How often do you shop?

applepad

I seem to be grocery shopping everyday, popping in to differant supermarkets everyday.

I am a SAHM but my children are in full time school, but due to disability I am unable to work. Think I am shopping for something to do.

My cupboards and freezer are quite full, and we never get to the stage that there's nothing in

On the plus side I do tend to pick up stuff that's on offer or cheaper at a particular supermarket, ie frozen salmon is 49p cheaper in Lidl than Aldi.

I was shopping on. fri for meat and veg for the weekend and then on a Mon for rest of week.

Just wondering how often u all shopped, and if only once a week which day?

I am hoping to join the gym in a few weeks, if will get me out of the house and give me something to fill me days

Sambucus_Nigra

Once a week we shop. Twice a year I go through all the cupboards and try to reduce our stocks and once a year we do the freezer too. Mainly ready for the next batch of peas and broad beans that we will be picking from the plot as all excess is frozen.

mummyroysof3

i have a delivery from tesco on a saturday then just get bread inbetween and anything thats cheaper in heron.

this week i had a 2 smaller deliveries and overspent by £10..must do better next week i think

Ilona

Single person, three cats household. Big shop once every two weeks, at night for the yellow stickers. Calling it a big shop though is a joke, I buy far less than most people, trolley usually full of fresh veg and some dairy and bread.

Also a trip to town once every ten days, pick up bargains from the discount stores, Home Bargains, B & M, market etc. Most of the time I can't be bothered to go shopping so I use up whatever I have in, tins, packets, freezer etc.
Ilona

valk_scot

I'm a SAHM with school age kids too. I go to Tesco twice a week at Whoopsie time as I've got an hour to kill then while DD is at swimming club. I don't buy anothing other than Whoopsies and milk though, unless I've got good coupons or there's a good offer on that I need. I go to Lidl once a week for the main shop, and for extra milk I go to our local corner shop. I do go to other shops once in a while, like the butcher once a month and the greengrocer once a week. The greengrocer is next to B&N so I'll check in there for any good deals that I need.

Every two or three months though I have a no food buying week. (Except for milk.) I go through the fridge, freezer and cupboards and bring anything that needs used up to the top or front, then write my menu plan for the week to use these items up. The kids like these weeks as there can be some "interesting" combinations! It means I've got a week of food money in hand to use on real, needed bargains and it keeps the food stocks turning over.

I don't actually think there's anything wrong with shopping several times a week btw, if you have the time and they're all close enough not to waste petrol. It means you can go to the shops that offer the best value and hunt down the best bargains. The danger though lies in all the tempting extra bits that you might buy. If you're the kind of person that can walk out the shop with only the six tins of whatever at 90% off that you came for and you know you need it and will use it then fine, lots of shopping trips are good. If every time you go into a shop you buy an extra fiver's worth of things you don't need then you'll save money by only shopping once a week.

Mumof2_2

I meal plan and go shopping once a week although I may well end up buying more milk/eggs/bread whilst out and about if we get low.

cutestkids

Where I live there is only a Morrisons and a Co-Op so I have to travel to a larger town to stock up.

Usually once a month I will go and will stock up at Lidl with things like pasta, tinned tomatoes, kidney beans, cereal, bread, cat food, rice, teabags, coffee, cheese, butter, yogurt basically anything that will be used regularly over the following month, I make sure that I buy plenty so that I do not run out of these.
I also get fruit and veg when I am in Lidl to do about a week, although I do buy the large sack of onions and potatoes as this lasts a month.

When I am in the larger town I stock up on any cleaning products I need and things like toilet roll again I know how much I need for the month so I buy in bulk.

I also get any other items that I need like clothing school supplies etc on this day as my home town has very few shops that sell these kind of things.

I try to buy meat in bulk and freeze it and will go to the butchers or Morrisons for this.

Once a week on a Friday I will go to morrisons and buy fresh fruit and veg and milk and things like cold meat and dips etc.

Again I will buy three large cartons of milk which will do us a full week my aim is to not visit the shops for food more than once a week.

I have the advantage of having a chest freezer and a large fridge freezer so I can buy enough bread, meat etc to do us the entire month.

I save a fortune by doing this as I was going every few days and spending £15- £20 on things I did not really need.

applepad

I have looked at online shopping but it seems much more expensive than my local Aldi were I do most of my shopping.

We are 2 adults, 2 boys aged 11 and 13 who both take a packed lunch and 1 cat.

Think I might do a freezer challenge , it's only small and although full does not seem to have a meal in it.

My husband and boys eat meat, but I don't only fish, so sometimes we do end up eating differently.

Seem to have loads of tinned stuff.

Like the idea of having a week of non spends, we have a milk man and I have uht soya milk. Bread is HM or frozen, so think it could be do able.

Thank you all for such great replies

Pitlanepiglet

I'm a bulk buyer, we live remotely so I tend to do a big shop about once every four or six weeks. We make our own bread so that's not a problem, we make our own soya milk from beans and we get milk from the milkman for the milk drinker in the house.

On top of that I bulk buy meat and I bulk buy bog roll and the like from Costco about once ever two or three months depending on when I'm passing.

That just leaves one very quick trip a week to the Asda near to work to buy fruit for the week and that's about it.

We tend to have a period of eating through freezers and cupboards - we've been doing it for four weeks now and the freezer still doesn't look any better for it!

Popperwell

I tend to shop(or be in shops)because I live near the few we have on my town and I probably should spend less but it gets you out of the house even for an hour.

But really I only go into approx 3-4 shops. Tesco's, Aldi's, Heron's and Wilkinson.

And what I buy is basic items(Bread, milk, eggs, fruit and veg)and items that have been put on offer or yellow stickered. To visit other stores I would have to travel and though a change of scenery is nice you add money by using a bus that could be saved or used towards extra food etc...

And though most of what I have is second hand/old (PC's/furniture/beds etc...)charity clothes, I manage and there is nothing that I feel I need to buy especially just for the sake of it.

So online or high street shops do not much out of me at all.

Many shops I have no reason to even go inside.

maman

applepad wrote: »

I have looked at online shopping but it seems much more expensive than my local Aldi were I do most of my shopping.

We are 2 adults, 2 boys aged 11 and 13 who both take a packed lunch and 1 cat.

Think I might do a freezer challenge , it's only small and although full does not seem to have a meal in it.

My husband and boys eat meat, but I don't only fish, so sometimes we do end up eating differently.

Seem to have loads of tinned stuff.

Like the idea of having a week of non spends, we have a milk man and I have uht soya milk. Bread is HM or frozen, so think it could be do able.

Thank you all for such great replies

You don't really say whether you need to save money or whether it's just because you need to fill your days or a bit of both.

I'd agree that you should go to shops as rarely as possible unless you have good willpower and can only buy what you really need. Too many people fritter money away with so called 'top-up' shopping.

What I do is 'shop' from my freezers/fridge/storecupboard and put together a plan for the week's meals buying the minimum of extra ingredients although I will buy non-perishable bargains if I see them (for my stores) so that I pay full price for as little as possible. I shop in Aldi and then Sainsbury's (closest together in my area) as without wasting diesel that's the best value.