Do you regularly run out of milk, bread, cereal etc?

[losenotloose]

Strange question but we get our shopping weekly and at some point we run out of these things before replacing them. As far as I'm concerned this is normal life but 16 year old ds1 gets moody and annoyed about this. Are me and dh idiots for not getting 'on top' of this problem or is he just a moody teen? I know this seems very petty but he's driving me mad at the moment🙄

I used to run out of bread all the time now I buy a loaf of bread and a pack of wraps or anything else with a longer shelf life so I always have a back up. I pretty much always have milk and get this on my weekly shop. My ds used to moan about going to the shops all the time and I know it can be be annoying at times.

Yes, we do, but that tends to be because we don't do our supermarket delivery regularly. Every 9 or 10 days is more common. And top ups in between from the local coop with milk, fresh stuff, and bread. Isn't that quite normal?

Bread, yes sometimes because I make it and we don't eat a lot of it so often don't have it. Cereal, no...as I check every week before the order and tend to order each week. There are a few options. Milk, no, as we get it delivered along with eggs.

If you only shop weekly surely you either buy more to cover the whole week or do top up shops?

Never. Milk is delivered and I have long life as back up. Big shelf of cereal and bread in freezer. I shop almost every day though as I have limited storage and we live in the town centre.

Sounds like teenage son needs his own responsibility. It is now his job to monitor and check when stores are low and to go to the shop to replace them.

Never. We stockpile and have an extra fridge/freezer. Buy things like washing powder etc when on special. Not that many things are on special where we live anymore..
Nothing gets wasted though.

Our teenagers always joke that our garage is like a shop.

And I think many have forgotten what it’s like being a hungry teenager and how much they can eat..

NO
Milk is frozen (buy a week worth in one go)
Bread made at home (bread machine)
Cereal - usually one spare box there anyway.

Cant be arsed to go back to the shop multiple times a week for a bottle of milk (plus it’s always more expensive because you always end up buying something else there too)

Yes we run out of bread and milk every week but we factor in top up shops in our shopping budgets.
I do a lot of batch cooking and don’t have room in the freezer for spares. The kids can go through a load of bread in a couple of days - they’re like locust

No, we have a milkman three times a week and can add bread to that if we need to

I live in a small village with no shops, having moved here as a single parent with a 2 week old baby. I learned never to run out of anything because I never knew when I'd get another shopping opportunity.
I have a milk delivery and they bring basic groceries including bread and cereal. If you live rurally OP, do you have that option? If you live in a town then you can pop to the corner shop when you're running low, if you don't want to go to the supermarket.
I don't think many people regularly run out of the basics except if something unexpected crops up. I think you just need to buy more!

Oh and I have 2 teenage boys now, so they eat a lot!

The fact he feels he is superior is a different issue altogether.

If he is the only one to eat cereal, then you could give him the task to add cereal on the shopping list (we have a board for that) and he adds it when he can se it’s getting low (so he isn’t running out).

Milk and bread are things you all eat so yes I’d see that as your responsibility if doing the weekly shopping is all your responsibility (add your DH if you share that responsibility etc….). There is no reason why he should be allowed to feel and act superior though…. And would need to be tackled because I imagine that’s not the only issue where he act superior/thinks good shopping is women’s responsibility (and he can be critical) etc….

No.
Regardless of how often you do your main shop it is not unreasonable to have to do a "top-up" for bread, milk, fresh produce etc.
Yes we keep bread etc in the freezer but that gets left for when it is "really needed" (although it does get removed and replaced with new from time to time to prevent it getting old / frosty).

We get our shopping delivered and after having this happen a bit have moved to getting deliveries every 5 days or so which we are finding easier than weekly

Not bread because we freeze it but definitely soft bread for sandwiches, frozen defrosted bread is yuck.. Only used for toast.
Milk we can get low on but because we have a toddler we are always on top of it.
Cereal.. We have loads, it's the kind of thing I get well before we run out, then we have too much.

Tell him he's made an excellent point, that it is annoying to run out of the staples like milk bread and cereal. Then give him £10 and tell him he is now responsible for buying those three items on behalf of the family.

No, as when something is almost used up I notice and go to the shops. For those saying he needs to do it himself - that's fine if they live with a shop in walking distance, not so easy for him if they live in a little village or the shops are far away. If you do live near the shops op then I'd keep some change on the side and tell him he can go and buy milk/cereal when he needs it.

No we don’t run out BUT I don’t have teenagers who help themselves to stuff yet. I can imagine this makes keeping on top of supplies a lot harder.

No, but we have 2 food deliveries a week.

We used to run of things a lot, but now we do two equal sized food shops a week (both deliveries) instead of one weekly shop and it's much easier to manage stocks of fresh stuff this way without doing lots of little top up shops.

Yes and no, no because I go to the shop every day for milk, but there is no way I could buy enough milk to last the week (or bananas who wants brown banana's after 7 days)

If we run out we go to the shop. Isn't that what you're supposed to do? Buy food, eat food, buy food.

I do one big shop a week and if we run out of bits (don't have enough room to freeze loaves of bread) then someone (usually one of my children) pops to the local shop to get more.

If he moans, I'm sure he's quite capable of getting stuff himself?

No, I have basic numeracy skills.

Am I the only one who uses UHT milk for coffee etc? We buy fresh milk every week but have UHT cartons for when it runs out.

Bread - yes, will do a topup shop if there’s none in the freezer, or go without for a day or two (easier now I’m not doing packed lunches). We have crackers/crispbread type things in that can substitute to some degree.

Cereal - nope, it’s ambient!

Eggs are the other one for us, but I try to buy slightly more than we use each week.