Dick Dasterdly

Also the problem of removing them at the end of the contract, if you want the place back.
If the tenants choose to be difficult,(and they often are, as the law favours them), the process can take years and cost a fortune.

poollounger

There are plenty of families struggling in Spain, but as many have posted, the family helps out. I have been told that the next generation will suffer as they will not have the benefit of parents with pensions as good as their grandparents had. I remember being amused by the same thing in Vienna. Young students all with their own apartments, often eating out, benefit of parents etc. I have several Spanish friends, academics, who do earn 50K a year. Some have second homes by the sea, but are still cautious. They drive battered old cars, shop in markets whenever they can, and seem to put a higher value on friendship and socialising than on material products. Their second homes are generously lent to friends, and I benefited by being able to use one when house hunting. Now on a four month sabbatical in London, a city everyone agrees is expensive, they are curiously surprised by the way prices are levied. Fares are expensive, but their kids go free. Restaurants seem to charge the same regardless of the standard of decor. They are pleasantly surprised that LIVING in London is cheaper than when visiting it as a tourist, once one knows one's way around the city and it's facilities.

MsGiraffe

There are Wetherspoons here, and I have used them when I needed a quick meal on the cheap. But the problem tends to be that many of them are not somewhere where I would like to sit down and relax for an hour with my meal. I think because alcohol there is so cheap, they attract some customers who want to drink too much cheaply, and makes the experience not very nice.
I have been to places like La Once restaurant that used to cost about 8 or 9 euros a couple of years ago, and I could sit down and relax because nobody was getting plastered nearby. Yes, there are rubbish places in Spain too, I even got food poisoning so I haven't got rose-tinted specs, but it helps if you avoid the main streets and anywhere with a 'tourist menu' sign.

steviedeluxe

Even in Wetherspoons you won't get a glass of wine with a free tapa for just one Euro or pound. However it has to be said Wetherspoons do good "specials" eg Curry night, or fish n chips in the afternoon.

But coming back to survival techniques - it's still far cheaper to eat and/or drink at home, especially if you use rice, lentils, beans, potatoes etc to fill out. Applies just as well in the UK as in Spain.

fionamw

I read that as Apples

jackytoo

I don't think even spanish Doctors get 50,000 a year. There aren't many drink and a Tapa for one euro on the CDS and lots of spanish live there too. When I see their trolleys in Alcampo they do seem to buy a lot of junk food, highly sweetened stuff etc.

whitelinen

No free tapas in Valencia area, must be a regional thing.

cricketman

Depends on the area you live in like always. The CDS is one of the poorer areas of Spain. e.g. I have been surprised by the amount of fat Spanish kids I've seen here that I havent seen in the North. Just like in the UK, obesity is linked with poverty.

Plus Andalucia doesnt have the culnary traditions of other areas, especially amongst the working class.

fionamw

Ain´t that true. Cereals without sugar? Pfft. Anything without chocolate? ditto. Generalise, moi?

Oh but it does have culinary traditions - it´s just that away from the coast & the wonderful fish choices, those traditions involve sloppy swilling overcooked veg in olive oil, copious amounts of indeterminate sauces & (remind me, what else?) ... as I said, generalise? Moi?

However given that we´re talking about surviving on smaller incomes than maybe many UK families are used to, perhaps fleshing out meagre quantities of meat & veg with sauces, breads, migas etc makes sense.

JLFS

Listening to family and friends, the opinion seems to be that any property in the family, should stay in the familiy. It should not be sold when inherited, because that is to be passed on to your children.

The thought of a tenant cooking in the kitchen is horrific. In fact most houses have a second kitchen to "save" wearing out the good one. Of course they dont see that the rent charged would cover the wear and tear on the property with some money left over.

To the Gallegos especially, land and property means wealth. If you have land and no food you are well off......if you have food and no land, you are poor.
Daft of what?

cricketman

My OH says that her parents and grandparents were never poor in Asturias becuase they always had their land, so could always feed themselves off it (something the Andalucians didnt have as they were dependent on their landlords). In these villlages up in the mountains, 50 years ago they still barterred e.g. swapped eggs for sugar etc with very little money going around. But they were fed well, had good education etc....

btw the family still has all this land and several properties sitting there in villages. Jointly owned by god knows how many people now. The odd family member uses them as holiday homes from time to time.

SaritaBarcelona

Hahaha, what a coincidence, me too! Must be the expectation effect as the poster was listing foods! Interesting...

Re bulking out meals with lentils, potatoes, etc, I have never understood people who say they cannot afford to eat healthily so therefore eat junk every day and give their kids poor quality, fatty rubbish. A bag of lentils, some tomatoes and an onion with some rice makes a delicious meal and can feed a whole family so cheaply. Trouble is, we need schools to teach cooking skills as so many people don't know how to cook anything anymore (hence those TV shows teaching people how to boil an egg. Dare I say it too, many people in the UK who don't work and live off benefits are likely to make this complaint and they have more time to cook than those who work. Again, better do the disclaimer, I am not saying that everyone on benefits is lazy blah blah blah, got to be so careful what you say on here.).

fionamw

Better still would be if the parents did the teaching - but I'm guessing it's been about a generation (which is 20/25 years, right?) since very many people really knew how to cook as in cook with fresh ingredients, using principles of sauces, grilling, braising, making pastry, etc etc., rather than relying on packets. Disclaimer for generalising again

fionamw

I'm assuming there's some kind of unwritten amnesty on OP going off-topic?

poollounger

Jakct Too my friends are very open and honest and have no reason to lie about their earnings. They did say that university wages were about the same across Spain, so anyone living in Andalucia does benefit from the generally cheaper standard of living than someone living in Madrid.
Comments on quality of diet and use of income are not new. When I was on hard times I could feed myself on spaghetti and an egg, chicken livers and rice. Friends who work in health education say that it is universally acknowledged that those most in need of a healthy lifstyle are the least likely to know how to achieve it, and this is where a lot of their work begins. One can make a meal from a beef tomato, but not if you have never been show how, or your tastes run to crisps and a fry up.As to comments about Spanish children being fat.. I would say no more than any other country in Europe.