Shopping-Monthly vs Weekly or daily (merged)

rachbc

I used to shop monthly online and top up but now I'm shopping mostly at aldi I go weekly. I occassionally make a foray into a supermarket to get mark downs or do an ocado order of bits when they send me a 25% off voucher. I also go to B&M once a week to keep and eye on stuff to stock up

quintwins

at the moment i'm trying to shop monthly online then do small top up shops, all pretty much all veg can be frozen but it's milk and fruit i struggle with oh doesn't want me to freeze milk so i have to buy it fresh, altho i can usually get a week out of it but we use alot of fruit having 3 small kids and i find tinned fruit expensive so i always seem to be buying fruit

CH27

I_luv_cats wrote: »

When I see bulk items on offer I'll buy a few so no two months are the same. I might have a year of toothpaste, 3 months of loo paper, 6 months of washing powder, 14 months of cat food, 2 months of wul, year of shower gel and so on!

Snap!
I've got a year's supply of Persil at the moment:D

imogen-p

I do one online shop every four weeks (because that's when pay day is and I don't have a car any more) for canned, dried, frozen or longlife things, like beans, pasta, rice, soya milk etc. Then once a week I go to the market to get meat, fruit and veg. Meal plans to use the fruit and veg that goes off fastest get used on the first couple of days, then other longer keeping fruit and veg later in week, like squash, potatos, leeks and apples.

I also go to the corner shop for extra milk and bread in the week. I've found the best way of not coming back with stuff I don't need from the corner shop is to only take just enough money for what I need to get with me.

Amishwannabee

We shop weekly and usually OH does this on Sunday morning first thing armed with a list and told not to indulge - but he sometimes does!
I remember someone once telling me that she and her husband used to shop a day later each week eg. first week Monday, second week Tuesday and so on and that way they eventually made up for the extra week that comes along every quarter when you are paid monthly on the same date! Never tried it though and wonder if anyone else has?

Pink.

Hi vgstar,

I prefer to shop weekly. I meal plan first of all from cupboards and freezer and just pick up fresh things that we need.

We have an existing thread on this topic that should help so I've added your thread to it to keep all the advice in one place.

Pink

silli_gilli

I do a big shop, monthly, and then top up shops of milk and fruit weekly.

In Home Bargains (and most pound shops) you can pick up 'green bags' (not sure of the realy name) but you get ten in a pack and they are reusable. You can put salad items and fruit in them in the fridge and they will last longer. I've had a lettuce in a bag for nearly three weeks now and using it as I need it, still not got a bit of brown on it. Also, keeps my blueberries from going off. Which is a godsend because they are so expensive - but the kids love them!

xx

[Deleted User]

I have a piece of cardboard (usually cut from the back of old Christmas card) I waste nothing :) sitting by my kettle in the kitchen and as I write down what I need when I have more than say 6-8 things on there I will go to the shops I have been using the system of only buying what I need -i.e. run out of - for the past few months and have cut my food bill right down True there is only me to feed but I listed all my stores in the cupboards and freezer and realised I had far too much money tied up in my stocks ,so buy only getting whats really needed as opposed to buying on 'auotopilot' in the supermarket I have managed to almost halve my food budget.Fresh milk has to be bought at least once a week but I can get a £1.00 4 pinter from Icelands and that lasts me at least a week if not longer.Bread when I buy it I divide into portions of four slices which are then wrapped in cling film and frozen as at most I would only eat two slices a day sometimes not even that if I have cereal for breakfast.I do shop for fresh fruit and veg but only if I have run out of the stuff I have .At the moment I have 4 baking potatoes in the veg box plus some parsnips and carrots in the fridge
I have half a dozen mushrooms and quite a few tomatoes,radishes, a cucumber and a lettuce so I really don't need any veg this week.In my conservatory (which is cool I have three apples a dozen oranges 6 pears and 5 bananas so fruit is ok for the rest of the week.So apart from 4 R50 light bulbs I have nothing else on my shopping list at the moment The light bulbs can wait until next week so I won't be going near a shop until at least tuesday of next week.What I have left over at the end of the month goes straight into my holiday fund for spending money for our family holiday in August.My system works fine for me but I could see that for a family it wouldn't be so good.

vgstar44

Thanks for all your replies!!! I think i was stressing myself out that shopping weekly would be somehow causing me to spend more money but it seems i could be causing myself to buy things we dont need. Like a previous poster said im sure it will be easy to stick to the weekly meal plans if i can change them every week rather than getting bored of things i planned weeks in advance.

I will stick to monthly buying the easily stored things like coffee and diluting juice when they are on offer ect.

Again thanks for all your replies its given me a few things to think of

grannigrunt

Just read the post from silli gilli regarding the green bags used to store veg. I used to buy these from Lakeland but have run out. They are re-usable but mine have used all of their lives up! Didn't realise home bargains sold them. Thanks for the tip off.:T