To not agree with dh that 160 is extortionate for a food shop for 4 adults?

[Fadedchintz]

I'm recovering from Covid and while I was ill dh and the dcs (over 18, one on gap year and working part time, one here temporarily for a fortnight) did the shopping and cooking, all good. Over the last 10 days they've used up a lot of things. Went shopping yesterday and spent 90 in Aldi and then 70 in Tescos - dd is gluten free so can't get that in Aldi plus there are some branded things we like. I also spent 15! on olive oil which was extortionate but that was 2 litres from Aldi. I use it for cooking and it will last ages. No alcohol, some dog food and that shop will feed 4 for the rest of the week for breakfast lunch and dinner. Lots of things to stock the freezer, chips, peas etc. Tinned Tom's, baked beans, ketchup (both so expensive now - should move to heinz dupes and will do in future). Lots of fruit because I've been so ill and want to eat healthily. Washing powder, flash bleach cleaner (dogs!)

Anyway, dh looked at the joint account and was really shocked and slightly judgemental. Told me we really need to rein in our spending. I felt a bit like a naughty kid.

AIBU not to agonise over a 160 shop? I've meal planned and that is 6 good dinners, 6 lunches and breakfasts for a week. We never have takeaways. We also live a long way from the nearest shop so food needs to last.

Our budget for a weekly shops for three adults and a teen is £165 however some weeks we go over depending on what we need to stock up on
It's very rarely under thatband if theres a week where itnis i can guarantee we need tonpop to sainsburys at some point as we run out of stuff.

dh makes comments about tge cost until
i pointed out what just his lunch stuff snacks expensive milk and cheese and meals are.

I reckon his food alone comes to at least £80 and the rest of us plus washing powder bleach etc comes to the other £80.

I hope your takeaway here op is not to accept this criticism. Whether you go through the bank statements and point out how much he dropped at the shops on all his random runs, whether you get him to rule stuff of the receipt and then ban him from eating anything with that in it, whether you send him to the shops with a full list next week, whether you serve him quarter serves is up to you, but don’t let him think it’s ok to make that kind of disrespectful comment.

Yes he needs to put up or shut up.
Olive oil though, I've started buying rapeseed oil instead which is easily half the price. Can't be paying those prices.

I had a mini breakdown when I counted 6 packs of spaghetti and 4 bags of rice in the cupboard another day. All open, of course.
I also threaten to insert cucumbers where the sun doesn't shine if I spot more than two in the fridge.

If he thought about it then he’d realise that a £20 top up shop every day for a week is £140 and you can’t get olive oil for less than £15 for 2 litres. If he knows somewhere cheaper then everyone online would like to know !

He sounds awful. I wouldn't bother cooking him any nice food. Just a few bangers, fish fingers etc. You could even encourage him to branch out to chicken nuggets - you know the horrible fatty frozen ones. Serve very small portions if he admires his daft mum's disordered eating while the rest of the family eat normal meals. Sling some super cheap cornflakes at him for breakfast. Sure his arteries will fur up and he'll look like a diseased parrot but there's no point in casting pearls before swine. Especially if they are whining ungrateful swine.

£40 per person is fine, especially with gluten free in the mix. Is he aware that for example nutribrex (GF weetabix dupe for those not familiar) is almost a fiver for a box of 24 now? Compared to say Aldi own make "normal" weetabix for under £2. And that £3 - £4 for an edible (and tiny) loaf of bread is usual.

Why is he cooking fish fingers for a family of four adults?

The people suggesting changing brands may be unaware that you can't always do that if you're catering gluten free. But that said it's not always the big brands that are safe, it varies so much.

Because we all quite like fish fingers occasionally.

That works out at just over £5 per person per day. I think you did really well!

I’d ask DH to do the meal plan, shop, and cook for a month and see how he gets along.

Tbf, fish finger sandwiches is food of the the Gods.

That seems a lot me.

Yes, but a fish finger sandwich is hardly a meal - just something you have for a bit of retro fun!

How many fish fingers would you need to make a meal?

We have 4 or 5 each, plus peas, chips, lemon and I have them with mayo and chopped up gherkins.. It's a very infrequent thing but yum

My mother is like this. But she considers pasta with butter a meal. And will have the heal of a loaf of bread with a slither of cheese for lunch. It's not how I wish to eat.

That seems a lot. Is he worried about money? Can you afford that per week? Food has gone up so much :/

Really? For everything, three balanced meals a day plus snacks for seven days? Where do you do your shopping, I need to know!!

We spend £30 a day on mainly Aldi with Morrisons or Sainsbury’s mixed in for GF items. That’s for 3 of us, only 2 eating lunches. We do have lots of fresh fruit and veg and cook everything from scratch. No alcohol. Your husband is deluded.

It's a lot of money but not a lot of money for the amount of people. I live alone and spend 90 at least. Don't drink or smoke. Buy gluten free stuff too. Things have rocketed in price

I spend about 90-120 (depending on what's run out) for me, a teen and a tween (boys, the eldest currently seems to be continuously eating) and cats - but I don't have to cover school lunches.

This week is half term for us, so I spent 120 on Sunday (I did buy both steaks and a roast, since it's a holiday), and we're already out of milk and bread and a couple of other bits so I'll have to go for a top up of probably 40ish tomorrow.

I do cook from scratch and mealplan, and generally shop at Aldi or Lidl but I don't scrimp too hard.

160 for 4 adults for all meals and re-stocking the stores is perfectly fine.

I took my hubby with me and said right these are the meals I'm making for this week and bare in mind YOU scoff the sweet stuff at night and drink a gallon of milk but let's stick to the minimum of what we neeed anyway got to the till it came to 130 baring in mind there's me him and 13 year old he hasn't moaned since xx

There's just 2 of us me and DD15. my last shop at Aldi on Saturday was £90 for 2 of us for a week. HOWEVER I will def have to top up milk and fruit tonight as there will be none left. Toilet rolls and dog food are extra on a fortnightly Amazon delivery.
I also meal plan and batch cook but DD eats loads 🤷🏼‍♀️

It is extortionate BUT about what we pay a week for a family of 5 (2 adults, 3 kids primary/nursery age with packed lunches). It’s how things are now

Prices are just ridiculous nowadays.

Our average weekly food shop for 2 adults and 1 kids is usually around £250, you can obviously get cheaper food, but we buy organic, try and avoid ultra processed, lots of fruit and veg, couple of nice bottles of wine, I know these things all push the cost up. But I could go to a cheaper shop and get bulk buy nuggets and chips cheaper, so I guess it's too vague???