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

Odysseus

I really want to know where some people shop and what they eat that means they only spend £200 a month on shopping.   

I agree with those comments about sharing and partners though as we have always shared right from when we first got together.   But I would point out that we do not know where the OP works and if it is the City of London for instance then lunches would not be cheap.  

The OP does seem to have gone very quiet though. 

hairywalrus

GrumpyDil said:

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. 

Any flat rate allowance like this is going to be taxed as additional income i.e. in the same way as a bonus or pay rise.  So it's essentially part of your remuneration package and you can do you what you like with it.

If the OP had a company car, presumably they would question whether their partner is allowed to travel in it as a passenger...

74jax

Bonnypitlad said:

Get a life!
of course all these moral dilemmas are hypothetical, dreamed up for a laugh after a particularly long liquid lunch at MSE Towers ( I hope no one really thinks they have this dilemma )

These dilemmas are actually put forward... There's been times when the person who submitted it, has come on the thread to answer questions. 
One admitted putting a dilemma forward to get a 'MSE Dilemma Badge' and didn't think it would blow up as much.....  🙄 

SStitanic

skip lunch and save it secretly to surprise the person you love with a holiday. isnt that what love is about or dont you love them. 

Pollycat

74jax said:

£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. 

I agree.
I think it's a slap in the face for all those people struggling to feed their families on less than this 'perk' per month.
Those people who will need to choose between eat or heat this winter.

Like this woman who cashed in her NHS pension to pay bills:
Mum ditched NHS pension to pay soaring bills and then died leaving kids nothing - Nottinghamshire Live (nottinghampost.com)

She had become so desperate in her battle to keep up with rocketing bills that she decided she had no option but to cash in her pension to protect her two teenage daughters and make sure they had new school uniforms. But now they have been left with no inheritance.

She received just £210 back from her £382 contributions.

Sort of puts things into perspective, doesn't it.
I'd call that a real dilemma.

Pollycat

gerrag said:

Playing Devil's advocate here....but is anyone wondering why we have yet to hear back from the OP???
OP......where are you??????

There isn't an OP as such.

As the first post says:

MSE_Kelvin said:

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?

Unfortunately the MSE team can't answer Money Moral Dilemma questions as contributions are emailed in or suggested in person. They are intended to be a point of debate and discussed at face value. Remember that behind each dilemma there is a real person so, as the forum rules say, please keep it kind and keep it clean.

So you'll never hear back from the 'OP'.

However, as 74jax says up-thread:

74jax said:

These dilemmas are actually put forward... There's been times when the person who submitted it, has come on the thread to answer questions. 
One admitted putting a dilemma forward to get a 'MSE Dilemma Badge' and didn't think it would blow up as much.....  🙄 

I recall one 'dilemma author' coming back after a rather heated discussion to post the full dilemma he submitted to MSE.
It had been cut so short by MSE that all the questions etc were actually in the original post.
The author of that dilemma admitted he'd have been better to post in full on the board under his user name for relevant advice instead of making it a 'MSE dilemma' with minimal information.

r-dubz

I'd call that a real dilemma

Agree. But this section is for moral dilemmas.

Pollycat

Odysseus said:

I really want to know where some people shop and what they eat that means they only spend £200 a month on shopping.   

I agree with those comments about sharing and partners though as we have always shared right from when we first got together.   But I would point out that we do not know where the OP works and if it is the City of London for instance then lunches would not be cheap.  

The OP does seem to have gone very quiet though. 

Take a look at this board.
Old style MoneySaving — MoneySavingExpert Forum
Full of money-saving threads from cheap cleaning to 'rubber chicken'.
Some people don't have a choice about how big (or rather 'small') their food budget is.

As it says:

Some classic, simple ways to save money: thrifting, spending challenges, charity shopping, meal planning and more.

Shower-of-roses

Your job, your perk. If my partner had that perk, I would expect them to use it!  However, if we were really struggling to pay the food bill and were starving, I would hope they’d offer to share.

TripleH

Buy items to make your lunch at home. Spend the rest on food for a food bank.