous because it’s cheaper to feed more people usually. 7 x 18 = £126 Let’s suppose for two of the weekly shops you do every month you spend £200 for stocking up on store cupboard, coffee, cooking oil, tea bags etc that’s £650 a month in total. £160 a week. Even if your kids are older and eat the same in portion sizes that’s still only £740 a month. Your spend of £1120 is high but it’s up to you how you portion your money out. I buy larger packs of stuff, batch cook and freeze ( did this at weekends when I worked too) if there is a ton of reduced mushrooms at the supermarket I buy em and make soup. I don’t like to waste food so use Sunday roast or other leftovers up but these things are not affecting our nutrition except in a healthy way
That’s the point op. You can feed your family for a lot less with very nutrious food so your assertion that others can’t be nourishing their families properly is just wrong.

Cantakerouscamel
1kg Smartprice mince £3.38
1 Jar pasta sauce 42p
2 packets of spaghetti 46p
Total £4.26

Btw. Just counted. Currently 10 different types fruit and veg in my fruit bowl/ fridge so plenty variety.

NURSY but that has a limit.

The OP hasn’t said anything about nourishment, I have said that in my opinion (and tbh every poverty agency, government body and debt charities opinion) you need a minimum amount of money to provide a healthy diet.

Your estimation is actually double what I stated as the minimum to feed a family of 4.

MRSELLA

Smartprice mince and a jar of 45p sauce is not healthy or nutritious.

Yes but if your having to feed a family of 4 on £4 its the difference between that and starvation so why don't you pull the judgey stick from your ass

A jar of Sainsbury's pasta sauce contains a massive 14% tomatoes...is that even one tomato?

INGREDIENTS:Water, Tomato Purée (8%), Tomatoes (6%), Maize Starch, Salt, Rapeseed Oil, Sugar, Acidity Regulator: Citric Acid; Garlic Powder, Dried Basil, Dried Oregano, Ground Black Pepper, Ground Fennel.

I spent £100 yesterday in Asda for 2 adults, 3 growing kids and two cats. That was an enormous shop for us and other than milk and bread, that will last us two weeks.

That's meat, chicken, fish, veg, salad, fruit, lunchbox stuff, cereal, tea, coffee etc

Tbh I doubt there's much actual nutritional difference between organic mince and smartorice mince.

I buy 500g mince butchers - 4
Carrot,celery, onions, garlic, olive oil est 1 as used for lots of meals
Pasta 80p
Parmesan 1
Lettuce leaves or rocket 1

So that's approx 8 for 5 people

Whoops left out two tins plum tomatoes - 90p

MRSELLA

Nobody is judging anyone. The conversation is about whether I am an evil, nasty, idiotic bigot for thinking that £80 a week is a reasonable amount of money to feed a family of 4 on.

Yes it can be done cheaper, but as a PP said, having to live cheaply and choosing to live cheaply are two very different things

SCABS

That’s £8.50 for an evening meal. Leaving £11.50 for lunches, breakfasts and odds and sods.

Seems about right.

KNOWN

it’s quite easy to make your own tomato sauce in which salt doesn’t make up one of the top 5 ingriedients.

This thread is so odd.

Seems to have turned into people squabbling amongst themselves about the price of red pasta, meanwhile OP is spending 14k a year on food and not so stealthily boasting about it.

it’s quite easy to make your own tomato sauce in which salt doesn’t make up one of the top 5 ingriedients. It certainly is if you know how and believe it or not, it is something that not everyone feels able to do.

I am jealous of all of you who have time and energy to cook fancy meals from scratch. How do you manage it? I am up at 6, out of the door at 7.30, back home at 7.30, then dinner, bath time, story time and it's already 9, I am wrecked and the only thing I want is to sleep, not spend 2 hours in the kitchen.

I've just opened my husbands payslip. He picks up £277 this week.

That's a full, normal working week for him. That, and tax credits are our only income until they go back to work in a years time.

You spend more than we earn on food a week!

It's silly to say you can't eat nutritious meals on less than £x a week, based on your own shopping habits and situation. Lots of healthy meals can be made for very little.

Last night we had a chicken-rice salad.
2 chicken breasts £2
Brown rice cooked in stock £1
Homemade dressing £0.20
Salad - lettuce, spinach, celery, tomato, cucumber, red and yellow peppers, carrots, radish - £2 ish

Couldn't have cost much more than a fiver. That fed four of us plus leftovers for dh today.

Spag Bol can be made very cheaply when you batch cook (and not using jars!).