To wonder why people do "top-up" shops

[RedSkyAtNight]

Just as the title says really. I've read a few threads where people either mention a fortune doing a top-up shop or mention doing a top-up shop as a job that needs doing in the week.

We shop once a week and buy enough food for the week. We then don't buy any more food until the following week. Other than folks who have very little storage (or possibly very large families?) I can't really understand the need to do a top-up shop. I mean obviously if you want to go and get something different to what you have in, that's fine. But why do it if you see it as a chore?

Lunch and dinner - yes, their nature is decided, and to a point the order they will be eaten in. I will plan 7 dinners per week, and there are probably 2 that for reasons of children's commitments can ONlY be eaten on specific days. One or two may also be limited by life of ingredients. Others are wholly flexible. I will also buy enough for 7 lunches - 2 more complex for the weekend, 5x 4 packed lunches for the week.

Breakfast - we are a cereal/ meusli and milk / yoghurt + fruit juice family, no mroe than that, so simply ensuring that there's enough cereal, milk and yoghurt is straightforward.

Snacks - there are some things that are always available - fruit, dried fruit, flapjacks, certain biscuits, cheese, to a more limited extent crisps. The only snack opportunities, really, are straight after school - usually flapjack - and late evening after an activity - usually fruit / dried fruit or cheese. We are '3 meals + 1 snack' people, just because that's what we've always done, so it's pretty easy to guesstimate the amount required for a week. DS is 16 and has hollow legs, so he eats a lot at mealtimes, but isn't a grazer. DD is a dancer and just needs to refuel a bit between school and dance lessons and then once she gets back after 2-3 hours of classes.

Because some weeks we will eat 6 apples in 2 days (3 of us) and sometimes they last the week. Same with yoghurts.

It's nice to be flexible.

Long life milk is only acceptable if you're sitting in a bunker sitting out some kind of apocalyptic scenario.

I don't care if people want to shop 10 times a day, all I am saying is that DH and myself hate shopping so no way would we keep going to the shops.

I don't understand why people are saying things don't last a week. We have a milkman but he only delivers once a week. Milk definitely lasts a week, in fact it usually last longer. If milk is not lasting then there must be something wrong with your fridge

Bread usually lasts a week. We buy sliced and keep a few slices out and put the rest in the freezer. We both think it tastes fine after being frozen especially if you use it for toast. I also make nice bread as a change from sliced.

Most veg lasts over a week. The only veg that I find doesn't is broccoli. Apples, kiwi fruit, bananas, oranges, grapes all last at least a week. Things like strawberries, raspberries don't so I menu plan to use them on the day I buy them or the next day.

I do find it makes a difference where you buy things. Fruit and veg from Asda doesn't last long at all nor from Aldi. From Sainsbury, Waitrose or Lidl it seems to last well.

I have a rough menu plan for a month and then do the week's one every week. It's not set in stone. If we decide to go out to eat or are going to be late home or just don't fancy something I change it. Nothing gets thrown away because of changes.

We are vegetarian and eat lots of fresh fruit and veg along with lentils, chickpeas, nuts etc. We eat very little frozen food (only really some veg such as peas). We cook almost everything from scratch.

I hate food waste and don't find food gets wasted because we don't shop that often. I just plan well.

If fruit does start to "turn" it's made into smoothies, crumbles etc. If veg starts to look a bit sad it's made into soup, stews. I even use the leaves and stalk of cauliflower to make soup along with, quite often, potato peelings.

I don't suddenly run out of kitchen roll, toilet roll, oil etc because I make sure I have those things before we do a big shop.

Why would anyone wear bright-coloured skinny jeans and not navy blue or black? I just don't understand why you'd choose bright skinny jeans?
Or why do people drink tea when the coffee is also really good? Just why?
Or why do you buy already grated cheese when you could just buy the block and grate that?
Or why learn French when Spanish is also a widely spoken language?
Or why do you like different things than I do? Why?

We get through a lot of fruit that always needs topping up and although i have my shopping delivered on a tues i pop out on a fri for any bits we need over the weekend , quite often theres something missing from my online order so i pick that up aswell

I do regular top up shops.

We eat a lot of salad, soft fruits, fresh herbs and things like baguettes or coissants.

All these things are horrible is they are not fresh.

I do an online shop once a week. However I fine a weeks worth of fruit often goes off so it's better to order a small amount and buy more during the week also fresh milk needs replacing during the week.. None of us would use long life milk.

I LOVE ice cold long life milk with cornflakes,yum!!!

I can't understand why people do weekly shops
Actually that's not true it's more it just doesn't work for me
I do a big shop every 4-6 weeks and then top up shops when I need to for fresh fruit veg salad and milk or if I fancy something special or have run out of something unexpectedly

Or why do you buy already grated cheese when you could just buy the block and grate that?

Tbh I do wonder about that one.

Grated cheese is always really shit generic cheese.

My mum kept in dried milk for the apocalypse.

we dont use buy pre-prepped meals, tins, etc. and I prefer fresh bread so tend to need to get fresh stuff in between. That does not cover the reason why I also buy some tealights, a magazine, another bottle of wine.....

I've never even been brave enough to try dried milk. I'd rather sit the apocalypse out without milk entirely if that was my only option.

'just the wine for me thanks'.

Or maybe it was for 70s strike shortages? There was a sugar shortage at one point..

I do a BIG shop. I always think I've bought plenty. I think I have multipacks of crisps, pints and pints of milk, loads of bread, enough ingredientsto make meals for the whole week. I have cheese, biscuits, eggs and bacon. I buy yoghurts, I buy ham, pizzas, plenty of things you could cook quickly if you were the kind of person who came in starving at 3am.

Two days later I look in the fridge and cupboards and it's mostly gone. DS 20, DS 18 and DS 16 have stampeded through several times.and laid waste to it all. They are now staring into the fridge grumbling that there is "nothing to eat"

That's why I do top up shops.

Well you see it depends, grated mozarella is good on pizzas because conventional ovens just make fresh mozarella into a puddle of wet cheese.

There is no way that the food shop that I buy on a friday will last to the next Friday, hence a top up needs done on the Saturday.

I had a childhood friend whose DM refused to go shopping until the next week. By day 5 most of the food had finished and it was utterly crap going to her house because there was nothing in. I would only do that if I really had to.

DS 20, DS 18 and DS 16 have stampeded through several times.and laid waste to it all.

Meal planning and family planning go hand in hand.

You should have had one child, a daughter with a bird like appetite and you could have avoided all this extra work.

I don't understand why people are saying things don't last a week. We have a milkman but he only delivers once a week. Milk definitely lasts a week, in fact it usually last longer. If milk is not lasting then there must be something wrong with your fridge

Oh come, try thinking about it! YOUR milk may last a week, I use about 3 liters a day in my house, I could never buy enough only once a week to last the whole week. Where would I put it? And why would we want to drink week old milk?

Yes, you're right sherbetpips grated mozzarella has its place. Although fresh is good too on a pizza too. I slice it and let it rest its milky head a while on some kitchen towel and that absorbs all the puddle creating liquid.

It's true that my teenage DS will hoover up certain foods so it's best to top them up through the week and then the rest of us have a chance and he varies his diet a bit in "the hungry gap". Poor soul.

I also buy frozen peeled and diced onion and lazy garlic and chilli

Me too. Can't be faffed peeling an onion every single time.