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AIBU?

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Original poster

Do you keep a lot of food in stock at all times?

158 replies

IsThisCluttered · 14/09/2024 12:28

I'm an over shopper, I recognise that. We ALWAYS have food in the fridge, freezer & pantry.

I have an enormous range of herbs & spices & condiments & we use them all v regularly as we cook a lot & often make more complex dishes.

We pretty much always have stuff that could make a meal or several meals if anything happened & we couldn't get to the shops.

I have a lot of things like various types of rice, pasta, flours, sugars, tinned tomatoes & many types of beans & pulses.

I was in a friend's house recently & was a bit surprised how little food she had in her cupboard & fridge. It was spartan. She said she strictly only buys what's needed that week & by the end of the week the supplies are gone & the frudhd is literally empty.

I get that we're all different but I feel anxious when we start to run low (which would still mean there's a lot of food to someone else) & having a full fridge gives me a sense of calm & peace.

I did not grow up with a shortage of food so don't know why this is.

I'm curious how other people manage this?

OP posts:
mynameiscalypso · 14/09/2024 12:49

I would have thought that the majority of people are more like you than your friend (obvious caveat aside that many people can't afford to build up stocks in the first place) especially if they cook a lot.

Tigerbreadbum · 14/09/2024 12:47

I’ve recently become more like you. We went through a period of having very little money and meant cupboards and fridge were sparse and no extras. It made me genuinely unhappy.
Now we get 2 deliveries a week, full stocked pantry of herbs/spices/grains/tins. Fridge and freezer never less than half full. It makes me feel safe and if anything ever happened we’d be ok for a while. It’s security to me.

RuthW · 14/09/2024 12:47

I always have at least a month worth of food in plus what we are eating that week.

TheKeatingFive · 14/09/2024 12:46

I'm exactly like this. Loads of stuff at home.

myonlinelife86 · 14/09/2024 12:44

I am exactly the same. I overspend dramatically... I always think we need a variation of meal available at all times and I hate meal planning because I never grew up with it and we always ate what we fancied on the day.
I wish I could spend less and be more routine but I find myself buying food almost daily

Serenity45 · 14/09/2024 12:38

Only DH and I at home, but freezer and cupboards generally well stocked (sound similar to you with lots of condiments / spices etc which get used regularly). We do buy lots of salad stuff, fresh meat and seafood, but the fridge is never stacked full as just the 2 of us and Ddog and we hate waste. We will also periodically run the freezer stock down to bare minimum so we don't end up with ancient 'bargains' languishing on the bottom shelf though. It's rare we waste anything but there's always loads of meal options even if we have forgotten to take something out of the freezer.

AnchorWHAT · 14/09/2024 12:38

I could actually have written the post i am exactly the same, i shop online with a delivery pass so can have deliveries as often as i like and some weeks if things start running down i order more a few days after my last delivery 😳 i think i am a compulsive shopper 😁

sunsetsandboardwalks · 14/09/2024 12:35

I do a shop once a week, but there's always enough in the cupboards and freezer to feed us for 3-4 days if needed, even if it's just tinned soup, beans and frozen stuff.

We got snowed in last winter for three days - all the roads in/out of town were impassable and the shops quickly ran dry. I was very grateful that we had a good stock of food in the house!