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.

Well, in my family, one adult never ate any fruit, so it was mostly for the children, and there was always fruit left in the bowl. As long as you're eating plenty of veg, you don't need a lot of fruit.

Soy, you're right, that's a kilo of bananas.

Camel, you won't back down, will you?
You remind me of my 13 year old daughter (and not in a good way)

Just seems like a small amount of fruit for 4 people. We tend to have an apple each a day plus a handful of grapes and another piece of fruit a day, plus various veggies with dinner.

We also have two cucumbers, two packs of three peppers and two lettuce a week, as a standard for making salads to go with everything.

I still believe families should have access to £80 a week to feed themselves but it’s interesting to see someone do it on £19 less.

I’m not sure I would want to, or that people should have to, mostly because I’m not really sure many working families have the time to shop in three different locations. I also find Aldi/Lidl food goes off quickly.

£60 a week with absolutely no extras. There’s not even tea or coffee or jam on there. We eat a fair amount more than that of most things I would say and we are still quite a young family. I’m not sure it’s Wholley representative. Plus what about oil and loo roll and toothpaste etc?

Even if you’re allowing families £70 a month, that’s incredibly tight.

In our family, none of us eat fruit, unless it's super tasty, which isn't often. We eat lots of veg instead - nothing magical about fruit!

This thread is hilarious with people posting their perfect meal ingredients (not a single cake/biscuit/crisp in sight) as if they were writing a meal plan for their GCSE "food preparation and nutition" and then the teachers come on with suggestions for improvement.

nothing magical about fruit!

I agree. I'm quite sceptical about the health-giving properties of fruit. It seems to me it's mainly sugar and acids. I do eat some, but I think
vegetables are more nutritious really.

i would and I wouldn't wish there to be a ban on these thread types.
we are just too different.so where I like when people can ask for help if they want hacks for cutting back etc.or support if struggling with budget.when you have people on such different incomes and saving its just cant ever be a helpful thread because everyone rations things differently depending on what they have got.have had.the way they wee brought up even down to their emotional health.so the budgets and what people spend vary on such a vast scale.
and so people will end up feeling guilty.worried.concerned or confused when you just see such different number to your own.but no one know how others live and how so its really difficult to see people judging themselves and others.

DUNGEON and for absolutely fuck all reason.

Honestly who gives a toss what you eat?

I feel like I’ve been put on some sort of weird pedestal, it’s odd. People desperate trying to show how utterly down to the wire their budgets can be so it fits into slightly less than my suggested minimum spend for a family.
It’s utteely bizarre.

sugar in fruit are very different.they are nutaral so able to be broken down within the bodies natural enzymes.

I love salads with anything suitable BUT I sometimes don't because the dressing I like on it is too fattening. So adding a salad is adding calories for me.

I get the same sugar rush and dry mouth from fruit as from, say, chocolate. I'm a bit sceptical about the idea that 'natural' is always better.

Some of my cheap meals are;
Omelette, veg/salad and baked potato ( or home made wedges)
Baked potatoes with leftover chilli/ curry/ etc oh and a salad!!! ✅
Pearl barley risotto - it’s made with onion, pork mince then Kale stirred in for last 10mins
Butter nut squash risotto, with Wensleydale dale stirred through (and a salad. ✅ )
Macaroni cheese. I’d bake it with tomatoes and perhaps green beans or broccoli with it.

And I totally agree with poster who say carbs are not your enemy. There’s nothing wrong with carbs, especially not complex carbs. It’s the main way you get your energy.

ROUSSETTE

I find that if you chop the veggies up small enough, you don’t really need dressing. Sometime we add grapes or sweet corn for a bit of sweetness to salads (my mum loves pineapple in salads) but I find most dressings too rich

NURSY

Carbs aren’t the enemy, fruit is (apparently)

Tbh I give my kids both, but I prefer them to have protein heavy meals with fresh salads/veggies for the evening and have carbs midday/breakfast

for chicken buy a couple cook in the bags then make meals from them.they can easily (and theraputicly)be wripped apart and emat kept in Tupperware of frozen.we found it went much further as often the chicken are so much cheaper.then in an evening cook a couple of chicken and you get good few meals.so much cheaper than breasts.
or chicken thighs are tastier and cheaper.
cosco do huge trays of chicken thighs which we portion and freeze and if you big salmon eater cosco do whole sides of fish whci are great for cutting up and portioning.

@KnownUnicorns I'm saving that recipe for lunch next week I love black pudding and mexican food so win for me. Husband didn't look so impressed until I assured him it was going to brunch

Dungeon I actually included home made muffins in mine and Cath included a dessert in each of her meals.

one thing my brother loves to dress his salad with is mint sauce!a very low calories salad dressing indeed haha.this is the boy who could drink vinegar though

I used to actually drink vinegar! Love the stuff.

CC... but this particular dressing is so delicious, I can't resist it! I like just something on a salad!

I love vinegar too. My idea of heaven.... baby cornichons, gherkins, pickled onions, salt and vinegar crisps...
You get the picture

perfect meal ingredients (not a single cake/biscuit/crisp in sight)

Definitely not in my meal plans at the moment dungeon as holiday looming ( my Mum brought a massive millionaires shortbread round this morning though) 👙

When I was on a tight food budget these were the first things to go out the door though. Just using up money and stomach space for no nutritional benefit is pointless if you are watching the pennies.

Too much protein can cause kidney damage and increases the risk of cancer camel not to mention the bad breath and constipation.

Fruit is better than just consuming your sugar as a biscuit but it sounds like your family is eating an excessive amount.

Are you sure you are giving your family the best nutrition on your budget.

www.healthline.com/health/too-much-protein#risks