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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To wonder why people do "top-up" shops

549 replies

RedSkyAtNight · 30/06/2017 09:01

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?

OP posts:
GrumpyOldBag · 01/07/2017 19:05

Because I don't do meal planning in advance.

And because people's plans change at the last minute.

tabulahrasa · 01/07/2017 19:09

"Do people throw out a lot of food then I presume? Even if it's 2 slices of a loaf but you don't like how it tastes after 6 days? "

No, if I wanted enough bread to last a week I'd need 2 or 3 loaves, I only buy one at a time though.

RidingMyBike · 01/07/2017 19:14

I do loads of top up shops a week! Partly to get fresh stuff in, partly because none of the supermarkets have everything I want.

So, supermarket (a) delivery on Mon evening - bulky stuff, basics like flour, butter, tins, breakfast cereal, fruit juice, baby stuff.
Thurs- veg box delivery, plus milk plus meat box every two/three weeks.
Fri- top up shop on foot to supermarket (b) stuff for weekend: salad, bread, cheese, plus anything only that supermarket stocks.
Sun - top up shop on foot to supermarket (c) for bread, salad etc for packed lunches as back at work on Mon.
Milkman delivers milk Mon, Wed and Fri too.

Partly I like getting the fresh stuff in, partly it's easy as I'm walking past supermarkets b and c anyway, partly small fridge/freezer which I use for batch cooking rather than freezing bread and milk. It would
Be different if the shops were more than 10 mins walk away! I plan a week's worth of meals in advance.

busyboysmum · 01/07/2017 19:15

Actually I think we top up shoppers are taking the more traditional approach. Harking back to the glorious days when life was less rushed and you had time every day to toddle down to your local shop, basket over your arm and personally choose the freshest local produce. Chatting of course to the shop assistant would bring social benefits as well lessening the chance of feeling cutoff from society.

Increasinglymiddleaged · 01/07/2017 19:15

The bread I buy tastes no different. Tbh I try to avoid teaching for second slices on a day to day basis which is why I buy bog standard sliced wholemeal. If I had guests and bread was part of a meal I'd buy better stuff that then wouldn't be frozen.

Such a weird, competitive thread. My house is not run as a 'best catering' competition and day to day we have basics as most people do. Those last a week. Yes, I don't do a fresh prawn salad with 5 different leaves with crusty bread on day 6. We eat well, plenty of fruit and veg but shock horror I may have to even use frozen vegetables occasionally if I run out of fresh. It seems to me to be that's what everyone I know does but hey ho each to his/her own

Increasinglymiddleaged · 01/07/2017 19:16

I agree busyboy it requires a massive fridge freezer for one thing!

Jedimum1 · 01/07/2017 19:16

I have two under-5s and I get big bottles of milk. I can only fit about 5 in my fridge and I use 1 bottle a day! I need to get more milk before the weekend. Same with bread. I can't get enough bread for the week because it goes green, if I have room in the freezer I put it there but if not, I have to get some too. Plus there's always something Ihave forgotten in the shop!

Wh0Kn0wsWhereTheTimeGoes · 01/07/2017 19:21

Why would too up shopping mean we throw away food? A loaf lasts us about 4 days so I buy another one then. I also buy more fruit and milk then, we don't have fridge space for a week's worth of milk and we might as well have fresh fruit too if we are going to the shop for bread and milk.

AndTakeYourHorseWithYou · 01/07/2017 19:25

Such a weird, competitive thread

There is no competition at all. Just people explaining what suits them. Any competition is yours.

WomblingThree · 01/07/2017 19:28

cleanlaundry why are you assuming that people waste food? I just don't get the correlation.

Also, bulk buying doesn't necessarily apply. Ok, some things may have a cheaper unit price in a bigger portion, but not everything. Bread is the same price per loaf whether you buy one or ten.

TinselTwins · 01/07/2017 19:29

"Do people throw out a lot of food then I presume? Even if it's 2 slices of a loaf but you don't like how it tastes after 6 days? "

Um, no! are people hard of thinking on this thread?

Buying bread twice a week doesn't mean I buy 2 x a weeks worth of bread and chuck half away each time

It means I buy HALF A WEEKS worth of bread at the weekend, and when that's used up I buy another SMALL loaf or fresh rolls midweek

It doesn't mean I do a WEEKLY shop times 2! It means I DIVIDE my weeks bread need in HALF

it that really hard to get?

it's not more expensive to buy two halves than it is to buy one weeks worth at once (unless you're driving twice, which I don't)

It's not doubly wasteful to only buy four or three days worth at a time than it is to buy seven days worth a time

You really think that top-up shoppers buy fourteen days worth of food a week over two shops? and chuck half of it ever 3/4 days?

BoraThirch · 01/07/2017 19:30

I meal plan and do a weekly shop. I would rather not do a top up shop but if we don't then we run out of bread, milk and sometimes fruit halfway through the week.

I buy a 6 pinter of milk but then need to buy another 4 pints later in the week - can't fit both in the fridge. I usually buy one loaf of bread to have out, and one for the freezer for toast, but we need another later in the week and I can't fit two in the freezer. Fruit - I usually fill the fruitbowl with apples, bananas and oranges but if them kids eat it all midweek I buy more.

Not sure how to avoid top ups really.

BlurryFace · 01/07/2017 19:30

We don't have a car, so I plan for meals weekly then get the ingredients from the small shop 10 minutes away or the big shop 20 minutes away usually on the day before or on the day that I need them. Then of course there's fruit milk and bread - the fruit usually doesn't last for long, you can often get nicer bread reduced down to the price of cheap bread if it's short dated, and we don't have the freezer space to spare for bread and milk.

Ecureuil · 01/07/2017 19:34

I couldn't give a shiny shit how others choose to shop. Until I read this thread I'd never wasted a seconds thought on it.
We tend to top up, because we don't meal plan (gasp), so sometimes don't have something in that we need to make what we fancy that day. And because I have two toddlers who love strawberries/cherries/blueberries etc which don't tend to last a week. And because I'm not perfect and forget stuff. And because sometimes I fancy something different to what we've got.
None of the family are overweight and we spend approx £300 on food for a family of four.

Ecureuil · 01/07/2017 19:36

And no, I don't enjoy doing a top up shop. I see it as a chore I guess. I also don't enjoy loading the dishwasher, ironing and folding clothes. Still do it.

INeedANameChange · 01/07/2017 19:36

I get two shops a week too. Home delivery and i want my food to be fresh when I cook it.

Bagged salad goes off in around two days, fresh bread lasts a day, loaves are ok for a few days, but all need topping up!

Lim0ne · 01/07/2017 19:40

I do nothing but top up shops! We have a mini M&S, Waitrose, Sainsbury plus loads of delis all within 5 minute walk. No need to have food rotting in the fridge or defrosting things for hours. I buy fruit, salad, veg and meat or fish every day depending on what I fancy cooking. Or we order in because there's a really healthy Thai opposite that does amazing salads etc and the food is with you in 10 mins!
I've found when you do an Ocado order they always bring fruit, etc that's about to go out of date on the next day or something, though I do sometimes use it for bulk ordering water, cat food etc.

TinselTwins · 01/07/2017 19:41

Also, sometimes I get 3/4 the way round on a "big shop" and just don't want to be out in public with bored kids and am losing the will to live so go sod the rest of the list I'll pick it up later in the week

a top up shop is fairly painless and quick and feels browsey and relaxed. A big shop can be traumatic depending on kids moods/whether the heat is affecting the general publics abilities to human etc. So sometimes it's worth abandoning before it's finished TBH….

InvisibleKittenAttack · 01/07/2017 19:43

Yep, we need 2 loaves of bread a week, I buy 1 in our weekly food delivery, usually pick another up midweek when walking past a supermarket. No wasted food, just not getting everything in the Ocado shop. If we don't need as much bread one week, I don't get that in a top up shop.

I can see if go to a supermarket is a long trip or you are struggling for time, then making sure you stock up for a full week makes more sense, even if you do have to over-buy and throw out if stuff doesn't get used.

Qwerty111 · 01/07/2017 19:51

Because we're massively, massively disorganised, that's why.

We went this morning, got home, hadn't even finished unpacking when I noticed there was only a single sheet of kitchen roll left.
We usually have to go mid meal-prep when we realise we don't actually have the key ingredient.

Mid 50's, in case you think we'll grow out of it... likely to get worse if anything! Grin

Confusedandintrigued · 01/07/2017 20:04

It's all about standards.
You're happy eating defrosted bread; 6 day old milk; brown bananas etc

Some of us are happy to suck up a top ip shop in order to enjoy our food throughout the week and not just day 1-3!

AndTakeYourHorseWithYou · 01/07/2017 20:05

I think thats a bit much, its not about standards, its just a different way of doing things. Neither way is inherently better or worse.

EastMidsMummy · 01/07/2017 20:06

This is, indeed, a weirdly competitive thread.

Hardline once-a-weekers seem to be horrified that anyone dare shop in between the big shop, seeing it as wildly extravagant and boastful.

Militant top-uppers seem to be affronted that anyone would eat anything that's been sitting in the fridge for more than a day.

I genuinely am not sure who I am supposed to be in admiration of.

FWIW, we do a big shop weekly, forget stuff, have three teenagers and are lucky enough not to budget so tightly that we can't top-up when we need or want to. I would guess one of us pops to the shop every other day. It's hardly a chore to pop in on the way back from work but I am not trying to claim moral superiority for doing so.

cleanlaundry · 01/07/2017 20:10

Because someone up thread said something like they don't like lettuce that's 6 days old or strawberries that are a week old - that's why I asked about food wastage. So what do you do with the lettuce or strawberries that's 6 days old? @TinselTwins I really don't appreciate that judgemental tone in your post. It was a question, stop with the drama, I don't do top ups so that's why I asked. It's different to my way of shopping so I inquired to understand what other people do. Is that alright with you??Hmm

People seriously need to stop getting their pants in a twist on this thread

Pagwatch · 01/07/2017 20:11

EastMidsMummy

How about you just align yourself with most of us? Try and do a big shop routinely and top up when needs must without feeling strongly about it?

You realise that you don't have to side with the extreme end of either positions don't you? That shit got us into Brexit.