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Original poster

My husband has done the weekly food shop...

239 replies

callingyououtmrkitten · 03/03/2025 16:31

But he's gone to Iceland and spent well over £100 which would be fine except he's just bought lots of frozen beige shit. There no fresh fruit, salad or nice cut of meat. Don't get me wrong I'm not trying to be mean but he's spent our entire budget and I feel there's nothing for me to eat. I'm trying to lose weight so I've been going to Tesco and getting lots of fresh fruit, fresh meat healthy Greek yoghurt and nice bits for the kids lunches. I feel a bit irritated because it feels such a waste of money.

Don't get me wrong I love a good Iceland haul but I'm a bit miffed that's he's put no thought into it.

Anyway... I'm digging my way out off my chicken nugget quary if you're looking for me lol

OP posts:
bertiebump · 03/03/2025 20:34

LuckySantangelo35 · 03/03/2025 20:31

@bertiebump

learn to food shop

Show quote history

I can when required, but get bored very quickly if I can't find stuff.

diddl · 03/03/2025 20:34

Mamabear487 · 03/03/2025 19:36

Men should not be trusted with the food shop. They are honestly like children. Not sure how mine got through life before me tbh 😂

Perhaps a series of enablers?

LuckySantangelo35 · 03/03/2025 20:37

bertiebump · 03/03/2025 20:34

I can when required, but get bored very quickly if I can't find stuff.

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@bertiebump

I’m sure your wife finds it boring too when she can’t find stuff easily but somehow she manages to do it doesn’t she?

Interested in this thread?

Then you might like threads about this subject:

General food
Hankunamatata · 03/03/2025 20:37

I live mine. But shopping is not a strong point. We could compromise now that he buys the meals for Saturday or Sunday from local co op (which limits the crap)

bertiebump · 03/03/2025 20:43

LuckySantangelo35 · 03/03/2025 20:37

@bertiebump

I’m sure your wife finds it boring too when she can’t find stuff easily but somehow she manages to do it doesn’t she?

Show quote history

No she doesn't, she will literally go shopping with dd when they have nothing to do and nothing to go for. It's pleasure for her.

Applesonthelawn · 03/03/2025 20:43

It boils down to the fact that a man often doesn't plan a few days of meals and write a list, that level of household planning unfortunately, for some couples, is "wife work". So they think they can shop and of course they can, but they make a mess of it. Infuriating. The mental workload is on you.
I send him off with a list and tell him off if he deviates from it or comes back with substandard goods. I'm a bitch about it. To the extent that now, if I tell him to buy "nice olives", he breaks out into a cold sweat because he's not sure what that means.

Littlemisscapable · 03/03/2025 20:45

Yep..sounds just like my dh. Enjoy the beige.

TheAphrodite · 03/03/2025 20:52

nooo never let them do the food shop unsupervised 😩🤣🤣 mines the same. came back with a whole serrano ham leg once 🤣🤣😩

Catname · 03/03/2025 21:08

DP managed to live by himself and do all his own shopping but his idea of a nourishing meal is a mince pie and a pudding with lots of custard every evening, followed by some ginger nuts, but mine isn’t. In addition, the temptation of the middle of Lidl distracts him before an overwhelming need to buy toilet gel overtakes him and he brings home another 3 bottles to add to the groaning cupboard.

Whilst some may see women taking over the weekly shop as pathetic, I’m shopping because I want to eat more healthily than he does.

MrTiddlesTheCat · 03/03/2025 21:12

2025willbemytime · 03/03/2025 19:10

What a waste. Food bank donation, surely?

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Sadly the best before dates coincide with the dark ages.

autisticbookworm · 03/03/2025 21:55

FrenchandSaunders · 03/03/2025 16:36

DH came home with a pack of 24 guiness cans, a huge slab of cheese and some loo roll the other day .....

A man with a plan

AInightingale · 03/03/2025 22:23

Hazylazydays · 03/03/2025 20:30

I did once order six pork chops forgetting it was a pack of four, I ended up with 24 pork chops!

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I put the decimal point in the wrong place when ordering broccoli in an online shop and ended up with 5 kilos of it.

mathanxiety · 03/03/2025 22:40

How cunning of him.

He gets relieved of shopping duty now, right?
So you're stuck with it, right?

All the checking what you have, making a list, and comparing prices, offers, etc, and the meal planning that you do is now firmly in your lap forever? Otherwise, you'll end up having a heart attack in your early 60s.

Hats off to him for cheek.

This isn't funny at all. He is taking the piss.

CurlewKate · 03/03/2025 22:40

Newsflash-men can be competent and know how to look after their families. And it's not funny or cute if they can't..

mathanxiety · 03/03/2025 22:41

squashyhat · 03/03/2025 17:31

This isn't hilarious it's pathetic.

Have a pad in the kitchen. Anyone who uses the last of anything adds it to the list (or opens the last of it if it's something like milk).
Meal plan together - a weeks worth in advance - check cupboards for ingredients as you go and write on anything missing.
Add any 'luxuries'.

So regardless of who does the shopping they will get the right stuff. And take turns cooking - it will focus his mind wonderfully if half the stuff he needs isn't there.

Great suggestions here, OP.

mathanxiety · 03/03/2025 22:45

bertiebump · 03/03/2025 18:06

Hmmm bloke here. I read all these posts completely understanding the other blokes at the same time as getting it may be frustrating. I was sacked from shopping about 5 years into our 29 year marriage.
I find myself looking at the booze on offer, the nuts on offer, the reduced shite and coming out with nothing

And you say this without a hint of shame.

Your wife has had the job of organising food for another grown adult for 24 years.

Are you this unfocused and incompetent when it comes to your paid work?

mathanxiety · 03/03/2025 22:48

bertiebump · 03/03/2025 20:43

No she doesn't, she will literally go shopping with dd when they have nothing to do and nothing to go for. It's pleasure for her.

Show quote history

She probably enjoys getting out of the house.

mathanxiety · 03/03/2025 22:50

JadededViewer · 03/03/2025 20:11

Ah, the age-old tale of delegation gone awry. You hand a man the reins, and he rides straight into the first battlefield he sees guns blazing, no strategy, no foresight. What you wanted was a carefully curated campaign of nutrition and balance; what you got was a stockpile of frozen surrender.

Now, I wouldn’t be so quick to chalk this up to malice or incompetence. No, this is something far simpler. Convenience. Predictability. The siren song of an easy win. Iceland isn’t a grocery store it’s a fortress of the familiar, a place where a man can walk in, see “big deal” plastered on a bag of breaded despair, and feel like he’s conquered the household budget.

But here’s the real kicker: he’s spent all the resources, and yet you’re left rationing. That, my friend, is poor governance. A leader who spends without securing the needs of the people is no leader at all. You don’t just shop you strategize. You allocate. You foresee consequences. And what’s the lesson here? Trust, but verify. Next time, you lay out the battle plan. A list isn’t a suggestion; it’s doctrine. Either he sticks to it, or he reports back for a debrief before the funds are deployed.

For now, I’d say you have two options: Make peace with the frozen wasteland, or make damn sure that next week, the only thing he’s hauling home without clearance is the receipt.

It would be interesting to see what this man who is so incapable of management does for a living.

Bluh · 03/03/2025 23:11

Mamabear487 · 03/03/2025 19:36

Men should not be trusted with the food shop. They are honestly like children. Not sure how mine got through life before me tbh 😂

Does he call you mummy too?

Bluh · 03/03/2025 23:13

bertiebump · 03/03/2025 20:34

I can when required, but get bored very quickly if I can't find stuff.

Show quote history

Yes you expect your wife to do it for you? Fucking hell the state of some men

faithspikebuffy · 03/03/2025 23:50

My dad did my food shop when I had Covid
He came back with an explanation for everything
"This yoghurt says probiotic"
"Soup is good for you"
"I got all the throat sweets they had"

I was hopeful for something delicious given he went to M&S and he proudly showed... diet lemon mousse
Me Sad "but all the delicious chocolate and puddings and custard..."
Him "your mum likes lemon mousse"
Grin

Toastandbutterand · 04/03/2025 00:56

Some people just can't shop

My oldest daughter is a brilliant shopper and cook. Youngest is more interesting.

I've been poorly recently so I asked youngest to help out.
I asked her to pick up something for dinner, maybe pasta. She bought home 2 packs of spinach and ricotta tortellini and a pack of king prawns. so we had a chat about nutrition and balanced meals.
Yesterday she came home with a chicken parmigiana ready bake thing, a tray of macaroni cheese and 2 apples.
I have ordered an online grocery shop now.

JFDIYOLO · 04/03/2025 01:11

Shopping list.

Agree the essential must buy list between you and print loads of copies.

Nobody goes to the supermarket without one.

Then the whims can be added if there's enough cash.

countingthedays945 · 04/03/2025 01:20

Surely when he said 'I'm off to Iceland' that would have been the time to say 'no I don't want beige shit, go to Tesco'

Also I write a list. DH has a very different idea of 'healthy' to me.

bertiebump · 04/03/2025 05:38

mathanxiety · 03/03/2025 22:45

And you say this without a hint of shame.

Your wife has had the job of organising food for another grown adult for 24 years.

Are you this unfocused and incompetent when it comes to your paid work?

Show quote history

When it comes to paid work it's different. Wife doesn't work, I run a business. All money goes into her pot.