aibu to think £100 isn't a lot of money?

[hebe242]

Did the weeks food shop today and it came to £102. I mentioned this to dp when he phoned and he said it was a lot of money as it was the same when I last shopped 9 days previous. I do have to top up on bread and milk etc sometimes between shops but that should last our family for a week at least. Our family is dp, myself and 2 teenagers. I do realise we often run short of money but I thought that this was a reasonable amount. Aibu or is dp?

We meal plan and go to Aldi, it's £40 a week although £6 of that is the cat.

I spend forty to fifty pounds. two children, one adult. eat very little meat but lots of fish. I also have weeks where I spend a lot more to top up on loo roll and other stuff that I only get from asda.

It may be possible to get the bill down, but only by a little and sometimes it is more work than the resulting savings are worth.

No I don't think that's a lot. I have recently set a limit of £90 a week for me and DP and DD aged 2. It was creeping up to £120! Which was just too much but I still didn't have a huge amount of food for that much. Everything is used up and nothing very exciting to show for it.

It isn't a LOT of money nowadays for a weekly shop. The prices have shot up over the last few years - I am each time I go to the shops.

But if you are finding money tight you could probably cut it back a little. We are two adults, one teenage boy - and sometimes two more teenage boys. I don't think I spend more than £50 per week now. I just can't bear to spend it. I do shop mainly at Lidl - supplemented by local bakers and butchers (occasionally).

But each family is different - I would rather spend less money on food, but I have more time available to make something out of what we do have available - and spend more on holidays/activities.

My bill could be skewed though, in that I stock up at Costco on things like toilet roll, kitchen roll, washing powder (never ending bucket) and other things sometimes. Also buy bulk of lentils/rice/spices for curries. So much cheaper than the regular sizes in supermarkets.

If I could be arsed I would meal plan - but end up rooting around in the freezer to see what has been forgotten. today I found 4 sausages - so not really enough for 3 people for dinner, but I think I will make something that also involves beans - so like a sausage and bean chilli ?

I think you must be right when you say it's the psychological shock of £100 going out at once as opposed to the £35 + £30 + £35 that he'd do if it was left to him.

Have already shown him that spending less than £100 just results in needing to do equivalent top ups later in the week anyway? And has he no other suggestions about what items you should buy less/cheaper of to bring the cost down overall?

If so, I think you just have to get Zen about it: smile ruefully and agree with him whenever he says it seems like a lot. Then... continue as you were...

We shop tesco.com every 4 days. It is easy to make a list and meal plan for 4 days - so we stick to it. We also don't need to "top-up". We signed up to the delivery plan, so don't pay for individual delivery and you only need to order £25 worth of stuff that way. We buy around £30 of food every 4 days for 2 adults and a 12 and 13 yr old - then maybe £20 a week for toiletries and laundry stuff from there and elsewhere.

So £60 food shop for 8 days + £20 for the rest of the stuff for a week.

But in answer to your OP - yes £100 is a lot of money. Imagine if you lost £100 down a drain - you'd go look for it! £2 - could stay there...

A lot of money to me is anything I would stop my bike to pick up - I won't do it for a brown coin, basically, so yes, there would definitely be a screech of brakes for £100. However, we spend £90 online plus £15 milk delivery a week for three of us so IMO you are doing fine.

TBH the next time he says it just say 'sorry I didn't quite hear you... did you say, that's a lot of FOOD? yes, you're right, don't teenagers eat a lot, aren't we lucky to have such healthy lads/lasses.' Or hit him with a few inflation statistics.

That's not excessive for a family of your size- it sounds like he hasn't totally got his head round the fact that he is part of a family of 4 now and not still a single bloke. Is it only the food shop when he demonstrates this?

Im amazed at how many of you tell your OHs how much the food shop came to. I just do a Big Shop and put it away. It costs what it costs. Sometimes I go to aldi and get it all at X, sometimes I have no free time so do an online Tesco shop and spend 2X, sometimes I need DH to pick up some bits on the way home from work. I think he would do face if I went into any more detail than "ive done a shop".

£100 is a lot of money.

But YANBU to spend it on that shop.Sounds about normal if including animal food, cleaning and laundry stuff, and pretty much all the stuff you need for that time period.

I felt quite impressed I managed to do lidl for £93 pounds and that's me and three teenage boys. They eat constantly.!!!

Other bills did initially give him a shock but he is getting better. His last gas and electric as a single guy was under £100. Those days are long gone!

I should add that the gas and electric bill was for a quarter and during cold months!

Poor thing! Him I mean. It really is an adjustment. Has he become the dad that goes round turning out lights?

In 1992, my then new husband was so scandalised at my food shopping costs that he took over shopping & cooking. At the time, my DD's were 5 and 7, so the different culture of UK vs US lunchbox expectations were a trial for us all. I also struggled with some of his budget satisfying food combinations! Boy, he did pinch those pennies that first year! By the second year, he had come to understand that feeding a family day after day was not as fun as occasionally feeding your mates, that even small children without food issues have their limits on eating unfamiliar recipes from other cultures, and that a family grumpily forcing down weird but cheap food, was not a long term solution unless you really were that broke. Gradually, we (children included) began sharing kitchen duties and developed an efficient grocery list and menu planning system that lasted until they moved out. My older DD used a version of the system with cooperative roommates at one point, and now as a wife & mum.

I think that's pretty good especially as you're all having packed lunches. I've had conversations like this with people who say they spend a lot less than us on food shopping - and then it turns out they all spend £3-£5 per day on lunch, and coffee in Costa in the morning most days, and a couple of takeaways!

It's what we spend for 2 adults and one child! And we do lots of top ups for fruit, milk, chocolate. I like nice stuff to eat and drink.

I have the opposite with DH. I spent £133 for 4 of us plus teenage foreign student for the week. We "pop" into the shop to get a nice dinner for Saturday and we spend £50! Dh bought fillet steak, scallops, nice wine etc. His rationale is its a bargain because if we had eaten out it would have been £100

Under £3 per person, per day, for food, cleaning stuff and toiletries is pretty good going, I think.

He's being quite unrealistic. Agree with Human about getting him involved with the meal planning and shopping list.

I guess we get through £100-150 for two adults and two teen DDs.

I honestly don't know as both DH and I shop when we are passing a supermarket and it's a rolling process not clearly once a week.

What I do know is food as gone up massively in the last few years. Bills over a £100 used only to happen at Christmas and now they are common place.

Ours is around £150 in a week, but that's 2 adults and 6 dc

I spend between £200-£250 on food for 5 of us so I think you're doing very well!

Sorry I forgot to say, YANBU though, while I only spend that much, doesn't mean every family has to - especially if you can afford it

momagain1 you have described him perfectly. Also when he first met me dds were younger so they ate less and were a bit cheaper. You've made me feel better

Ours is about £80 a week for 2 adults, 2 teenagers and two school age dc. So yes it is a fair bit. My dh is fairly well paid so we aren't scrimping either.