AIBU to be annoyed at this suggestion that £50 per week for food for 4 is realistic?

[MageQueen]

This article about feeding a family of four on £50 per week has annoyed me a lot. https://www.thetimes.com/money/family-finances/article/we-earn-six-figures-but-feed-our-family-of-four-for-50-a-week-fx8w5t9lw

If you can't see the piece, here's a picture of her shopping list.

I mean, the piece is about how a family on more than 100k might still struggle which is fine, although I'm sure some people would take exception to it, but if they're going to profile a family that are a good example and doing a complicated job of managing, surely pick one whose food bill bears some resemblance to reality? That would feed our family of four for about 3-4 days. Tops.

I get that there's a whole narrative about people who seem to earn well but dont' feel rich. Hell, I'm ONE of those people. But this just feels so ridiculously stupid it has irrationally infuriated me! (And don't even get me started on the weekly cleaner and nanny for a SAHM who is skimping, supposedly, on food....).

There is no way a full family shop on that receipt. There must be school lunches, a well stocked freezer, a huge pantry etc in the background. Some of the things described in the article are not on the receipt so pretty sure there will be more to this whole article!

Thats just picky bits... Can't see how they would be making many meals from that little bit!! 🤣

Oh yes, I forgot to mention that was ANOTHER reason it annoyed me so much. All the examples of the meals they eat.... none of which appear on this stupid receipt!!!! Cod fishcakes? That's at least £15 alone to feed a famiyl of 4. Maybe £10 if you get really stingy with the fish!!!!

The Times money column - not that I have a subscription these days - was often pretty ludicrous and tone deaf.

They are making choices I think a lot of families wouldn’t make - she’s SAHM but they have £800+ a month spending on childcare, and they have a cleaner.
Equally, £50 (and in the article she says some weeks it’s £60 or £70) food shop isn’t totally unreasonable, and with a £3000 monthly mortgage I would want to be keeping a close eye on outgoings.

I am more interested to know exactly how their finances stack up though, and why she’s not working if they’re so concerned about building up savings, and already have childcare in place.

It's the new click bait: rich people pretending they're "poor".🙄 YANBU @MageQueen.

Also agree with @SapphireSwan, that's not a weekly shop.

FFS always some 'expert' that can just about manage it for 1 week only.
Try doing it week in week out for months on end & that's when it's impossible.

Sad to see a once respected newspaper creating ragebait bullshit articles.

There's no way that this story is true.

I cant read the article but id be interested to see how old the children they're feeding are, and what their meal plans are because that looks like it wouldnt last a week, to me.
Are they serving mumsnet chicken, and a massive salad every day?

do they only eat 2 meals a week?!? Yanbu, there’s no way enough food there for 4 times 3 times 7 meals!

I shop for two adults and a teenager. Our menu looks similar to theirs and I am quite a bargain hunter, cook a lot from scratch and we also have homegrown fruit and vegetables at the appropriate times of the year. I spend £400/month! Ok I do buy more snacks than in that list, which could be cut down on, but it wouldn’t halve our bill.

Utter bollocks. I couldn’t even feed myself for £50 a week.

It's not even trying to be realistic. Who wrote the article, a teen on work experience?

It's pulled this kind of rage/anxiety bait for many many years. Primarily to attack the Labour bogeyman, who editorially it believes has no right to be in government.

That receipt is bogus.

I'd like to see the meal plan that goes with the list. Is there a fatted calf hiding out in the shed or something?

I think part of what annoys me is that as someone in this category of "it's embarassing that we earn good money but don't feel like we do" I clicked on the article because I'm interested in the experience. I mean, I feel very lucky - we have the money we need to do the things we need and a few things we want, within reason - but I'm also conscious that I feel like on our salaries we should be living a more luxurious lifestyle. So what can I learn? How do I compare etc. But then when I read the bollocks about £50 per week for food it just enrages me so much!

It also suggests that fact checking and sub editing is nonexistent!

I am waiting for someone to arrive and say they can feed the street on one chicken.

There's two of us and that receipt is quite similar to ours for a week. We might have fish or meat twice a week, the rest is thai curry, roast veg, risotto etc. Lunches are poached eggs with hollandaise on sourdough, homemade soup, smashed avo on toast, omelette etc. But I'd need two dozen eggs at least with four people, 3 avos, 2 or 3 loaves of bread. It's pretty unrealistic.

I’d be interested in seeing a meal plan that shows how that’s going to cover the weeks meals.

And I’m also curious about whether there’s extra food in the cupboards / freezer going into the weeks meals that they’ve ignored here. Or whether they’re paying for the kids school dinner on top of that. How old are the children? Because that’ll make a big difference when it comes to how much food is eaten.

But all the penny pinching over grocery bills seems very odd when they’ve got a SAHP and are still paying for childcare and cleaners.

People like this also invariably include expensive and comprehensive 'cupboard/freezer staple stocks' in their menus, but oddly never seem to account for the fact that it has to actually be bought and kept topped up at some point.

Depends what you eat, doesn’t it? I can still feed myself for less than £50/week pretty easily, but I don’t eat much meat or dairy.

Couldn’t feed 4 on that, though. Well, I probably could for 1 or 2 weeks, but not permanently.

I can see a few meal options there to be honest, but not for a full week. And definitely not enough to take breakfast, lunch and the odd snack into account.

Some kind of omelette type meal
Lentil curry or stew (assuming all spices, herbs and coconut/tomato already in store cupboard)
Chicken tray bake or stew. Maybe enough for two meals.
Bean/Mushroom stew/casserole - with rice?

But that's it.

Maybe breakfast for 3-4 days depending on size of muffins. And a couple of sandwiches. With fillings already in the house?

I think that's also what annoys me. It's bringing back those memories of high profile peple saying that eating junk food is ridiculous for poor people when they can buy a packet of spaghetti for 27p or whatever. and those Covid food parcels that were so offensive.

By the way a lot of places have community fridges and we do go once or twice a month. We usually stock up on veg and anything else that's going. It's about avoiding food waste.
I am aghast at some people's fridges - they have so much stuff in them 😂

Dinner
Roast chicken with veg
meat balls
daal and flat breads
Tofu and veggie story fry at a push

lunch
avocado on toast
egg sandwiches
omelette

possibly you might get a second day out of your chicken

but I’d say by day 4 you’re looking at an empty fridge and by day 5 you’re in trouble