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.

You could try toast if theyre hungry? A loaf is around £1.20 theres around 12 slices, get around 3-4 loafs if you swap them out with the strawberries.
or a bag of small oranges, could get 3 instead of a small punnet of strawberries.

NHS advice is actually 2 healthy snacks per day for children :)

I know what you mean op, food disappears at an alarming rate in our house too. I went to Costco this morning and bought a massive watermelon, huge bag of apples and a box of kiwis. The watermelon is gone and half the apples. That’s in less than 2h! 2 teenage boys who love fruit unfortunately. Biscuits and chocolate can sit for weeks untouched but expensive fruit; no chance.

The only solution I have found is to work out a budget and stick to it. I have tried buying more and there seems no limit to what they’ll consume, so now I don’t replenish until the end of the week. If they’re that hungry they are directed towards the toaster.

Ive just heard this from OH!!

There are only two of us here and apparently 'we didnt buy any chocolate or snacks'

We went shopping Friday, massive bag of prawn crackers and a whole bar of fruit and nut chocolate. He has eaten the lot and forgot we bought it.

Awful

1. Tell children they are not allowed to take food without asking
2. Impose consequences if they disobey

I’m going to assume (hope) that you haven’t read the full thread to see the amount OP is actually buying. The thought of punishing children for eating more than 1 banana a week is fucking awful.

This.

It might be small but might be all OP can afford. And I meant put away a pack of grapes/strawberries etc till later on. The amounts are relative to what a family eats. When my 2 kids were little I bought 2 pack of biscuits, one multi bag of crisps and selection of fruit. Once it went that was it till next week. The meals I provided were well enough to feed them so they didn’t starve and have excellent teeth

Family of 5 inc 3 teen boys

Snack wise per week

40 apples
30 Bananas
20 tangerines
2 punnets grapes
30 pears
2 cucumbers - veg sticks
Bag carrots veg sticks
30 yogurts

Hi op, family of 5 here too, 2 adults 16, 4, 1 year old.
We shop at Adli which seems to get us more for our money. I have to agree I dont think your buying enough 'snacks'. For example we buy (weekly)

10 bananas
8 oranges
10 apples
2 pack strawberries
1 pack blueberries (big)
Grapes
Raspberries

We also buy snack biscuits like party rings, safari snacks which come in a pack of 5, usually 2 a week.

Small children? Still growing?

Grapes and strawberries are expensive. How about not buying them and buying value apples and value oranges instead?

That's great.
Some folk just cannot afford that quantity of fruit though.

And grapes and strawberries (any sort of berry) don’t keep. So apples, oranges and bananas will last longer anyway.

I spend £500-600 on me and one child!

NHS advice is actually 2 healthy snacks per day for children :)

A lot of nhs advice is pretty much rubbish.

In lots of other countries snacking is unheard of. In France for example, children do not generally snack between meals. There's a lot of research suggesting that snacking habits (snacking has increased markedly in the last 50 years) have contributed to obesity.

Right up through school age.

Good for you. How does that random statement help OP?

It sounds more like OP isn't spending her money properly rather than she can't afford to buy things.

I mean, if you only have £150 a week to feed five people, you don't buy strawberries, branded cookies and Milky Ways - you buy cheap bread for toasties or sandwiches, own-brand cereal, bananas, apples and non-branded biscuits or crisps instead.

Perhaps correct, but it's kinder to put that across in a non-judgmental way (unlike some posters).

In my house we distinguish between treats and snacks. Snacks are fruit, raw veg, bread, toast, yogurt, or a bowl of cereal.

Stuff like chocolate, crisps, cake, biscuits are treats, and for after dinner, or guests.

Mine can get through a bag of apples & a pack of clementines in a day.

I buy lots of bananas, apples & carrots. Carrots are a really good cheap snack.

I buy extra own brand cereal so they can have a bowl of that or peanut butter or toast. Big pots of greek style yoghurt.

Try and limit the crisps as they are expensive now.

Snacks I’ve bought this week : 2 punnets of grapes, 2 x strawberries, 6 bananas, 2 x four milky ways, triple pack of biscuits, 2 x packs of rice cakes, 2 x packs of mini marylands, yoghurts, specific snacks for the toddler.

I think this is loads. If they are hungry why can't they just eat a sandwich, or make an omelette etc. Why do convenience foods have to be provided that can just be picked at constantly?

I have 3 big teenagers so we go through a lot of snacks. DH also wfh.

i always make sure we have
plenty of cereal, bread for toast plus something else like crumpets or bagels. Biscuit tin is always topped up and we have lots of fruit - normally berries, apples, pears, bananas, oranges and then often things like mango or pineapple that i chop up.
we also have jars of nuts, dried fruit, choc covered raisins et. And a stash of chocolate bars and crisps. They also like to snack after school on chicken dippers or itsu dumplings.
unlike me they are all skinny things - i dont know where they out it!

Have you bothered to break it down per day per person? It’s really not loads.

1 banana per week. 1.5 milky way per week. About 10 strawberries per week, 10 grapes per week.