AIBU to think some weekly shops contain far too many snacks?and this is not grocery shopping!?

[Upsetbetty]

AIBU to think that the amount of processed snacks people buy in their grocery shopping is getting ridiculous? Watching people share their grocery shop on instagram etc and I can’t see what meals they can even make as it’s all snacks?? And then they say oh grocery shopping is so expensive!Do people really do this? I don’t buy any biscuits, fizzy drinks (18-20 pack slabs) or crisps as a part of me weekly family shop. I buy the meat, veg and pantry items. That is my weekly shopping. I buy one packet of oat bars for my DCs lunches. If my dc want a snack they have fruit, yogurt, homemade flapjacks etc.

You can buy food that is quick and healthy, that doesn't need more than basic equipment and doesn't need cooking.

It is excuses.

I’m obliged to have all my groceries (and everything else, of course) home delivered.
Every week as I dejectedly scan the Tesco website to compile a weekly order, I’m appalled by the way unhealthy food is pushed at the expense of anything really (remotely?) nourishing.
They have bonanzas and special offers every week but these are exclusively on pizzas, Coke, ice cream, Pringles, tortilla chips, and industrial dips.

(I don’t think I exaggerate when I say that new items frequently added to their own lines increase this horrible dietary landscape by offering inventive ways to add unhealthy trans fats, sugar, and salt to already ill-advised meals. Thus, if a dessert, even just a yogurt, can be spiffied up with the contents of a sweet shop, then huzzah, Tesco will do it)

(But praise the ruddy Lord, obesity has been vanquished by the Sugar Tax, of course 🤬)

That was as interesting as watching it on Instagram, probably.

Of course you can buy it, but if your kids won't eat it, then it's a waste of money, no matter how cheap it is.

I could easily buy a bag of oats and make porridge for breakfast but as I would gag and vomit the moment it hits my tongue, it would be rather a waste of money.

I think where nice cuts of meat etc are concerned you are absolutely right: it is a luxury.

@MrsEmmelineLucas also has a point that SOME healthy food like lentils and cabbage are cheap BUT it is much harder to be consistently healthy when the ones you can afford require hours of preparation.

A prime piece of beef or a sea bass fillet cooks in minutes, fresh salad takes moments to prepare, especially if you buy the pre-prepped bags of mixed leaves and have some nice bits and bobs like pomegranate seeds to sprinkle over. Add some top quality olive oil and freshly squeezed lemon as a dressing and you have an appetising plate in minutes, while the person who couldn't afford the steak or the lovely fillet of sea bass is still boiling their lentils ...

She is right that convenience foods are in part laziness, but it is easier to shun them if you can afford the easy options of healthy foods.

You don't make 'healthy versions' of expensive food, you make healthy food you can afford.

UPF free wraps or bread - home-made chapattis.
UPF breakfast - shredded wheat (own brand) and whole milk, or porridge made with boiling water. Quick and minimal cooking
Low UPF - wholemeal bread (supermarket own brand not in a plastic bag) and inexpensive filling to make sandwiches
UPF free snack - apple

@Calliopespa ,some pulses cook quickly and don't take hours of preparation. Soaked mung beans cook in about 15 minutes.
Some tinned pulses are cheap.
I've been known to rinse off baked beans to use in a recipe.

You can buy haricot beans in water.

@RosieHosie , You can but if you have yellow sticker baked beans at hand it makes more sense to use those if you just need some beans quickly.

That’s because those responding will either be in the ‘my own trolley is full of £150 worth of nothing but processed convenience food and snacks so feel I have to comment ’ or the ‘hey, won’t someone think of the poor people stop picking on them ’ mentality - I sympathise totally if people are skint - but observation shows that many of those who aren’t loaded in terms of cash and income are the ones often moaning and then loading up with masses of processed snacks and drinks and often a lot of alcohol or spending £35 at Maccy Ds . I just think it’s a certain mentality - I spend a lot on good food - probably about £115 a week for 2 of us- but equally we ate well when we have had skint periods and I spent £60 a week - we just had less meat, more things like chilli and bolognese, ( mix of soya and beef) cut the prawns and salmon etc- it’s really not a matter of thinking you are better-

I always bought snacks with my shopping. I don't believe in creating forbidden fruit by refusing them altogether and if I'm going to allow some its cheaper to buy from the supermarket than impulse buy when out and about. There was always snacks in my house and as a result my DC didn't associate them with a rare treat. They were just foods we had in moderation.

“I’m so good, so so so good, teacher can I have a gold star” yawn.

Crisps are delicious.

If it was up to me I would ban ready made snacks. If people want to eat cake or biscuits, let them buy eggs, flour etc and bake them themselves. If people want to eat crisps, let them buy potatoes, finely slice them and cook them themselves. The same with chocolate and sweets too. It would improve the health of the nation massively.

Thank all the goddesses and gods that its not up to you.

Everyone sounds like the cook like ‘From scratch with Bob’.
I try to cook from scratch but sometimes washing and peeling vegetables from the allotment is just too much. So make pasta with good quality Heinz tomato cooking sauce or the Lloyd Grosman ones!

Excuses, excuses.

We are talking about snack though. Home cooking meals can be cheaper overall if you don’t include the equipment needed and the energy usage. But Snacks like biscuits, crisps and cake are obviously much cheaper than making your own and come pre-cooked. Not everyone has time, money and ability to bake. Prepared food lasts longer and doesn’t go stale as quickly.

Such as?

Fruit is a good snack but doesn’t last (especially in the summer soft fruit and bananas go off in a couple of days!)

Snacks like crisps, biscuits, cake, cereal bars, etc are all cheaper to buy than to make and last longer in the cupboard.

Tortilla chips are a good example of something that’s pre-prepared but not actually that unhealthy. It’d be a pain to make your own but the ones in the shops are just maize and salt.

Congrats. You win. You’re the better human because you don’t eat processed snacks. How we all wish we could make our own oat bars.

Op original post was about the amount of snacks people were buying, I think theres a difference between those and main meals.

I get kids packed lunches are often largely a collection of snacks but adults should be able to manage real food.

It’s not really about cooking skills. Anyone can put veg in the microwave and meat in the air fryer. I do think it’s cheaper to buy UPF if you live hand to mouth.

I can't imagine why you give a shit tbh; you're clearly a dietary saint so give yourself a big pat on the back and help yourself to a (wholemeal, organic, home made) biscuit. The most concerning thing here is that people consider looking at other people's shopping as some form of entertainment; the world's gone mad etc.

There is that too - my son many years ago had a lad in his class who was from the family that did everything from scratch and no unhealthy snacks whatsoever and mainly vegetarian- the minute he went to uni he went totally into a sausage roll/greggs/UPF crispy stuff fugg - and I suspect it was because he had never had access to crap or cash to buy it with

I don't buy junk snacks either. I do spend quite a lot on grapes, a pineapple, apples, bananas, raspberries and strawberries each week at the moment. I buy protein oat bars and peperami sticks for picnics only.
I don't like processed foods and won't give them to teens so cook almost every day from scratch. About once a fortnight I give them a pizza if they go out for the day playing cricket and have a late finish so too late too cook really.

@2026letsgo , I do think it’s cheaper to buy UPF if you live hand to mouth.
Could you give a vegetarian example, please?

I live hand to mouth but cook from scratch and unless they have yellow stickers don't buy UPF. Even then it would be something like meat-free sausages or quiche.

@BleedinglyObvious Well you’re vegetarian so you would know better than me . My observations of broke vegetarians are they buy cheap carby stuff that’s is often USP - bread, crisps, frozen pizza, a pot noodle say. An easy, non perishable 75p lunch ready in 5 mins.

You could buy a more nutritious jacket potato but you’d also to have to find £3 for the block of cheese or maybe 30p for a tin of cheap baked beans (they are quite processed too).