It's getting tough out there. Feeling the pinch?

timehastoldme

I stepped away from a £39k salary to be self employed and earn maybe a quarter of that 10/12 months. At the time my OH was a full time student, so we paid his fees. We supported my mum financially, had a mortgage, car and very little spare. I was at work half seven to half six five days a week and bought work home, we shopped for convenience because we were too tired to think too hard. I was ill a lot and eventually my brain went crack, took some time to repair then took redundancy when they restructured. Now we both work very part time, have *significantly* less income, still pay the mortgage, run a car, help my mum and have savings! More time to think about where money is going. More money didn't make us happy.

newlywed

Here’s an interesting, fully costed meal plan.

https://www.patsfood.org/meal-plan-june-2022-prices-family-of-4/

Siebrie

@euronorris: against hayfever I use sticky stuff to prevent pollen landing in sensitive areas: greasy lip balm, vaseline on the rims of the nostrils, sticky mascare. Remove and reapply when needed. Also, a teaspoon full of local(!) honey every day helps reduce the symptoms.

My parents didn't own a car until I was 8, and then only a Fiat Panda. I only owned a bicyle until I was 37. I once kept track of my travel costs for a year, to see if it was good value for me to buy a car. A Fiat Panda just standing still in front of the house would cost €25 a month at that point (insurance, tax, annual check; diminuation, maintenance and repairs not included), so in order for me to own a car I would have to spend more than (€25 x 12 months €300/year on transport. I didn't. I included all bicycle maintenance, the occasional train ticket, the few times I borrowed my parents' car and filled up the tank, the boxes of chocolate I bought for friends if they gave me a lift.

We now live in a village and have 2 cars.... Husband has an all-expenses-paid company car, which we use most. I have a third-hand Kia Picanto that I insure by the mile, and drive as little as possible. Living in the village with no shops, clubs or entertainment, we do need the second car; it's a price I'm unhappily paying. I ride my electric bike to work as much as possible, and charge the battery there.

Bluegreen143

That meal plan could help if you were in dire straits but I suspect it’s not enough calories. Three eggs scrambled between four people for lunch! I have two myself usually and one each per child and if DH was eating I’d need to add 2/3 more eggs. So minimum of 6 eggs for our family of four. Likewise two lunches are soup only made with carrot and swede - no bacon, or lentils/split peas for protein, or anything to really bulk it out and make it filling. I would worry most people especially if out working and being active, running around after children etc would feel hungry eating this little and it might not be realistic. Or maybe you are meant to fill up on bread and cheap biscuits in between meals. 

I would also suspect that most families with two young children (who this mealplan is aimed at) use more than the allotted four pints of milk; we get eight pints a week and that’s with one child who doesn’t drink it.

EssexHebridean

Hmmm...I get the theory that "at least everyone gets three meals a day" but I wonder whether in fact they might be better getting one more nutrient dense meal, something like toast and cheap peanut butter for breakfast, and then less nutrient dense snacks to fill the gaps - the risk is that someone reading that plan thinks "oh well at least we're all getting three meals" without giving a vast amount of thought to the fact that nutritionally it might do for a few weeks, but any longer than that would potentially leave certainly younger children with deficiencies. You won't be doing much "filling up on" bread either - there's 50 slices used just in the meal plan alone! Plans like this desperately need timescales attached, and also other advice alongside, or at least signposting to other advice, IMO. One other thing which seems a little odd - it uses an entire pack of pasta for a single meal (that's a LOT of pasta!). Yes also to the milk - certainly a family with younger children where everyone is consuming milk with cereal, and in drinks etc *should* use more than 4 pints in a week, surely?!  Potentially helpful - but definitely needs reading with caveats IMO! 

If someone was in absolute dire straights they would I suspect do better getting their protein from sources other than meat. 

TheAble

Agreed, I think you're going to be feeling pretty hungry under that regime. Not sure what my eldest would have to say about a single chicken drumstick..!

Floss

That plan isn't realistic - I drink half a pint of milk daily with visitors tea & coffee and use 4 pints a week by myself, when I had 2 kids and another adult at home we got through about 18 pints a week.

Also, I do 2 poached eggs each on their own slice of bread (albeit small wholemeal) for me.

EssexHebridean

Having dug about a bit more on the website there is some decent resources there - but I definitely still think there needs to be more emphasis on  making clear to people what the plans lack. It does make clear that it's for two younger kids - so I'd assume under 6's perhaps?  Looking again at the plan - the bacon sandwich with a single rasher made my mouth feel claggy just thinking about it!

elsien

TheAble said:

Agreed, I think you're going to be feeling pretty hungry under that regime. Not sure what my eldest would have to say about a single chicken drumstick..!

A single drumstick stripped for the sweet and sour would be ok but only if you'd got more stuff than they have to bulk it out - I'd be shoving carrots, different coloured peppers and pineapple in there just as a starting point. if their pepper means one between 4 people that's not enough and certainly not helping towards your five a day. 

Siebrie

I grew up with eating just a little meat at most meals, so a single drumstick was normal, but they were decent sized, not the '20 in a bucket' variety you have these days.