Is this way too much junk food in weekly shop?

[Lazyweekend]

Normal food fruit and vegetables etc.
In addition -

• multipack crisps (so 2/3 packets each in packed lunches)
• multipack chocolate bars (I each after swimming midweek)
• pack cheap biscuits for occasional supper/snack
• pack freddos for packed lunches
• sharing bag of something for weekend afternoon movie

I always think you must be kind of self loathing to start any kind of food thread on mumsnet. It's always going to be filled with horrified people no matter what you post. The latest buzzword upf is everywhere at the minute. That Dr bloke Spector? and the one mentioned above are raking it in at the moment with everyone lapping it up.

Spector and Pollan aren't saying anything new and it isn't a food fad or buzzword to avoid UPFs. "Eat real food, mostly plants" is something millions of people do across the world. Pollan has just repackaged that in a " now experts say this too" for US/UK consumption.

A lack of company @Freeballing prompted it today whilst I was doing my online grocery order ...but yes it is like an act of self harm!
I am fairly robust though, and there are reasonable comments on both sides of the answer here.
I had to Google UPF

@GeraltsBathtub

Yeah about that, ive got 9 Boxes in my online shopping basket currently, i take them out the boxes and it all goes in the bottom "ice lolly" draw in the freezer. We get through 1kg bag of ice cubes a week too

I expect @PhyllisFogg 's children will leave home and binge eat.

When I lived in Europe we had bread bread and more bread. And Nutella on EVERYTHING. Frozen Nutella for ice cream. Nutella and double cream whipped up and used as pudding. Nutella biscuits. Nutella pastries. Nutella custard 😂

Kids consuming sugar isn't a UK issue.

Oh good god mn is so hilariously parsimonious.

oh I don’t even know what a Freddo is! My kids have a whole meal bun! And shop bought crisps? Oh the horror!

I don’t know who these posters are trying to impress? But I’m sure they sleep smugly in their beds at night 🙄

Honestly so shocked at people saying this is a lot. To me this is barely anything. We eat so much more rubbish than this.

FFS, some of you would be appalled if you saw our weekly shop. As for our Friday night weekend food shop... live a little!

See, I don't buy into the idea that kids denied junk food will rebel and binge eat. I think moderately healthy eating is established in childhood.And the other thread where ppl were angrily debating why 2 out of 3 adults in the UK are obese doesn't make me change my mind. The reasons apparently are
mental health
disability
no NHS support
but not eating crisps daily.

Sorry if I sound smug, but come on!

😂

There's eating a pack of crisps that are 90 calories per day.

And then there's eating shite cereal for breakfast. cheap white bread and smoked ham sandwich, crisps, sweets for lunch. And a frozen lasagne for dinner with extra chips - every single day.

The OP and her family aren't eating THAT badly in comparison. I was in Home Bargains last week and hadn't noticed they sold food until someone went up to the till with a deep trolley FULL of ready meals.

Now that's a problem diet. And one to get shitty about. Too right.

for how many people? Are you having a box each a day?! Your freezer must be massive!

😂😂😂😂😂 wait until they hear about caramel freddos

@GeraltsBathtub there 3 of us, and i have 2 freezers 🤣

@SuffolkUnicorn they will lose their (wholemeal) shit! Caramel Freddos are the food of the gods. I ordered them by accident last week and they are sooooo good. Please note, I hade no kids or teenagers in my house. I am eating them myself. I will burn in wholemeal hell! 😂

@Opplesandbononos god I wish I could get away with 3 boxes of lollies to myself a week 😭

Totalling up your basket it looks like around 1 ultra processed treat each a day. I would say providing the rest of their diet is good that is fine for hungry teans.

@GeraltsBathtub i just counted how many it is, its 47 and thats ice creams and ice lollies

My daughter has pagophagia though.

The Freddo mention was weirdly specific in hindsight. We all love a Freddo - and they are surely too tiny to count as anything bad?!

@YukoandHiro but you can eat them at home. I'm sure people eat thing like peanuts, peanut butter, sesame seeds, shellfish, celery and nuts at work.

Seems fine to me.
if you want to make it more fun maybe let them choose - eg what type of (own brand/cheap) biscuits do they fancy this week/month or what extra fruit. Or even give them the treats budge and let them run wild with it. We have a few treats like that and DC look forward to choosing (eg they get one fancy/sugary cereal a month of their choice).

It sounds fairly normal.

My ds is 14. He's at the hollow legged stage and normally goes through 6 muesli bars with chocolate chips, 6 packets of cheesy cheddars and a fruit bowl full of satsumas, apples and bananas in a week of after-school and after-swimming snacks.

He eats wholemeal toast and fruit for breakfast rather than sugary cereal so I hope they cancel each other out. 🙂

And he has school dinners, normally shepherds pie, curry, fish & chips etc

What is wrong with buying this amount of ice lollies?🤔

Low calorie treat compared to a chocolate bar, especially fruit lollies.

I buy several boxes every week for the chest freezer.

I don't think your shopping is unreasonable at all but you could make it cheaper/healthier if you needed to.

Diet is a balance and a few Freddos aren't going to derail an otherwise healthy diet.
A one off £20 popcorn maker with a bag of kernels once a month can give a big portion of popcorn every day. My DC loved it: a handful for lunch or a bowlful for movie night.
Mine were never allowed a chocolate bar (even a tiny one) in their lunches but a traybake chocolate sponge topped with a chocolate glacé icing costs about a pound to make and cuts into 15 or more squares: seems a real treat for kids but is surprisingly low calories/low fat. They also liked an upside down cake: either pineapple or tinned peach or pear slices.
But as I said; what you are doing seems completely reasonable for treats.

It just seems like a huge amount to me - we don’t get through 10 boxes in a year. I’m not sure 10 boxes would even fit in my freezer! And calories are not the be all and end all of nutrition, even low calorie lollies or ones which are 100% juice are still sugary - I can’t imagine sucking on them daily is good for teeth.

I eat several daily as I have a sweet tooth, trying to lose weight, and it's better than eating chocolate in terms of calories.

It's better than eating nothing sweet, for several weeks then absolutely having a bad day then binging on Galaxy bars, cakes etc in one sitting.

Each to their own. We are all different 🤷

OP enjoy your Freddo bars - I am well jel.