I'm hearing lots of excuses but I think you can put the vast majority of the blame on the person. If the will isn't there then the excuses come out. Food has never been cheaper in human history. People are happy to stuff themselves on sugary processed products. It's unfortunate when they pass their lazy habits on to their kids but that is life.
What should it cost to feed a family for a week?
- Thread starter Brendan Burgess
- Start date
ok, sad I know, but I keep a spreadhseet of all the spending in my household and have done so for a number of years.
2 adults, 2 young children...currently running at close to €300 per month in 2013 for food/toiletries and that includes nappies etc.
It was running at €220 before #2 came along last year.
We cook everything from scratch, all as healthy as possible. Occasional pizza but with home made oven chips. Make enough on Sat to cover Monday, enough on Sunday to cover another dinner mid-week.
Make soups etc from scratch also.
Hit the main supermarkets on a Sat morning with lists made out of what's on special and where. But lots of fruit and fresh veg in lidl/aldi and occasionaly tesco/dunnes, depending on the offers.
Kids eat the same meals as the adults, and there's no exceptions. Ok, you quickly learn what they won't eat under any circumstances i.e. broccoli, and so you don't serve that to them. If they don't eat, they don't get the occasional treats or to watch a small bit of TV that evening.
Both adults work, very busy jobs too. So it's hard to look after all and keep the show on the road, but it's possible especially if you want your kids to eat well.
No sugary juice drinks, absolutely no fizzy drinks.....I don't understand any parent giving that stuff to a young child or arguing that it's cheaper to give them chocolate bars v's chopped fruit mixed with youghurt for example.
No expert at cooking but know the basics and love to try new recipies from various books. If there's a real will, there's a way
2 adults, 2 young children...currently running at close to €300 per month in 2013 for food/toiletries and that includes nappies etc.
It was running at €220 before #2 came along last year.
We cook everything from scratch, all as healthy as possible. Occasional pizza but with home made oven chips. Make enough on Sat to cover Monday, enough on Sunday to cover another dinner mid-week.
Make soups etc from scratch also.
Hit the main supermarkets on a Sat morning with lists made out of what's on special and where. But lots of fruit and fresh veg in lidl/aldi and occasionaly tesco/dunnes, depending on the offers.
Kids eat the same meals as the adults, and there's no exceptions. Ok, you quickly learn what they won't eat under any circumstances i.e. broccoli, and so you don't serve that to them. If they don't eat, they don't get the occasional treats or to watch a small bit of TV that evening.
Both adults work, very busy jobs too. So it's hard to look after all and keep the show on the road, but it's possible especially if you want your kids to eat well.
No sugary juice drinks, absolutely no fizzy drinks.....I don't understand any parent giving that stuff to a young child or arguing that it's cheaper to give them chocolate bars v's chopped fruit mixed with youghurt for example.
No expert at cooking but know the basics and love to try new recipies from various books. If there's a real will, there's a way
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aprilgirl99
Registered User
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- 7
Wow Delboy Im impressed €175 per month with 2 young kids. Thats amazing! Well done you.
Well said to both posters. There's no excuse not to feed yourself or your children properly. None. If you can't cook then learn. If you don't live near a shop then get the bus/cycle/ask a friend, neighbour or family member for a lift ones a fortnight/ organise a delivery.
If you don't have a computer (and most people have access to one) then go to your library, or that friend, neighbour or family member and use theirs.
There is loads of good quality cheap meat and if that's too expensive there is plenty of ways to get protein from pulses and eggs etc.
There is no excuse; if you don't feed your family properly then you aren't doing your job as a parent because you just don't care enough.
If you have an elderly relative who isn't eating properly then shame on you. It's your responsibility to look after them, not the states.
dereko1969
Registered User
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- 3,046
For those saying they can't feed a family please look at this website from a single mother in the UK (who gets significantly less in benefits) that includes lots of very healthy recipes for herself and her son.
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Correction and apologies....I misread my own file!!! It's more than €175, closer to €300 per month with the nappies/wipes etc in the mix. I don't separate them out.
Apologies for any confusion
€175 would be near to impossible as we have meat or fish with every dinner. Love fresh fish.
Buy the meat from a wholesale butchers and fill the freezer up every month so good value but still adds up.
2 adults and 2 kids.... we spent €150-€160 per week on food.
(there is another issue here vis a vis "real food" and convenience food in that the price of cooking a chicken for 90 mins and boiling veg for 30 mins isn't factored in so ignoring the laziness of it all there is an additional cost there too)
(there is another issue here vis a vis "real food" and convenience food in that the price of cooking a chicken for 90 mins and boiling veg for 30 mins isn't factored in so ignoring the laziness of it all there is an additional cost there too)
Don't know what planet you're on. Delboy is doing a great job.
Delboy, I keep an excel too on my spending, on everything. Luckily I'm not in a position that I have to budget. But I'll always be conscious of what I spend. I was looking at sole the other day, which we love, but it was just an outrageous price so I had plaice instead, also love that.
we eat the best of fresh food, fresh fish a couple of times a week, I like my steak!!!!!! Where's the surviving in that.....unless you feel that the lack of take aways, chicken nuggets etc is going without!
Made a big pot of carrot/sweet potato soup last night so that'll cover a lunch or 2 over the weekend and some for the freezer also. Took less than 30 mins.
A
AgathaC
Guest
Just curious,Delboy, do you have all of the main supermarkets near you? I am lucky that I have, but for those who don't it might cost more trying to get around to more than one or two, in order to avail of special offers.
Good man Purple. I was reading this thread with growing disbelief.
I think you do need to be quite resourceful to feed a family of 4 for €300pm but it appears that some people are struggling to do it for twice that, which shows an absolute lack of any resourcefulness.
I have a superquinn close by but thats only for the basics. Aldi/Lidl/Tesco/Dunnes a 20 mins walk away and all 4 of those again in the opposite direction within a 7-10 minute drive.
So yes, I have the options available to make the choices.
I don't consider myself tight and as a family we're lucky to both have good jobs and are'nt stuck for cash right now. So I'm not scrimping and feeding all badly because of money. I just can't abide waste or throwing away money.
We're also lucky in that I love to cook and would think nothing of spending a couple of hours prepping and cooking with the radio on in the background. The OH is'nt mad on cooking so I do the vast majority of it.
But I think people can make more of their money. All the supermarket brochures are falling out of the papers these days, or are available online. You can base your meals around the meat/fish thats on offer and I don't think thats denying your family good food....
i.e. local superquinn had whole salmon for €15 each a few weeks ago. I bought 2 and had them cut up into steaks there (even took the tail end as the meat in there can be oven cooked, scooped out and made into sandwich filler- I grew up by the sea!). There was about 8 steaks from each salmon for €30....buy them separately and your paying €3-4 each or close to twice what I paid for the 2 fish. Thats bsaic common sense to me
Turns out the offspring were'nt mad on the soup even though it tastes sweet....the ginger and garlic I added in might be fine for adults but sensitive little mouths can pick it up and they don't like it!
Lesson learned
A
AgathaC
Guest
Yes, I am lucky to have all of those near me too. You sound like you are doing a great job, I certainly didn't read any implication in your posts that you were scrimping or anything like it.
Well I ended up bedridden with my slipped discs again a few weeks ago and decided it would be a good time to order from Tesco online . .. .could I get to place my order? No. I spent ages shopping . .the website just kept failing when I got to the end of the check out process. I'll never try that again.
BrokeGuy >>Delboy; honeslty no offence here but there is living and there is surviving... what fun is it for kids to grow up like that?<<
I don't know what you mean either. What is it you think the kids are missing out on? Mine hate fizzy drinks, won't touch em. They have chips+nuggets etc when we eat out (couple of times a month). They love their sausages and pizza (occasional). I bake like a lunatic so we always have cakes and desserts. I make rice pudding. To be honest with all of that they have enough sugar in their diets without adding sweets to it (they get one sweet sometimes and never ask for more). Like everyone I struggle to produce healthy meals that they like but I don't consider relying on processed stuff as an option. If they don't eat it they just don't eat it - no consequences or punishment - that's where I probably differ from a lot of people.
BrokeGuy >>Delboy; honeslty no offence here but there is living and there is surviving... what fun is it for kids to grow up like that?<<
I don't know what you mean either. What is it you think the kids are missing out on? Mine hate fizzy drinks, won't touch em. They have chips+nuggets etc when we eat out (couple of times a month). They love their sausages and pizza (occasional). I bake like a lunatic so we always have cakes and desserts. I make rice pudding. To be honest with all of that they have enough sugar in their diets without adding sweets to it (they get one sweet sometimes and never ask for more). Like everyone I struggle to produce healthy meals that they like but I don't consider relying on processed stuff as an option. If they don't eat it they just don't eat it - no consequences or punishment - that's where I probably differ from a lot of people.
annR...tried the online shopping a few months ago because there was an offer on! Got mostly washing powder,nappies etc on to get to the amount to avail of the promotion at the time, but the few bits of fresh food we ordered turned out to be terrible quality and the OH actually went back with them.
Will never try that again
Fair play to you for baking a lot. Have never tried it but luckily my OH, who's not mad on cooking, likes to bake and will make tarts, buns, cakes etc. All nice stuff, but it takes sooo long that even I'd be happier to spend the few quid and buy it from the shops!
Don't have the patience for that
Will never try that again
Fair play to you for baking a lot. Have never tried it but luckily my OH, who's not mad on cooking, likes to bake and will make tarts, buns, cakes etc. All nice stuff, but it takes sooo long that even I'd be happier to spend the few quid and buy it from the shops!
Don't have the patience for that