Is your kitchen full of food all the time?

I like a full fridge. I grew up on the edge of what's now called food poverty, so I stress massively about not having enough. Plus we've had lockdowns, illnesses when we couldn't shop, sick kids we couldn't leave to go shop, and I like a choice!

Bi-monthly delivery?

We have two a week!

I really relate to the posters with over stuffed cupboards and freezers, I too hoard food to an extent that we could easily go 3 months without shopping if not more. I experienced food scarcity when I left home and moved in with DH we lived on £42 a week and often went hungry and I'm always scared it will happen again despite it having been a good 20 years since we or the kids went hungry.

Yes. I meal plan and snack plan and always have extras. Our cupboards, fridge and freezer are always stocked. We always had bare cupboards growing up so I probably stock up more than we need. Our only options were bread from the freezer (plain) and UHT milk for tea. Our kids are bottomless pits for snacks (healthy weight before anyone asks). So I always like to have fruit, sandwich options etc when they are hungry.

Yes cupboards and fridge full x

I dislike not being able to get something. Tesco has had various shortages over the years. If I have one or more spare it gives me a buffer of time for the thing I want to come back into stock.

Some things I can't get from Tesco so I keep more of them e.g. my preferred self raising flour. You never know when you might need an emergency cake.

I also like being able to host spontaneously.

I shop in bulk. I grew up in poverty with bare cupboards and I genuinely feel ill when things run down. Plus I love to cook.

Chest freezer and kitchen freezer are always full - mostly frozen veg and portioned out meat (IE I'll buy a pack of 6 chicken breasts and pop them in separate freezer bags).

I batch cook so there are always 2 out of the 4 portion meals in tubs in the freezers too. I've just bought some freezer soup containers.

Full sized larder cupboard is full of ingredients - tomatoes, legumes, pasta, sauces etc. Plus stock of condiments, jam, peanut butter, tea, sugar, baking stuff etc.

I have a full door sized herb/spice rack.

And a utility room with spares x4 minimum of all bathroom/cleaning/toilet paper/shampoo type stuff. Minimum 3 months worth of dog/cat wet and dried food, litter etc.

Fridge usually only has veg, condiments, cheese, butter etc plus whatever is defrosting for the next day. And a big fridge shelf water filter thing.

I do a bulk shop every 3 months or so, lots of BOGOF and I swear the poor Tesco delivery man cries when he sees my order.

If I didn't need any fresh fruit, veg, butter etc I could probably feed myself and the animals for at least 4 months.

I would find having empty shelves very stressful. I like having plenty of backup food. I don’t know why as I’ve never gone without.
If I had the energy and my DH wouldn’t think I was nuts I’d be a prepper I think.

My mum was like you , but busy which meant no tops ups so after a couple of days no milk for cereal no bread etc. she had grown up with a post war mum who kept the cupboards rammed, spare deep freezer and a hall cupboard with tins.

I couldn’t get the balance right, DH thinks I’m nuts and if run out of something we buy more the next time. If we have too much we work out how to use it up and then find the balance. He’s obsessed with having bread though.

I wouldn’t say we’re overflowing but enough we can chose a different meal or if schools close (which happens due to weather reasonably often here) I don’t need to rush out for extra food. Another question is why do teens eat a set amount when their in school but turn into locusts when their at home all day?

Cupboards and freezer always full, fridge varies
Freezer has soup, pasta bake, cottage pie, meatballs with onion gravy all frozen into portions

There's always eggs, cheese, milk, butter and some form of bread

While I do meal plan, i tend to have staples that are always in and that I replenish as soon as they get low. so, for example, if I'm meal planning and we're having spaghetti bolognaise - I'll buy in the meat but will assume I have all the other ingredients as they're staples - onions, carrots, tinned tomatos, herbs, stock, wine, lentils etc.

For me this gives me the flexibility I like even within meal planning.

We also eat quite a lot of different foods so my cupboards and fridge have a lot of different condiments, herbs, spices, oils, pastas, tins, rices etc. so theoretically, in addition to meal planning, I could dprobably feed us for quite a long time with what's just available.

I’m a careful planner fridge-wise. I know what meals we’re having each day of week and shop accordingly in the weekly supermarket visit. I always pick up cupboard stuff (pasta, rice, tinned stuff, cereals, etc.) whether it’s running low or not so there’s always enough. Plus containers of leftovers in the fridge which never seem to bloody get eaten.

Food cupboards are full, both freezers also full
I shop weekly for fresh stuff so full at start of week nearly empty now as need to go again

I’m intrigued- those of you who say you are always fully stocked- how do you keep track? How do you prevent waste? How do you know what you need to buy and what’s in stock? I shop twice a week and pre shop day we are down to the last few bits. There will be cereal/pasta etc but all tins used, fridge just has condiments and a carrot left. I appreciate in a siege I’m stuffed!

Never have absolutely nothing in but yeah by the end of the month we are often on tinned soup and bags of dry pasta!! Usually always have potatoes, flour, eggs and butter. Tinned tomatoes, bread and porridge.

Anything pricy like packaged snacks or fresh seafood or berries.. will be gone by week 2 and we will be back to strict budget food!

Big shop once a week that fills the cupboards and fridge. Towards the end of the week it will start to look a little bare although meals are planned and there is enough.

I hanker for the market town/ village life that my parents lived. A supermarket shop monthly for dried goods etc, but meat and veg etc bought every other day from the butcher, bakery, greengrocers. Our diet growing up was much more ethical and seasonal without even intending to be.

Pretty much full with loads of stuff that I can make meals quickly. Eg this morning I made a quick vegan chili before work with stuff that I already had in without thinking too much, ie. chick peas and kidney beans, onions, spices and stock cube and puree. I could have made about 7 or 8 maybe more different meals with what I have in and I haven't done a big shop in a few weeks.

Food cupboard is always full, main delivery once a month. I have two baskets of "packets", then trays with two of each beans/toms/jars/soups, then jars kept full with baking items and dried items, six plastic boxes for cereal that always get topped up. I sound like a cross between Stacey Solomon and a prepper!

I have a freezer delivery once a month so depends when you're there.

Then I top up bread/milk/fruit/meats when needed as our "corner shop" is a little (but normal priced) asda.

There was always lots of food in growing up … but the good food and things like juices, branded goods, nice breads, treats and ham not made of plastic were for my mum only. We had basics and were strictly rationed. Food that children and husbands had were seen as wasted.

Glad it’s not just me! I think I feel wasteful or extravagant… even though I barely waste
anything.

We meal plan and pride ourselves in having very little waste and finding recipes to use what we have. I’m not sure how that would work with a perma-packed fridge.

its not a financial thing. It’s an aversion to waste thing. Having a fridge full of perishable food at all times must lead to waste, surely.

I’ve just had a quick google about food waste in the uk. Genuinely shocking:

The average UK household wastes about 3.2 kilograms of food each week, which is the equivalent of eight meals. This is a waste of money and contributes to climate change.

Explanation
The majority of food wasted in the UK is edible.

Food waste is responsible for nearly 25 million tonnes of CO2 emissions each year.

The cost of food waste to households in 2021/22 was £17 billion.

The biggest sources of household food waste are bread, potatoes, milk, leftovers, drinks, pork, poultry, carrots, and chips.

41% of food waste is thrown away because it wasn't used in time.

28% is thrown away because of personal preferences.

25% is unwanted leftovers.

I do the weekly food shop on a Friday and just buy wht we need. So by Thursday night the fridge is pretty bare.
Whenever I go to my daughter's house ths fridge is absolutely jam packed. It's like that all the time. I don't know how she ever finds anything.

I’m a Northern woman. We are never knowingly under catered!

In laws are from Oxfordshire. Oh dear.

I stock my kitchen as if I am expecting a siege, if I had to I could live off the contents of my cupboards for weeks. I'd get a bit bored of beans and pulses though. My parents house was the same, and although I thought it was all down to Mum, Dad keeps a good supply of tinned goods these days. Surprisingly, my daughter barely keeps enough for the next meal, though now she does have a small stock of pasta and sauce and might survive a couple of days away from the shops.

Grew up in a big family and never lost the mentality of cooking for a crowd! I get great comfort knowing my freezers and cupboards are stocked. However I am trying to eat it down a bit and not keep such a large amount stored as I realise now it’s not necessary.

My cupboards are always full of ambient foods (pasta, rice, tins etc etc). Freezer is packed with frozen fruit/veg, meat, homemade meals.

But my fridge I keep it at what we need and what we'll eat in a reasonable timeframe. I don't like throwing food away.