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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

AIBU to think some weekly shops contain far too many snacks?and this is not grocery shopping!?

531 replies

Upsetbetty · 17/08/2026 10:59

AIBU to think that the amount of processed snacks people buy in their grocery shopping is getting ridiculous? Watching people share their grocery shop on instagram etc and I can’t see what meals they can even make as it’s all snacks?? And then they say oh grocery shopping is so expensive!Do people really do this? I don’t buy any biscuits, fizzy drinks (18-20 pack slabs) or crisps as a part of me weekly family shop. I buy the meat, veg and pantry items. That is my weekly shopping. I buy one packet of oat bars for my DCs lunches. If my dc want a snack they have fruit, yogurt, homemade flapjacks etc.

OP posts:
Jaimelefromage · 17/08/2026 11:29

While I agree with some posters above that people can eat/feed their families exactly what they want, and I have never watched an Instagram shopping haul, I also agree that the amount of processed snacks in some people’s trolleys is pretty shocking. I always think they must feel really shit eating so much processed ‘food’, it can’t do your body any good at all.
But each to their own.

Incredulousaboutlife · 17/08/2026 11:28

I do think the issue here is not the snacks people buy but the fact people are apparently unpacking their shopping on Social Media and others, for some inexplicable reason, spend their time watching them doing it.

Bacarditropicalfizz · 17/08/2026 11:28

TrugFullofLove · 17/08/2026 11:07

OP, if you have a recipe for properly healthy flapjacks I'd been keen to see it.
To me they all seem like sugar disguised as healthy eating for people who judge people for eating sugar.

Healthy flapjacks are one of the easiest snacks to make!!! We make them all the time.

DolphinOnASkateboard · 17/08/2026 11:27

Your question seems to be less "Am I being unreasonable" and more "Am I better than other people," and you seem to have already decided the answer.

Newnamesameme · 17/08/2026 11:27

Wow op. You are amazing 👏.

(Is that what you wanted to hear?)

Multiporpoise · 17/08/2026 11:27

Why do you buy oat bars and make flapjacks?

ThatBliddyWoman · 17/08/2026 11:24

I do broadly agree OP. I think for a lot of people, they buy 'products' that barely resemble food. People have less time unfortunately and two working parents or one working single parent does not fit well with learning about food, cooking from scratch or doing any activity that isn't essential.

I do buy some snacks, such as rice cakes for when I want to just grab something quick while working from home, but in the main I buy ingredients. I have the privilege of being childfree and working from home though.

And I've not eaten meat for 31 years.

Original poster
Upsetbetty · 17/08/2026 11:24

SpangledCheese · 17/08/2026 11:19

Please tell us how we can be as virtuous as you are?

Should we self report to social services if we buy crisps and biscuits?

It’s not about being virtuous but people need to stop buying processed crap and actually meal plan if they want to reduce their shopping bills! It’s the “oh look I bought all this and it cost £150 and I’ll still have to do a top up shop in 3 days time!” Statements that are ridiculous! Well yeah no shit Sherlock because I’m you didn’t actually buy anything that constitutes a meal you bought snacks…

OP posts:
iforgotthepickles · 17/08/2026 11:23

Well yes one of the many reasons obesity is increasing for children is because parents have massively increased the amount of ultra processed food they buy for their children. It's normalised. If this was all part of a healthy balanced diet for most kids then obesity and tooth decay wouldn't be on the rise.

But fundamentally big business needs to be stopped from privatisong profits and socialising the consequences to be paid for through taxes

Katemax82 · 17/08/2026 11:22

My daughter moans that we only have "ingredients" in our pantry. We do on fact have Buiscits, crisps, fruit and yogurt but she expects a snack bar to be available

JabbaTheBeachHut · 17/08/2026 11:21

Far too many snacks for who?

Obviously not for them or they'd buy fewer 🤷‍♂️

I really don't have a sweet tooth, I rarely snack and I've managed to get to my late 50s without ever having been overweight at any point in my life despite my underactive thyroid.

Yet I'd be having a long, hard think about myself if I felt the need to watch people online unpacking their shopping and then start a strange finger wagging thread like this.

Whatever's going on in your head OP, I'd spend time looking at that.

Threetyy · 17/08/2026 11:21

People eat a lot of shit

PancakeCloud · 17/08/2026 11:21

Oh bore off. You don’t get a medal for not eating snacks.

aberturret · 17/08/2026 11:20

“Can I have a pat on the back for my virtuousness, Mumsnet?”

Malasana · 17/08/2026 11:20

Surely you understand that not everyone is like you? That we all do things differently? That we all have different preferences and what other people buy in their grocery shop does not affect you in the slightest?

I have a healthy overall diet and, yes, some of it consists of snacks such as crisps or chocolate simply because I like them.

TrugFullofLove · 17/08/2026 11:20

SpangledCheese · 17/08/2026 11:19

Please tell us how we can be as virtuous as you are?

Should we self report to social services if we buy crisps and biscuits?

No need, OP's already reported you.
Only joking OP 😀

SpangledCheese · 17/08/2026 11:19

Please tell us how we can be as virtuous as you are?

Should we self report to social services if we buy crisps and biscuits?

AnitaCam · 17/08/2026 11:18

I guess this habit is adding to the obesity epidemic, yes. Doesn’t seem ideal!

Original poster
Upsetbetty · 17/08/2026 11:15

TrugFullofLove · 17/08/2026 11:07

OP, if you have a recipe for properly healthy flapjacks I'd been keen to see it.
To me they all seem like sugar disguised as healthy eating for people who judge people for eating sugar.

I have my own eyeballed recipe I don’t use sugar or syrup. I use some coconut oil and it has oats and seeds etc, banana, dates (these are great for binding) and some almond or Peanut butter etc

OP posts:
OvernightBloats · 17/08/2026 11:10

randomchap · 17/08/2026 11:02

Instagram is not real life. It's curated bullshit designed for engagement. If showing loads of snacks gets rage bait engagement then that's what they'll do.

Why are you watching people unpack shopping?

Yep. Don't get dragged into the rabbit hole of Instagram fakeness. It is bullshit. Not real life. The products they put on there might be part of some kind of advertisement deal.

Bottom line is you never know what is genuine or what is a lie.

Fluffyholeysocks · 17/08/2026 11:08

Blimey? People look at what other people's grocery shop is on IG? Really? Have they nothing better to do? I can do that when I'm in the queue at Tesco - why would I want to look at IG?

FaceEatingLeopard · 17/08/2026 11:08

Just the other day we had some very strange people extolling the virtues of watching people unpack their shit from The Range and places like that. I do not begin to understand it. If you're that interested go stand at the end of the checkout and watch there. And who gives a toss what's in someone else's grocery shopping? Gleefully watching what other people buy is the very definition of brain death.

crackofdoom · 17/08/2026 11:08

I absolutely do not watch other people's weekly shops on the conveyer belt at Lidl and think exactly the same thing. Oh no, not me 😳

(All those brightly coloured plastic multipacks though...)

TrugFullofLove · 17/08/2026 11:07

Also OP. I'd be looking in your trolley and thinking 'Meat - urgh!'

TrugFullofLove · 17/08/2026 11:07

OP, if you have a recipe for properly healthy flapjacks I'd been keen to see it.
To me they all seem like sugar disguised as healthy eating for people who judge people for eating sugar.