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

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.

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.

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.

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

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.

"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.

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?

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

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.

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.

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.