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 suffer from food guilt sometimes and have found ways to have little treats. At the moment we're using some discounts with hello fresh to get some of their boxes. It's also become a tradition for DM to get us an M&S voucher for xmas that we use for the valentine's meal deal and other nice food bits throughout the year.

Great spending to be that low. That's amazing for 4 we spend that on two of us monthly at Aldi mostly.

I think if you can afford the treats do it. Life is short and it's nice to really enjoy what you are eating! But also don't go crazy and double your spend either .

That money would come in handy for other treats like days out too.

I never get people feeling guilty about spending their own money. This seems like an odd post.

Your normal food budget is incredibly small. I spend more and I live alone. I don’t feel at all guilty. It’s my money and I Try to spend it making my life a little nicer.

Spend what you can afford and buy what you want and need, but knock the guilt on he head. It’s weird and pointless.

Op your diet sounds exactly like ours. I cook from scratch and batch cook, but when I add up our food bill per month, it's £350 on average. That includes Top up shops. I dont understand how you only spend £200 a month? The only extras I can think of are packed lunches as my kids don't like cheese so I have to do different things for their packed lunches, but they often have leftovers in a food flask. Even when I shop in Aldi I can't get it down to £200!

I enjoy spending money on my local organic veg box. I get lovely produce and know the money goes to my community and we are keeping food miles down. I also order pulses and grains from Hodmedod, a fantastic company growing these crops in the UK. Rather than focusing on how little you spend, why not use your money to get great food and support what you care about?

I feel guilty getting some home brand products eg milk because I know the reason the price is so low is because the farmers are getting screwed. But I live in a place where there is much less choice in supermarkets, who in turn hold too much sway over suppliers in driving down prices. I’d rather shop from brands/stores that I know have better ethics

I wouldn’t mind getting my food shop (also a family of 4) down to £200 a month. Ours is twice that probably. I haven’t worked it out and I don’t want to.

I think mine stems from childhood, we didnt have a lot and what I do have left over money wise, I think I need to save for the car or house in an emergency.

I often think I eat to live, where as some people live to eat.

I skimmed the thread, so sorry if I missed this but is it definitely a total of £200 a month the OP spends on food? I read it as £200 on the monthly food shop in Asda but assumed that was in addition to the weekly trips to spend an undisclosed sum in Lidl, but everyone else has read it differently!

We spend more than that and I dont feel "guilty" .Food is essential to health and well being .I shop in Sainsburys as well and dont find them expensive at all .LIDL is a basic shop but if you shop in S/B own brands it comes out around the same I think.

Not yet rtwt but wanted to say that good, healthy food is a really important purchase and you shouldn't feel bad about spending money on it. You cook from scratch, so you are doing really well - it's not like you are spending lots of money on junk food.

I feel guilty about eating out. I look at what we spend on one dinner out and feel terrible that I could have done a week's shopping for that money. Also buying coffee out - it's not even that nice. At least you are buying proper food.

I’d love to spend £200 a month for 4 - ours is about £600 for 4/5 (daughter’s boyfriend stays half the week! That is 4-5 adults)

I feel the guilt and it stems back from not having much money growing up and having family in early twenties and the fact that my parents still don't have much money now. I feel guilty for any spending/shopping, especially if I'm treating myself and feel I can't share my purchases.

The only time I have felt guilty is when some food has gone too far out of date that it would have been unhealthy to eat & it's gone in the bin

The other day I burnt something, but I put it out for the birds & they are it

I try not to waste food

We are quite good at buying the "yellow sticker" reduced food items to eat immediately or freeze

We are a family of four and spend approximately £500 a month on food PLUS eating out. You need to chill love. I’ve never considered having a good budget.

Photo yellow sticker

I love a yellow sticker, particularly on stuff that can be sliced/portioned and frozen. Only ever on stuff I actually eat though.

Ive never felt guilty about meeting up with family & friends to eat out & socialize
Especially, if people have traveled from different locations to attend

There is much more to life than batch cooking !

However, there needs to be a balance

Think on it this way. You are buying food, not spending your money on clothes or junk. A treat now and then is okay. And sometimes cheaper food is actually deficient compared to the expensive stuff. But usually its fine.

MyDCaremarvel I too am staggered as how you can feed a family of 9 for £90.00 p/w!

It's your money, no point in working if you can't spend it on some thing you like.
You are spending on food, it's not as if you were gambling or something !
When I went shopping after work, I inevitably bought some different coffee or nice cheese. Only went in for bread.
Enjoy your food.

Genuinely curious if the people only spending £50 a week and the ones spending £150+ a week have a receipt to post. Would like to see the difference in what is purchased 😂

Sorry OP, I put YANBU, but I think I might have got mixed up. I mean that you should NOT feel guilty for occasionally treating yourself to nice things, whether that is food, clothes, makeup etc. Everone needs a little treat now and then (especially at this time of year), and sadly I know that there are far too many people who cannot afford to do this, but you can, so please don't spoil it by now feeling guilty, that would be a YABVU!

I get this a lot and I spend a bit more than £200 for 3 of us

But I mainly shop online and aldi the nearest budget supermarket doesn't do online delivery and I don't drive and live in a top floor flat. Iceland are good but don't do free from stuff .