I spend €500pm on groceries

Galego wrote: »

No, I don't equate quality with expensive but at the same time you can't expect to buy an organic whole chicken (for instead) for a fiver (like idle or aldi). My family raised chickens for years and i know some of the meat out in the supermarkets (and butlers) is very poor quality.......

Don't blame your butler! He buys what you ask for!

That_Guy wrote: »

Woman gloats about having money to spend on food... and it somehow makes it onto the Irish Times website??? Fúcking hell.

I bet she posted a pic on FB or similar of the chicken Kiev en croute thing. While doing duck face.

It's not that extravagant for two people. I'm on a low income so my fella and I wouldn't spend that and stick to cheaper cuts of meat. But I love to cook and try different things and if I was earning more I'd definitely eat more lamb and steak and duck and fish and it would be easy enough to reach €500 per month for groceries. As it is, we just eat a lot of chicken legs, pork chops, mince, stewing beef and pork, pork fillet, decent burgers and eggs with the occasional ducky, steaky, lamby, fishy treat.

Gone Drinking wrote: »

In your head did anyone else read the article in a D4 accent?

Kind of. And then I finish off with "this is no ordinary gob****e, this is an m&s gob****e!"

Sebastian Dangerfield wrote: »

We do waste a lot of food which contributes to the bill. Its warm in our apartment and things like broccolli tend to turn after 3-4 days. Open a packet of pittas, use two, and the rest are mouldy 2-3 days later. I also buy lunch meat to offer sandwiches if someone drops over, which generally gets thrown out as we dont really eat much bread.

I've a really warm apartment too. Pop the broccoli in the fridge and keep it in the plastic wrapper even after opened and it will keep really well. Freeze the pittas and just take one out when needed, they defrost really quickly. If you're bothered, freeze the lunch meats too, each slice separately. (use greaseproof paper) They also defrost really fast, though I appreciate that this is a bit hassly.

Point number 27 on this list is a wonderful guide on how to store things so they don't go to waste:

http://www.buzzfeed.com/christinebyrne/cooking-charts?bffb&utm_term=.qxAX7XnAyP#.dqoe6eV3oE

steddyeddy wrote: »

I'll put my money where my mouth is. 20 Euro per week will get you 5 pork chops, five chicken fillets, a pound of diced beef, a pound of mince and a pork roast.

€20 for all that? I shudder to think of the conditions those animals were raised in. Likely somewhere outside Ireland where the minimum welfare requirements are of a much lower standard. Just because they come from a butcher doesn't mean they aren't coming from a crappy source. Some butcher deals would raise an eyebrow. A butcher near me has some very suspect offers, like ridiculously cheap. Butcher does not always mean better. Now maybe you don't really care how the animal was raised and fair enough, but some people do and will pay a bit more because of that.

steddyeddy wrote: »

Maybe they will. I actually used to get my meat from a well known butcher just off Moore st. The meat's good quality IMO and good quality is usually indicative of the animal not being too stressed ect.

My point in this thread is that some people often say "oh you only spend x amount on food so it must be low quality". I'm saying that's balls. You can feed yourself well if you shop in the right places.

Yup, but €500 per month on food for two isn't remotely extravagant. And it's not even clear if it's just food, cleaning products and other miscellany might be included. It works out at €57 per week, per person. If you are preparing all your meals from that, three a day every day, and eating something more than cereal for breakfast and buying decent bread and trying to avoid meat with really low standards of animal welfare as much as possible, you'll quickly get through that €57.

And I'd wager the mince on offer is round steak mince which is fabulously tasteless. So maybe people want a more tasty cut of steak for their mince, or some lamb which is generally a good bit more or enjoy their fillet steaks. The meat you listed above is grand and I'm a fan of pork chops, but the whole thing would get a bit samey after a while. And chicken fillets are DULL. So what if people want to buy a wide array of meat and fish, some of which will be more expensive? They may still be very good at budgeting but might just put a high importance of eating a wide variety of food and may just really enjoy cooking and trying new recipes.

Who eats canned soup???