Meet the Other Phone. Flexible and made to last.

Meet the Other Phone.
Flexible and made to last.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Chat

Join the discussion and chat with other Mumsnetters about everyday life, relationships and parenting.

How much food do you have at home?

70 replies

Caspianberg · 08/11/2019 14:26

From reading some other threads, I am surprised that so many need to go to the shops at the last minute to be able to eat next meal. People talk about child being ill, food order cancelled, them with flu etc and then being left down to nothing.

Not including if that is because you are down to last pennies so it has to be that way, do many of you really have to rush out in whatever circumstances to get something for next meal?

I always have a stock in due to rural location and weather, but even before would have some simple pasta, beans on toast type thing we could rustle up for a few days if we couldn't get out to the shops for whatever reason.

OP posts:
InDubiousBattle · 08/11/2019 14:34

I have lots of food at home. Years ago we were absolutely skint and now we're not a full cupboard is a habit I can't shift. We always have quite a lot of pasta/rice/cous cous, tins, freezer's never less than half full. I have about 10 different types of pasta in at any given time!

Greatnorthwoods · 08/11/2019 14:40

We have a decent stock of food and water,

2 weeks of regular food
3 days emergency food/water for power cuts
3-4 months of cans, freezer food and water for a longer term problem.

ConFusion360 · 08/11/2019 14:41

Lots. We live rurally too.

Honeybee85 · 08/11/2019 14:45

We always have cup noodles and prepared foods in our fridge. And I always have a stash or fresh fruit and vegetables available.

YorkieTheRabbit · 08/11/2019 14:50

We have loads of food in. I grew up in a house without being fed on a regular basis. My mum was an alcoholic so would spend the housekeeping on booze rather than food, she would use tins packets etc, wash them out then put them back in the cupboard so it still looked like there was still food there.
We’ve a large freezer in the garage which is kept well stocked, also the freezer in the kitchen. Lots of tins, pasta, cereal rice etc in the kitchen cupboards plus I have a large cupboard upstairs which has lots of tins of soup, baked beans, chickpeas, kidney beans, tomatoes and pasta plus other bits and bobs. We also have a stock of loo rolls and spare toiletries.

Shockers · 08/11/2019 14:50

Lots of pasta/rice/pulses etc in the cupboard, as well as tinned tomatoes, tuna, sardines.

In the freezer there’s fish, meat and pies.

Always have eggs in.

Then I shop daily (I’m 2 minutes walk from a Booths and an Aldi).

anotherBadAvatar · 08/11/2019 14:51

Lots. Not sure why as am in walking distance of Sainsbury’s.

Few kg of pasta
Few kg of rice
Flour and packet mixes of bread and cakes
Dozens of tins - tuna/soups/baked beans/chickpeas/tomatoes etc
Sauces etc - pasta sauce/curry paste/pesto
Freezer full of batch cooked meals/mince/frozen veg and ice cream
About 12l of water in the garage (have had previous water cuts when mains burst)

All in all, we could probably survive for 1-2months if I didn’t buy anything new.

happypotamus · 08/11/2019 14:52

We do a weekly shop on Friday evening, so right now we have not got a lot of food in, but I do tend to have at least a day or 2 of food just in case like pasta, a tin of chopped tomatoes, fish fingers and veg in the freezer, baked beans etc.

OxfordCat · 08/11/2019 14:55

I have a very strict healthy diet and generally only ever eat fresh food, so wouldn't eat things like pasta, bread, tinned soup etc. It means I'm popping to the shop every 3-4 days to top up on fresh veg. So maybe that's one reason some people say they have nothing in? Luckily we do have a supermarket close by and the rest is online delivery.

FuriousFlannels · 08/11/2019 14:55

One freezer that is always stocked with meat etc. One that is currently rammed with allotment fruit and veg.

Several shelves in the garage of tins, drink, jars and dried goods.

A larder filled with flours and sugars and spices etc.

A fridge full of fresh.

This is pretty normal but we are quite rural too and 10 miles from the nearest supermarket (or any decent food shop) so we try and keep it all topped up.

Oh, and a few weeks worth of dog food Grin

EssentialHummus · 08/11/2019 15:05

Lots. Not sure why as am in walking distance of Sainsbury’s.

Me too, on both counts. Started following concerns around Brexit/lorries getting through, especially as we have a young child. I reckon we could live a week just on cheese and broccoli pasta packets, before we even get to the freezer.

TheQueef · 08/11/2019 15:08

Grew up poor too.
I could easily do a month and then a month on dried/frozen.
My pantry is full of long life ingredients and canned food.

I remember being hungry, never again.

Caspianberg · 08/11/2019 15:16

Seems like you are all well stocked up

I don't even mean fully stocked though for zombies/ brexit, just surprised some keep nothing spare.

We generally also eat fresh, and fairly healthy most of the time. But last month in the middle of morning sickness with Dh away, I was glad to have some basics in so I could go out when I felt up to it, rather than urgent need.
I wonder how long I could survive of pesto pasta before scurvy sets in...

OP posts:
TheQueef · 08/11/2019 15:25

I buy veg when it's in season and cheap, batch cook and then freeze it.
I've even worked out a cooking and eating order if the electricity should go off and we need to eat all the meat Blush
It's mad how some things stick deep, I do it unconsciously.

sam221 · 08/11/2019 15:30

I have at least over a months supply, grew up without space for storage of food. So we would constantly run out and then have to go the shops(they were close)-i hated doing that. I love having a super well stocked pantry and fridge freezer.

merryhouse · 08/11/2019 15:35

Most of a massive bag of rice, half a large bag of pasta twists, two packs of noodles, box of lasagne, half a packet of spaghetti, coffee-jar of cous-cous, half a bag of potatoes, bag of oven chips, just started box of potato waffles

Two packets each of strong white flour, strong wholemeal flour and multigrain flour, plus a tin and a half of instant yeast; plain and self-raising flour and a box of suet; most of a packet of cornmeal

Half a bag of red lentils, half a bag of pinto beans, small amount of green lentils; two 150g tins of tuna, 200g cheese; several kg (husband buys them in bulk online) of mixed nuts and various seeds

six household portions of frozen meat, sliced meat for - well, no idea, maybe thirty?- rounds of sandwiches, 40 fish fingers, couple of dozen sausages, ditto burgers, bacon made from about a foot (length) of pork, three pork loin steaks, 200g smoked haddock, two poussin, three whole chickens, four chicken breasts

Four tins of tomatoes, four lots of pizza sauce, half a kg onions, half a dozen mushrooms, a kg of peas, jar of pickled onions, bag of sundried tomatoes, jar of olives, tube tomato puree, about 100g baby plum tomatoes, about a pound of ripening home-grown tomatoes, about a pound of tomatoes still outside so who knows, about 20 heads of celery, unknown amount maybe ten pounds? of carrots, some bolting rocket, two plants of parsley

three apples, three bananas, six oranges, four kg raisins, ?four kg dried apricots, large bag frozen blackberries (supposed to be for wine but in extremis)

Two jars peanut butter, most of a jar of choc spread, some marmalade, tin of golden syrup, half tin of treacle

Three or four weeks' worth of tea, maybe two of coffee beans and would have enough instant for another week; small tub drinking chocolate, carton of cocoa, small bottle of squash, 6l fizzy water, 6l fruit juice, 30 cans cola

Six pints milk, half pint yoghurt, kg butter, half small tub vitalite, jar mayonnaise

Two pints of cider, 60 pints beer, 150 bottles of wine (we do home-made)

I said earlier at least a month, but looking at this it may be enough for two. I mean we might have some odd meals but we certainly wouldn't starve (and if one of us could access the garage we'd be too sloshed to care...)

Passthecherrycoke · 08/11/2019 15:39

Loads but we do often pop out for bread, milk, or a forgotten component of a meal ie parmasan/ creme frauche/ garlic bread. Isn’t that what people mean when they say they pop out?

ConFusion360 · 08/11/2019 15:42

Two pints of cider, 60 pints beer, 150 bottles of wine (we do home-made)

Sounds like our cellar. We home brew beer and cider, plus we do wine trips to Calais. A visitor once likened it to walking into a well stocked off-licence. Grin

Tapbath · 08/11/2019 15:49

Loads, I could probably easily survive half a year but I live really rural and getting to the supermarket regularly can be a pain so 2 chest freezers, big American fridge freezer and a big full pantry.

Em8725 · 08/11/2019 15:58

We were poor for a while growing up, and had to rely on friends of mum to feed us until mums money came in. I now have a freezer and as many cupboards full as possible. We could easily live for 2 weeks I think. I’ve also got enough washing powder to do laundry for 6 months. Same for shower gels and deodorant. I can’t shake the habit at all, I know that we’ll all be clean, have toiletries and clean clothes for a long time if we find ourselves short of money.

hellhavenofury · 08/11/2019 16:00

This is definitely me! I probably go to the shop on the way from work 4 days out of 5 for random dinner items! I annoy myself as I am fully aware it is a complete waste of money and time wasting!!

If I got locked in my house for a week I would be stuffed! (I always have wine and Gin though so could be worse!)

spice3 · 08/11/2019 16:02

I'm also probably one of those people.

We usually have an average amount in but only ever enough for 5 days maximum.

Right now we don't have much at all in but we always have a selection of tinned food, pasta and sauces and cereals in so we wouldn't be too screwed.

Crunchymum · 08/11/2019 16:04

I'm a few minutes from several large supermarkets, have family and friends nearby (who could help in an emergency) so I dont tend to stockpile.

I also have the Deliveroo app Shock

So, OP, whilst your personal circumstances mean you need to stock up, mine do not.

PH30B3 · 08/11/2019 16:06

The meals may well be random but I think we could manage two weeks

NC4this123 · 08/11/2019 16:08

Yes, I know someone like this! Baffles me, our dinner plans were cancelled last minute once and the reply I got was ‘oh great now I have nothing for dinner’ ... wtf really 🤔 I am a stocker too