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....).

Yes, I agree - I'd be pretty hungry on that rationing! I suppose you could make a massive frittata - that might stretch to 8 portions? I'm reaching here...😂

I could probably make 7 meals from that for the week, assuming the cupboard is also stocked with herbs, spices, a few tins of tomatoes etc. However, that can't be all they are eating in a week. I would assume the children are having school dinners and the adults are buying lunch at work? There is nothing there for packed lunches, no snacks, no treat items etc. In addition there is no toiletries or cleaning products or household items.

If I stripped my own shopping back to just the actual ingredients for our evening meal it would look similar. However, my weekly shop is significantly more as it contains alcohol, snacks- like cheese and crackers, stuff for making sandwiches and other lunch items such as tins of tuna, baked beans, ham, etc. cleaning products, washing detergent, the odd household item like a nice candle, rubber gloves, cloths, cat food, tea bags, yoghurts, toilet rolls, bin liners etc. etc.

Often food is worth paying more for though rather than the cheapest possible.
I only buy organic and I appreciate I’m in a privileged position to do that, but I’d rather go without buying new clothes if I know I’m trying to avoid eating chemicals.

Frittata, quichey type things, savoury bread pudding

Obviously going to bulk it out with other things.

So I love a challenge - how can I feed 2 adults and 2 toddlers with that list and what would I need to do so that is missing.

Assume breakfast is toast or cereal - no cereal/oats on that list and no butter or jam. SHe did say they have banana pancakes too and there are the ingredients for those to be fair.

Lunch - avocado on toast perhaps twice - pitta or oat cakes and salad on a couple of days - what with though? Poached eggs or scrambled eggs on a couple of days too

DInner - assuming the chicken can stretch to two meals then a roast with green beans and cabbage - but no potatoes on the list
then day 2 a pasta bake sauce made with some cream with the left overs plus mushrooms and broccoli and garlic bread but no pasta
Roasted butternut squash curry (using a pink onion or two) with rice - but no spices or tinned tomatoes on the list
Meatballs and sauce in pitta bread - but no cheese or passata on the list
Tofu stir fry with spring onions cabbage and peppers and rice - but no stir fry sauce or spices?
Butterbean chilli with onion and peppers (but no tomatoes or spices) or possibly a butterbean soup with the sourdough.
Omelette but not quite sure what they would put in it given that pretty well everything has been used up at this point.

THat is 7 dinners but to get there I think you'd need some chilli, spices, pasta, tinned tomatoes, oats or cereal, cheese, chinese sauce for the stir fry etc. That is going to be a further £10 -15.

A family might not starve I believe that but will struggle to do well . I have a friend who swears she only spends £60 a week for 4 but her culture eats a lot of pulses like beans and rice and not much meat . Her kids grew up in Africa and used to not have much in terms of yogurts , snacks etc
There is no way I would be able to do it as
kids are used to snacks and fruit and constant free snaking and I love my fruits and veggies

We eat a lot of lentils (£1.29 for a 1kg dried at Farmfoods) and dried beans etc and regularly hit less than 50p a portion for hearty meals like a ragu, chilli etc. I buy in bulk, make 40 portions at a time, etc etc. I do buy the odd chicken reduced and make stock, I do stretch meat mince a lot with lentils and beans but to stick to £50 every single week would be hard.

There s the other £50 receipt for the olive oil butter or spread mayo spices etcetc .... that one is missing
It is one chicken and one meatballs for the week....
Plus they eating lunches out at school or work?

I think this is a problem in this country, every time I talk about how it would be and could be possible to manage on much less and I use examples of the sort of foods and dinners and recipes that would achieve it, its really looked down on or 'my kids wont eat that'

Whereas millions do, and thrive and are very healthy, one might say healthier than the majority in this country.

I like the Tesco free magazine where they have 5 meals for £25 (one meal, no pudding). It is a proper shopping list and accurately priced, with the recipes. However you've then got 2 other dinners. Plus all breakfasts and lunches, and any snacks. And it still assumes that you have storecupboard essentials such as oil, herbs etc.

And I've noticed over the years that there are more meals based on pulses, legumes, egg and veg, and only one or two with meat / fish.

There's more than enough fruit.

A pineapple, a melon, blueberries, bananas, easy peelers and cherries.

I am assuming they have some store cupboard items already, butter, jam, pasta, spices, tinned toms etc. Maybe potatoes too. I don't buy those every week.

Disappointing how many don't seem to see eggs as meals!

Maybe they're also eating out or with family one evening or getting a takeaway.

Who knows!

If you're trying to cut down on your food bill, why spend on imported pineapple, out of season blueberries, cherries etc...? Buy some more turnips!

..but the shopping list and the meal plan dont correlate very well.
Breakfasts - she has no oats on the list for porridge
Lunches - 3 of these contain cheese, which is not on the list, neither are wraps, marmite or cod.
Dinners - no mince or spaghetti for spag bol, no pasta, no tuna....another meal containing cheese....

However since a few people follow her on IG and say she isnt claiming to feed her family for £50/week....maybe the times interviewed her and cobbled together an article that wasnt really based on what she said.
But thats not exactly helpful to people who actually are on a tight budget - although I doubt the Times is their go-to for advice.

Some weeks when my DC were that age, I probably did spend £50/week because that was my budget ....but that was 15 years ago!

Yes eggs go a long way, not sure why people think 12 eggs couldnt do evening meals for 2 nights for 4 people

Also I get what people are saying about equating 2p per person for that sprinkle of cayenne or harissa paste or whatever, but what other way is there to calculate it, you dont buy a new jar of spieces for every shop, Ive got a whole cupboard of spices and herbs and pastes and gunks that go into things, they last forever

Is that receipt from 2017?

Surely people calculate their averages over several months though. You dont buy porridge oats every week, you dont buy spices every week, you dont buy cheese every week. I buy packs of these things and they last, so I didnt buy cheese this week (yes I did, I bought a fancy burrata from Lidl) but I have massive packs of feta, cheddar, red leicster and something else still in the fridge.
Porriage oats are in the cupboard, wont need to replace those for a while yet.

The week I replace those, I wont replace other things, I have tons of frozen veg so veg is rarely on my weekly shopping list as I dont tend to buy fresh. I dont eat fruit so never buy it.

What are they actually eating? That's not a shop, it's a few odds and ends

I mean I agree with your overall point. But we get Saunsburys fishcakes and it's £2.50 for both of us, so £5 for 4. So not quite that extreme, but not included in theirs still obviously.

A family of 4 living on £50 a week is definitely NOT buying avocados and fresh herbs! What a crock of crap this article is.

I agree that you dont need to buy everything every week, i dont buy oats, pasta, or marmite every week, or even fornight ....but there's still quite a large chunk of (main ingredient) stuff missing.
If using cheese in 5 meals for 4 people then likely you do need to include it in a list....because if she actually was averaging 50/week then there isnt really any scope for bulk buying, or saving things (like meat or fish) for next week.

My mistake.. 1/4 muffin and a raspberry
i was counting egg on toast as a dinner given 15 eggs and only 1 chicken in a bag. .. surely to family need to be dining at work ?

I woujld prefer for someone to do a proper meal list and meal plan over 4 weeks

More realistic.

Where are they finding tofu for 89p, or 15 free range organic eggs for £2.59?

Looks like Jack Monroe's £20 food shop that relies on several hundred pounds worth of food in cupboards and freezers

Lidl