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.

Well humans do live for fatty foods and sugar, as we need both things to survive. I don't smoke or drink, meanwhile country walks make me miserable, I'd rather stick pins in my eyes! My hobbies probably won't meet your approval either.

Your body doesn’t know or care about the difference between the source of the fructose though. It processes it the same.
But I agree the healthy/unhealthy divide comes in where concentration, delivery and quantity is concerned. ie. You’re more likely to eat a whole packet of Haribo than a whole packet of dates.
The current trend of fearing certain ingredients is something that bothers me as a dietician by profession, people are so desperate to avoid glucose for example but your brain relies on it. Food-avoidance fads are largely based on morality (and a dash of superiority!) and not nutritional understanding.

I don’t mean to say that date flapjacks are worse than or as bad as sweets, pop etc. but just pointing out that just because an ingredient is labelled “healthy” by society doesn’t make it perfect. Coconut oil is great example of this as other posters have mentioned it is so problematic.

A lot of the time “healthy” versions of normal foods are just swapping one type of ingredient with another version of it and not really achieving much other than spending more time and money than most people can afford.

Good grief OP, take a day off. Some of us like snacks, it's a little joy in a sometimes shitty life. Guess what too? Not everyone that enjoys a snack is a morbidly obese, type 2 diabetic, NHS draining cretin. I have several snacks a day, I'm not overweight. I'm going to die young and fuck me I'm not doing it having only eaten rabbit food before I go. Shock horror, DD has some form of snack, chocolate, sweets or pudding every day! She swims competitively and for fun, she plays sports and she never sits down. She isn't anywhere close to being over weight - she's actually a little under - and she has perfectly healthy teeth.

Unclench a little, you might like it

Never watched this stuff and never go to a large supermarket to see how other people shop (weekly supermarket delivery). But I find the figures on how much of the average diet comes from UPF incredible, so I'm sure your right. Some people are clearly buying/consuming an unhealthy amount of this sort of stuff. It is still grocery shopping though I guess, just very different.

Now that kids are grown up we don't really buy any readymade snacky stuff on a regular basis (I remember I used to buy nakd bars regularly). I will sometimes buy some crisps/nuts if we were having people drinks, or get some elderflower fizz of something, or pop out to get some posh biscuits if people dropping in for cuppa, but none of these things form part of our every day shop. It's just now how we like to eat. It's not even some careful effort, it's just what we have always done..

They do because it's what sells. It's what people want. The majority of people are overweight or obese. Threads about anything food related is full of excuses.

I was a child in the1970s. We had crisps occasionally and sweets were a rare treat. We didn't help ourselves to 'snacks' and we didn't have them in the house normally.
We ate meals.

I still don't eat snacks (I mentioned biscuits in a pp). I might eat a few boiled sweets if I want something sweet, and if hungry between meals, I might have some oatcakes.

I am not overweight. The 'inevitable middle-age spread' didn't happen.

@ThreadGuardDog , shocking isn't it. I weigh pre-packaged foods too. They are often underweight.

Yes this is how I see it. We don’t have those things in the house as they’re not ‘every day’ foods. I would never ban them from eating those things, but if they want them they walk to the shop and buy them. I’d say they only bother once or twice a week at most (the shop is 5 mins away so not a particularly onerous trek) and that’s usually only because they’re with friends who want to go to the shop.
They’re not massively fussed about crisps/chocolate/sweets and none of them like fizzy drinks.

Im that person and I really dont care what you think.
Myself and my husband work 10 - 12 hour days, sometimes 6 days a week on our vey successful business. I barely have time to think about what im buying and really dont have time to make home made flapjack when i can buy it from the supermarket.
We have two older teenage kids who are slim, myself and my husband are reasonable weight (hes a medium and im a 12 if that helps) so if the 'processed' crap helps make my life easier then why do you care?

You would have massively judged my last weeks shop. Magnums were on offer, I will say no more, except I am glad I have a big freezer.

I gave up processed sugar a year ago and I feel so much better that I’ve actually started to feel like a child abuser for allowing my kids to still have it. I also don’t want to isolate them socially or create any enormous taboos by saying they can’t have it at all because I know it’ll make it a much bigger deal for them in the long run. But honestly I find it mad the amount of processed shite that nursery/ school/brownies/kids parties/clubs etc etc serves them up. It’s expensive and makes them feel and act like crap.

They are just showing you the shops snacking range or they are trying to get free stuff /Ad if they show you the. New M&S/waitrose/Tesco etc etc new night in ready to eat food ! It isn't real shopping.

Same here. Born in the 60’s, 3 meals a day, no eating between meals, a bag of chips as treat on a Thursday when we went to see cousins, or 1/5 of a Mars bar each! We weren’t allowed a whole bar, we had to share between 5 of us.

I’m in my 60s now, still don’t eat between meals, no snacking or grazing, just never thought about it. I buy chocolate and honey, and I’m sure that anyone peering into my shopping basket would conclude I’m an unhealthy sugarholic. However, I’m underweight, run, weight train, active, and healthy. Whatever I want to eat is fine, there are no foods that are inherently bad, it’s all about balance. But then, I’m not on IG or FB, and have no interest in proselytising the latest food fad to feel morally superior over others. Live and let live.

Coconut oil has more saturated fat than butter - clearly you need to practise what you preach!

Hahaaaa yes me too 🤣

@Upsetbetty is there judging the snacks but buying meat 🤣 well done 👏

I think PP is saying it's a good substitute consistency wise rather than considering the fat content. She is using a very small amount.

@crackofdoom 😁

i completely admit i judge in my head, wouldn’t say a word in real life.

my shopping was £62 last week including leftover meat now frozen. Ok 2 adults but I’ve got meat for 4 more meals in my freezer so realistically it was enough for 3-4 meat wise. This weeks will be about the same (less meat but need olive oil and a couple of spices that isn’t bought as often)

God I hate the word snack.

I just had most of a Sainsbury's value apple pie for lunch (cold). Come at me.

Well aren't you the fun sponge. Who says other people's diets are all snacks? Why can't they have food frozen in batches to serve and the snacks in the trolleys are to last a month?

FFS.....

Ditto. Makes my teeth itch in irritation.

Your hobbies don't require my approval, nor mine yours.

But it isn’t really is it? Op may appear to be coning from the cost side, but there’s a huge dollop of judgement there at people that buy unhealthy snacks, as opposed to bake flapjacks with coconut oil for like they do for their family.

Agree. I’m very conscious of sugars and diet in general because my DH is type 2 diabetic and has congestive heart disease. We generally eat fresh and from scratch because it’s just easier in terms of his health and avoids having to scrutinise packaging !! I think many people don’t realise that in terms of healthy eating, fruit can be a problem too. In terms of DH’s condition he can only eat a certain amount and the advice is to avoid certain high GI fruits like watermelon, ripe bananas, mangoes and pineapple because of the low nutritional value in consideration of the high sugar content - even freshly squeezed juices are limited.

God, yes. And 'sweet treat' and 'light bite' and things to 'munch' and 'chomp' and 'chow down on' and 'snaffle'. Just fuck off with your stupid food words. And stop 'offering'. Just give it to them.

A bit pathetic that you are so bothered by this??

Surely not on its own - no custard/cream/ice cream ? If not I think you’re to be commended rather than criticised 🤣