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🙄

Not really no (wouldn’t say never but it’s definitely not a regular occurrence). We keep an eye on all the fresh stuff and top up as needed during the week. If we notice something that we buy less frequently is running out it goes on the shopping list. Then a quick check of fridge and cupboards before heading out for the main weekly shop. We don’t have space for bread in the freezer but don’t eat huge amounts of it, I do sometimes make it at the weekend.

Cereal no, I have stocks to last at least a month.

Bread and milk keeps so long now that I do buy plenty to last the week, but if "someone" had eaten excessive cereal, for example and used al the milk, said teen DS would be sent to the shop to get some.

We have a system where if you open the next tonlast packet of something you must put it on the list. If you don't, it won't be bought. In reality this only happens for the things I don't use (biscuits/crisps/ice cream) so they soon learn

Rather than moaning about it your son can get himself off to the shop and buy some more

job done

no issue

Yes we go through about 3pts milk a day. There's no way im buying 5 x 4pt cartoons at once and storing it.
Same woth bread.
Dh has 4 slices at lunch, ds 2, dd 2 and youngest 1. I occasionally have a sandwich. So 1 loaf does 2 days
We dont like it if been frozen.
Id prefer to pop to tesco and get fresh.

We also regularly run out of other stuff too. But i happen to enjoy grocery shopping so dont mind

We also have the when last one open write it down.
Bit sometimes tea bags or tin beans or whatever may not get written down. Especially if a visitor has opened something ( ie my dsis when she babysits or something)

Milk we run out of all the time. I feel like I spend my whole life buying milk, DH and I have (jokingly) discussed buying a cow and keeping it in the garden.

I do keep coffee whitener in the cupboard so I can at least have coffee before going to the shop to buy more bloody milk.

However, at 16, your DS could get his backside down the shop himself.

All these people getting through pints and pints of milk a week, what exactly do you use it for besides cereal and in tea/coffee?

and do you never worry about the poor cows that provide it?

No, not really. We have Milk & More deliveries and I always have a loaf of bread in the freezer for emergency toast.

I also have things like cat food and dishwasher tablets on an Amazon subscription so they turn up regularly without me having to do anything.

Loads of people do top ups...I don't though 🤓I shop once a week.

You need to tell you DS if it concerns him, he should go and get it. Entitled little git 😂

Draw him a map to the shops 😁

I buy 2 four pinters a week of milk as that is what we have space to store. Sometimes we run out, it depends on the kids as we're fine so long as they're not on a hot chocolate dash!

Ditto bread. It only takes one teen to ravage 6 rounds of toast as an afternoon 'snack' for the supplies to be decimated.

We do live within shouting distance of a corner shop though, the kids are quite happy to nip out for anything required. Literally takes less than 5 minutes it's so close.

Sometimes. But I message them to pick some up on the way home as they literally walk past the shop. Sometimes they get it independently. They use their debit cards and I just transfer the money back to them via the app.

I'm soo shocked that so many people are not running out, we do all the time! But we don't have a freezer to freeze bread. I am also not over buying because whenever I do, that food then becomes the worst food in the world and nobody eats it 🙃

I do have a 6 year old who wakes up really early and will often make his own breakfast which means we get through a lot of milk and cereal! 6 year olds are not very careful and do not know how to portion control 😬

I often run out of bread, milk goes off rather than running out. Although I live rurally, there is a shop in the village and my 16 year old is quite capable of going there himself if he’s not happy with the food we have in (not quite mastered going to buy more bread for me when he’s eaten all the loaf though).

Surely it all depends on how predictable the family's eating habits are. If they eat broadly the same things and amounts each week, and you have money and space to buy and store what you need, it is easy.

If not - then it is not!

I wouldn’t be expecting to transfer the money back to them for a loaf of bread which they too will be eating

Yes, regularly. It's because I have teens that this happens due to constant snacking on toast, cereal and hot chocolate.

At this point one of them is asked to go to the shop to buy whatever is needed. They don't complain because they know that they're the ones that eat and drink it all!

I can easily get through 8-12 pints of milk in a few days.

I always have spare cereal in the storecupboard; we use long-life soy milk so have lots of cartons on hand; bread - I would buy a new loaf when the current one starts running out

But if they end up picking up a loaf or two a week plus milk or whatever else, that could be quite a lot for of money for teen presumably still in education. I’d pay my kids back too. Do you have teens? Do they work part time? I wouldn’t expect them to pay for stuff that’s part of the weekly shop.

just buy double and freeze and / or store. It's not that hard. I use plant based milks and there are loads of non-fridge UHT ones that taste just as good as the cold ones and last ages in the cupboard (I stock up and buy 10 or more at a time so no mad dash to the shop!).

Yes regularly and then we end up with 1-2 days with none

No. Never run out. I live rurally about 7 miles from my nearest town so I always have a well stocked pantry, freezers etc.

I could easily last a month or so without going to the shops. This is important because in a bad winter, we will be cut off for days at a time.

I was bought up in a slightly chaotic household and I've actively done the opposite so my children don't suffer.

Why do you run out of the basics?
Are you generally disorganised or struggling to afford to shop?

at some point we run out of these things before replacing them.

DH thinks it's entirely normal to run out of things & happily dies without until the next delivery. I find it deeply frustrating to not have things available in my own home. As a responsible adult, who pays their taxes, it's reasonable for the house to be stocked to my requirements.

It's not difficult to keep an extra loaf of bread in the freezer, a spare carton of long life milk for emergency white sauce and to pick up fresh milk whenever I'm out if we are running low.

Why wouldn't you?

If the issue is space then perhaps twice weekly deliveries are required.

I'd set DS on working out how much is used, how much can be stored and how often need to arrange deliveries. He'll likely be good at it.

I don't keep bread in. We just don't eat it. I feel like that's more unusual than i realised after reading this.

@EarlyMorningBeachRun

it might stop the mindless and excessive eating you often read about on here with teens if they had to pay for it themselves occasionally!