To be annoyed that DH has just spent £25 on dinner?

[SnappyHorse]

We’ve just had our usual Saturday night ‘what shall we have for dinner’ conversation. Me not wanting to cook because I cook every night because I’m home earlier than DH, and DC’s wanting takeaway fish and chip which costs £30 every time. We compromised on fish and chips from the Co-Op round the corner which I can just chuck in the oven.

DH said he’d nip out. He’s just come back from M&S having spent £25 on Gastro fish and chips. I’m sure they’ll taste lovely, but I’m annoyed that he’s spent £25 on 1 dinner. We haven’t really got £25 to spend on 1 dinner and if he was going to spend that, why didn’t he just get takeaway?

Slightly light hearted, but I am annoyed with him.

What do you class as one dinner? One meal for 1 person ? Or one family meal ?

£30 for fish and chips, how many people are you feeding?

Yanbu to be annoyed but I think there needs to be a wider discussion around meals. Planning, buying for and cooking every meal in the house, for everyone, is a massive job. Massive.

That he isn't involved in this would only be realistically fair if he took over all the general housework and laundry.

What does he do to balance you cooking every meal?

I'm guessing he is cooking tonight?

Fish and chips is about £10 a portion.

it will taste lovely, and it's much cheaper than a restaurant, or a crappy takeaway.

Enjoy it for tonight, and remind him you can't afford that much on a regular basis. Or cook pasta for a week to compensate!

Have you seen the prices in a fish and chip shop lately??!!

That is a lot of money to spend on supermarket heat-up shit food.

Dinner is for 4 of us. 2 adults and 2 older teens. I remember when a chippy cost us £10 for all of us.

Unless she is only feeding 2 which it doesn't sound like £30 is perfectly normal amount to spend on fish and chips. Our fish and chip order is £32 for 3 adult portions and 1 kids portion.

I'm guessing he is cooking tonight?

I am guessing not, presumably they are eating the M&S food? 😂

This is not going to help now but for future…

one way we tend to avoid the exhausted Saturday/Sunday night dinner situation is to preempt it by designating those nights for Fake takeaways, and building those items into the weekly grocery order.

This might mean designating certain things as always coming for the eat-crap moment -

Battered fish
chips
Naice pizza
Ready meals
Naice steak

If you preempt and designate then even £15 will gey you naice supemarmet food and save on takeaway

What were you expecting him to end up spending when he went on the errand? It’s the difference that really matters, not the total

So £30 feeds 4 adults for a special treat?

Sounds absolutely fine to me.

It still needs cooking.

But tonight isn't a special treat. It's Saturday evening meal. And the OP has said that £30 on one meal is over their budget.

Fish and chips from the chips shop is more like £50 here for four.

I think if he’d gone to the co-op, it might have been £10, rather than the £25 in M&S.

For those asking, DH does the laundry and most of the dog walking. I do all the housework, all the food planning and cooking, and all the admin/mental load. I WFH 4 days a week, in the office 1 day. DH only WFH 1 day, the rest in the office.

I'd be annoyed because it isn't what you agreed on but I'd also be annoyed at expecting to cook daily when you have a DH and two older teens. Why don't they ever cook?

If you skipped on £30 chippy that you actually wanted only for husband to spend £25 on something you didn't really want to save money. Then that's shit.

How much did he buy? The Gastro fish is £4.50 for two pieces, and then chips, another £4? Works out at less than £15.

You won't get fish and chips for 4 from the Co-op either for £10. On balance, I'd say the Co-op is more expensive of the two, especially as M&S can have some really good 'fakeaway' type deals, along with a lot of very well priced basics.

But I have to agree with 'Planning, buying for and cooking every meal in the house, for everyone, is a massive job. Massive', especially when it has to be done on budget, and reasonably healthy, without lots of chopping, washing up etc. It's definitely something that takes a lot of effort and it sounds like he's taken the cop out way, which puts more pressure on the OP as she feels she has to pull back as far as budget is concerned, and can't take the easy option herself, as the treat fried meal needs to be balanced with more healthy ones the rest of the week.

When does she get her 'fuck the expense and just sling something tasty in the oven' day?

Same here 😐😢

Fish and chips for three adults and nuggets for a child came to over £40 today. Bonkers. (Although the portions were bigger than expected so I over ordered!)

YANBU but I've fallen into the trap so many times of paying over the odds for something because I can't be bothered cooking.

Being organised is key. Have things in the freezer that are easy (frozen battered fish, bag of oven chips etc), and batch cook portions of meals that can be microwaved. That way, when you get to a day when neither of you want to cook, there's something that can be done quickly and easily.

My DH would do the same. It’s annoying. He had no idea when it comes to getting the best deal at supermarkets.

Two large fish and a large chips cost £28 from a chippie last night