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 make my own cakes, while flour is cheap, eggs and butter are not, and also dried fruit.

You’re not buying enough food op. A family of five plus a dog and you only spend £100 some weeks isn’t enough. You might think it is but it obviously isn’t.

That isn’t a lot for 5 people. Once everyone has had a banana, and a handful of other fruit then that’s all the fruit gone, for example.

I’d look at buying cheaper and healthier snacks and more of them. Buy 20 apples, 10 bananas, 20 x yoghurt, 4 x packs of rice cakes, 10 x mini choc bars for a treat (but everyone knows that once they’re gone, then that’s it). Also Weetabix maybe? I buy the off brand wheat biscuits and in Sains they’re £2ish for 48. If DC are moaning they’re really hungry they can have 2 weetabix and a banana.

Agree cereal or toast is a good filler
dd will have a snack biscuit/fruit but if still asks for another I offer cereal

if she doesn’t fancy that then I say well not really hungry then …..

but the main issue with your list @toadstool32 is that 2 punnets of grapes /berries isn’t a lot for 3 kids /5 people

I do love tinned fruit as cheap and doesn’t go off. The peach slices I mentioned above are 39p I think in Aldi and nice.

pineapple or mandarins also cheap

Yes meat and fish are expensive and add to the cost, v just eating vegetables.

Yes, it's true that we cook most things from scratch. Most meals are lentil or pulse based, or things like chunky veg curries/fajitas etc. I often batch cook to freeze too and we don't have too many snacks - some biscuits, toast works too, lots of simple fruit. I just can't get my head round people spending double this, but I do see that meat and fish add a lot I guess. And yes, we don't do much at all in terms of fake meat type meals - much prefer lentils to Quorn and can't stand all those veggie bacon, chicken etc type things - halloumi is so much nicer in a stir fry for eg.

I would also stop buying snacks like biscuits altogether. Even fruits for us are usually part of a meal (or part of a snack with yogurt or toast but not on their own).

I think it would come cheaper and simpler to stick to wholemeal toast with cheese, PB or other things like this. Or plain yogurt which can be bought in bulk, with fruits etc.
And maybe keep the treats for the weekend only?

When he was a teen, my brother used to make himself bowls of plain pasta with butter for snack 😂 He was eating so much!

These are bought in bulk at totally separate times. If money is tight then you don't buy your cleaning products from Sainsbury's.

These are bought from the discount stores.

I do get washing powder from Aldi though. Same with washing up liquid, but I buy 10-12 bottles at once so I don't have to think about it again for a long time.

I just treat these purchases totally separately from the weekly food spend.

It's probably a quirk of mine, but I find it helps.

But it is part of your grocery shopping, its part of the spend, doesnt really matter whether you get it with your weekly food shop or not, its all coming out of the kitty which is what OP is managing.

I wouldnt dream of getting anything like that from main supermarkets, we only get it from Aldi and Lidl, same with coffee and high cost items. Sometimes home bargains if I spot its cheaper but it isnt always.

How old are the children?
If school is providing lunch and snacks how many more snacks are needed everyday?

mine had a substantial snack on return from school ( a sandwich or homemade flapjack for example ) and then a cooked tea with yoghort or fruit for pud

choc bars /crisps, berries / grapes were a weekend treat but still only one portion of each each day max

also the younger children ate snacks together at the table with me and so learnt portion control

maybe look at the portions in your meals - if they are snacking so much do they need more filling meals?

We have 4 in our house (3 adults and a 16 yo) and we spend under £150 per week on food. This doesn't include lunches for 2 of the household. Two of us do fasting though so no breakfast items needed. Most of the house aren't snackers so snacks don't get bought / eaten. Twice a week we have cheap and quick things like baked potato or tuna pasta.

I buy many cleaning products in bulk on subscribe and save with Amazon, not cheaper than the discount shops but an option if you prefer brands. I bought the biggest bottle of fairy liquid you’ve seen in your life probably two years ago and it lives in the garage to refill the small house bottle. It’s still half full!

It's always the cleaning products I wonder about. What cleaning products are people buying week in week out?

There's 5 of us too - 6 bananas would last not even 2 days and I buy similar of the rest, but twice per week.

Not sure. If snacks are in addition to meals then there’s enough food. We all like Milky Ways and biscuits, we rarely need them. Growing boys? Toast.

Mum used to complain about this all the time when I lived at home, then, when I did try and leave things longer, they would not be used, go out of date, go mouldy and just be thrown out - pissed me right off, it was like I was pissing rent down the drain

2 boxes of grapes and 2 of strawberries will cost around £10 and not go very far. Maybe re think your fruit choice, apples are about £2 a kilo for instance.

Also I don't know if anyone has said this as I haven't read the whole thread but Uber eats do half price fruit and veg on Mondays (which is today)

Yes, everyone's spend comes out of the same pot, your total monthly income. But we separate it into different pots don't we. I don't include toilet bleach with the food spend pot.

Some people will claim to struggle with their grocery budget but then disregard the £40+ quid they spend on Just Eat or Uber Eats every week. Different pots, even though it's still food.

As others have said apples, more bananas, easy peelers will go further for your money. kiwis are 6 for £1.20 at tesco which i don't think is too bad. You get quite a lot of fruit from watermelon but i only buy them on offer. I know you don't want to bake treats but these cookies are super quick and don't need the fancy sugars normal granulated works fine, 2 bars of cheap chocolate, you get 2 trays and they are nicer and more satisfying than mini bags. easy to prep while making dinner and can just chuck in while the oven is still hot. This banana cake is cheap quick and easy and very filling, a great way to use up leftovers as well. slow cooker jam cake & fork biscuits are another popular one at our house, they all work out cheaper than buying snacks and if your children are younger they can help if they are older they can make them by themselves!
(now i hope all the links have worked because i have never done more than 1 in a post before)

Why do you keep giving the peace sign? It’s not a full stop.

100-130 a week doesn’t even cover my family we spend atleast 160 a week and it’s me my partner 7&3 year old! We also get school meals and usually that lasts until the next week I just have to do a top up of fruit which is usually on a Thursday (shop comes on a monday)

I'm a cook in a care home and as well as making lots of cakes the residents have to have a lot of snacks, I also had four children who are grown up now. Look at the cheapest ranges, wonky fruit etc fill the biscuit Tin up with the supermarket own, buy the cheaper crisps, That doesn't seem a lot that you are buying per week, but I would definitely visit Aldi of Lidl if i were you. Make cornflakes cakes, Flapjacks etc easy to make. You could also sign up to ‘Too go to go ‘

We’re a family of 5. We eat that amount of fruit in 1-2 days.
you’re basically trying to make each family member last with a small handful of grapes and strawberries, 1 banana, 1.5 Milky Way, a few biscuits and a few rice cakes A WEEK. Do you eat 1 banana a week?

First of all, you should switch to buying cheaper fruits and fruits that will stay fresh for longer, eg apples, pears, oranges…. An orange and an apple a day (so 7 oranges and 7 apples) will probably work out cheaper than your grapes, bananas and strawberries AND they’re much more filling.

secondly you need to start checking who likes what and calculate amounts. If everyone likes yogurt, you need 35 tubs (5x7) per week. If everyone likes Milky Way you need 35 bars a week. And so on. Or decide people are only allowed 2 Milky Way a week. But for goodness sake, buy equal amounts so it’s clear everyone gets an equal share.

we offer toast and weetabix in our house. No crisps, biscuits or chocolate. We buy apples, oranges, pears and bananas. Anything else occasionally when it’s on offer.