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....).

I am interested by the posters who follow her and suggest that this article is hugely misleading. I now actualyl feel sorry for her. She's probably getting all this hate when actually, she's just saying what can be bought for £50!

I just had an Amazon food order delivered. It cost £104. But that includes toothpaste, toilet paper, rinse aid, tin foul and I picked up some moisterisers and a new hylaronic acid serum (note: significantly cheaper than Boots). Those things came to approximately £43 in total. So that's £61ish for food.

I bought enough food for 4 full meals (tacos, burgers, chicken salad with garlic bread, sausage pasta, with pretty much every ingredient needed for those (except mince for tacos and the actual pasta - which we have - but I accidentally ordered 3 packets of rice so it probably works out....). I also bought lunch box items, oats, extra fruit. and a few "storecupboard" type things in the form of a large bottle of olive oil, some cupcake cases.

I'm feeding four people, including DS (15) and DH who both exercise a LOT and DS has the usual teenage boy hollow legs. I felt pretty good about my shopping and, assuming I do similar in 4 days, that will bring my total shoipping, not just for food, up to around £200 for the week.

Or those ones that budget as though you can buy 5p worth of oregano or 13p or spaghetti because they've used a tiny bit of a pack!

It isn't a realistic full weekly shop, no, agree with you totally.

However, it's also annoying to see how many people shop very expensively these days, their lists full of snacks, out of season fruit n veg (little Johnny will only eat xyz), microwave packets of rice, no pulses etc., then complain it's expensive. This list definitely includes lots of the sort of items you need to buy if you're on a budget so it is a good example IMO, just presented wrongly!

Yeah she did get a fair bit of backlash on her IG when her videos were titled stuff like 'weekly shop for £50' but in the detail she was saying, this isn't everything we eat, just everything we've bought this week lol. I think she knows that it will rile people up a bit and she's doing it for a bit of clickbait/follower engagement; I also suspect that is why she has done this article in the way that she has.

The general sentiment is relatable (omg we're spending a fortune on food, let's really try to cut it down) but to badge it as £50 a week and then go on to say, oh actually it's not £50 a week really, is a bit disingenuous and clearly designed to increase engagement.

The article is complete nonsense - I have no idea what they all have for breakfast - 1/4 breakfast muffin each?

sure there are ways to economise and still enjoy life - whereas this grocery shop is miserable, unsustainable and misleading.

They probably eat out 3 nights a weeks and aren’t including that!

pre Covid, I could shop for 4 at Lidl in about £120 a week. There’s no way I’d be close now!

I think if you wanted to save money you wouldn't be buying berries out of season at all!

I only buy food shopping for myself and I probably spend about £50 a week! So no YANBU.

The Daily Fail runs these stories all the time. What it turns out to be is a week’s worth of dinners for £50!

Well, yes, I do that every week. Everyone can make spag bol for 4 for £8. 🙄 There is never lunch or breakfast. They all seem to eat out for lunch or buy school dinners and maybe none of them eat breakfast. 🤷🏻‍♀️ But that’s not a week’s worth of food for a family.

I just spent £60 on the absolute bare bones for 5 days today at Lidl. 3 meals a day plus snacks (except for 2 dc having school dinners). That is possible because we have a fully stocked cupboard and live on a farm, so I have pork chops and sausages from our pigs in the freezer and we have fresh eggs daily.

When I was a student in the early 90s my flatmates and I shopped and cooked together. We ate our lunches on campus so our budget covered 14 meals each a week. We ate frugally but reasonably well (we could all cook). We each put £10 into the food kitty and that was sufficient, there was a small amount left each week. I refuse to believe anyone can have a similar budget over 30 years later. Indeed, I checked what the average weekly shop per person is and depending on the source it's between £30 and £50 per person, I assume the variation is partly based on if it includes non-food items and if it includes eating out.

The shopping list does not look like the shopping list of someone eating frugally, there would be more tinned and frozen food and fewer tropical fruits, fresh herbs and snacks.

Eggs, toast, pitta, fruit.

This looks like something Jack Monroe would have written. How to feed a family for 50p for a year

There doesn't look like enough protein - in any form - to feed four people for 21 meals (breakfast, lunch and dinner for 7 days). She must be stretching that cooked chicken a loooooong way! I guess maybe the chicken does two evening meals, the tofu does one, eggs for another two, and meatballs for another one? Lord knows what they are eating for the rest though.

If people are genuinely interested in proper meal plans for a budget, I've just bought a book by Cardiff Mum: 5 meals for £25 - proper menus. But that does stipulate that prices are always going up - and relies on a decent pantry of spices and whatnot. I've liked the recipes though - they don't feel mean at all - and my daughter has been learning to cook using it.

A lentil / bean casserole I reckon is the 7th meal.

Chicken one day meatballs another day. What do they eat the other days?

It’s a properly silly article.

How can 12 eggs do 2 main meals for 4 people? I used 3 for scrambled eggs or an omelette on my own.

As above, the chicken would likely do 2 days, eggs (prob 2), tofu, as well as the meatballs and bean casserole.

There's 15 actually.

I make a frittata with 6 that happily serves 4, perhaps they do something like that.

She hasn't even got lentils in there. Its lidl and the "lentils sharing bag" on offer for £1.49 is a bag of lentil crisps.

Dry toast? There's no butter on that list

I use Amazon sometimes and it actually is a lot cheaper than many supermarkets IMO and good quality. And you frequently get good discounts.

I am really quite careful with food shopping.

I meal plan, make lists, check offers, pick up yellow labels when I can for freezing etc. Child does school lunches, so no packed lunch.

And I still spend £90 or so per week for 2 adults and 1 child!

I was born and grew up in a poor Eastern European country. My family is from a village, and we always had enough food. But people in towns really struggle. I believe you can eat for a week on £50 if you’re a good cook and planner, but it’s not easy or guaranteed. Also, people like snacks.
So in my opinion, it’s possible if you try very, very hard, but I would like to see all her menus.
Actually, I’d like to try cooking good food for one week while spending as little as possible. I’m not sure if I’ll succeed, as we like snacks and baking isn’t cheap.

I dont think it's realistic.
Im now retired but have 3 (now adult) dc.
Obviously when my dc were young prices were cheaper.
However, we went through some tough times when my DH was out if work, so I really struggled etc
Some of the choices seem a bit bizarre. Why buy 12 meatballs. Surely it's cheaper to buy mince and make them yourself.
In fact this was the time was when I started making my own pizzas, as the cost of buying them from the supermarket is very expensive.
We now spend more than that for 2 adults, so I dont think it's realistic.
Of course the age of the children is significant.