"We can't justify a £52 lunch" - AIBU to think you didn't need to?

[PropitiousJump]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/ckg3g11z6d8o

I found this article irritating. Middle earning families complaining they can't afford a day out, in part because of the expense of eating lunch and dinner out. A family of four in both cases.

I completely agree it's got expensive to eat out, but have they never heard of taking your own sandwiches?

And if you look at what they've eaten, they've ordered a lot of extras that have bumped up the bill.

Costa family - £52 lunch for four. If they could have done without an overpriced bag of crisps on top of their mains, and not had puddings (this was lunch, not dinner) they could have got the bill down to a more reasonable £40ish - a tenner each.

Pizza Express family - £174 dinner for four. If they cut out the starter and side orders and the adults had soft drinks instead of alcohol, they could have got the bill down to approx £109 for soft drinks, mains and a dessert each.

This isn't saying they are eating too much - it's not a diet-bashing thread - but common sense says that if you are eating in a chain place on a day out and trying to keep costs down, you don't order loads of extras and alcohol. Have a drink and a snack at home if you're still hungry. Save all the extras for an 'occasion' where eating out is the focus of the event and you're going somewhere special, not fuelling up in a chain restaurant.

AIBU?

So don’t- give up your mortgage, car, tech, holiday and house renos and fritter money on overpriced crappy Costa then. It’s your choice but unless you’re a millionaire you can’t have it all.

We never went out to eat as far as I can remember. We took sandwiches for picnics. But in my day, there weren't many options for eating out. It would have meant eating in a hotel restaurant, which just wasn't done.

The whole point of the programme was to emphasize that eating out has become more expensive for everyone, and even with an average income, people are having to cut back.

Of course the family could have chosen cheaper options, but that's what TV is - sensationalism to drive home the point.

I recently came back feom vietman, and eating out is cheap as chips. For local people it's cheap, and they eat loads of their food from street stalls and small vendors.

As youngsters in the UK, eating out was a massive treat. But I dont think that should be the norm, and I am sure it was not ever thus.

I think you are missing the point that this article is incredible shoddy and manipulative journalism. They sent a typical family (2 adults, two small children) to what people see as a "cheap and cheerful" chain restaurant, and simply encouraged, or forced, them to order vast quantities of food so that it can qualify as a rage-bait headline.

If you look closely at the receipts, there is no physical way that the parents and children in the article could even come close to eating the amount of food they ordered. By that logic, you can easily send someone into McDonalds and tell them to order £100 worth of food and turn that into a headline. You could easily order £200 worth of food in McDonalds as well. Or £300 in Starbucks. So the BBC can create a headline that reads "I'm a middle class high-earner and cannot afford to spend £300 in Starbucks!"

It would make a good point if they ordered two normal pizzas, two kids meals, 1 side, 4 drinks at Pizza Express and that came to over £200. However they ordered 3 pizzas, 6 sides, 2 salads, 1 pasta, 4 desserts and 5 drinks (!!!) To be honest, my key takeaway for that article is that Pizza Express is surprisingly good value! That second family ordered enough food for at least 5 adults so you can actually have a nice celebration at PE for £200!

I disagree. We could

But everyone's expenses are different so yours could have been more than ours

You are aware people have takeaways in the third world? Street food ring a bell?

How offensive and thoughtless of you.

Lots of people aren't having the things you mentioned now, but if you are ok, that's all that matters.

Do you accept we are getting poorer as a nation? You are part of the problem, cheerleading our impending poverty.

I know it’s so entitled.

Once middle earners can't afford lunch out, then businesses will close because that is their main target market and that means not as many jobs available in that industry.

Exactly this

As PPs have said, the point is that whereas previously people would have been able to afford family days / meals out without worrying about the bill, they no longer can, and so don't do them. This is bad for everyone.

And who amongst us could disagree with that? We were going to go to a family farm attraction thing yesterday. But for four of us it would have been £90 plus petrol plus food. So we didn't. And between us we earn significantly more than the average salary. But it's the end of the month, essentials are costing more, so sadly we don't. Went for a walk instead at a cost of £0 but we contributed nothing to the salaries of the people employed at the family farm place.

We used to eat out as a family almost every weekend or have a takeaway, but that’s become a thing of the past. It’s not just the cost, on the rare occasions we do go out, it’s often disappointing. The quality of both the food and the service has noticeably declined, and when it feels like you’re working just to cover the bills, it’s hard to justify spending money on an experience that doesn’t feel worth it.

People say you can cut costs by skipping a starter and just having water etc , (I actually always have water and never a starter) but that misses the point for many. When you go out, it’s meant to feel like a treat, an experience worth enjoying. If you have to strip it back to the bare minimum just to make it affordable, it stops feeling like something special at all.

Our chippy has not only increased price but portion sizes are reduced so that’s not feasible anymore. A large chips is now what a standard was previously.

Yanbu. We just have a meal then get some donuts or cake from the supermarket on the way home! Or if we go to a cafe we just have a drink and some cake, would never have a full blown meal.

YANBU. No-one has to spend £52 on lunch! It's always those with money/surplus income who whinge isn't it?!

I thought the article was a bit surplus. Yes, for sure, cost of going out has gone up but we all know that, we've all been experiencing living in the UK the last few years! But who takes their family to costa for lunch? It's always been expensive and not very nice, for sure better places to chose from that would be cheaper, not to mention a packed lunch option. Just like we used to do!

Perhaps we will be forced to go back to simpler childhood days, before so many coffee chains and restaurants popped up and expectations always high. As a kid, a day out would be a trip to the beach with sarnies and only thing bought would be an ice cream, or a family picnic in the park, walk in the woods to go tree climbing and exploring followed by snacks back at the car, to a museum or a fete that was happening in town or local school. Quite often with my cousins or friends of my parents and their kids. I think for the family to say they cannot go for days out because of cost of living is showing lack of imagination and willingness. Young children especially tend to be happy with less and happy to run around and let off steam, they do not need a costa lunch!

@Hallamule I have 😂 I've quit my job with nothing else lined up, starting from the bottom again. Can't wait to see all those teachers lined up ready to take my place...

There's two families. This one is described as close to average national household income, the other family were described as slightly above national average household income.

I dont think they were aiming for 'decent" but two average families.

I think the idea was average (not poor families who never did it) are cutting back on things they used to do. I guess it doesnt matter if average families only went out once a year and now dont go at all, or every week and now only go once a month. Its still cutting back.

Well if a paper was paying for me I would order everything too.
It's a fairly stupid article yes, but everything is wildly expensive now especially eating out but we've all just accepted the way costs are astronomical compared to our wages rising.

Good. Let’s get rid of the multiple crappy chains serving shite and make way for fewer better quality independent cafes and restaurants we can go and eat proper more sustainable and better cooked food in.

Customers are seeing how ripped off we’ve become in the eating out business .

And can we just remember the obesity problem we have in this country. Families shouldn’t be eating that amount of shit food regularly.

Yes that is indeed how economics works. Supply and demand.

If we really wanted to tackle that (without going back to a programme of mass exploitation) we could agree to a programme of mass house price deflation - less money spent on mortgages/rent = more money in our pockets for panini. Do you think there's a national appetite for that?

I'm at the stage in life where the DC are older and doing their own thing and I can go and treat myself to a breakfast on a weekend morning every month. I'm horrified at the amount of young families who are coming in, ordering food and the DC leave most of it. I even mean toddlers getting £10 porridge or eggs Benedict type of thing. Never in a million years would that have occurred to me when mine were growing up, IKEA was our place for eating out and with the family card and offers it could have been £10 for us all. Lifestyle creep is a real thing and it's killing us.

And yet there’s a poster asking which Gucci handbag she should choose …

They weren’t worried about the cost though as Panorama were paying.
I’d imagine most people would order more or upgrade from their normal choices if it was going on expenses. DH’s company had to set a limit for dinner on overnight stays as people were ordering £80 steaks and Champagne.

She works part time. Up the hours, have more money!

its as simple as that! Always been that way. We all make sacrifices when our kids are ypung. We rarely ate out in the 80/s. If we did; it was sausage in a basket

You are still missing the point, if an earning family can't afford something (not particularly extravagant) that they could a couple of years ago, then they will stop going to these places and then these places will close, people will lose their jobs and there will be a negative trickle down effect on society in general. What is the point of us all working so hard just to scrimp and save and still not be able to afford any extras in life? It's not like these families were ordering a bottle of champagne with their lunch..