To have food shop guilt

[littleblackdress04]

Our monthly food shop for a family of 4 is about £200ish a month- I cook 90% from scratch, take food into work & kids have packed lunches 3 days a week/ school dinners the rest. We rarely eat out as a family - maybe a couple of times a year,

I mostly shop in Lidl during the month but do an Asda shop once a month to get stuff I can’t get in Lidl- nice tins of mixed beans etc. I am also a vegan & can’t get soya yoghurt etc in lidl.

I went to Sainsbury’s today & bought a load of nice vegan stuff as a treat- oatly milk, nice vegan butter, some lovely veg sausages that I can’t get elsewhere but felt REALLY guilty about being there- as if I was wasting my money when I could be getting stuff at Lidl.

Does anyone else get food guilt? I feel a constant pressure to budget, cook from scratch etc but sometimes I want a treat! I am aware that I could cut my food budget even more - it just amazed me how guilty I felt for ‘splashing out’ in Sainsbury’s

Aibu- does anyone else get this? I know I am lucky that I am not on a really tight budget- I get that- but I was surprised at my reaction to spending money on food. As it goes I spent £50 in Sainsbury’s on some nice bits but it somehow feels extravagant 😬

I'm veggie and mainly shop at Asda and Aldi. I do notice a big price difference when we go to Sainsbury's, so yes I get what you mean OP, I sometimes feel guilty about spending more when I do go there. But the thing I feel most guilty about is the amount of plastic in my shopping, I am trying to reduce it and once you start noticing how much plastic there is, it's hard to unsee. At least Sainsbury's has more unwrapped/eco options, but I think all of the supermarkets have got a long way to go in this area.

I spent £80 last weekend in morrisons and that was just on store cupboard items, cleaning stuff, cat food, juices and bottled water ( I live in a hard water area and the tap water is rank). The only meat was two packs of reduced chicken and two reduced lamb chops and probably came to around £8 of the total.

People are saying that they made a meal and it came to 90p, £1 or £2 a potion but only because they already had in the store cupboard the spices, herbs, ginger etc that they needed and they only used 10 p worth in the dish but forgot that the total jar cost £2 in the shop when it was bought.

I can’t see now anyone could feed a family of 4 on £200 a month and be eating a healthy diet even if it is all cooked from scratch and contains little or no meat.
Earlier on in the thread someone posted that they feed a family of 8 on a similar amount and listed a dhal curry £2 and big tub of yogurt £1.50 for pudding as a meal for 8. Now I love a dhal curry but I can’t see one that was made for 8 people For £2 having much veg in it and a tub of yogurt shared between 8 is going to give very little calcium to the diet. So I just can’t see how that could be a balanced diet.

Earlier on in the thread someone posted that they feed a family of 8 on a similar amount and listed a dhal curry £2 and big tub of yogurt £1.50 for pudding as a meal for 8. Now I love a dhal curry but I can’t see one that was made for 8 people For £2 having much veg in it
I was just doing my weekly shop on mysupermarket.com and out of curiosity put my dhal recipe through it. It came out as £6.35 all in, buying the bag of lentils, spices, onion and a bag of spinach. But I do buy ready made accompaniments because frankly, I have better things to do than make onion bhajis and chappatis from scratch and we all like having them. I noticed from my food shop that there are quite a few things that are suggested cheaper on my supermarket that I don't want to compromise on, like freerange eggs and British/ European grown fruit and veg, so that probably puts the price up, as well as stuff where I've tasted cheaper alternatives but they have been disgusting ( mainly cheese based so may not apply to OP, being vegan) so I'm happier now with my spend!

I don't get the guilt about spending a little extra on food. In the UK, we spend a lower percentage of our income on food than almost any other country. We also spend less (relative to our income) than previous generations.

But the shortfall in what we are prepared to pay has to be made up somehow. Whether it is the farmers forced to sell milk at less than the cost of production; the chickens bred to gain so much weight that their legs can't support them; the waterways polluted with fertilisers and pesticides to maximise crop yields; or Britain's struggle with obesity, cancer, heart disease and diabetes contributed to by poor diet - there is a cost. Demanding ever-cheaper food may save money in the short term but it costs us, and the world around us, dearly in the long term.

If you can afford to pay a little more and support more ethical food production, please consider doing so.

theconstantinoplegardener Very good point.

Here in France people like to brag about what they ate and, to a lesser extent, what they spend on food. I think a balance needs to be struck between the French way of huge attention to what you eat, and the British way of caring so much about its price. OP, is there any other budget item where just a few extra tenners a month could make such a difference to health, potentially, and to pleasure? Thought not. Relax and budget 30 quid a month for treats.

Dontsweatthelittlestuff Have you tried a water filter jug? Mine makes all the difference.

It’s your money, your family, your food. You’re not stealing it. If you can afford it then I don’t see why you should worry.
I never quite get this thing with cheap food. In other countries, a much larger proportion of money goes on feeding the family because you have to eat and you have to eat good quality food. And that’s expensive. It’s part of the local setup. If your budget allows it (so you don’t get into debt etc), by all means get good quality food and bloody well enjoy it, live a little, consume slightly less of certain items if you have to but otherwise feeding your family should be one of the top expenses unless you are self sufficient.
Enjoy your treats! Sainsbury’s is more expensive than Waitrose nowadays.

Hi Dontsweatthelittlestuff being asian I can tell you rice and curry is the cheapest meal you can have especially if you have an Asian veg diet, cook from scratch, buy seasonal and cheaper veg like cabbage, frozen green beans or dried pulses and buy in bulk not from supermarkets but from Asian wholesale shops or buy 1kg rice from lidl for 40p you can really feed a lot of people. It will be a mostly carb based diet but rice/pulses do fill you up. If you buy 500g red lentils from Sainsburys it will cost £2 or more, but I buy 5kg for £3 from a wholesale shop. Rice for 20kg is £15-£20 and will feed my family of 4 about 2.5 months.

There are so many types of lentils, beans, chickpeas and peas that can be bought in drried bulk and if you soak overnight then cook in pressure cooker rather than get the tinned version it works out a lot cheaper. It can also be frozen after boiling. Also if you have all the spices already then all you need is onion, garlic and ginger for many dishes and maybe some coriander and chillies but those are not necessary.

The other thing with curry is that the previous days meal is served with the new meal as its serve yourself meal rather than individual portioned means like say fish and chips where every one gets a piece of fish each. This means there isnt much wastage but it also means you usually eat rice or some kind of flat bread all the time. As kids we found it really boring my parents loved it as they were bought up on it in their homeland.

Making chapatis or rotis is also very cheap but I find it labour intensive so I just stick with rice.

nice vegan butter, - isn't this an oxymoron 😂. Sorry, not the point of the thread!

In Asda today farmers milk was cheaper than Asda's own. For those that don't know it is generally more expensive than the shops one as the farmers get more money back. If I am buying two four pints I always buy at least one farmers milk but today got two.

Don’t feel guilty if you can afford it. I love Sainsburys! I mainly shop at Tesco because I get my food delivered and Tesco offer the best service with delivery where I live. I’m aware I could spend some money going to Lidl or Aldi but I also know how I couldn’t find everything I need from them so I would have to go elsewhere anyway!

Family of 4 here and we spend around £90-100 a week and sometimes a little more 😩 so don’t feel guilty.

I’ve been ransacking my brexit stash boxes like a good’un so my food spends have been lower than normal - mainly fruit and veg. All staples I’m good for for several months still seemingly. Heaven forbid we have to stock up yet again when trade deals are looking dodgy.

There's just dh and I. We spend about £300- 400 a month on food..plus we go out about 6-8 times a month to eat.
We can afford it. We love quality food, wine and gin. It's one of our pleasures and not a guilty one.

@forkfun thank you for the Hodmedod recommendation. I shall try this out.