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.

This risks detailing the entire thread but similar figures for us too.

For the week ahead dinners are -

1. Chicken thighs traybake x 2
2. Frittata with salad and garlic bread
3. Paneer and chickpea curry, homemade naan (I make paneer myself following Indian grandmas training!) salad
4. Tuna rice salad, grilled salmon and fish fingers (avoids shelling out for an entire side of salmon)
5. Tandoori chicken chicken drumsticks, raita homemade naan with the dough leftover
6. Jerk chicken drumsticks (huge pack of drums and thighs for value for money!) salad rice
7. Chilli with jackets

As you will note -

1. Red meat is bare minimum
2. Eggs and paneer join poultry cheap cuts for filling meals
3. All dairy is own brand/essentials
4. No expenses on alcohol or packet spice mixes or pre made naans etc…

Shop from ASDA or Tescos on occasion

There will be a degree of economies of scale, but also likely that your idea of 'trying to economise' still leaves quite a lot of room to cut back.

Since he's spent all that today, spend less on food this week and try cheaper stuff.

We've tried asda just essentials battered fishx 4 in a box for £2.35 and their chips £1.65 along with 2 tins of mushy peas for 32p each. Not bad. If you're craving dessert there strawberry cheesecake for 85p isn't bad either.

We used to have takeaway each week sometimes even twice a week. Now with the cost of living...our mortgage and car payments going up have had to find cheaper alternatives here and there. I cook 6 days a week too.

Lots of red flags here. Time to get your finances in order and make plans to move on. You deserve so much better than him.

Sounds to me like you got nicer fish and chips plus desserts for less than the chippy.(personally I think chippy chips are horrible and not keen on the fish either though).
However, as you'd agreed on the co-op and I'm sure it would have been cheaper than M&S (even though probably not ad nice) he should have just done that.

I don't think that amount is unreasonable for fish and chips four people.

However, I would be annoyed that if spending £25 he didn't go to the chip shop, which is nicer than the m and s version.

My DH would do exactly the same thing - I once asked him to sort dinner for our family of five and MIL/FIL who were staying. He came home with two single serve ready meals, a bag of salad and expensive bottle of wine that was nice, but unnecessary.

Ever since then my DH is involved in meal planning, shopping, food prep and cooking.

your husband needs to become more involved with food in your house and you need to plan for i cannot be bothered to cook nights. I always add one or two naice freezer or easy cook meals to the grocery shop for that v reason.

I have to say I love the M&S gastro fish,it's gorgeous.
Well worth the money.

That's your takeaway?

What?

Is this some kind of poor attempt at sarcasm?

At our local chippy a portion of fish and chips is £12.50, so well possible to spend £30+ if you have kids.

Are you on the right thread ???

Because he bought posher supermarkwt fish and chips than he was sent out for? This is the kind of thing DH would do thinking he was doing something nice and treating us. I would say irritating but not divorce worthy.

we never have fish and chips portion each
we share the chips, they come in huge portions
but yes they are expensive.

I’ve just been on another thread telling someone MNers don’t say LTB to every little innocuous thing, and here I am being proved wrong. 🤣

😄😄😄

If it is this one then I agree - I prefer this to the actual chippy. Portions are massive so I usually end up having some leftover and air-frying it for lunch the next day.

I don't see any problem!

I always keep frozen cod, salmon and fish cakes in the freezer to throw in the oven with oven chips and frozen peas or sometimes a tin of mixed baby carrots and petit pois. I always have a frozen chicken pie in the freezer too. It stops the easy option of the takeaway which tends to cost us £55 for 3 adults and a teen. We keep takeaways for treats now.

Wow the price of your chippies scare me!!! I had no idea it would be that much-we went last night and it was £8.75 for one medium portion chips, 2 large sausages, 2 buttered rolls and 2drinks for me and my daughter. Is fish that expensive? I only ever order one for myself occasionally so genuinely have no idea.

And in answer to the question-as someone who is having to budget really carefully right now, then yes £25 on one meal would piss me off

My lot wanted pizza for tea. DH says no, takeaway pizza is too expensive (I agree). Cost us 35 pounds last time. So off he pops to the supermarket for those fresh pizzas they do. Comes home and he's spent 40 pounds!. 3 pizzas, a selection of dips, some chicken wings he thought I'd like and tubs of ice cream for after.

I give up lol

We always have chuck in the oven meals on a Saturday, tonight it was sausage and bacon baguette (( those sourdough bake in the oven ones from Aldi )) with a bag of rocket to healtherise things and a packet of crisps.

Cost less than a tenner for 4 adults and pretty much zero effort.

Plan to have stuff like that in for your weekly shop to prevent situations like this.

Op always does the cooking. Her dp always used the lazy card. So op never gets to use the lazy card. They also dont have money to spend on take aways.

Fish and chips (SE) has gone up enormously. I'm veggie but will occasionally offer my young adult son fish and chips as a treat. I get the large fish and that can be well over £12. It's actually too big for him and he is a good eater. The little cat who is food starved and will eat anything, isn't that keen on the chippie fish, so eventually the left overs get eaten but not as quickly as I would hope. We help ourselves a bit with the cost by having a tin of mushy peas in the cupboard, and no extras from the chippie. It is so hard.

I’m not about to divorce DH because he went to M&S for dinner. I’m not sure that would qualify for unreasonable behaviour!

He is a generous, kind hearted man. I do more housework and cooking because I’m at home more. He works long hours and has a long commute, but earns considerably more than me which all goes straight in to the joint account.

He does sometimes misjudge a situation, like tonight. He has just cooked dinner, we loaded the dishwasher together after dinner and he has painted DS bedroom today. I’m just a teeny bit annoyed that he spent £25 on a chuck in he oven dinner.