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ash asked in Food & DrinkCooking & Recipes · 2 years ago

why does it seem that men shop much differently than women?

I hate sending my son to the store, even with a list. It seems he can never get the same value out of a dollar that I do. He brings home different brands, or something completely unrelated to what was on the list, like if i send him for frozen broccoli at $1.59 a bag. he bought the steamer bag at $1.25 a bag, not realizing the steamer bag holds much less and you are paying for the bag.

Well, the other day, my boyfriend wanted me to cook dinner for him and asked me what to buy for this dinner he wanted. baked chicken leg quarters, scalloped potatoes and corn, and a frozen cream pie. I get to his house to cook the meal with my own seasonings from my cabinet at home. I went ahead and cooked the dinner and he loved it.Then tells me with a look of pride on his face that the meal for the two of us only cost him $25. I almost fell out of my chair. He thought that was a good deal. Turned out the canned corn he got was almost $3 for the can. The box of scalloped potato mix was also around $4. The pie alone was $9. So for the chicken leg quarters, it was $10 for three leg quarters. I was floored that he thought this was a good deal. We could have gone out to eat for that much. I took him to the store with me and showed him a 10 pound package of leg quarters for $7 that had 9 leg quarters in it. I showed him canned corn at 59 cents...and scalloped potatoes for 89 cents. Do men not see this when they shop?

Update:

Thank you Pontus for setting the record straight. I do know some women who are the same now that I think of it. I have tried to teach single mothers that microwave meals are not a great value and teach them to cook in ways that can save them money.

12 Answers

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  • Pontus
    Lv 7
    2 years ago
    Favourite answer

    This is not a male/female thing. There are men, like me, who understand such things, and women who do not.

    It's probably more a matter of who shops and cooks more often. I do the cooking in my house and do most of the shopping. I far from unique. Although men like me may still be in the minority, we are a growing a minority. I know several men, in and outside my family who also do the cooking and shopping for their families.

    Intelligence is also a factor. For some people, the relationship between price and quantity is obvious, but not for all. My father was fond of a telling a story about my mother from early in their marriage. He complained to my mother about the price of gas. My mother seriously responded that she didn't know what his problem was. All he had to do in order to spend less on gas was get a smaller gas tank! It took her a while to truly understand why that wouldn't work. Note that no one is intelligent in all areas. I'm not saying that your boyfriend or son are less intelligent than you at everything. They are undoubtedly smarter than you in some things.

    Please don't assume men are all alike.

  • ?
    Lv 7
    2 years ago

    They do. Women like to food shop on there day & time with there little shopping group so they can talk. It is the same with when they go to the river to do laundry they wish to be with there group. At there day & time. Have mercy on any man that blocks the door & won't let them go. When cloths shopping they only want your money not you with them. They wish to look at all try on all, shop at 3 or 4 stores, talk to the sales lady squander time away. If with them they ask what you like. But then never buy that. Men are much more direct shoppers. Have there list. Go to the store buy what is on the list then pick up a few extra things they like & seen. Same with cloths. They go to the store already have a good idea of what they will buy. They solo shop much more. Not in packs as women do. Do not waste time on small talk as much. If more than 1 together. Men are much more get the job done & move onto the next job. Were women like to talk about the job for a hour before doing anything.

  • 2 years ago

    How much experience do you have grocery shopping?

    How much experience does your son have grocery shopping? How much experience does your bf have grocery shopping?

    You're expecting men, who typically DON'T do the bulk of grocery shopping to have the same experience you do. They don't.

  • 2 years ago

    They’re not generally multitaskers, they’re hunters. They did what you’d asked: buy the ingredients.

  • 2 years ago

    Since every man I know can't shop for groceries and come home with what is expected and at a reasonable cost, it is easy to blame gender for it.

    So do what I do. Explain that cost is a factor, and to buy the cheapest unless told not to, or that it is obvious that it is not good.

    LOL. I even told him several times that if the package said "healthy" on it, it did not belong in this house. He still brings healthy cream of mushroom soup. \\it does not taste the same, and is watery.

    Men tend not to read the package, corn is corn, soup is soup. My house keeper [yes, he is a guy] came home with non-dairy mozzarella cheese-[yuck] and tried again and bought a touch of cream cheese mozzarella[expensive].

    Clear directions, if you can get them to put aside the ego and listen, and an explanation that there is no extra money available for $3 corn should help.

  • ?
    Lv 7
    2 years ago

    "Why does it seem that men shop much differently than women?"

    The reason it does seem that men shop differently from women, is many men have had little ithe way of actual experience in shopping for groceries. However this is not the case with all men. As a parent, you can help your son learn how to shop by taking him with you when buying groceries. He may hate it now, but later in life he'll likely be glad you did.

  • 2 years ago

    Your son has a lot less experience buying groceries than you. And a lot less experience cooking. And probably no experience of living within a budget with multiple things that money has to be spent on. Have you taught him how to grocery shop? Like, taken him to the store with a meal plan for the week, a list of what's needed to make those meals, and a limit on what can be spent?

  • ?
    Lv 7
    2 years ago

    rnaybe you shouldnt send hirn to the store if hes going to get sornething else

  • Anton
    Lv 6
    2 years ago

    A lot of men do shop, pick fresh vegetables.

    There are a lot of men, like the men in your life, that are smart enough to screw up on your shopping. They purposely mess up, you give up on them, you do the shopping while they get to watch TV.

  • 2 years ago

    Like another user said, all men aren't this clueless. But women do most of the shopping and are more price conscious than men on the whole. The man I live with will go to the store without a list, tra la la through the aisles picking up this and that, whatever he finds appealing at the moment, and then wonder why we're out of something we need a few days later. When I shop I make a list, get everything on it at the best price, and hope I don't have to make a trip back for at least 5 to 7 days.

    The only good thing about him shopping is that occasionally he'll find something he really likes and it becomes a regular part of our shopping.

  • Rick
    Lv 5
    2 years ago

    I'll probably take a lot of guff from the politically crew but so be it. My ex wife and I often had this same discussion. Men don't shop. Men buy. Women shop, then buy. I loved her dearly but wanted to kill her after trip three to store two to check EXACTLY how red their red sweater was.

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