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?

Who is drinking 3 week old milk?
We do. If it doesn't smell and isn't curdled, it's fine. Milk lasts for ages.

"And I'd run out of chocolate in my stash drawer."

Oh the horror, @MiaowTheCat!

I wouldn't be surprised if milk in the fridge takes days to defrost. I've given up trying to defrost meat in the fridge as it takes at least 2 days, messing up meal plans etc so I need to leave it at room temperature for a few hours instead (no, have never had food poisoning).

It sounds like a few people need to check their fridges. Ours is 20 years old and works perfectly - the temperature says 4 C - don't know if this is accurate but things don't go off - even Aldi veg lasts well despite being widely reported as turning to compost before it gets home.

You really should always have a spare bottle of gin.

Some things matter.

It's pasteurised. Removes the bugs.

I don't see how a family of 4-5 could keep 5 servings of fruit and veg a day, to last a week, in the fridge.

I do top up shops for things like bread, milk and fruit, the fruit inparticular I get a little of and then buy some more if I run out because I'd rather that then buy too much and it get thrown away which used to happen a lot, sometimes we eat more fruit than usual, sometimes that's the same with things like bread.. or maybe dd wants a few cups of milk in the week so we run out quicker than usual. I did scrambled eggs for the family the other day (not a normality) so we ran out of eggs and needed more.

There's loads of reasons to do top up shops.

If I forget something or usually to get more fresh fruit/veg/salad.

Does no one else read those threads about some amazingly scofftastic food stuff a poster has just discovered, and then find themselves stomping towards the supermarket thinking ‘must.have.that.right.NOW’.

For bread, milk and salad. That's why (and ok, the occasional treat!)

plus a guinea pig who loves fresh lettuce

I prefer to buy milk weekly rather than monthly. Also like making spur of the moment recipes as a treat so might pick up veg/fruit I don't have.

I keep a huge fruit bowl in the kitchen, another in the living room and berries and grapes in the fridge. Potatoes and onions are kept in a cool,dark larder in a drawstring bag, other veg in the fridge and freezer. We buy lots of fruit and veg(fresh and frozen i.e frozen spinach for curries etc) for our family of 4. Hardly ever top up.

I don't see how a family of 4-5 could keep 5 servings of fruit and veg a day, to last a week, in the fridge

Maybe they have a really big fridge, or maybe, just maybe, they're one of those terrible people who don't eat their five a day?

Love how any food/shopping thread always drags out the not so stealthy boasting about prodigious fruit and veg consumption with a side order of snide comments about 'well if you don't do top ups you must be existing entirely on shitty beige freezer food'.

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

Bagged salad leaves. Punnets of strawberries, raspberries, blueberries. Peaches. Bananas. Fresh crusty bread. Chilled prawns. Bags of prepared veg.

A few days yes, but a week?

We'll get enough fruit for a few days in our Ocado order and then buy more during the week. I've tried buying a week's worth and end up throwing much away because it's gone manky.

I'd love to know where the mythical week long strawberries come from?

Oh yes, I'd forgotten the guinea pigs. That was a daily shop!

Costco's fruit and veg will often last a month plus in the fridge. Using capsicum and strawberries I bought 3 weeks ago.

I think some people are just a bit too squeamish about things being anything other than perfectly fresh. At the end of the week I make a dish affectionately known as 'pot of slop', tempting I know. Basically it's a ragu made from onions, tomatoes and any veg left over in the fridge, the end of a bag of frozen peas or sweetcorn, odd bit of bacon or chorizo languishing at the back of the fridge and we serve it with pasta and grated cheese if left. It's tasty and cheap and makes sure nothing is wasted. I cook using what's in my kitchen, not what I haven't got.

Now we may be entering the realm of irradiated tomatoes..

We are the "large family, low storage" people.

6 of us most of the time, 7 when DD is home from Uni and 8 when DS comes to stay. We simply do not have the space for the 8 or so loaves of bread we use a week, or the 4 boxes of cereal or the milk we get through......

8 loaves of bread/4 boxes of cereal per week for 6-8 people is just greedy. I grew up in a large family (10-15 people at any given time) on a budget that just seems like too much to me (we had a box of cereal per week, 2 loaves a week max).

Oh and we dont keep fruit in the fridge, it isnt good for it. We keep ours in the MASSIVE fruit bowl on the coffee table (I mentioned 6 of us, right?!) and although bananas only last a few days it doesnt matter because they are usually eaten first out of choice. Apples easily last a week and I shop at Aldi.

Veg.....I use frozen veg were possible because it takes less space so frozen peppers, mushrooms, onions, peas and sweetcorn. Carrots and brassica I only buy fresh as frozen ones are gopping.

We eat fresh food. It doesn't last a whole week or we'd be eating rotten food by Friday. Bread. Fruit. Vegetables. Meat. Fish.

I'd buy more milk but that becomes a storage issue.

I really loathe supermarket fruit and veg. It's always past its best on the day we buy it, having come from some godforsaken deep freeze, but it's the best we have right now.

My mother fed us on 'a weekly shop' but all we ate was shit in tins or frozen ready meals.

I do daily fruit shops as it doesn't hang around in our household. I also enjoy browsing the bargains so pop into our corner co-op most days.

It's a minutes walk away so no hassle.

Have to top up on salad and bread unless want to eat stale sandwiches and slime.

The only way could get away without top up is if ate only ready meals!