Does anybody food shop daily?

[Ragevibration]

Or am I bonkers? We do an online shop on a Ssturday to collect on Sunday for the week. Inevitably still end up going to the shops a couple of times in between for top ups.

Thing is, we seem to be wasting a lot. Things going out of day before we have realised (last week the whole 1kg of mince went out of date by the Tuesday) or us deciding we don't fancy any of the stuff we have bought for tea and either going to the shop for something else or ordering in.

In fed up of it. So I have suggested one of us (whichever one it is easiest for - usually DP to be fair as he finishes earlier than me) going to the shop every day to pick something up for tea and lunch the next day. No waste because we will only buy what we need to eat there and then and it'll always be something we're in the mood for.

OK yes it is a total Pita going to the shop every day but it only takes 10 minutes and lidl is just 5 minutes down the road.

Is this a good idea or completely terrible?

Are you going to go to a big supermarket everyday though? If I did my food shopping every day at one of the many local convenience stores near me it would cost an absolute fortune in comparison.

god I avoid local convenience stores like the plague. Ours is absolutely robbing.

I work so I drive home past Asda, Morrisons, Lidl, Tesco and Sainsburys. Its easy for me to nip in after work.

I work so I drive home past Asda, Morrisons, Lidl, Tesco and Sainsburys. Its easy for me to nip in after work.

Oh no, I meant places like the smaller Asdas, Sainsburys, Co-op etc. I could go in and buy enough food for one dinner and it'd cost £10 in the Sainsburys where I park for work. I've done 2 weeks worth of food shopping online with them and it has cost me £50!

But that must mean you are buying different things. Convenience versions of Sainsburys etc are slightly more expensive, eg 10-20%, but they are not more than double the cost, as you appear to suggest.

If you just need one or two things, it is cheaper and more time efficient to go in the shop that you are currently stood outside, rather than go out of your way to a bigger version that may be slightly cheaper.

why does meal planning take hours?
we do a big shop once a week, sit for 5 minutes beforehand and write what meals we want that wee. I choose one, kids choose one each then decide for the last two.
write it down, write down what you need to buy. Not exactly hours of work

I used to work by a big Lidl and pass other shops, so I've shopped daily for main meals. You get to eat what you want, which should be the case when you're an Adult. You can do a big shop for cupboard/fridge essentials etc and pick up the main meal stuff, daily.

Get into the habit of checking dates, you can get large fridge type calendars, that are wipe clean. Or use your phone. Freeze what is due to go out of date.

I used to have a thing about not using frozen stuff, which was stupid. I've started using more frozen vegetables.

We find meal planning complicated as we all come and go at different times in the evenings on weeknights so it's tricky working out who will be in to eat when. Some nights there is only half an hour to cook and eat, plus the two DCs have very different tastes in food. We do a big shop once a week but regular top ups on weekdays so we can be flexible. I drive past Lidl, Aldi, Waitrose and Sainsburys on the way home from work which is before the DCs get home so its quite easy to pick things up.

How is meal planning taking hours?
Write a list of 7 meals, shopping list, extra bits for lunches and a couple of quick things for the freezer in case plans change and you’re done - 15/20 mins at most once a week
Sounds like you’re over complicating things to me

I food shop more or less daily - might miss the odd day here and there, but it's rare.

I'm self-employed, work from home, and sometimes don't have a reason to even leave the house - so going shopping gets me out, at least once a day. I'm also lucky that I have a large supermarket 10 minutes from the house, so I usually don't take the car - just walk or cycle to stretch my legs and get a bit of fresh air and exercise.

The best advantage of this is that they have a bargain shelf which gets topped up daily and it's easy to pick up really cheap stuff that needs to be used that day or next - bread and veg in particular but also other really good bargains.

Yesterday I made a huge pot of spicy red pepper soup (peppers were 60p) and we had it with this posh Olive bread which I got for 10p! My son also takes a lunch to work each day and again, can pick stuff up for him at real bargain prices - I make up noodles or rice / pasta dishes - occasional rolls or sandwiches.

I used to find I wasted a lot when I did big shops. I also don't have a lot of storage space - small fridge and freezer and not a huge amount of cupboard space, so stocking up with loads of stuff doesn't really suit. I much prefer just getting bits and bobs as I go along - cupboards and storage are neater and tidier and wastage is reduced to virtually nothing.

We shop pretty much every day. One or other of us pass shops on the way home from work/school, so we just get what we need that day. We usually discuss what to have for dinner when we wake up in the morning and add anything we need to a list that we keep on the side downstairs - whenever we run out of anything we add it to the list for the next day. We hardly waste anything, just the occasional bit of old hummus or stale bread. I think we'd be more likely to waste food if we did one big shop a week.

I'm the same as BlackInk. With teenagers in the house I never know their plans that evening so can't meal plan. I ask them if they will be around and buy each day accordingly. We always have pizza/Chinese or whatever on a Friday as it's my day off cooking. Also every Wednesday the boys do their sport straight from school so tend to have a McDonalds after as they are starving. The rest of the week is healthy home cooked food bought daily and a roast on Sunday. I would waste so much if I bought a big weekly shop!!

I like to go shopping every few days. I meal plan for the week but don't need to buy it all in one go. I like vegetables and fruit to be as fresh as possible, so if I plan broccoli for Friday, I would want to buy it as close to Friday as possible. I pass Waitrose on my way to work three times a week and go in, do my shopping and get my free coffee, so it really is no hardship.

What works best for me is a meal plan but with a flexible approach. If it doesn't work out completely I can adapt. I do all the shopping and almost all of the cooking so I pretty much know what we have in.

I shop most days
I don't like meat hanging round in the fridge so I shop fir it for today and tomorrow but not later in general
I like to walk to shops - Iceland, big Waitrose, greengrocer all less than 10 mins walk and coop only 5. I work part time. I drive past an Aldi and Lidl on my home from work.
I also don't know what I'll fancy eating 2 days hence
Also less waste I think - for example on Monday I had leftover mushrooms and creme fraiche and so popped out for steak to do a stroganoff to use them up

DH does the heavy shopping every couple of weeks eg tins, tonic water, loo roll etc

When I had a houseful I used online shopping - making the list made me meal-plan, plus the other things like toilet rolls (and beer) and meant we did very little shopping in between.

I shop most days, it gets me and the toddler out for a walk each day and I only need to carry a small amount back. It also means than nothing goes to waste and I can buy the reduced stuff.

I do a bulk shop of long life stuff once a month, sometimes in person occasionally online. This means that I don't have to carry the heavy stuff and get the bulk offers when I've got the car.

Meal planning doesn't take hours- just write down ideas for a few meals then buy the ingredients for them.

But if all the meals take different ingredients, you have things leftover that need using up, which takes thought.

Also deciding which meals to make. I can think of hundreds of things I'd like to eat, so whittling them down to only 7 is a big ask.

not daily, but 3x weekly despite online shop.
I have a large supermarket on the way home so it's no bother. We still menu plan but it means stuff like salad and bread is always nice and fresh, and we waste less.

See I think with slimming world meal planning is 1000 x more complicated. I can't just have cereal for my breakfast, a sandwich for my lunch etc so really it's 7 x 3 meals I'm planning because breakfast lunch and dinner needs to be planned for.

Plus then we might have three meals that need chicken so that's say... Three packs of chicken. The chicken delivered on Sunday won't still be in date by the Friday. We call the freezer the pre-bin in this house. We never remember to defrost stuff and when we do it looks so unappetising that it gets thrown away.

"We never remember to defrost stuff and when we do it looks so unappetising that it gets thrown away."

Eh?

This is ridiculous. I was genuinely trying to help. It takes time and effort to post you know!

I don't understand why that's ridiculous? It either gets forgotten about and then gets freezer burn or, especially chicken, looks grey and slimy when defrosted. Besides, if you factor in meal planning around remembering to defrost some meat and someone forgets to take it out the freezer you have to go and buy more anyway. I'm just not a big fan of freezing meat in general I wasn't being obtuse or anything

We never remember to defrost stuff and when we do it looks so unappetising that it gets thrown away
yo get your 3 packs of chicken, use one on first night for a meal, use one a few days later and eat and on the same day cook the remaining chicken as whatever dish you need and it's good for another few days

I'm like you OP. I never freeze any thing because the only thing that comes back out of our freezer is chips or ice cream.

I shop daily. I'm not sure it saves waste all the time though. For example you have a salad but only use half the cucumber, peppers and tomatoes... you still need to remember to buy something the next day where you can use up the left overs.

Shopping daily does stop the main part of the meal being brought and thrown away when it's not used - usually the meat.

I was in the position of wasting food and ending up throwing a lot out so I got a magnetic whiteboard and made an inventory of both fridge and freezer.

The fridge one has to be updated regularly with BB dates, but my freezer was also a black hole and now I remember to actually use what I have got.

I tend to shop twice a week.

I hate stuff that’s been frozen and defrosted too, it never tastes the same as it does fresh.

I live a few minutes walk away from a largish Tesco and I shop more or less every other day , and it has cut down on food waste