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 terrible for top ups despite meal planning plus making a concerted effort to use up stuff in the freezer, which is full to bursting! Keep buying “ bargains”, including lots of reduced ready meals, and it needs to stop. Doesn’t help that DD13 refuses to eat with us & inhales food that is meant for snacks, packed lunches etc.

@BarbaraofSeville

To be fair, our house has a pantry that we now use to store the vacuum cleaner, mop bucket etc as it's part of the utility room that was next to the old and very tiny kitchen now we have a kitchen extension.

DM did have a pantry in her small 2 bed and a box room semi before she turned it into a downstairs toilet.

Both pretty standard in quite modest mid 20th century semi detached houses in postcodes usually on the 'avoid' lists any time anyone asks about moving to our city on here.

I know most 1930’s were built with a larder but most of those seem to have long gone when the small kitchens were enlarged / extended.

However having seen a few of those you’d have struggled to keep that much in there.

@LadyMonicaBaddingham

I label things (with masking tape) if they are a 'meal ingredient', otherwise my bottomless teenagers would hoover the entire kitchen...

I do this too. Masking tape on the package or bag with DO NOT EAT/ FOR A MEAL written on the outside. Nothing worse than buying a particular ingredient for a recipe and then coming to cook at the end of a long day to find a key ingredient has gone .

I don’t know anyone with a pantry. I’m in a 1960/early 1970s terrace I just have a kitchen and a back hall - I do intend to put units in there and a downstairs loo going under the stairs but not just yet.

I will redo the kitchen at some point and put a large floor to ceiling cupboard for storing tinned goods but at the moment I don’t have that.

We seem to buy a lot of fresh berries every 3 days. 3 children to feed and the fruits finish very quick.

Thank you all for your really helpful replies.

What doesn't help me is that the things I top up on are only sold in the bigger shops (watermelon, specific bread, soft fruits), then when I'm in there I start wandering, picking up things on offer, generally mooching about.

I think I'm going to spend the next week trying to mostly live from the groaning cupboards and freezer, then do a full audit of what I have and then embrace the challenge of doing 2 smaller deliveries / collections a week and hopefully sticking to some sort of budget. I'm hoping to free up time and money and not be too tied to a 7 day meal plan, which I find hard work, if I'm only doing 4 days at a time it should be a doddle.

@tabasoc

We seem to buy a lot of fresh berries every 3 days. 3 children to feed and the fruits finish very quick.

Are you happy doing this? I mean kids don't need berries everyday and if you want to change this then once the berries are gone, they move onto the less exciting fruit for the rest of the week.

@Redlorryyellowduck Do you have a greengrocers nearby? If you find that your top up shop is mainly specific fruit then you might find you can skip the big supermarket and just pop to the greengrocer in the week. Often better quality produce and no homeware/clothes/BOGOF offers to get distracted by. Things like certain brands of bread you could stock up in bulk and stick in the freezer.

I live 50 miles from the nearest Waitrose and 15 miles from the nearest Sainsbugs, (rural Scotland), so I definitely don’t do top up shopping! I get a delivery once a week, having meal planned in advance.
There is a wee village Spar for the odd occasion when I have unexpected vegetarian guests and need soy milk.

One note about meal planning: I don’t make a plan for specific meals on each day (e.g Monday = spag Bol), I just plan 6 days of meals that we can eat any day of the week. So if we don’t fancy sausage and mash one day, we just pick another dish from the plan , it’s more flexible that way.

It’s winter so watermelon and soft fruits are out of season. If you eat more seasonally you will have a wider choice of places to shop. European apples, pairs and citrus are good at the moment.

We bought a breadmaker years ago when we had three children at home and used it almost daily (still using it now there are just the two of us). It saved top up shops and bread taking up space in the freezer. I keep the flour and other ingredients in a cupboard beside it so making a loaf takes about 5 minutes.

I know most 1930’s were built with a larder but most of those seem to have long gone when the small kitchens were enlarged/extended.

Yep that describes my house!
I wouldn’t buy berries right now anyway, they are well out of season. I try not to buy fruit and veg that comes further than Spain, so right now the only fruit we have in is oranges.
I grow berries and look forward to when they come into season but they are not anywhere to be seen in February!

I’m afraid my solution is a perfect example of things being cheaper if you can afford more. Sorry.

We have a big pantry that we keep well stocked, including things like UHT milk, so if we “run out” between weekly shops we just restock the main cupboards from the pantry, and then restock the pantry with the next main shop.

I find milkman good, only cat and I, so 2 pints max, I hardly use it, so often cancel a pint

DS15 gets through 4-6 pints a day, I can send him round to mop up if you like

My house was built in the 1930’s but other houses we rented before we purchased this one and were newer also had pantries. I assumed they were a standard thing.

@TammyOne

I know most 1930’s were built with a larder but most of those seem to have long gone when the small kitchens were enlarged/extended.

Yep that describes my house!
I wouldn’t buy berries right now anyway, they are well out of season. I try not to buy fruit and veg that comes further than Spain, so right now the only fruit we have in is oranges.
I grow berries and look forward to when they come into season but they are not anywhere to be seen in February!

I buy frozen berries over winter for the same reason. I know it's not quite the same but still lovely for breakfast with Greek yoghurt and chopped nuts. (And a lot cheaper than fresh)

I definitely couldn't fit a whole weeks worth in the fridge (even though it's a big American style one). We get through at least 7 2 litre cartons milk and around 4litres of orange juice. And soft fruits, blueberries etc, don't last a week. I don't know how people fit a whole week's worth for a family, especially if they also put bread in! We do quite easily. Though bread goes in freezer not fridge. And we do have milk delivered 3 times a week. But otherwise a whole week's worth for 4 people goes in comfortably!

We have enough food in our pantry and two freezers to last approximately 6 months.

I find that more strange! It would take up a lot of space to have enough store cupboard food for 6 months. That is an awful lot of bags of pasta!!!

Bread goes off more quickly if you keep it in the fridge. I once heard a very long scientific description of why on radio 4 but it's to do with a temp of 4 degrees & the wheat protein (same for cakes) & they dry out much more quickly in the fridge than in the freezer or room temp.

I have weeks where I don't, except for milk. I only manage it by adapting recipes, using the freezer, and using the bread maker when I hadn't planned to. Oh, and tinned pulses and veg, if necessary. I always have in pesto and frozen tomato sauces and frozen grated cheese. Plus usual freezer stuff, and a few frozen cooked dinners.

@irregularegular we are a family of ten so six months worth of food for us is half as much as the average family.

And king life almond milk!

@irregularegular wait no it’s twice as much not half!
It may seem a lot it’s certainly not all pasta though. We have lots of rice, couscous, chick peas, flour, yeast etc and the usual canned food. And the frozen food isn’t pasta.