Student Budget - Food

HappyMJ

Derivative wrote: »

£1/week per person?

Either that's a typo or a lie by omission. Obviously if someone's growing their own or somehow magically only ever buying reduced goods it's not really legitimate.

Oh....I agree...I've had some quite heated debates with posters on here regarding extremely low grocery budgets.

This was a meal plan for 5 people that was posted to prove it can be done that I objected to and the other days were similar.

thur
b-coco pops x3 40p, handful of grapes 10p, banana 13p
l- cheese sandwich 13p, yogurt 7p, special k 5p, apple 12p, egg 8p toast 6p, butter 5p
d-lasagne 76p, garlic bread 74p, chips 20p

total £2.89 per person 57p

Derivative

flea72 wrote: »

Why is buying reduced items or growing your own, not legitimate?

Because then your food budget ceases to be a budget.

You're using external sources.

It's like claiming that you pay 0 a week in rent, because you own your house. It's not interesting.

flea72

Derivative wrote: »

Because then your food budget ceases to be a budget.

You're using external sources.

It's like claiming that you pay 0 a week in rent, because you own your house. It's not interesting.

Huh? So buying reduced food is using an external source? So that means people who shop at asda instead of waitrose cant say they are sticking to a budget, because they choose not to pay inflated prices for the same product?

You have an odd view on budgeting. Just because someone buys seeds or bricks and mortar, the fact that one day, they will be reaping what they sow (to coin a phase) means they are not sticking to the budgeting rules. Personally i see it as speculating to,accumualte. I spend £10 on seeds, i can feed myself for at least this year (if not forever)

Am i wrong in thinking budget means, obtaining what you want, within a defined price limit. Just because i can buy eggs for £2/doz, but feed a chicken for 50p that then lays me 12 eggs is still an expense that is allowed for in my budget. Just because you cant be bothered to do the same, does not mean I am falsifying expenditure, its just means we have different priorities on how we allocate our money

Derivative

flea72 wrote: »

Huh? So buying reduced food is using an external source? So that means people who shop at asda instead of waitrose cant say they are sticking to a budget, because they choose not to pay inflated prices for the same product?

You have an odd view on budgeting. Just because someone buys seeds or bricks and mortar, the fact that one day, they will be reaping what they sow (to coin a phase) means they are not sticking to the budgeting rules. Personally i see it as speculating to,accumualte. I spend £10 on seeds, i can feed myself for at least this year (if not forever)

Am i wrong in thinking budget means, obtaining what you want, within a defined price limit. Just because i can buy eggs for £2/doz, but feed a chicken for 50p that then lays me 12 eggs is still an expense that is allowed for in my budget. Just because you cant be bothered to do the same, does not mean I am falsifying expenditure, its just means we have different priorities on how we allocate our money

By 'reduced items' I mean yellow label stuff, not special offers or simply 'cheap' food like the value range.

Only a very limited number of people can go hunting for reduced items at the supermarket, before they're all gone. If you're lucky enough to live near a store which often has bargains - great, but not everyone has that luxury.

My point is that for comparison purposes it doesn't make sense to include yellow label reductions and self-grown food.

I don't think you're falsifying expenditure, it just doesn't seem strictly correct to say that you feed yourself for a tiny sum each week if it relies on tricks that are not easily reproducible.

Yes, that's the sum that comes out of your bank account, but when posting it in a budgeting thread, the implication should surely be that others can replicate this performance.

I'm simply making the point that looking at a figure for food expenditure like £5/week or £7/week (which is ludicrously low, and is simply not doable unless you live on pasta and peas only), with no reference to how said figure is achieved (growing, hunting yellow label items at the right time, etcetera) isn't really on.

Neontope

I spend about £30 a week on food. Nothing too fancy. Usually buy the supermarkets own brands. I do make sure I have varied meal during the week. I would say that I don't spend the same every week. Some weeks I might spend only £20, other weeks it could go up to £40.

flea72

Derivative wrote: »

I don't think you're falsifying expenditure, it just doesn't seem strictly correct to say that you feed yourself for a tiny sum each week if it relies on tricks that are not easily reproducible.

Yes, that's the sum that comes out of your bank account, but when posting it in a budgeting thread, the implication should surely be that others can replicate this performance..

But supermarkets tend to reduce items at set times of day, so the 'trick' is to go at that time. I know i wont always get whoopsied food, but on the whole, by shopping around certain times, im not paying full price, thats all that matters. Much the same as taking advantage of bogofs and offers, you stock up, when you see them.

You could argue that people who have access to home bargains, farm foods, chinese supermarkets, etc are at an unfair advantage because they are giving budget advice that cannot be replicated by people who dont have access to those shops.

GYO. Piece of kitchen roll and a pack of cress seeds. 25p per punnet shop bought. 25p for seeds that yield at least 10 punnets. Mixed lettuce leaves £1 bag. £1lettuce seeds - cut and come again, so it all depends on how long you keep it alive for, as to how many bags you would get

Fire_Fox

flea72 wrote: »

But supermarkets tend to reduce items at set times of day, so the 'trick' is to go at that time. I know i wont always get whoopsied food, but on the whole, by shopping around certain times, im not paying full price, thats all that matters. Much the same as taking advantage of bogofs and offers, you stock up, when you see them.

You could argue that people who have access to home bargains, farm foods, chinese supermarkets, etc are at an unfair advantage because they are giving budget advice that cannot be replicated by people who dont have access to those shops.

GYO. Piece of kitchen roll and a pack of cress seeds. 25p per punnet shop bought. 25p for seeds that yield at least 10 punnets. Mixed lettuce leaves £1 bag. £1lettuce seeds - cut and come again, so it all depends on how long you keep it alive for, as to how many bags you would get

Unless you include all the costs of growing your own, feeding chickens and veterinary care it's not real. Most people have access to one discounter or another, be that Farmfoods, Aldi, Lidl, B&M or Home Bargains, they might not get the exact same offers but they'd get others instead.

Plenty of people don't have a garden at all, my flat is north facing with tinted windows and my cat chews anything green so growing is a non starter. Students often aren't in the same property for long enough to make growing much worthwhile, that's assuming they are not in halls or a house with a fully paved yard.

BACKFRMTHEEDGE

HappyMJ wrote: »

thur
b-coco pops x3 40p, handful of grapes 10p, banana 13p
l- cheese sandwich 13p, yogurt 7p, special k 5p, apple 12p, egg 8p toast 6p, butter 5p
d-lasagne 76p, garlic bread 74p, chips 20p

total £2.89 per person 57p

There's no milk for the coco pops and special k - or do they eat it dry?

There's no drinks at all - tea, coffee, milk, fruit juice, smoothie - do they just drink water? Realistic?

But worst of all there is no vegetables worth talking about.

And yet again it's MINCE! (with chips and garlic bread *faint*)

The 7p budget yogurt - will have less fruit and more flavourings than more expensive yogurts. They can also be higher in additives - thickeners and gelling agents which are added solely to give texture.

Didn't even know you could buy an egg for 8p. Can't imagine the quality of life the chicken that laid that egg had (but I guess when you are living on this sort of budget the chicken's quality of life is the least of your worries.)

BACKFRMTHEEDGE

Here's another one :-

I've done a week on a fiver - All Tesco Value:

skimmed milk - 49p
bran flakes - 88p
crumpets - 37p
natural yoghurt - 55p
chicken instant noodles - 11p x 2
jam - 29p
medium white bread - 47p
baked beans - 27p x 2
tomato soup - 23p x 2
spaghetti - 24p
pasta sauce - 39p

Total: £4.92

Breakfast - 5 x bran flakes and milk, 2 x crumpets
Lunch - 2 x noodles, 2 x toast with jam, 2 x yoghurt with jam, 1 x crumpets
Dinner - 2 x beans on toast, 2 x soup with toast, 3 x spaghetti in sauce

Fruit or vegetables? None worth talking about in a whole week? One pint of milk for a week???

Don't get me wrong I feel sorry for anyone who has to eat like this out of necessity - but really is this what you'd want your kids to eat?

enthusiasticsaver

I gave my daughters £5 per day when they started 4 and 5 years ago so £35 per week. They managed fine on that and even managed to buy the odd bottle of wine or cider and takeaway.