once a month grocery shop

jetcat

i am trying to start the new year on a much more stable financial setting, and a friend has suggested i change to doing a big online shop every 4 weeks, and then simply top up with fruit and veg each week or as needed.

This is because i dont have a car at the moment, and am struggling to do regular small shops. Is a big shop possible?? I am sure i have read on here that some of you do this, and i would appreicate any comments/suggestions? I suppose i would need to know if it works out cheaper? I am guessing that meal planning is needed - although would this be flexible - as some days are better than others and i wouldnt be able to gurantee being able to cook a meal from scratch on a certain night:o

I have the room for a chest freezer, and i have a lovely big walk in larder in the kitchen, so storage shouldnt be a problem.

any thoughts? and thanks

demonicangel

I do a monthly shop for everything apart from 2-3 weeks fruit, veg and lunch bits.

Works well for us, if I was to do it weekly, Id spend more, infact Ive tried doing a weekly/fortnightly shop this month which has not worked!

Once you know what you will use in a month, its so easy to do

AprilLady

I've started doing a lot more meal planning and try to go to the supermarket less often - my flatmate has a car so I go for a big shop with her every 2 weeks or so, and just top up on fresh stuff about once a week. I definitely think it's helped me save money and waste less food, and as I've planned various meals to make I'm probably eating a lot better too as there's not so much raiding the cupboards not knowing what to make and eating random combinations of things!

I also make a lot of stuff in bulk, so if you have plenty of freezer space I'd recommend doing that - it's great when you don't have time to cook from scratch some days and you can just grab something from the freezer and heat it up, but it's still homemade.

Stock up on tinned tomatoes, they can be used in so many different meals!

jetcat

thanks for that - will bear in mind the tinned tomatoes:beer: Are there any other staples i should bulk buy at the start? Food cupboard is pretty bare at the moment, so will probably need to start from scratch

can i ask, roughly how many different meals should i plan for over the 4 weeks, as if i do a spag bol, i can freeze some for later, but dont want to become boring and have the same thing over and over!

Little_Vics

We do a big shop once a month and get it delivered. We tend to stock up on storecupboard stuff that we can throw together to make different meals - pasta, rice, potatoes, passata, herbs & spices, frozen veg, tinned fruit, various cuts of meat.

We started by keeping a food diary of what we ate for a month, then used that as a base. For example, mince/toms/etc can be used for spag bol, chilli, nachos etc. There's always rubber chicken too!

It's been good for us - for the 2 of us we tend to spend £50 on a big shop, then £8-10 a week on fresh stuff.

Pitlanepiglet

I do a big shop online, usually once every 4 or 5 weeks. It works well for us and after a while you get a good feel for what you need. My suggestion would be that you try to work with a month's stock "in hand" if you have space. That way if something doesn't get delivered you haven't got to go and get it elsewhere. It also gives you a buffer if your finances go off the rails for a month.

I also batch cook so that there are always the building blocks of meals in the freezer, so portions of spag bol, chilli, stew etc as well as chicken portions, fish portions etc. that can just be bunged in the oven - it tends to avoid the "I don't know what to eat" takeaway or supermarket trips!

foxgloves

We didn't find a monthly shop very successful when we tried it but to be honest, we weren't really thinking ahead enough in terms of meal plans so we are wanting to try it again after Christmas and just get fresh stuff like fruit & veg from the local market weekly, plus milk, etc. Every so often (about 4 times a year) we've started also doing a big storecupboard stock-up at Lidl......tins of beans, tomatoes, pulses, sweetcorn, olive oil, cat food, etc, etc, and we're finding that saves us a fair bit. I'm sure a monthly shop could work well with good meal planning.

csarina

I have been shopping once a month for years.....do my menu list, not set in stone shift it around to suit how we feel.....and then go through the freezer and cross off anything we still have in the freezer. For instance when I did a freezer audit I found 12 links of sausage, so did not buy any this time. I take stuff out the packets and put it in bags, also portion it, so for the two of us 4 sausages in a bag. The bags get washed out with hot water and dried to be used again.

I do still shop in store most of the time, but I can see the day fast approaching when we will have to give up the car, then I will be shopping on line. I buy long life skimmed milk in cartons which is cheaper than fresh milk, mind you if you have children they should be having full cream milk. I have always got some in stock 'just in case'......

Tesco is our nearest supermarket, just a mile up the road, but I do not like their fruit and veg, so either shop on the market or at Aldi, some of their 6 of the best offers are very good.

Penelope_Penguin

I usually do a big online shop of dried goods, toiletries, cleaning products. I then do top-up shops for dairy, meat, fruit and veg.

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andrinaperry

I would suggest you do a stock take, very boring i know, but very enlighting see what you have already, then do a meal plan maybe for two weeks and repeat it.

Have a look on Old Style lots of great suggesions on there.

If you do the ground work it is a great plan to shop once a month it may take a couple of goes to get into the swing so dont be too harsh on yourself

Andrina

andrinaperry

I also freeze milk and bread so i have enough to last me a month too.