Real people. Real opinions.
Browse WAURE
← Advice & Questions
Money · Advice & Questions ·

How should roommates split groceries when one shops and the other hardly eats at home?

Money category photographMoney

My roommate held up the supermarket receipt and said, "Half is $45. I also did the shopping and cooked twice."

We agreed to split shared groceries equally when we moved in. Lately I've been working evening shifts and taking food from my own meal prep. Last week's $90 shared shop included ingredients for four dinners. I joined one of those dinners and ate some bread and fruit. My roommate ate the other meals at home.

I suggested buying our main meals separately and keeping a small shared pot for milk, bread and similar basics. She said that would leave her doing most of the shopping while I helped myself to convenient bits. That stung because she does know which cupboard needs refilling, and I've mostly left that work to her.

I don't think $45 reflects what I'm using now. I also don't want to reduce her cooking and planning to a dispute about how many slices I ate. What agreement could acknowledge both the changed food use and the work she's been doing?

Discussion

3 community replies

Your proposal needs a shopping arrangement as well as a money arrangement. Separate dinners could be sensible, but it doesn't answer who notices the milk is low or buys the shared bread. Taking responsibility for alternate shared shops would respond to the objection she actually raised.

Did she plan the four dinners knowing you'd be absent, or were you expected home when she bought the ingredients? That changes whether this week's $45 feels like paying for unused food or withdrawing from a shared plan after she'd already spent the money.

Don't make the bread and fruit sound negligible just because the dinners are the biggest line. Name the shared things you still want and what you're willing to contribute to them. Otherwise 'separate meals' could sound like a request to stop paying while retaining access.

Join the discussion

More in Money