Food shopping

Yes and yes(to DH bumping up the bill!)
He will "take a fancy" to some organic/home grown/in season delicacy, fine, but why is it always double the "normal" price?
I am more of a "buy it on its penultimate day with a pleasing discount" type of person. Oh and a sucker for special offers, especially if I can freeze them for later.

I usually have a calculator with me so I can work out whether those "bargains" really are value for money! I think our generation grew up watching the pennies and it is now second nature (for me anyway!)

Yes I do hate how the supermarkets try to trick you buy telling you price each for one bag of potatoes but then per kg for another.

Your DH sounds like mine Alea! He picks up whatever takes his fancy at the time. For me, if his favourite packet of crisps aren't on offer then he doesn't get them that week. I tend to bulk buy when things are on special offer, so by the time I run out, it's on offer again

DH was left to do food shopping when I had the flu in December. He spent a fortune on branded goods. Thankfully it's very rare that I leave it to him.

Am I the only person whose OH does exactly the opposite? If I ask him to get 2 packs of butter, he gets one. Its the same with everything - when I ask why he says he didn't think I really needed it. Makes my blood boil. When we go on holiday self-catering with another couple, the other husband always buys twice what he is asked to get so we send the two men out together - works brilliantly and we get pretty much what we need.

H is a very good shopper, he never does the big shop alone as he doesn't drive he does come with me every week and will suggest things but mostly leaves it to me. I can safely send him out for 2-3 items and know that the only possible addition would be a tea time treat for me. So no complaints

I always feel such a meanie when DH comes shopping with me. He'll pick up something and look at it longingly then put it back on the shelf when he sees me shaking my head.

He does find some good bargains down the middle bit in Aldi though. I haven't the time or patience to look down there because all I want to do in a supermarket is shop and get out again.

I'm a very canny shopper, I love a bargain, and I've not had the experience of DH overspending. He's never been in a supermarket in his life and rarely shops at all. He did recently buy himself a loaf in a bakery and rather shocked told me, "It cost more than £1, last time I bought one it was a shilling". Gotta love 'im!

DH always says 'What are you staring at?!'
I am staring at the price per 100g or trying to calculate in my head the best value for money for the best quality produce!

DH is a good shopper i.e. he doesn't buy anything! When we go shopping which isn't often he rarely buys himself anything unless I push and push or get it for him. He is very thrifty and if I ask him to get something he will come back with the cheapest version he can find which isn't cheap in the end because then I have to go an buy it myself.

I always compare the unit prices when I'm shopping. I'm surprised that some people don't. If I'm honest, I'm obsessed with unit prices. ?

Yes, I look at unit prices too. We usually take it in turns to go shopping, he sticks to my list ( he never, ever buys anything that he just fancies.) I, on the other hand, use a list as a guide only and buy lots of stuff not on it.It all gets used/eaten though( especially by him.)

I don't have a DH so have the freedom to buy whatever I feel like buying, brilliant!

What an incredibly sexist question! My husband took over the supermarket weekly shop when our second child was born, thirty-six years ago. Now the three daughters are living independently and we still have very full work schedules, whichever one of us it free on a Wednesday or Thursday afternoon does it. Sometimes we go together and about once every two or three months we get a delivery.

I simply can't relate to this question or some of the comments above.

Unlike me, DH only buys what's on the list! So if I forgot to put a pint of milk in the list, although it is obvious that there was no milk in the fridge, it wouldn't occur to him to buy it. His reply would be "It's not in the list". But if I went to the supermarket to buy a pint of milk and a bag of apples,...somehow...by the time I got to the check out my shopping trolley is almost full! How did that happen? because I remembered oh, the washing powder is running low and oh, we also need toilet rolls, etc, etc!?

Oh I can!
My ex used to come with me & not only put in things we didn't need or even eat but he would sneakily remove things like broccoli or cabbage that he didn't like! Note I say 'ex'!!
Current DH LOVES shopping- worked in Waitrose when at college- & cannot resist a supermarket. I never go with him as he has to look at every damn thing in every aisle- well it feels like that anyway! He often offers to go to 'pick up a few bits' for me & always comes back with bags of stuff we never use. 'It was on 2 for 1!' Yes but we don't eat it!!!
It drives me potty but he will never change. We rarely shop together anyway as he wants to go into every shop whereas I am a dash in - get what I am going in for & go home type. We are the wrong way round really. All my friends would love to take him shopping.

DS1, an ex-chef, is a brilliant food shopper, usually with a comprehensive list on his phone. He shops mainly at Aldi which he used to poo-poo before he 'discovered' it in France. I enjoy shopping with him. His brother, on the other hand, will stock up with 'special offers' and buy cheese, for example, when there is already plenty in the fridge. However, I noticed, when I visited last weekend, that he too has discovered Aldi. As they have just moved to a bigger house, I expect he will be trying (but not too hard) to economise.

I don't drive so my husband is nearly always with me when we do our grocery shopping. We both love searching for bargains, and work out the best deals, so no problem at all, and I can happily send him out on his own knowing he will come back with the right things, or if not sure he will ring me

Hubby is a good shopper and he likes to work out the best deals. I sometimes wonder why we are penny pinching as he retired with a good pension and we have enough cash to be comfortable. I think it stems from our upbringing, when our parents really had to be thrifty. I tell my hubby I can't spend money on myself. I would rather get a coat in a charity shop than buy a new one!

Yes and he's better than me at it, though perhaps prone to buying too many 'bargains'.

DH is a good shopper and always comes back with good quality fruit and vegetables.
I never buy dishwasher tablets or cleaning materials unless they are on offer, I do buy the best stuff but bulk buy when they are reasonable.
When it comes to fresh produce, both DH and I, buy the best quality and never query the price. DH has had to do a lot of shopping lately and I know I can rely on him to get exactly what we need.

Lucky, lucky me! My DH does the shopping - and the cooking - and has done since we got wed thirty years ago. He's much better at it than me, he's a more adventurous cook too and can conjure up a really nice, tasty meal out of what seems to be thin air. His roast potatoes are to die for, as are his honey roasted parsnips. His lasagnes are always creamy and he can make an ordinary salad seem exciting. If I go shopping with him I tend to get bored because it takes him ages, comparing prices and products. If we are in a big supermarket I go off and play amongst the non foody sections and then find him again when I've finished. No wonder I'm shaped like a Rubens' nude! My DD used to phone him regularly for recipe advice when she first set up her own home, but nowadays she can almost beat him at his own game. Chip off the old block, it seems

Mine is better economy wise if he goes alone just gets what we need I tend to greet tempted with offers and new products we still have too much stock ?

I don't see why it's sexist maryhoffman. If this were a forum mainly populated by men, I'm sure they would cite a few examples of women overspending - my SIL being one of them! She will ONLY buy brands, the more expensive the better.

DBH always did a Saturday top-up shop, and was pretty good at spotting bargains, but would then buy the weirdest and most expensive beers he could find, and all sorts of expensive little snacks.

However, he has been at home for some months (ill) and my careful budgeting, as we have less income, has gone out of the window. It's driving me mad, I have to explain exactly why I choose what I do. As I have always been really careful to buy for quality rather than brand, it's galling having to go through the precise meat and fat contents of various sausages every week because he doesn't believe me at first, and seeing him come home with teeny pots of expensive olives that he considers a tasty nibble between meals, rather than having them as an extra with salads and meats. We have veg growing in the garden, but he will go out and buy leeks rather than pick what we have. I have had to explain, as if to a child, that if he eats two of a (bought) cake in one day, there won't be a replacement, he will have to go without one day, until the next shop, as if he is a child.

This isn't sexist, it's just what happens when one person has always realised they have to stick to a budget, and the other person hasn't.