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?

Because I don't want to fill my freezer with milk and bread. It's better to use it for meat fish, ice-cream, frozen veg, chips, etc..

With a portion of chicken you can do multiple dishes so great for meal planning / big shops but sometimes need to get fresh herbs to do a recipe. Greater flexibility in recipes.

Some things taste nicer fresh e.g. bread, juice... .?

we do the bulk of our shop monthly and as such we need fresh things like milk and bread

I probably go out to buy food four items a week. As well as a husband to feed I have three kids and lots of animals. The dog and cats food are delivered/bought in bulk but the guinea pigs need fresh food bought often. My fridge is small and no way can I buy enough fruit and milk for a week never mind anything else. I often put some food in the freezer which back fires when I forget to get it out to defrost in time for tea.

Because I can't keep veg in the fridge for longer than 2-3 days without DS eating it - he'll sit in front of the TV and eat a whole kg of carrots if you don't catch him at it first...

I don't understand why people are saying things don't last a week.

The three 4 pint cartons of milk I will be getting tomorrow won't last a week! I don't mean that any of it will go off - I mean it won't LAST!

We get through around 4 pints a day! If I bought enough for a week that would be seven 4 pint cartons of milk! I don't have that much room in my fridge on top of everything else!

Because we're vegetarian and don't want to eat week old veg.

OP I am the same. one shop lasts the whole week. I buy 2 x 4pints of skimmed milk. The dates are always ok for the week, if not I freeze one bottle when I buy it. Bread goes in the freezer. Veg goes in fridge, fruit lasts all week. Rarely waste anything. I think people don't shop for meals so when they go to cook they don't have everything they need.

Milk takes a week to defrost anyway rendering it pointless to freeze

So beat this....
Waitrose is the only 'free' car park in my town. So loads of people park there. The downside is to exit without paying for parking you have to show a receipt for at least £10.
You can also get a free newspaper if you spend over £10.

I pop into town maybe 3 x a week, so as well as the big shop I also top up to cover the £10 spend.

I also like to buy according to what is on the shelves or in their fridges- ie Fridays is 'fish day' with a better choice, sometimes there are very few chickens to choose from, sometimes they have nice , local seasonal produce. Their stock varies from day to day to an extent.

It's not quite like France etc where women 'go to the market' daily to get fresh produce, but it's along those lines.

I think the Weekly Shop only works if you eat mainly packaged food, or are happy to eat week-old greens. Roots keep but most greens are past their best after 2-4 days. We eat broccoli, cabbage or spinach almost every day. If I buy all of those on one day, something is off by the time we want it.

I think popping out for milk and bread is not really a top up shop imo.

Milk takes a week to defrost anyway rendering it pointless to freeze
Tosh!

Milk takes a week to defrost anyway rendering it pointless to freeze

eh? Course it doesn't. A pint will defrost overnight. Most milk will last for 2-3 weeks in the fridge. Do the sniff test.

Polly I buy fresh food and some frozen veg such as peas and green beans( frozen after being picked so fresher than 'fresh')and cook from scratch. If veg is stored correctly it will easily last a week.

And it's a chore because going to the shop alone with three young children is horrible

We don't use a lot of milk (no one drinks it or eats much cereal) so I buy either Cravendale or Tesco Pure. It's not long life, but it lasts ages, even after it's opened.

I wouldn't be able to keep all my fruit and veg fresh for a week. We only have a tiny fridge and no freezer.

HTH.

Bizarre thing to get wound up about

Maybe you have your fridge set to warm but in a cold fridge it has taken several days to defrost milk. That's not a made up fact, that's when I've tried to defrost milk.

To defrost milk you leave it out of the fridge overnight!

There is no way on earth that regular supermarket milk lasts 2-3 weeks in the fridge. My stomach is churning at the thought of the chunks. 🤢

I usually hate it when people say this but I'm really not sure why this bothers you? Surely it's easy to understand why people might need to go out and buy extra things? Sometimes our weekly shop lasts more than I week so we just top up halfway through the next week to keep us going until the next weekend.

there are now only 2 of us at home so I fin it easier to do smaller shops rather than a large shop. often I buy things like fruit or vegetables and milk. tend not to waste food this way.

Who is drinking 3 week old milk?

That feels like asking for food poisoning giddy aunt.

We used to have really long dates on fresh milk in America but it doesn't seems to last half that length in the uK. Is it do with the way its pasteurised I wonder?

Don't you ever forget shit?

That comment wins.

Anyway. Salad, I love salad. And some times I run out of gin.

Pollyperky said it lasts 2-3 weeks