Money Moral Dilemma: Should I use work perk towards household food shopping, or keep it for myself?

MSE_Kelvin

This week's MoneySaver who wants advice asks...

My partner and I have always split bills and rent based on our earnings, so he paid more when I earned less, though we now earn about the same. As a work perk, I get a prepaid card topped up with £200 a month as a 'lunch allowance', but I can spend it anywhere. Sometimes I use it to pick up food shops for us both, but it's got me wondering... should I keep it for my lunches, or should I do our food shops on it to make up for when my partner was paying more towards bills?

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74jax

£200 a month? For lunches only? That's not far off our entire food shopping for a month... 
As this is an MSE site, and due to the times we are all going through, I'm surprised this was the pick of all the Dilemmas this week.
To me, use it as the food budget.  Include lunches for you both, and other meals too. 

comeandgo

How does that sit with HMRC?  Don’t you need to get receipts?

GrumpyDil

comeandgo said:

How does that sit with HMRC?  Don’t you need to get receipts?

If course we'll never get an answer but in a similar vein my employer used to provide lunches but now pays us a daily allowance of 3.50 per day via the pay run which is subject to the usual deductions. 

Retireby40

You could do both. 

Pick up some things for home and pick up some lunches for yourself on it.

For example maybe Thursday/Fridays grab something out for lunch with it if you fancy picking up something on the go or if your work team go for lunch on a Friday or something pay with the card. 

The rest spend on household things that both you and your partner could enjoy. 

Liz100

I'd buy my lunches and anything left over at the end of the month I'd use it for the food shop

hannerrbabes

I'd love to know where you work!
I'd personally use it for the food shop as £200 is about what we spend per month, so it would be a big saving.
However, if you're like my husband (and can't pack a lunch as there's no adaquate refrigeration/storage in his line of work) then you'd use it to buy your lunches. 

sienew

Your money, your choice. You could buy some really good lunches. You could get a lot of the weekly food shop. You could do a mix of the two. Or you could blow it in on something else. There is no right or wrong answer here imo. You don't owe your partner anything so it's just down to your judgement on how you think it's best spent.

JamesyMac

Some of these ‘dilemmas’ really shock me. You shouldn’t have to even think about it.

Tim11111000111

Treat it as part of your income and do whatever you and your partner would do if it was just a straight rise.

crisbaxter

So when he earned more it was ok, but now you earn more you want to keep the extra!