Can't afford a night out? You're poor!

Feathers · 16-02-2013 11:04PM

awec wrote: »

"Anti-poverty groups have warned that one in four of the population are unable to afford at least two items generally considered necessary, including a warm winter coat, a night out, a roast once a week or home heating."

Only 2 things on that list could be considered necessary, a winter coat and home heating.

The others are luxuries, pure and simple.

awec wrote: »

You can have a nutritious meal that costs a lot less than a roast. This point appears to have totally evaded you.

Are roast dinners really that much more expensive that a regular meal?

As in a basic whole chicken is about €5, enough veg to feed four adults would probably be another €1 on top — is €1.50/pp for a large Sunday dinner considered a luxury level of budget, for your 'best' meal of the week? Even if the rest of the week you're eating at a much plainer level than this? I know you can buy a pound of pasta for 30¢, but again, you're talking about having a balanced diet…

& if it is considered too much to be spending — could someone put forward a per person figure on a weekly food budget that wouldn't be considered luxurious? Maybe I'm completely out of touch with the poverty-line, living in my gold house with my rocket car, but I wouldn't have thought because you've spent less than €2/head on one meal of the week you're obviously not poor.

SparkySpitfire · 16-02-2013 11:27PM

Deleted User wrote: »

What about drinking some MiWadi or good old fashioned plain water?

Apologies if this has been said already, but I was in the pub with a few friends about a week ago. 2 of us were drinking pints, 3 of us couldn't afford to and were drinking cordial/water. We were thrown out of the otherwise empty pub for not buying drinks. So it's not always possible to do that.

But sure, why didn't we go to the cinema? Couldn't afford that either. Good luck to anyone trying to find a cheap/free activity to do at night time in order to socialise with friends. Especially if going to someone's house is out of the question, and it usually is in my experience.