AIBU to think people begrudge weekly food costs but spend more freely elsewhere?

[IlovePhilMitchell]

People will spend money on subscriptions, takeaways, the cost of a weekly shop on a meal out, £10 on a candle but begrudge £80 on the week shop.

Food is one of the most important things to us as humans, it nourishes us and keeps us well. It should be a priority above most things we spend money on, not just an annoying necessity.

We have been lucky in the past with extremely cheap food costs and yes I know things have increased a lot and not in line with wages, but it’s not actually that bad if you don’t buy brands and cook.

I do appreciate a lot of people don’t have have room in their budget for any increases. I think my post is more aimed at those who whinge when they spend freely elsewhere.

The price of orange juice and coffee btw has been directly affected by weather and catastrophic storms over the past couple of years affecting harvests .
The price of gas has also rocketed which affects the price of vegetables grown in heated polytunnels

We have a bizarre situation where everyone is complaining about the price of food and half the population is on WLI.
The statistics for food waste are disgraceful
Average 1K per family of 4 per year
Lets average it out to £80-100 per month just chucked in the bin, the vast majority of the food wasted is still edible

Of course they do, just like people begrudge big energy bills and spend money elsewhere, energy being just as essential, not fun spending tho is it.

There is choice with food. If we were eating just to survive we could do our weekly shop for less than £50 a week for our family of 4, but we spend £140 a week because of the choices we make.

People aren't rational. Tale as old as time. Many (most?) won't care about the bigger picture UK farming and global influences. They will also actively resist being told how to allocate their resources (money, time). Leave them to it.

Not a problem, this thread is about people
whinging about the cost of spending their money on food when they spend it freely
on other luxuries while also over using the phrase COL.

I don’t want to spend my money on gas and electric but I’m grateful it keeps me warm and safe. Food is an essential I’m grateful to be able to buy in abundance when others can’t.

I just think we need to reframe our attitude towards the value of food.

Food has been cheap here vs other countries but then look at those countries housing @ childcare costs.

I think it’s hard to reconcile buying the same things and seeing the costs keep going up.

I am consciously having to think about what I buy in the food shop which I haven’t done since I was a student & my income is much higher now. I don’t buy candles and already shop in Aldi.

But it’s the same isn’t it?
I don’t want to spend money on gas
i don’t want to spend money on council tax
i don’t want to spend money on food.

it’s fine for people to think that. If you’re suggesting their big crime is vocalising it to you, then that’s just weird.

Not a problem, this thread is about people
whinging about the cost of spending their money on food when they spend it freely
on other luxuries while also over using the phrase COL.

But if their shopping habits haven’t changed and their salaries have stagnated why can’t they use the COL phrase?

Are you only allowed to complain if you abstain from everything bar essentials?

We have a bizarre situation where everyone is complaining about the price of food and half the population is on WLI.

half the population?!

It’s far from a big crime 😊

This has been an interesting topic to debate, I appreciate everyone’s views. There is no right or wrong answer.
I do think we have lost our way a bit though with consumerism and priorities.

Trying to keep prices of food down in the shops directly impacts on food producers here in the UK who are struggling to make a profit and are in thrall to the supermarkets.

Buy less designer stuff but buy British food!

What???
Good grief what on earth has happened that grown adults are whining about paying for the essentials in life
I can see why we have so many issues in this country, everyone thinks everyone else should be propping up their lifestyle 😂

This.

150 years ago, life was largely about survival and food costs were a heavy burden. We've had many many years off not just having the basics and letting go of that is hard and feels unfair and largely due to poor decisions by leaders. Having to forgo the little joys in life to pay for food does make people grumpy!

But many joys don’t cost anything or nor much. It’s a sad state to be in if everything that gives you joy costs money. Screens have done this, making dopamine highs even harder to attain.

Also 150 years ago we didn’t have washing machines and appliances that make life so much easier. The basics were clean water, heating and food. We all still have those if we spend wisely.

If some need endless crappy wasteful coffees, nails, take aways and shopping hauls to feel joy than is their issue. We all found joy back in the 70s/80s when we didn’t have much of this.

Food is the one place people can make savings. Rent/mortgage, utilities, council tax are all increasing but are either fixed costs or hard to make meaningful savings on unless you’re prepared to live in a cold house. With food you can bring the food bill down in a number of ways depending on diet, cooking ability etc. When you’ve cut the food bill to what feels like the essentials and you still feel short of money it can feel a bit hopeless.

People will spend money on things that bring them joy - I like cooking and I enjoy good food. I’m never going to be happy surviving on porridge and lentils. I’m happy to spend money on nice food and our good bill is higher than seems normal in here. If I didn’t enjoy cooking, and saw food as fuel, I’d spend less on food and more on other things. If I spend less on food and still couldn’t afford things that bring be pleasure, I’m going to feel hard done by. People prioritise things that bring them joy, once essentials are covered. There’s nothing wrong with that.

Agree. For me, I’ll spend the money on a Starbucks coffee because it is the only place near me that is quiet and open past 5:30pm twice a week, otherwise I have to take a bus 30 minutes to somewhere else and lose the time in travel. I’d end up spending £10 compared to £4.

I could drink coffee at home but no one leaves me alone long enough to enjoy it and autistic oldest would dump it out if I stepped away to use the loo, or stop the toddler from doing something because he’s “tidying up.”

I’d eyeroll anyone who would begrudge me spending under £10 a week on Starbucks coffee. For some of us, it is our only luxury.

I think that food costs have been kept low here for many years .30/40 years ago mobile phones were not a thing .It was quite usual to spend a good proportion of wages on food .We have become used to very low costs and its a shock to the system! Friends seem to always have money for trips abroad ,but seem to baulk at their grocery bills!

Im not a foodie and yes I do begrudge the cost of food. My Tesco order has just been delivered and I buy more or less the same things each week. I begrudge all the big bills like gas/electricity/water and so on. The one which I view as daylight robbery is council tax. When you are single and childfree its poor value for money. I still owe several hundred pounds from last year. Not because I dont have it but because I am determined to make them wait.

I don’t understand why people who are noticing and a little hacked off at escalating food prices are not allowed to spend their residual money on whatever they like without judgment? Whether they save their money or spend it on tattoos doesn’t make it any less outrageous that world events and government ineptitude/apathy means that food prices have doubled?

Who whines though? There is no real whining phenomenon, it’s just a a made up sentiment for the purposes of the thread, to demonstrate the act of people discussing about the increases in cost of living.

that doesn’t make them whiners, it makes them observers, maybe concerned, maybe upset, whatever.

and when there inevitably is a small population of whiners- as there is with everything in life- surely you chalk it up to personality difference, like people who complain about nice weather or similar.

it’s weird that you’re expressing such feelings about it (to me)

Laughing at "wasteful coffee".

I trust all your money is spent on essentials and that any spending you do for joy passes strict criteria. You sound like a Puritan.

@Rhb55fdrI’m interested in your view as to what these 100% free joy giving activities in life are? No cost associated at all?

Essentials and all time spent doing free things like walking, park running and reading library books 🤣

Home cooking to a budget, gardening on a budget( even balcony pots ), free books from the library, good quality home coffee, walking, running, listening to music….

Shopping hauls, sugary crappy chain coffee, fast food etc all aren’t great for you and just give temporary highs followed by lows.

People can spend their money how they like but don’t moan if you can’t afford the basics when you’re prioritising things that are wasteful and actually not that great for you or your budget.

I find some people moan about money (and everything else). They aren’t necessarily the most hard up. I’ve a very breadline friend with a large family but I’ve never heard her moan about food prices - she’s used to making the money go far. I’ve another friend who’s very well off with several rental properties. Never stops moaning about money and how hard it is for him to accrue more of it.