Aibu to be annoyed the food shop disappears so quickly

[toadstool32]

It drives me insane. Food shop arrives and within a day most cupboard snacks / fruit has been eaten. I’ve spoken to everyone on numerous occasions about making things last. Family of 5 plus a dog, spending anywhere between £100-£130 a week. How do you make things last?! (Obviously not fresh stuff with dates but the constant snacking).

edited to add: school lunches and snacks are all provided by school. I get lunch at work too. So this is just home food.

I think that’s a low bar, no one said they were starving.

Most cakes, muffins and scones freeze well. It is important to make sure they are wrapped well too stop freezer burn. Also don't ice or cream them. I freeze banana and chocolate cake, and date or sultana loaves freeze well too.

That sounds completely made up.

Unfortunately it's not where we live (not everyone has access to all the cheap supermarkets).
Plus the cost of electricity for baking.

No, fruit shouldnt be more than 2 portions a day, there is no need whatsoever to have any fruit as your 5 a day, its not a requirement for the 5 a day

Fruit isnt not particularly nutrient dense in the way other veg and salad choices may be, doesnt compare to a sweet potato or legumes or beetroot for example.

Nice to have obviously, good for you obviously. Necessary? No.

Stop buying snacks.

Some posters have actually suggested OP isn't given them decent main meals, as well as not giving them 500kg fruit a second! 😂

How is me spending roughly the same as you for the same amount of adults 'insane'? 😳

We spend about that for 2 adults (a little bit less and covers most lunches to be fair). Dog is probably £20 a week on top of that. I think you’re doing pretty well!

Yes the cost of the fuel is something to calculate in

Where do you live? I was talking about UK supermarkets really. I see that most supermarkets have price matched Lidl and Aldi as I was checking it the other day because we only shop in Lidl and Aldi and I wondered if the flour in other supermarkets was much more.

We also have gremlins the food and toilet roll actually just vanish poof gone.

Tho amazingly the crisp draw stays full I must of found some crisps they don’t like ha. But fruit goes like no tomorrow. So we do try to grow a lot of our own as well.

Crackers and cheese go fast with a side of cucumber but I feel that’s better than a share bag of monster munch and a chocolate bar.

Eggs we get though a lot. Scrambled eggs are a big go too as well as a bagel and fried egg.

Join Olio it’s a free food waste app. Where people collect food from the supermarket that is that day and give it away for free. Breads, fruit, veg, fish, meat, eggs, milk. Could be anything. We volunteer with them sometimes to give out the food.

I live in the UK, contrary to popular belief some places don't have access to all the cheaper supermarkets.
We don't have mains gas and have some of the highest electricity charges in the UK.

Wong post

I swear to fucking god, this thread is sending me

Well I found the price is the same at Tesco and Sainsburys, that was my point, they appear to have price matched with Aldi and Lidl. I think Waitrose came in a 9p more or something

Talk about taking a supportive comment out of context, crikey.

Right, no Sainsburys north of Inverness, and while a few places have Tesco it's not close enough to make it worth going for many. A few Lidl/Aldi dotted about, but not many.

You are a thrifty shopper we are two and spend over £200 a week. No matter what you spend it's annoying for it to not last the distance tho. My OH had three Magnums last night and on Friday I ate a whole tub of haagendaz watching a movie so I am guilty too.

If your family have to have fruit buy some prunes or dates or something less appetizing.

Please don't. My DH does the big food shop every week; around 150£. I always need to add 50£ during the week because there are additional things we need/running out. We are 2 adults and 2 teens no pets. So 200£ a week.

Snacks like Milky Way etc are hidden by me and give to them with a fruit for snack simply because my 15 y old could and would eat all of it in one sitting which would be bad for him and for us:). So start hiding the treats but buy more fruit and cereal bars that they can have free disposal of.

I have £150 worth of Iceland crap coming soon. Any rich smuggards fancy donating?

Got a sob story and everything

That’s a lot of snacks to me, hiding the long life snacks is a good idea then produce appropriately throughout the week. For the fruit obviously you’d need to top anyway because of shelf life so perhaps order less for the main shop

I'd look at each member of the household individually. Someone may be eating compulsively (e.g., while watching TV, online, doing prep for school) and not even realize how much they're eating. You seem to have loads of "finger food" - not necessarily "junk food", but a punnet of seedless grapes or a couple of single-serving yoghurts are very easy to scoff.

Someone may need more food than you think. A teen could legitimately NEED to eat twice what they did a few years ago, but also overeating can start pretty abruptly. The lunches/snacks at work/school is great, but you're sill covering breakfast, dinner, weekend lunches, and ALL snacking outside of work/school hours. It's the snacking that's probably most difficult to track/control.

If you're going to buy treats, hide them and hand them out AS treats, don't just leave them for people to take. A lot depends on the age of the family members but they made need more clear direction - e.g., "one piece/serving of fruit a day" rather than "eat less!" Another option, although it may not be practical for you, is to do smaller more frequent shops - spend the same money, but over three trips instead of one.

If you only have a certain budget then thats it.However We eat well ,but have an older car and dont eat out much (just birthdays ,the odd occasion really) If we visit NT for example ,we will take a packed lunch and flask and have Tea and cake in the cafe later . Shop on Ebay a lot.Food is so dear now .Not everyone can spend more .Carrots and dip are healthy or cucumber .Avoid Berries they are dear.Simple home made tea bread or a Chocolate sponge are quick and easy to do .Can be frozen( tea bread ) so make one freeze one to save time