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.

Don't eat meat - those that can't get through a meal without meat are living in the past and need to wise up. If you are eating cheap meat then be concerned with what it is actually made up from or where it has come from.
Bulk buy and freeze/store. I do think that this is the main area of saving. I buy 180 toilet rolls at a time on Groupon which are delivered to my door and work out at half price per roll. This seems sad I know but do this with a number of items and you are already saving £100s per year!
Don't waste food just because the use by date has been and gone - be sensible and check if it is still ok. If you are in the habit of throwing out food, then you are over buying.
Shop around and stock up on bargains when you are passing that store, don't go out of your way.
Grow what you can in the garden. We have lots such as apples, rhubarb, beans that we freeze and it lasts us the whole year making crumbles, jam etc.
Right now you can go out and collect Elderflower which can make you cordial that you can freeze to supply you a whole year - the few ingredients for this cost about £5.
Lots of cheap local eggs, veg, fruit about.

CantankerousCamel
The point that people are making is that you were very rude on several occasions by stating that it is not possible for people to have a healthy well balanced diet on a lower budget than yours.
Can you not see, wether to people that chose not to spend this or people that cannot afford to spend this, you might be offending them by saying it?
It's not about anything else all it boils down to is that you have offended people by assuming you know what they feed there families and telling them it's not good enough.

No. People have chosen to get offended (and abusive) because the OP asked about people feeding families well on small amounts of money and I said I believe £80 is the minimum needed.

Again, nobody has actually contested that, just got their knickers in a twist.

As previously stated, I actually spend more like £120 a week because I like variety.

I pointed out that I used to have less money to feed my family and now have more, to show that I have some knowledge of feeding families on lower budgets, not as some sort of reflection on people I’ve never met (?)

Basically for answering the question asked, I’ve been called all sorts of names and told I must justify my answer, which I have, at length.

Why, I’m not sure. Really having a difference of opinion regarding minimum spend needed to feed a family well, is not a reason to call someone an ‘idiot’ or a ‘bigot’

It’s just nonsense. Either have a different perspective and argue it, or don’t. No need for all the nastiness.

CantankerousCamel
People have argued it again and again, they have provided you with information on their daily diet, their shopping lists bit still you refuse to believe that they are feeding their families healthy, nutritious food.
You have given you opinion which has offended people and of course they are going to retaliate.

Bollocks have they.

One person has said that meatballs cost £4

Which is clearly untrue

One person has broken down their weekly shop and come to double the amount I put forth.

Nobody has actually explained how you can have a varied healthy diet on less than £80. Not one.

I'm sure if someone told you you weren't giving your children the best then you would take offence.

My opinion is just that. It’s based on my experiences and life. You have chosen to be offended by it, it’s purpose is not to be offensive.

The OP believes that £280 a week is needed to feed a family, I believe £80 is the minimum, NURSY after much deliberation believes the amount is £160.

This is all fine, people are different.

If you want to change my ‘horribly offensive’ view on shopping budgets, then actually argue the toss, state how you feed a family well for less, I’m sure we’ll all be keen to hear about it.

Just calling me names and bleating on about how ‘offended’ you are about someone else’s opinion on a topic is neither here nor there. I’m not sure exactly what you expect? ‘Oh you’re offended, I’ll just change my view and decide £50 a week is enough to feed a family of four’

I don’t believe that, I believe you need to spend more than that and have seen nothing to convince me otherwise.

So yes, if you’re telling me you’re feeding a family of 4 for less than £80 a week, I’m questioning the quality of the food yours eating

That’s what you said Camel. Can’t you see that’s offensive to many on a lower income than You who do Schepisi from one shop to another to get the bargains and feed their families with variety and nutrition at the forefront of their minds. Countless people can spend less than that with good quality food in their diet. In the U.K. food does not have hormones and huge doses of antibiotics added ( yet, but watch this space) so it being organic doesn’t count for what you think it does. I spend more yes because I can be a bit more cavalier with my food bill at this point in my life.
The point of my post to the original op ( I realise I was trying to address both things and didn’t make it clear) was that spending £280 to £300 a week is just plain ridiculous. I would guess for that amount lots of processed and waste

Nobody has said anything about your children. I’ve spoken about my life, my children and my experiences. I worked very hard to try and make £40/£50/£60 stretch to feed us all. You’ve for some as yet unknown reason, decided to make that about you. Not sure why, frankly don’t care. But the bottom line is that calling me names and getting irate is not going to change my opinion. Actually providing evidence to the contrary might.

Schlep. Not schepisi ??? Don’t know where that came from in spellchecker

NURSY ^ of course you have to make sacrifices if you’re on a lower income. You could cherry pick my comments that say ‘it’s grest there are lower cost options for people who need them’

Or ‘I think that everyone should be able to spend this money on feeding their family without fear of it affecting other life’

You can cherry pick all you like. Obviously if you’re spending less than £20pp a week on your families nutrition, that nutrition will be affected. That’s why there is a government guideline and why most of us spend more when we have the choice.

Your food shopping appears extravagant to me. Your can have the same quality diet at half the cost, but it will require some thought, forward planning and prep time. Going to the supermarket every day to buy one meal, same with buying a packed lunch on the day is the expensive way to do it. You overpay massively compared it you meal planned and did a weekly shop, plus bits and bobs to top up.

Saying that, you might consciously be making a choice for convenience over cost. Nothing wrong with that if you would rather have the time and your headspace free. If you can afford not to worry about spending £280 pw on food, why not? If you are not happy about spending this amount, you can cut back quite easily without compromising the quality of your diet. But it will require the investment of time and planning from you.

Meatballs do cost 4 pounds in Aldi I think 2 pounds per pack something like that maybe 2.50. Personally we need 2 packs for our family of 4 but there is leftovers that sometimes gets used as someone's lunch the next day.
Plenty of people have told you what their weekly shop costs, what they buy and it is less. Obviously you do not believe these people. All your argument comes down to is that you spend extra to buy more than you probably need so you have all different things, that doesnt make your food healthier or more nutritious. Some people don't have that luxury but it doesn't mean they are unhealthy, they just have to be more sensible.

Anyway NURSY you’ve just highlighted that you believe £160 is the amount needed to feed a family of 4, so why you’re still busting my balls for saying that half of the is the minimum families should be expected to survive with, is beyond me.

THEWHALE

spending money on fresh fruit, veggies and decent cuts of meat DOES make our food healthier. This is basic science ffs

Nobody will win in this argument because clearly, everything is relative. People feed their families the best way they can on the shopping budgets they can afford.

Now is a £280 shopping budget able to provide healthier meals than £80? Sure, of course. With that amount of money, there is little need to buy fillers like white carbs, potato, etc. One can dine on salmon + salad, steak + salad every night!

But is it automatic? Of course not. A £280 shopping budget consisting of takeaways and pop tarts etc won't be healthier than £80 of homemade food made of rice, lentils, pulses, etc.

DROWNING
I totally agree.

The issue here is that despite repeatedly stating that I am focusing on my own experiences when I answered this post, people are still saying ‘wot so you saying we is unhealthy then’

No, I’m saying fuck all about anyone else.

After reading the thread, I am with CantankerousCamel. £80 a week for 5 people is £2.30 a person a day. Assuming three meals without snacks, that's ~75p a meal. I cannot see how it can cover more than beans on toast, an apple and a glass of milk, no matter what your cooking proficiency is.

SILVER

obviously you get some some movement because you’re cooking bulk meals for everyone but it really is not a lot for a family (of four I would say, I would say £100 for a family of five)

camel

Sigh. No I didn’t say £120 was the minimum amount. I said I spend half that for me and my husband ( retired, only two of us at home now) but extrapolated that would be the amount for 4 adults. As opposed to 2 adults and 3 kids on £280 a week.

Salad - lettuce, spinach, celery, tomato, cucumber, red and yellow peppers, carrots, radish - £2 ish Just plugged that lot into Sainsbury's online shop and choosing the very cheapest items it costs more like a £5ish - I'm assuming you didn't eat all the celery or the carrots.

Maybe those who can make meals for £4 or £5 eat less meat and more carbs? For example, 2 chicken breasts for 4 people, so that's half a chicken breast per person. I'd also fill up on rice/bread/carbs if that's my allotted portion.

NURSY

Your calculation gave £160

My family spend £120

£80 is what I believe the minimum is to feed a family of four for a week.

DROWNING

Must be

The issue here is that despite repeatedly stating that I am focusing on my own experiences when I answered this post, people are still saying ‘wot so you saying we is unhealthy then’

Ok, people, a clarification - Camel is just talking about her own experience. She's not taking a dig at any of you.

To be honest, I'd struggle too if I were to significantly cut our food budget, as we eat mostly fish/chicken/meat and veg. We eat mostly low-carb food, and do not buy rice, cereal, bread, or other carbs which are inexpensive and filling.