Is £100 a week really seen as a lot to spend on food a week?

[sweetkitty]

Honestly was looking at "that" thread and the OP was being slated for spending £100 on food.

I have nowhere near that amount of income but still spend £95 a week on an online shop and top up during the week fruit etc of about £10, I am always looking for ways of reducing it.

I have me, DP, DD1 4, DD2 3 and DD3 4 months so one in night nappies, one in full nappies, oh 3 cats that need food and cat litter a week.

I use Tesco own label wherever possible including nappies and wipes
I have stopped buying Organic chicken (£9 for a chicken) but buy one £3.79 chicken but it does DP and the DDs 2 dinners
I'm veggie
I BF so no formula
I buy all own label cleaning products and use sparingly
we buy 20 pints of milk a week and 4 loaves of bread thats about £10 in itself
DP takes sandwiches to work so already saves money that way
fruit is a big one for eg we each have a banana a day thats 28 bananas a week!!
I usually have to back through the Tesco order and take things off so that it stays at £95 and the cupboards are empty on the day before Tesco arrives

So I guess I'm asking AIBU in thinking thats not really a lot for 5 people?

We spend about 90 pounds plus a week--for two adults and two children. We spend a lot on fruit and veg and fish and good quality meat (not expensive cuts, necessarily, I mean mince). There are other things I'd cut down on first before I slashed the bill any further.

Nonsense
Mackerel and herrings cost sod all for a start.
People could easily do it. Question is they don't know how or can't be arsed.
I reckon I could feed the four of us for £50 a week. (I don't but I could.)

Mackerel are filthy feeders, that's why they are so cheap. Not healthy at all.

Yes I'd agree with that Moondog - I think we do eat healthily. We certainly don't eat junk, except for plain biscuits. Except that none of us eats the full 5 portions of fruit & veg a day. Then when you add the recommended 3 portions of wholegrain a day on top of that - I for one don't eat enough in a day to take in all those recommended portions.

My typical food intake per day:

breakfast - nothing (silly I know)

mid morning - banana, couple of biscuits (slapped wrist) or couple of slices of malt loaf

lunch - slice or two of homemade wholemeal
bread with cheese, banana if none mid-morning

dinner - a proper hot meal with veg, glass of fruit juice

That's it. If I ate more our food bill would be higher. But I don't want to give the wrong impression - I do make sure DS eats better than me.

Filthy feeders. Eh?????

Porridge for breakfast
Sandwiches for lunch
Dinner based on pulses,rice,potatoes with bit of protein
Fruit

Easy

our household is much like the original posters and we would spend about the same. perhaps an extra £20 if we buy alcohol. i also buy disposable nappies and wipes. A big proportion of the money seems to go on fruit and veg

so i also agree with the Op, i don't see why she was slated for spending that much. its not extravagent at all

It's all part of the MN neo-puritanism.

If you're a mother you must:

not sleep.
wear your baby at all times--24/7
eat horrid food.

Because otherwise you're not really trying.

Yup, mackerel feed very close to the shore and their favourite dinner is human shit, doncha know? Yuck.

Actually (you see it's helpful writing these things down) I see that if I make an effort to eat a small portion of cereal at breakfast, and take one extra piece of fruit a day to work - then I'll hit my daily recommendations. Yippee.

Now I've just got to make DH eat more than toast at lunchtime - silly bloke.

Bollocks

Ask your favourite fisherman if you don't want to believe me .

that wopuld be my dh then.

I love most fish--except for mackerel. I think they're revolting.

Well Anna, you've put me off mackerel if that's true.

Moondog - where can you buy mackerel & herrings dirt cheap? Pre-packaged at the supermarket they're still pretty pricey, and the one supermarket with a fishmongers is really out of my way - I suspect they'd be expensive there as well. Then of course, one needs to be confident about what to do with a whole fish - I'm not squeamish about many things but I am squeamish with fish I'm afraid.

Are we talking about having a good fishmongers locally?

There are 4 of us - food bill around £100 a week but i pay for school dinners on top - but then DH and myself are a pair of gluttons!

If we're talking human shit, then a vast amount of the world's fruit and veg is grown in it.
Nowt wrong with shit.

I agree moondog - its everywhere

The point is that the mackerel live/feed around the sewage outlets...

Well we have a guy with a van or they come stright from the sea. Where I live I can get a crab for £3.

Fresh mackerel are lovely grilled or baked.Really fresh they are good raw in sushi
As are herrings
Sardines are wonderful baked or grilled in vine leaves
Mussels taste fab bbqed or in Thai style soup
Give me oily fish over something white and grilled any day
It depends what you do to eke out what you have in many cases. I may buy 750 grammes of tuna for about £12 but it would make 4/5 nice meals.

There is a lot of cheap good meat.

Shanks
Pork ribs
Squid
Stewing beef
Trotters
Ham shanks
Frozen chicken thighs (make a great Chinese style dish in soy,sherry and five spice)

Far more tasty than a fatless slab of breast or fillet.

I don't eat that kind of chicken either - I once worked in the chicken industry (consulting not operational) and it was just VILE and a real eye-opener. Gross.

But proper chicken (French "label rouge" for example) is fed on grain, lives outside and has a proper natural lifespan and is totally OK and delicious .

I love sardines. Even the tinned ones. Lovely on toast.