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AIBU?

To be getting really frustrated with DP?

31 replies

bored1602 · 22/06/2015 23:58

We've recently moved into a new flat and an unexpected change in circumstances means that we're struggling financially in the short term. To save money I've been super careful with the shopping budget, buying exactly what we need, being careful with waste and leftovers and planning meals for the week (with DP's input, of course)

I asked DP to do the shop with me before I went to work (with my ridiculously detailed shopping list) and he said he'd rather hang on until tomorrow, which was fine. Instead, he let me know while I was as work that he'd done it himself - lovely!!

When I got home I realised he's totally ignored the carefully planned out list in favour of wondering around the shop aimlessly throwing things into the trolley. We've ended up with no bread, milk or cereal. We have mince but nothing I could conceivably cook with it, we have chicken but nothing to make it a meal. Absolutely nothing for both of our packed lunches. This isn't the first time he's done this, but it's the first time since we've had a bit less money floating about at the end of the month.

Now I'm stuck either a) freezing half the stuff he bought and spending my last free tenner this week on turning the other half into decent meals. or b) eating horrible combinations of stuff for the rest of the week so he understands why his shopping method just won't work!!

He seems to think he's done me a massive favour by doing the shopping - but as far as I'm concerned I still have to do the shopping, except now on an extremely limited budget!!

Am I being controlling and patronising? Or am I justified in being so frustrated?

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bored1602 · 30/06/2015 12:16

Jdee41 and reredos1 Honestly, brands and sizes and what not really don't bother me in the slightest, it's missing out bread and milk and coming back with random crap we don't even need which drives me mad!! I honestly don't care in the slightest whether it's Hovis or Warburtons or value bread, I just want bread!!

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reredos1 · 26/06/2015 13:30

Could you go online, make the list there then print it off so that it is uber clear? Right down to the brand?

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Jdee41 · 26/06/2015 13:23

Pro tip, from someone who shops off of someone else's list - if you want something specific DO NOT write 'juice' or 'washing liquid', then complain about what comes back - it's a good way to cause a withdrawal of labour in this area...

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bored1602 · 26/06/2015 13:01

For those asking what we had for dinner, after 20 minutes rooting through the cupboards he finally asked for help. Ended up making a bland but perfectly edible spag bol with some tinned tomatoes, a rogue onion from the back of the cupboard and the ends of two bags of different shaped pastas.

Then we sat down together and made a list of the bare minimum we could get away with to turn the rest into a decent week's shopping and I sent DP off to the shop - and of course he followed it to the letter.

Fingers crossed he's finally started to understand my frustration. He's kindly agreed to come shopping with me on his day off for the next few weeks so he can figure it out before I dare let him go rogue with it again.

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Thatsafunnyface · 24/06/2015 05:33

That attitude drives me mental, my DH is the exact same - thinks he's doing me a personal favour by doing the shopping, as if he doesn't need food! And he'll spend $200 on all manner of crap then we've nothing to put in a sandwich. If you can grin and bear it just eat weird concoctions for the week.

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FindoGask · 24/06/2015 05:28

You're on a limited budget so I can see your point. We are too and consequently plan our food shop at the beginning of the week, when we also plan the meals for the week - so we only buy what we need for meals. It means much less waste than we used to have.

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Ethylred · 24/06/2015 03:23

"Am I being controlling"

Well, you did ask.

Yes.

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Hobbes8 · 23/06/2015 22:31

Buying food isn't doing you a good deed. It's entirely necessary if you want to eat food. Unless he usually hunts and kills his dinner, he is totally being unreasonable.

I hate this male helplessness. This isn't a hard task, just a boring one that he doesn't want to think about.

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CocktailQueen · 23/06/2015 22:11

Oh, interesting!! What did you have for dinner, op? I agree with you, by the way - if you shop, you stick to the list and the budget if you have a budget.

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LindyHemming · 23/06/2015 22:06

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

clearingaspaceforthecat · 23/06/2015 22:03

What did you have for dinner in the end OP?

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Spog · 23/06/2015 17:38

as an addendum to what i wrote above, he should be doing the meals for as long as you had budgeted for from that list he never bothered to follow.
he'll be under severe pressure and it'll make him see what he has so far scoffed at.

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InSpaceNooneCanHearYouScream · 23/06/2015 17:36

Do you not have any potatoes or frozen veg to go with chicken? Or onions and carrots and stock cubes for the mince? Most people have store cupboard items to make these into nice meals. I find buying every ingredient for every meal a very expensive way to shop, you should have cheap basics like pasta and potatoes and frozen veg in most of the time. Having said that I sympathise because my other half is shite at shopping too

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Thurlow · 23/06/2015 17:25

YANBU.

And yes, it's his turn to make dinner tonight.

A friend of mine actually did this for a whole month. Her DH shopped terribly, didn't meal plan and bought ridiculous things and then ate them all quickly. And also whinged about the meals she cooked Hmm Fortunately they were in a more financially comfortable position so it was easier to do this, but she left him to do all the shopping for a month, and resigned herself to a few weeks of eating decent dinners at work and just toast at home.

I think the experiment lasted a fortnight before he broke and admitted he needed help!

Tbf, though, there's nothing wrong with him needing a little coaching on it. DP does the shopping and cooking in our house. Now I'd like to think I'm not a complete numpty who'd buy mince and no sauce, but I know if food fell completely to me it might take a few goes to get it spot on.

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Topseyt · 23/06/2015 17:17

This is why I normally like to do all of our shopping myself. I like to be in control of it.

On rared occasions I have given my DH a list. He will get what is on the list, but it will be the wrong size, wrong amount (he'd buy enough for one, when I usually have to feed five), an expensive branded product when a home brand of a fraction of the price will do. He will then get much, much more that was not on the list, such as masses of chocolate and anything else that takes his fancy, so the family budget goes belly up almost straight away.

In your position OP, I might well tell him to cook. If he is anything like my DH though, he will produce something that is inedible, that he knows to be inedible and then try to convince me throughout the meal that he is enjoying it when I can clearly see that he isn't and it is wonderful. He will only admit sometime later that I may have a point and he clearly was not born to the tasks of planning and cooking the family meals.

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Totality22 · 23/06/2015 17:09

I am completely missing the point OP but how can you not have anything to make mince or chicken a meal?

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MamanOfThree · 23/06/2015 17:01

Yep get him to cook. NOt just tonight, but tomorrow for lunch etc...
When he says he can't do dinner, lunch and proposes to by stuff, give him the £10 and tell that's all there is.

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StackladysMorphicResonator · 23/06/2015 16:58

Ooh, this promises to be interesting - OP, please please report back with what he comes up with for dinner!

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Spog · 23/06/2015 16:57

Get him to cook, dish up and eat what he has bought. that might give him the kick in the arse that he clearly needs.

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LazyLouLou · 23/06/2015 16:04

QuiteLikely5 That is a very old PA trick: allowing you to make a rod for your own back.

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googoodolly · 23/06/2015 13:05

Tell him that as he's done the shopping, he can make meals out of it all. Dinners, breakfast and packed lunch. He'll soon realise why you need to stick to a list!

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QuiteLikely5 · 23/06/2015 12:38

This is why I never let my husband do the shopping. He just doesn't know how to meal plan at all!

He buys expensive things and then looks all hurt when I try to take him to task on it!

Much easier to do it myself.

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MadisonMontgomery · 23/06/2015 12:31

Seriously don't fix it for him! Tell him he bought it so he must have a plan of what to cook & what to do for packed lunches etc. Yes it's a week of eating badly, but it's the only way he's going to grasp why you make a shopping list & stick to it.

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DontWorrryBaldrickHasACunningP · 23/06/2015 11:53

Did he say why he didn't stick to the list? Knowing you had done a meal plan had a list but not sticking to it really strikes me as a big fuck you.

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bored1602 · 23/06/2015 10:37

Thank you everyone!! When I brought it up he acted very hurt that his 'good deed' had backfired. I was starting to wonder if I was being a total cow!

We've been together since uni, so he essentially moved out of his mum's and moved in with me. Perhaps it's my fault for mothering him for the last 7 years - he doesn't drive so he's never been expected to do the whole shop alone before.

I'm definitely going to ask him to cook dinner tonight - when he realises there's absolutely sod all he can make I'll sort myself out and let him figure it out for himself. (you never know, maybe there was method in his madness and he'll surprised me... or probably not )

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