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 would defo not feel guilty! You are on a very tight budget as it is and are doing really well to feed a family for £50 a week. I would spend £220 a week and I would love to shave some of that off! Enjoy the treats you buy because you deserve them for being so frugal the rest of the time, Hats off to you x

I'm amazed you can shop for a family of 4 for £200 a month. I spend nearly that a week a week family of 6.

I honestly do not know how you manage on such a tight budget, I cook lots but my food bill for 4 a week is around £90. That is with out extras like wine etc. It does include cleaning stuff, shampoo etc. I think I need your meal plans!!!

Life is too short. When your time is up OP I bet “ I wish I’d shopped more in Lidl” isn’t your last thought!

Food is not only essential but a true joy! It is totally tied up in how you nurture your family, emotionally as well as physically.
I do not like to cook, but when I do I don't feel guilty at all for buying a premium brand if I feel it tastes better. I can afford it, and feel it's worth the money.

I spend around £100 every week (big food shop) then another £30-40 on milk/fruit/wine top ups during the week. OH and I both take our own lunches to work so I reckon this could be £25 of the shop but everything else is just normal and not particularly expensive food.

My family and friends all spend around the same so I don't think we're extravagant, I just think some people on here are on such a tight budget when it comes to food shopping that it can make you think you're spending too much.

I’d struggle on double that budget!

Why do you value yourself so little?

@MrsGrindah ha, that’s very true.

Honestly, I haven’t always been like this. Maybe I have got caught up in the food budget stuff I read & see. I follow Jack Monroe on Twitter & she’s great for cheap food. I think I also feel guilty because so many people rely on food banks 🙈 Honestly I don’t know where it’s come from but i suddenly became aware of it at the till in Sainsbury’s!!

Why such a small budget?

Also, I love food and I am a good cook!!! But my OH calls me the ‘back of the cupboard’ cook as I can rustle up a meal out of all kinds of odds and ends!!

I agree with others who say if you can afford it, buy it without the guilt. I spend a fair bit on food for our family, buy lots of brands (not always though) and refuse to scrimp on stuff we like. It’s about priorities I guess. We rarely have nights out, expensive holidays, etc but like nice food and drinks.

I was raised in a home where money was often tight, but always had what we needed. My parents didn’t scrimp on quality food, choosing to feed us all well before spending on other luxuries and I guess I have carried this on now I have my own family.

@Dozer I think I have just got into a way of thinking about it- it’s interesting reading all the comments on here about how much people spend!

£200 for a family of four for A MONTH?? Bloody hell, that is an incredibly tight budget,

I’m the same as you. Our budget is about £200 a month - albeit for 3 vegans but that includes lots of toiletries, cleaning products and cat food. I feel guilty when I over spend but we can definitely afford it! I’ve had the same food budget since our household income was a third of what it was and haven’t really adjusted it.

I spend that a week for 2adults, 2 kids. We like our food. I don't feel guilty. I bought a sandwich yesterday which was 8.95 but it had free range chicken and ham from a local family farm and it was lovely.

I'm interested to know what a weekly meal plan looks like for those on £200 per month.

I wouldn't feel guilty especially if you can afford it and sometimes you need to treat yourself. Your food budget does sound low. We're a family of 4 and spend around £80 a week on a good week or £100 on a bad one. I'd love to only spend £200a month.

We spend 400 plus a month on 2 of us😱
It includes alcohol and SOME cleaning things for house and us, but still.
We couldn't feed ourselves on 50 a week. How do you manage to buy fresh for that budget for 4?

I do agree your budget is very tight. We spend about £400 a month for a family of 4 mainly using Tesco (I'm including toiletries, nappies etc in that). We don't go nuts, but I always get us some treats each week. Life is too short.

Life's too short, OP! Treat yourself from time to time. Mums deserve it too, not just the husbands and kids!

You and your family deserve nice food! Don't feel guilty.

If you’re not on the breadline then it’s fine to treat yourself, I’ve two non stop teenagers and I budget £70pw, and think I’m careful but I’d struggle on £50.

I spent £100 a week on me and my 2 kids in Sainsbury's plus have a veg box delivered every fortnight which is about £20. I also buy a lot of vegan/dairy free products which I find bumps the cost up a lot. I have no idea how you are only spending £50 especially with those kind of products, that's a very low budget!

There was a thread the other day from someone who spent £80 a month and still wanted to cut down. I do agree with OP that it's hard to understand what a reasonable amount to spend actually is!!

I feel this quite often, I'm not as bad as I was, but I went through a stage of really regretting buying anything for myself and not for DS- but now I know that's silly as long as you can afford it. Maybe try and look at it in the way that normally you do budget, and make nice meals from a reasonable spend each month, therefore 'splurging' is well deserved and you appreciate it more as you don't do it all the time. Enjoy!