Grub.

[Jemisa]

My hubby will use the word 'GRUB' when referring to food, when its ready he shouts " GRUB UP," and if I'm going shopping he'll ask "You GRUB shopping"? or "The cat wants 'GRUB"

Where does this word come from? Do any ABers use it?

Jem.

[Quizmonster]

Amongst a whole raft of other meanings, grub has been used colloquially to mean food since the 1600s, so your husband is just part of a long, long line of users of such phrases as "Grub up!"

[Jemisa]

After I posted I decided to do some research and according to "World Wide Words"
it goes further back, to the 1300's.

Thankyou Quizmonster for your reply.

Jem.

[Quizmonster]

Yes, Jemisa, the WORD 'grub' goes back to the 1300s...as I said, it has "a whole raft of meanings" attached to it. My reference to the 1600s was in regard to its specific meaning as 'FOOD', which is what you asked about. But I'm glad you got the answer you wanted.

[jno]

my dictionary suggests (as WWW doesn't) that it may have come from birds eating grubs or larvae they've dug up. It comes from the German word graben, meaning to dig and connected with grave and groove.

[Quizmonster]

Here's a basic timeline of the word, grub, based on the earliest uses of it, as outlined by The Oxford English Dictionary...
Verb:
1300...to dig by mankind, as in someone farming, and from Old Teutonic
1647...to dig, as by animals searching for roots to eat
1725...to eat.
Noun:
1400...a dwarf
1420...an insect larva
1653...a literary hack
1659...food.
So, yes, it dates back to the 1300s, but it did not mean food (noun) for a further three-plus centuries. Of course, words may have been in use in SPEECH before they ever appeared in writing, but the fact remains that the only evidence for them is the evidence we possess in WRITING. Accordingly, I stick with my earlier responses above.