Aibu to be annoyed the food shop disappears so quickly

It’s not judgement it’s factual. £130 per week really is not a huge amount to feed a family of 5 people for 7 days. If it was then none of us would be spending more than that.

This is so true. I've been on the bones of my arse when ours were little, and decent fruit etc was a pipe dream!

Thank you.
I've been saying this too.

You aren’t buying enough if it’s gone that fast.

we do two smaller shops a week rather than one big weekly shop and this helps people to moderate consumption… and in between that if it’s gone it’s gone. Funnily enough the healthier the snacks the longer they last… so have cut biscuits etc completely

Yes, there are alternatives, that's been stated already.
Folk sharing how much more they spend, when OP cannot afford that amount, isn't helpful. Neither are huge lists with excessive amounts of fruit.

Food is so expensive now .Children eat a lot .What happens when you run out .Do you buy more or they will have to go without otherwise .Bananas /oranges/ and apples will be cheaper than berries .

There's alot of tone deaf people on here. There are families myself included who simply cant afford more than 130 a week on food and are genuinely struggling. What I do alot op is a do a normal food shop at Tescos scan and shop offers. I need go to heron where I get things on offer for treats.

Would you share a recipe of a cake/snack that freezes well? I want to do homemade snacks for packed lunch boxes this year and this would save trial and error!

My sister used to keep snacks like crisps and chocolate biscuits in boxes with child's name on. They could eat whatever was in their own box but it wouldn't be replenished until following week. She used to put 5 bags of crisps, 5 chocolate biscuits and 4 baby bel into each box. Other snacks had to be apples or bananas etc. prices have gone up so much £600 pcm is not much for a family of 5 and pets.

The point is that there are alternative. The OP is buying two punnets of strawberries. For that, she could have 2kg of apples or 4 bunches or bananas (depending on where she shops). She could also get 3 bags of carrots and make carrot sticks. Or she could buy a few tins of butter beans, wraps, chopped tomatoes, a pepper and spices and make a dozen burritos for not much more than the strawberries.

Hide the stuff you want to last? Our kids are generally only allowed crisps from the multipack if they’re on packed lunch at school. I bake muffins once a week using frozen berries. Generally I tru and get them to snack on spicy crackers and houmus, oatcakes and PB, fruit, toast. Bit less exciting!

Fruit is just not filling on it owns, potentially with the exception of bananas. It might stave off hunger pangs for a while but if kids are actually hungry and not getting another meal soon then it’s useless in my opinion. I offer toast or cheese and crackers now. Definitely keeps them fuller for longer than any snack.

How many days are you expecting 6 bananas to last for 5 people? It’s not like to take a bit and leave the rest for later.
We usually have 15 bananas a week and 12 apples plus whatever else is in season. Strawberries are out of season so expensive and go off quickly.

Gosh, such judgement.
They can definitely be healthy, and no meals need to be huge.

You are obviously not buying enough if it disappears so soon
We spend £200 a week for 4 when DC at home

On a budget of £130 a week for 5 people including snacks, the main meals certainly aren’t going to be huge & healthy either.

thats not even 1 snack a day for everyone!

Is it just my older kids who couldn't give a fuck about fruit? I could buy many strawberries and grapes, I'd be the one eating them.

Well fruit is really expensive and fruit shouldnt be the main component of your 5 a day. The five a day, which should be 10 a day for health purposes but park that for now, includes beans, pulses, lentils, vegetables, salads, root veg.

So you dont need to rely on massive bags of fruit and expensive punnets for your 5 a day.

Tinned fruit also counts and is cheaper.

....perhaps, but that list contains much more than just 2kg of apples. 😐

How old are the family members? Honestly it sounds a lot of money but with inflation everything seems like it comes in smaller packs but costs more. We are only 1 adult and 1 child we have gone through 5 bananas, few apples, pack of grapes, strawberries, raspberries and we are on 2nd pack of blueberries since I shopped a week ago

They have main meals too, which will contribute to their allowance of fruit and veg.

But you can buy 2kg bag of apples for the price of a punnet strawberries.

That’s not a lot of fruit for a family of 5. We could easily get through that in a weekend for breakfast, lunch and dinner. The amount of the other snacks seem fine. TBH, less would be better. The big question is is one person eating more than their fair share?

If your budget is already at its max, I would get rid of most of the unhealthy snacks, just have a few treats in snack boxes so everyone gets their fair share and they have control over when they want to eat it and spend the money on more (cheaper) fruit, eg apples, easy peelers, and veg for veg sticks. Don’t buy it all in one go, top up during the week so it is fresh and it doesn’t get eaten up!

Although you aren’t eating an excessive amount of unhealthy snacks, they aren’t essential…