Do you earn enough for a minimum acceptable standard of living?

beecher2

chewmylegoff wrote: »

it's pretty easy to walk around a supermarket and rack a food bill like that. it's not unbelievable at all. yes you can eat for less if you want to, but it's not mind boggling or even particularly excessive to to spend that much on food if you want to and can afford it.
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I think the point is that this figure is given as being the minimum standard of living which is acceptable - in these terms it is excessive as it would be pretty easy to cut down.

chewmylegoff

beecher2 wrote: »

I think the point is that this figure is given as being the minimum standard of living which is acceptable - in these terms it is excessive as it would be pretty easy to cut down.

i agree that £80pw is not necessary for an acceptable standard of living, which could easily be achieved on half of that, but there have been expressions of disbelief that it is even possible to spend that much on food which is just silly.

further, an acceptable standard of living is a relative term. for instance, if i was ever reduced to consuming jars of sandwich filler as i couldn't afford meat, i would consider that my standard of living was less than acceptable.

beecher2

chewmylegoff wrote: »

further, an acceptable standard of living is a relative term. for instance, if i was ever reduced to consuming jars of sandwich filler as i couldn't afford meat, i would consider that my standard of living was less than acceptable.

Everyone gets used to the lifestyle they have, and most of us can look back at times when we were poorer and wonder how we tolerated how we lived then. If sandwich filler is what you've always had, then it doesn't seem so intolerable.

PasturesNew

beecher2 wrote: »

Everyone gets used to the lifestyle they have, and most of us can look back at times when we were poorer and wonder how we tolerated how we lived then. If sandwich filler is what you've always had, then it doesn't seem so intolerable.

I must say, I think of sandwich filler, in a pot from a supermarket, as a luxury item. £1.50 for a pot..... I only ever dare buy the Coronation Chicken or the Ocean Cocktail as I can justify the expense to myself. I'd hate myself if I spent that on something like egg/mayo or tuna/mayo that I could easily make myself for 1/3rd the cost.

Buying ready-made sandiwch fillters in the pots .... is a real treat for me. A Saturday night indulgence.

beecher2

PasturesNew wrote: »

I must say, I think of sandwich filler, in a pot from a supermarket, as a luxury item. £1.50 for a pot..... I only ever dare buy the Coronation Chicken or the Ocean Cocktail as I can justify the expense to myself. I'd hate myself if I spent that on something like egg/mayo or tuna/mayo that I could easily make myself for 1/3rd the cost.

Buying ready-made sandiwch fillters in the pots .... is a real treat for me. A Saturday night indulgence.

Haha, me too but I didn't want to admit it They're full of salt too - I'll stick to my boring Laughing Cow Extra Light sandwiches and fruit.

SingleSue

Well my lunch today is cream crackers with strawberry jam.....quite easy to take as a pack up too as the jam is in a squeezy bottle, so all you need to take with you is a plastic knife, get the crackers out, squirt the jam on, spread and eat.

Crackers were less than 50p for a pack and the jam is on special offer at a £1...and that makes loads of snacks/light lunches.

chewmylegoff

SingleSue wrote: »

Well my lunch today is cream crackers with strawberry jam.....quite easy to take as a pack up too as the jam is in a squeezy bottle, so all you need to take with you is a plastic knife, get the crackers out, squirt the jam on, spread and eat.

Crackers were less than 50p for a pack and the jam is on special offer at a £1...and that makes loads of snacks/light lunches.

that is a ludicrous lunch! biscuits and jam is not a proper meal.

beecher2

chewmylegoff wrote: »

that is a ludicrous lunch! biscuits and jam is not a proper meal.

Each to their own. You've said eating is something you enjoy doing - for others it is just fuel. I don't understand people who get great enjoyment out of food, just as they won't understand the way I see it.

chewmylegoff

beecher2 wrote: »

Each to their own. You've said eating is something you enjoy doing - for others it is just fuel. I don't understand people who get great enjoyment out of food, just as they won't understand the way I see it.

nutritionally speaking, crackers and jam is not a meal. it's just a load of sugar and flour.

princeofpounds

i don't see what all the shock is about 2 people being able to spend £80 a week on food.

There are a lot of frugality-is-a-virtue types on MSE and there is a kind of pride in how cheapskate people can be.

The first obvious thing that stems from many of these posts is that many of the people concerned certainly don't live in London or the South East. The cost of living is much higher. £40 for 3 meals a day, 7 days, is £1.90/meal. That's can of mid-market soup and a bread roll in a sainsburys around here.

Enough for lunch perhaps if you aren't a 6'3" bloke with an active lifestyle, but not good enough for a main meal and certainly not balanced. Also a problem if you do not work 9-5 or have the luxury of a stay-at-home partner and so need to buy food outside the house. Even at macdonalds cheapness that only gets you 2 items off the 99p menu and no drink!

The second thing is that people don't seem to realise that this is a budget for an 'acceptable' standard of living. Not subsisting on the breadline. So it should include a little money for luxuries beyond subsistance level. You know, luxuries like an adequate amount of protein!