Feed a Family of four!!! (62)

Back in the Bad Old Days when I had to hand over 27% of my pre-tax income in Child Support PLUS pay 24% income Tax PLUS pay off the Crdit Card she kept running up until I stopped her being able to use that, I did survive on $1 packet pasta meals 6 nights out of 7. When I had my children over, we would have a decent meal together. Okay, that is in the distant past.

But to survivie on $50 per week now for a family of 4??? Even the Coles ad says "a meal for 4 under $10." That is about $70 per week.

My understanding of social welfare is that a couple can get about $650 per fortnight (never had the privilege so not sure about the figures and few people never really admit what they are getting). Rent takes up a fixed proportion of this (heavily subsidised) but does leave enough for basic requirements for food, clothing, etc. Add in extra social income for each child.

I have worked to where I am these days. I do scrimp a bit about what I pay for food looking for the best value. But I do have my own tastses and do not want to give them up.

I also smoke and have a drink or 3 and make MY choice to do these. I would save a lot if I didn't smoke. I ran a general store and had a lot of requests to put smokes "on the tab until payday."

"Can a family of 4 survive on $50 per week for food." The simple answer is NO in Australia.

for the ones living in Brisbane



potatoes .49 a kilo
bananas .49 a kilo

specials change weekly

in most cities there are coolstores etc like this

You could feed a family for $50 BUT and it is a very big BUT, it would take a lot of work.
Rice
lentils and other dried grains and pulses can be a nutritious base for meals
Shops like NQR can provide staples a lot cheaper, but you cant rely on the same thing being there each week.

Bread, you could bake your own, should only be about .50-.80 a loaf and a lot better tasting than the cheap brought stuff. That's for yeast based bread, you could use scones, pancakes or cornbreads as substitutes, easier to cook than yeast based breads

it would depend on just how dedicated the person was to live the regime of $50 a week. And it would be a regime as pulses require a lot more methods in cooking than most people are used too.

Buying in bulk also cuts the cost down, buy enough dried supplies to last a month in bulk lots from places like asian groceries etc.

Today's society is not used to having to plan menus for more than a couple of days, of preparing ingredients with soaking etc, or even baking their own bread.

10 years ago I was feeding 4 adults all working a active job where we all had hollow legs. Money was tight and the food bill including meat was on average $30-40 and we ate well. I bake own our bread, cooked biscuits and cakes for morning tea, lived mainly on mince and sausages with one roast a week to provide fillers for sandwiches.

It can be done, but it can also almost be a fulltime job itself preparing the food.

Cuspo, if you have a Coles nearbyby, you can get a bread for $1 per loaf and eggs a bit cheaper.

Question is, how much per week is this "for a family of 4?"

I do agree with what you are saying. People are generally capably of leaving within their means.

Just that there are people who do not seem to want to live within their means.

You have to also account for seasoning, gravy, butter, sauces for the pasta etc. There doesn't look to be much there for breakfast.... 4 litres of milk won't last long if you're making scrambled eggs, having it on cereal (if you include that in your shopping list) or in tea and coffee.

I just spent 49 bucks on meat mainly for junior and me for the week and a couple of meals for miss 21 she mainly eats chicken breasts !!
Vegies are an extra I buy not just a carnivore