Does anyone manage not to do endless top up shops?

[Redlorryyellowduck]

With the rising cost of absolutely everything I'm trying to reign the food shop in a bit.

I've got an Asda mid week pass, so try to use that or go to Aldi. Inevitably Asda miss something, or Aldi don't have something. We run out of lunchbox things too soon as there is seemingly another person living her I've never met who eats all the snack things.

I'm going sometimes twice a week to top up, and it'd costing a fortune.

If you manage not to do top ups share your wisdom, what day do you shop, where, how do you get through the week?

I'm happy to buy bread and milk of course from the little corner shop, but its the £25 top up I'm keen to avoid.

I'm the same, especially with the packed lunch bits and snacks.

We got used to how much we use as a family during the first lockdown when we were frightened and DH only went for a food shop twice a month so now we know how much of everything to buy. I figure out how many of each thing DC will need for lunchboxes and then how much of each thing they’ll need for general snacks. Also do a meal plan and stick to it.

Boring but true: meal planning is the only way to avoid it. We have a master list for a weekly online shop, I roughly plan 6 days of meals, to allow for the odd meal out/takeaway/leftovers.

Lunchbox snacks tend to be brioche rolls or mini packs of biscuits as DD has school dinners. If I run out she gets fruit or if I get time, basic homemade muffins.

We probably have enough food in the cupboard/freezer to do at least 7 emergency meals, so if we run out of something I tend to make do instead of doing a top up shop. It means meals sometimes get a bit weird but prevents food waste.

weekly shop arrives on Tuesday morning.

I meal plan and I think realistically about what I can cook when, round clubs etc.
I have a master shopping list, with everything on it.
I have a decent sized freezer.

So milk lasts all week. Bread we put in freezer and get out a loaf at a time. Rest goes in cupboards. I cook things like stir fry on Tuesday/Wednesday when stir fry veg is fresh. Use carrots and beans later in week because they last longer.

I have a cupboard for lunch stuff. And after school snacks. Kids know that one pack biscuits/box of brownies etc comes out after school for snack, the rest is for the rest of the week. So a few rules around what is free for all and what isn't. If they eat all the snacks before next shop, then snack is a a sandwhich.
Same for fruit etc, once it is all gone it is all gone.

I very rarely need to top up, only if Asda doesn't send something and I can't use the replacement.

Meal plan within an inch of my life. I also do a physical shop so it makes it easier with substitutes. I’ll know to sack off an entire dinner if they haven’t got something.

You need to be strict on what can and can’t be eaten for snacks though. “Finish those x and you’ll have none in your lunch” and mean it.

You need to be strict on what can and can’t be eaten for snacks though. “Finish those x and you’ll have none in your lunch” and mean it.

yes, this, absolutely.
Put the lunch bits in a specific place/cupboard/box and they are not allowed for snacks.

I don't do a weekly shop. I do mine every 4/5 days and meal plan. So all the food is fresher and we don't run out of bread or milk either. Tesco home delivery plan lets you shop however often you like. Around £45-50 each shop so maybe £80 a week on average, no extra shopping involved.

another person living her I've never met who eats all the snack things.
Stop buying the snack things. If your DC are still small, put the snack fairy things on the highest shelf in the cupboard. If the snack fairy still visits, you might be able to deduce their approximate height.

Put things away out of sight.

The only way I can do it is meal plan and do cupboard and fridge audits regularly.

Have an emergency pint of milk and small loaf in the freezer so I don’t run to the shop for bread and milk too.

I do top up shops most days as I have a tiny under counter fridge. I'm hoping to upgrade to a full height one soon and shop less.

We get a Tesco delivery on Friday, and I might have to get a top up a couple of times a month, only if something wasn't available or if I forgot to add it to the order.
I roughly meal plan, we have packed lunches 4 days a week. The snack stuff tends to last longer than a week (e.g. snack cheese, crisps, bread sticks) so we have more than a week's supply at any time. Milk lasts all week as we get filtered milk, and I find seeded breaded lasts all week too. Meat gets frozen if we aren't going to use it within a couple of days.
We only got into the habit of online groceries since the pandemic, but I like it as I'd rather be out doing fun stuff with the dc than walking around a supermarket, so I've made it work by planning and getting a mix of shorter/longer life groceries.

Meal plan. Food comes Sunday night ready for Monday morning and I plan breakfast, lunch and dinners. Sometimes end up doing a small top up on Saturday especially if we fancy something in particular. Also have lots of cupboard reserves so beans on toast, pasta and sauce etc can be made if I can't be bothered to cook what was planned.

No magic solution, meal plan and a shopping list.

Snacking isn't really a thing in my house, it never really has been as I was brought up on 3 meals a day and that's it so that's what I've always done with my children.

They are older now and I don't think it occurs to them that eating between meals is something people do.

I don't run out of milk as it has such a long sell by date that I can buy an extra carton and it doesn't matter if it isn't used during the week. Bread is predicatable too as it's only used for packed lunches

I do have a small second fridge in the garage which I'm sure has paid for itself many times over in allowing me to buy enough so that I don't have to do top ups.

The lunch box things I keep hidden upstairs and get them out daily so avoid them all getting eaten as soon as I've bought them. I always keep pasta and sauce for pasta so if I run out of dinner stuff I've got that to fall back on. I try and only top up on bread and milk but doesn't always work

Top ups are very rare here. We have milk delivered by the milkman. Otherwise I get my Ocado shop once a week on a Thursday evening (always the same slot, always do the online shop on Wednesday evening) and rarely pick up anything else unless it someone suddenly decides they want to bake something with unusual ingredients, or we get an occasional treat from the local deli. Occasionally I get it wrong and run out of something important, but it is rare.

I meal plan, though only roughly. Buy largely the same stuff each week for breakfast, lunches etc. Cupboards are stocked up with basics so can always improvise. We have a blackboard on the kitchen wall where we write down everything we are running low/out of, which I look at when I do the Ocado shop.

Couldn't be doing with going shopping multiple times a week, it would drive me mad.

Thank you all for the tips.
I try to meal plan, but part of the problem with home delivery is that the parts of the meal might have different use by dates, throwing the whole thing in to a spin.
I must admit I'm probably guilty of giving the dc's some extra snacks (now I've stopped to think about it) before swimming lessons, to pacify them in car journeys etc.
Maybe @beyondmywits has provided the perfect idea of trying to shop every 5 days or so, rather than a big weekly shop.
My corner shop is Marks and Spencer, so that certainly doesn't help bank balance

I don't have older kids and lunch boxes to sort out so probably easier for me to keep track of everything, but it definitely helps to meal plan. I have an app called stash Cook and I do it all on there now. You can save your recipes and keep a shopping list. I check what's in the house and try to make meals with those things first and plan some 'cupboard' meals for the end of the week like pasta bake or random rice to use up things.

I don't buy many snack foods for the kids and if I do, when they are gone, they are gone.

Since getting the milk delivered we also end up going out to the shop less. We pay more for the actual milk but I think we save on impulse buys that you make when you are there at the shops.

A cheap breadmaker is handy for making a loaf and avoiding a trip to the shops too.

I work close to two main supermarkets. Work is walkable and I'm happy to do that for the exercise - so that actually keeps my spending down as I go after work and can only buy what I can carry. I tend to shop 3/4 times a week - I keep myself aware of what I'm spending though, so if I've spent £17/18 a couple of days, I'll focus on spending less than £10 the other days (there's only two of us most of the time, four if you include the cats!).

Why the need for snack things?! I buy one small multi pack a week. Once it’s gone it’s gone. 2 children 3 packets enough. I also bake a cake on Sunday for pudding. Meal plan the rest with correct portion sizes.
3 meals a week with fruit or natural yogurt to eat otherwise. Start cooking from scratch too no more jars or packets - soon get quicker less filling up on sugar.

I must admit I'm probably guilty of giving the dc's some extra snacks (now I've stopped to think about it

There. You have identified the snack fairy.
Get healthy snacks like apples and easy peelers instead

Use by dates don't have to be adhered to, I'll use things a few days past if they look and smell ok

I shop once a week and don’t top up. I meal plan and buy the whole week’s food at once. I buy about 2kg of bananas at a time Can you rearrange your meal plan based on the dates of stuff you get? Pretty much all veg and most fruit is fine for a week, meat and bread products can be frozen until you need them. Presumably your top ups are in person anyway so it might actually overall save time if you just did your main shop in person and chose your own dates rather than getting a delivery?

I feel you. DH likes bread. But doesn’t want to eat bread because of the carbs. So I stopped buying bread and bought tuna at his request. He then got worried our weaning son and I might eat all the tuna so I bought extra. I bought our son pitta and hummus. Then DH decided he’d like the same, so I had to go to the shop to buy extra pitta bread and hummus. Meanwhile there are over 12 tins of tuna in the cupboard. I also bought mild cheese for DS, we have never in the 12 years we’ve known each other bought mild cheese. DH keeps eating it. I only do the shop because I’m on maternity leave but it’s stressful when I’ve planned what we’re buying and eating, especially since we’re on a budget. So my advice is only buy things your DH won’t go to snack on 😂

Meal plan tightly.
I go to supermarket usually Friday evening.
Snacks are calculated into meal plan and shopping list as my dsd is in recovery from anorexia so I know what she needs each week.
There is one tube of pringles and one pkt of biscuits, for other people snacking. Of they are eaten in first 24hrs it's tough.
After I meal plan I write shopping list, checking if I already have stuff in freezer, cupboard etc.
I buy fruit which is enough for dsd and some extra. If it isn't eaten it gets used in crumbles, banana bread etc.
I have never done top up shop.
It takes planning but food bills are manageable, we eat well and no waste

You're all speaking a lot of sense here.
Part of the problem is I use Asda as they are cheap, but don't actually like their meat or fish particularly, so end up going elsewhere, defeating the object.
I might try to get a delivery from Asda on a Tuesday morning but reign it in to the bulky stuff and the offers, then do a click and collect on a Friday from Sainsburys for the nice bits and any extra fruit etc, I go past Sainsburys anyway on a Friday and it's only 50p for click and collect....I'd definitely recoup that by not going in to the shop and buying extras.
So £40 in Asda, £25 in Sainsburys, that's within budget and hopefully I'll be happier with what I've got and won't run out.
Despite all your great advice I've realised weekly shops just won't work for me as I don't want to budget to do it all in Sainsburys, but I can't get what I want from Asda.

I meal plan like my life depends on it, then DPs kids come round and suddenly the contents of the fridge and cupboards is fair game. Before you know it, what was delivered Thursday is gone by Saturday.

Ive started dispatching DP to do the top up shop as he doesnt seem to understand the problem.