Ed Miliband: my family (of 6) probably spends £80 a week on groceries
49 replies, posted
[quote=Guardian]
Labour leader says he is qualified to address cost-of-living crisis despite suggestions he underestimated his own weekly food bill
Ed Miliband has insisted he is well placed to focus on the cost of living crisis in Britain even though he appeared to under-estimate his family's weekly grocery bill.
The Labour leader, who said it is right to place the issue at the front of his general election campaign even though he is "relatively comfortably off", told ITV's Good Morning Britain that his family spends at least £70 to £80 a week – and probably more – on groceries.
When he was told that the average weekly bill for a family of four was more than £100, he said: "Right, well it [the grocery bill] is more than £100."
The most recent Office for National Statistics (ONS) report on family spending shows that for a household such as Miliband's comprising two parents and two children the average weekly spend on food and non-alcoholic drinks is £83.60. Including alcohol and tobacco the figure rises to £96.
Miliband later clarified his remarks and said that his original estimate related to the cost of basic groceries. He told BBC Radio Oxford: "On the basics, I was saying it was about £70 or £80 but the overall shopping bill would obviously be higher."
[/quote]
[hd]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d0EEpQpuH88[/hd]
This guy is a total Ponce.
[url]http://www.theguardian.com/politics/...mily-food-bill[/url]
what does he buy?
ramen and water?
Crackers and Cheese.
Only the best for the real life Wallace.
Gruel
We're just me and my mom living here right now and we rarely spend less than 100$ a week on food.
If you cook food yourself you can easily feed a family of 4 for ~$8 a meal. (less for breakfast) I made a pretty darn delicious pasta dish today that probably cost around $1.50 per person.
[QUOTE=sgman91;44863187]If you cook food yourself you can easily feed a family of 4 for ~$8 a meal. (less for breakfast) I made a pretty darn delicious pasta dish today that probably cost around $1.50 per person.[/QUOTE]
~£8 per meal, assuming breakfast, lunch, and dinner, would be £164 per week if you only bought food.
[QUOTE=Janus Vesta;44863254]~£8 per meal, assuming breakfast, lunch, and dinner, would be £164 per week if you only bought food.[/QUOTE]
Dollars, not Euros
Anyway, I was more disagreeing with the person who said it costs them over $100/week for 2 people.
[editline]20th May 2014[/editline]
I'm sure the guy in the video has no real idea.
For a man that constantly bangs on about how "out of touch" David Cameron is, this is pretty rich. Could even see his head twitch when "out of touch" was mentioned.
Almost as if he's a hypocritical wanker.
[QUOTE=sgman91;44863292]Dollars, not Euros
Anyway, I was more disagreeing with the person who said it costs them over $100/week for 2 people.
[editline]20th May 2014[/editline]
I'm sure the guy in the video has no real idea.[/QUOTE]
Pounds not Euros.
I'm pretty sure he downplayed his cost because they probably eat out loads or something.
I don't understand the problem, they asked him how much his family spends and he gave a loose figure on the spot. This doesn't make him out of touch, a "ponce", or a bad guy.
[QUOTE=sgman91;44863292]Dollars, not Euros
Anyway, I was more disagreeing with the person who said it costs them over $100/week for 2 people.
[editline]20th May 2014[/editline]
I'm sure the guy in the video has no real idea.[/QUOTE]
do you know what the fuck a pound sign is m8
[QUOTE=Silentfood;44863398]I don't understand the problem, they asked him how much his family spends and he gave a loose figure on the spot. This doesn't make him out of touch, a "ponce", or a bad guy.[/QUOTE]
well... it kinda does? sure it doesn't make him a ponce or a bad guy but it does show he's out of touch. just from being vaguely aware of what his family spends should make him be able to guess that it's way over £80 because
a. there's 6 of them
and
b. i doubt they shop in aldi
but then i guess he wouldn't know because his assistant(s)/nanny(ies) probably do the shopping for him
[QUOTE=Silentfood;44863398]I don't understand the problem, they asked him how much his family spends and he gave a loose figure on the spot. This doesn't make him out of touch, a "ponce", or a bad guy.[/QUOTE]
I bet his wife does the shopping anyway, he is probably too busy pretending to be a politician.
Also, "probably" £80 isn't [I]that[/I] unresonable of an amount for a 6 person family. It might be stretching it but assuming he was under slightly (lets say its approx £100) I think it could be doable.
I've had to (and still do) support 7 people with a budget of £12 a day to spend on meals...it's easy enough if you know how to cook from scratch. Root veg, rices, pastas and potatoes in bulk are super cheap and fill out every meal to the point where there's still enough left to feed 9 chickens with the leftovers to produce eggs for our breakfasts. So it's doable, but you have to work at it and use every trick in the book to make it work.
[QUOTE=Jsm;44863575]Also, "probably" £80 isn't [I]that[/I] unresonable of an amount for a 6 person family. It might be stretching it but assuming he was under slightly (lets say its approx £100) I think it could be doable.[/QUOTE]
the average is 100 for 4 people. doing shopping for 6 at 100 would be really impressive, and that's not counting the fact that the millibands (or their nanny) most likely shops at waitrose
[QUOTE=Wig Wam;44863815]I've had to (and still do) support 7 people with a budget of £12 a day to spend on meals...it's easy enough if you know how to cook from scratch. Root veg, rices, pastas and potatoes in bulk are super cheap and fill out every meal to the point where there's still enough left to feed 9 chickens with the leftovers to produce eggs for our breakfasts. So it's doable, but you have to work at it and use every trick in the book to make it work.[/QUOTE]
12 pounds on 7 people? How the hell? I spend almost that much just on myself.
The average shop for me in two weeks could cost me around £30-40 pounds, and thats getting things on offer.
Food prices in the UK are stupidly expensive, especially meats.
[quote]The most recent Office for National Statistics (ONS) report on family spending shows that for a household such as Miliband's comprising two parents and two children the average weekly spend on food and non-alcoholic drinks is £83.60.[/quote]
Doesn't this quote from the article prove that perhaps Miliband was not too far off in his estimation?
[QUOTE=Chubbs;44863454]do you know what the fuck a pound sign is m8[/QUOTE]
Obviously it's #
[QUOTE=sgman91;44863292]Anyway, I was more disagreeing with the person who said it costs them over $100/week for 2 people.[/QUOTE]
You're not completely wrong, if we spent more time shopping for deals and such I'm guessing we could easy go about 50$ a week but it's a chore in and of itself and unless you're really organized, it's time-consuming enough that I'd rather pay extra but get in and out of the grocery store as fast as possible.
To be honest I think its dumb to expect a guy who is busy trying to be leader of a political party to remember how much he spends on groceries (assuming its even him who buys them) I'm no fan of Miliband, but its a bit silly to trash him over this
I'm terrible at remembering or estimating values of things so I'd probably make the same fuck up
I do the same thing, "at least [really low number so I'm not wrong]"
And plus since he's arguing that the standard of living is so high him thinking he pays even less only reinforces his point and he obviously wasn't lying to further an agenda because it works against his own agenda.
If this is what constitutes a newsworthy gaffe in England I really envy you guys
[QUOTE=sgman91;44863187]If you cook food yourself you can easily feed a family of 4 for ~$8 a meal. (less for breakfast) I made a pretty darn delicious pasta dish today that probably cost around $1.50 per person.[/QUOTE]
Yeah sure - pasta dishes cost about $8 for 4 people. Pasta is also cheap. Pasta is also pretty damn unhealthy. If you eat pasta every single night just to save costs have fun looking after your body.
Truth is if you're raising kids you're going to want them to be having regular meat and vegetable intake and you're going to need to introduce variety to their meals and for a family of four that's definitely going to cost more than $8 a meal
[QUOTE=Chubbs;44863454]do you know what the fuck a pound sign is m8[/QUOTE]
Silly entitled Brits expecting us Americans to spend our time learning about inferior countries.
[QUOTE=Snickerdoodle;44864227]Obviously it's #[/QUOTE]
That's a hashtag idiot
[QUOTE=killerteacup;44864783]Yeah sure - pasta dishes cost about $8 for 4 people. Pasta is also cheap. Pasta is also pretty damn unhealthy. If you eat pasta every single night just to save costs have fun looking after your body.
Truth is if you're raising kids you're going to want them to be having regular meat and vegetable intake and you're going to need to introduce variety to their meals and for a family of four that's definitely going to cost more than $8 a meal[/QUOTE]
If you really want to eat cheap you can, the problem is those foods can require special techniques, equipment or a knowledge in cooking that doesn't involve cooking frozen foods.
Its really all about the knowledge you have on food recipes.
[QUOTE=killerteacup;44864783]Yeah sure - pasta dishes cost about $8 for 4 people. Pasta is also cheap. Pasta is also pretty damn unhealthy. If you eat pasta every single night just to save costs have fun looking after your body.
Truth is if you're raising kids you're going to want them to be having regular meat and vegetable intake and you're going to need to introduce variety to their meals and for a family of four that's definitely going to cost more than $8 a meal[/QUOTE]
Way to take my one single example and assume that's all I eat! I actually rarely eat pasta. Fresh fruits and veggies, at least around here (southern California), are dirt cheap if you shop at the right places. For example, I can buy 10 pounds of potatoes for $1 at a local market. Most of the other types of vegetables are anywhere from that 10lb/$ to 1lb/$.
Oh, and chicken thighs are <$1/lb.
[editline]20th May 2014[/editline]
[QUOTE=StrawberryClock;44864247]You're not completely wrong, if we spent more time shopping for deals and such I'm guessing we could easy go about 50$ a week but it's a chore in and of itself and unless you're really organized, it's time-consuming enough that I'd rather pay extra but get in and out of the grocery store as fast as possible.[/QUOTE]
If you've got the money I'm all for people spending as much or as little as they like. It just bothers me that there's an impression that it costs a lot to eat healthy food.
If we lived in the middle of Montreal we might get deals as good as yours but in the suburbs there's no market where you can buy fruits, meats and vegetables for that cheap.
I guess we could drive but depending on how far we need to go it might not be worth it.
Anyway, we might have to start looking for good deals regardless because we're short on cash until September unless I can find a part-time job.
[QUOTE=killerteacup;44864783]Yeah sure - pasta dishes cost about $8 for 4 people. Pasta is also cheap. Pasta is also pretty damn unhealthy. If you eat pasta every single night just to save costs have fun looking after your body.
Truth is if you're raising kids you're going to want them to be having regular meat and vegetable intake and you're going to need to introduce variety to their meals and for a family of four that's definitely going to cost more than $8 a meal[/QUOTE]
I'm sorry what, pasta is not unhealthy in any way or form. It's literally nothing but carbs and carbs are not a bad thing.
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