Aibu to be annoyed the food shop disappears so quickly

You can’t be buying enough food. Thats fairly decent for a family of 5 (i spend double that some weeks but i buy all stuff for packed lunches as well as plenty of snacks)

You are simply not buying enough food.

That's about 2 days of fruit for my kids (3 and 6), with the 3 year old eating the majority... Fortunately the 6yo and dp are cheap orange, apple, banana, grape eaters. The 3yo though is expensive for berries!

I don't think that's enough snacks tbh. Mine graze instead of big meals though so maybe different lifestyles. I'd add some raisins, snack a Jack's, breadsticks, mini pizzas, etc for cheap variety if need be. We also buy the own brand 18/24 pack fromage frais (only the kids eat them). There are economies to be made but I'm guessing if you're already doing cash back for weekly shops, you're frugal as is and will need to spend more :/

Also to add, I’m not surprised the fruit is running out quickly, we usually buy around

12 bananas
3 punnets of strawberries
1 punnet of blueberries
1 punnet of grapes
2 punnets of raspberry
a pack of kiwis
1 watermelon

Even then we sometimes have to top up with more fruit

My Mum used to hide things and they would magically appear throughout the week.

E.g only one packet of biscuits in the cupboard, the rest hidden (cupboard under the stairs as we eventually discovered 😉).

But, 2 packs of grapes for 5? I could trough my way through a whole punnet as an evening snack all by myself.

I’d put aside a fifth of the snacks for yourself that nobody else touches and then just employ a ‘when it’s gone it’s gone’ mentality for everybody else. If they want to eat everything on the first two days of doing the food shop and have nothing the rest of the week that’s on them.

That’s not enough snacks for five people really.

School lunches are truly not that much and often not eaten.

When mine were in primary I had a set "after school snack" when they came in that was a bit more substantial. Like hummous and breadsticks, crackers and cheese.

They often are genuinely hungry and fruit isn't enough so then they seek the higher upf stuff like crisps/crackers.

I think they may just need feeding more....

actually looking at your list, I agree with others, it doesn't seem like much.
The only chocolate bars are the milky ways which work out to about one and a half per person for a week, that's not much if you like chocolate.

Similarly 1 banana each - You can see why someone eating their second banana on a monday on the way to school, when they might have already eaten one on saturday wouldn't think of themselves as depriving their family or being greedy!

Honestly for 5 people that’s not much.

2 punnets grapes
2 punnets strawberry's
6 bananas

For a family of five that's only about 5 portions of fruit a week, in a fruit enjoying family that's really only 1-2 days worth

op, 600 a month for 5 people is not much, and to be honest, you started the thread saying it was 400- 520 inc the dog, so it’s jumped way up when people pointed it out.

there are two of us and we spend over 600 a month, so you have a very frugal budget, and honestly if that list is for a week, it’s not much, that’s the issue,

I spend around £750 per month for a family of 4 not including supplies for our cats. I think if you’re able to stick to a 100-130 budget that is very good.

Snackwise I only buy crisps & fresh fruit, and bake anything else like cake, flap jacks, biscuits, cookies etc and I don’t buy any other snacks at all. I usually double the recipes and put half in the freezer, lots of cakes and biscuit doughs freeze well and then they can’t all be eaten at once. It is also much cheaper than shop bought.

If you don’t fancy making snacks from scratch then I would divide up the snacks you buy into a small basket or something for each person and tell them that’s their snacks until x and they won’t get anymore once eaten.

I agree with pp that that is pretty impressive budgeting in this day and age. This inflation business is ridiculous.

So when they're gone, they're gone 🤷‍♂️

Or is it that they're not being shared evenly and some people are going without because they don't want to eat it within the first few days?

Honestly, that doesn't sound like a huge amount for five people.

I wonder if, because it was going to quickly, each family member grabbed a few things to save 'for later' to make sure they actually got some - thus exacerbating the problem! In which case, you could try separating stuff into boxes, so everyone gets an equal share, and if they eat it all within 2 days, tough luck.

Either that or if you can't beat them join them and make sure you grab one of everything and squirrel it away in your car/office/wherever before you even put it out for everyone else. Yes it's a bit grim to have to do that in a family setting but if you've already tried asking nicely and they can't self-regulate you're stuck.

If you can only afford/want to buy x amount of food, it's not necessarily an issue if some people would prefer feast/famine - e.g. having 2 snacky days and then nothing else for the rest of the week. It's not how I'd prefer to do it but everyone's different. The issue is if some people aren't getting anything because of others being greedy - and the greedy people (if old enough) are eating more than their fair share then once it's run out buying more out of their own money, so unhealthy too.

Aldi or Lidl can be far cheaper, and may well negate any cash back deals you might have. There’s certain things we get from either of those 2 places that work out far cheaper than the others you’ve listed.
Crisps
Biscuits
Fruit
salad
cheese
bread
and so on.

OP I felt the same way about six months ago and had to massively revise my expectations for the budget. When I upped it by approx £25-30 a week, it made a huge difference.
Cost of living rises …. 😢

My DH and kids prefer snacking and grazing to large meals. I can’t change it - that’s the way they are, they just like eating little and often. And they get hungry! It’s not worth an argument, I just have to get plenty in and leave them to it. Accept what you cannot change.

Is it being shared properly or is the issue one or two eating it all before others get the chance?

We have snack boxes so things are shared out and folks can eat their share at whatever pace they want without impacting others.

We spend similar for a family of 4

Do you limit snacks or are they free reign? If limited is there definitely enough to last all week including adults having some? (i always end up in the kids snacks!)

If you don't currently put a limit on number of snacks per day then maybe start doing that, or give each child their own box of snacks that's gone when it's gone so they learn how to make it last without the fomo that comes from a shared snack cupboard!

It sounds like you're not buying anywhere near enough food.