Real-life MMD: Should I secretly switch my husband's Shreddies to save cash?

A question about : Real-life MMD: Should I secretly switch my husband's Shreddies to save cash?

Money Moral Dilemma: Should I secretly switch my husband's Shreddies to save cash?

We're trying to cut back, so have been doing Martin’s Downshift Challenge. When my husband refused to eat own-brand Shreddies because he knew he didn't like them, I switched the bags inside the boxes and wasn't surprised to find he didn't notice. I was planning a big reveal to show it's just brand snobbery, but I know he'll feel duped and refuse them on principle. Should I keep fooling him to save cash?

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Best answers:

• ask him to do a blind test and pick the one he likes better stick the brand on the bottom of each one and then go with the one he likes the better in the blind test if he picks the expensive ones just switch them anyway
• Is it really worth saving the extra pound or so for the arguments it could cause? I think it's a bit unfair to deny him this if it's something he enjoys.
  Are there areas in your life you could save the same amount? Maybe show him what you're willing to scrimp on yourself so he knows you're making sacrifices too!
• IMO he's just being a brand snob. If he can't tell the difference and telling him would cause an argument, then just keep doing what you're doing. If at any point he mentions that he's going off them because they don't taste the same then just switch them back.
• I would just carry on giving him the unbranded ones. Why pay more when he's none the wiser?
• Why not try it the other way around?
  Put Shreddies inside an own-brand box and implore him to try them "Just once, dear?".
  If he still says he doesn't like them, you can expose them as the "real thing" and see his reaction!!
  If he says "They're OK", you've won! Buy the own-brand thereafter.
  (PS I like Shreddies, but I find the own-brands perfectly acceptable. If Shreddies are on offer, I buy them; otherwise I buy the store brand.)
• Seems very strange to deliberately give your loved one something he said he doesn't like.
  Also seems strange to deliberately deceive a loved one.
  No wonder the divorce rate is so high.
• Personally, I'm wondering if you have thought about the poor grannies that knit Shreddies?! It's more as they pay them a bit better for all the knitting that they do.
• Similar thing happened with my dad who sounds exactly like the OP's husband. My mum's stopped drinking coffee but had some Coffee Mate left. I made him a cup of tea the other day using Coffee Mate instead of milk. He never noticed. Afterwards I told him mum wanted him to use the Coffee Mate up when he had tea. He refused on principle saying it wouldn't taste the same. Told him he'd already drunk it without noticing and he still refuses to use it up.
  To the OP, I'd say continue swapping the bags.
• Wow... I don't normally reply to things like this... I would never recommend lying to a loved one, however, if you're really that worried about his reaction... Perhaps it's best to keep this one under your hat. Or tell him he can do the shopping!!
  I would expect a five year old to feel cheated and sad, but not a fully grown man.....
• Keep up the swapping. Don't feel guilty, you're trying to save your family money, he should be being supportive in that as well. If he can't even 'try' the own brand to see if he likes them for you, then you've done all you can. I do things like this often with my brand snob and food paranoid husband. I've tried to make a joke and do a grand review once or twice, but it's ended in arguments so now I just quietly get on with it, and reap the much needed savings for the bills.
• i think keep swapping, especially as Mr A sells their own brand 750g boxes 3 for Ј3 bargain. If saves a few pennies then that is good for me.
• Keep swapping and dont tell. Just buy the occasional new box when on offer. If you tell him he will say 'I thought they tasted different' (!!)
• If he is daft enough to not even knowingly try them, then he doesn't deserve to know. Keep treating him like the fool he is.
  p.s. I really don't know, but it's just possible that they are made in the same factory to almost the same recipe.
• My ex wife worked in the factory where Shreddies are made... three days a week, it was Shreddies... four days a week, it was own brands... same ingredients, same factory, same staff, slightly different moulds etc... just like digestive biscuits and Jaffa cakes... an awful lot of the own brands are made in the McVities' factory in Ashby de la Zouch....
• How old is your husband?!
  Let him to do the shopping and budget everything then if he's not happy with what you buy.
  Problem solved.
• Not good. Grasping at straws comes to mind. If this is the last thing you can save money on there really is no hope for you.
  Very entertaining, reading all the above delightful schemes. But you wouldn't like him to muscle in with the same trick on your make-up. Let the guy come round to it in his own time.