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?

I do top up shops. I do freeze my bread though. Do people not like the idea of the freezing of bread?

Don't like the taste ofvlong life milk
Ds likes fresh crusty rolls for lunch (asd limited diet) they only keep fresh a day or two at most.
I don't have room to freeze more than half a loaf & frozen bread isn't nice
Strawberries/raspberries etc don't keep
I don't like over ripe bannnas
Etcetc

I find that buying more food as I go along is lots of little shops is far cheaper as I spend less at the local co-op/Tesco express than I do at my big Asda shop.

Veg has less nutritional value than it once did and even less after three days.

So my top-up-shop is mainly Mushrooms, Courgette, Peppers, spring onions, tomatoes and fruit.

I freeze bread and use some frozen veg. I shop between three supermarkets, mainly.
OP have you never suddenly felt like really fresh Watermelon, Strawberries/blackberries and went to the shop?

I find that unusual, tbh.

I'm just not that organised. Or sometimes I decide I fancy something that we don't have in. Or the same thing as everyone else is saying about not eating 5 day old fresh produce.

Because I do my big shop online every 3 weeks, and I don't fancy three week old milk.

Because I like to eat fresh salad.

Because sometimes I miscalculate how much cheese/washing powder/coke we will get through

Because I live 5 minutes walk from 3 supermarkets and my husband works next door to 2 more so it's easy.

It's wanky calling it a "top-up shop" though. It's just getting stuff from the supermarket.

I don't understand the 'do one big shop at the same shop to buy the same things once a week' mentality. For all the reasons already mentioned and if you have access to more than one shop nearby there are other ways to shop that can work better.

I pass several different supermarkets on the way home from work and go when I need to - it averages twice a week, mostly to Aldi because it's cheap and easy, sometimes to M&S to see if there are good deals on and sometimes to Asda/Tesco/Morrisons, again to see if there are any good deals on or to get things they don't sell in Aldi or M&S. I never do a big weekly shop for a week's worth of groceries.

I keep a running list and generally go when things are needed imminently. Some things stay on the list for weeks until I get to the particular shop where they are sold, or if they are known to be needed in the next couple of days.

I generally shop for the storecupboard rather than what is needed in the next week and this means I can save quite a lot of money over time. For example, our cats eat Felix as good as it looks sachets and yesterday I popped into Asda and they had packs of 44 for £9, which works out at 20.5p per sachet, so I got a couple of boxes of those. If I shopped for the week and always just got a week’s worth at full price, I could sometimes pay 37.5 p per sachet, so nearly twice as much. Granted my method wouldn’t work if you are very limited with spare money or storage space, but YABU to assume that the 'shop once a week and once only' model works best for everyone. I would never do online shopping, because I don't mind going in shops, get irritated by short dates and substitutions, don't always plan ahead enough to put together an order to meet the minimum delivery amount and like differnt things from different places. But I can see how it works for families that need to order more and don't want to drag the DCs to the supermarket, or people that don't have cars. (just me and DP and the cats here and DP gets fed at work more often than not)

Because our village shop does the nicest bread ever, but it only lasts a couple of days.
Because even if I buy a dozen eggs it only takes a scrambled eggs lunch, a batch of fairy cakes and one in and burger and burger and we're out again.
Because I have a fairly big fruit bowl but even if I fill it on Saturday it's empty by Wednesday
Because soft fruits don't last a week
Because sometimes we just don't fancy what we'd planned to eat
Because sometimes plans change during a week

I really don't understand your not understanding!

We have two young kids, and get through approx. 12-16 pints of milk a week. I don't have a fridge/freezer big enough to store that sort of milk, so we shop in between.

We also get through around 20-25 bananas a week, a lot of apples, pears etc. I don't want three fruit bowls on the side at the start of the week, so we re stock as the week goes on.

And then there is the odd evening where I just NEED some Ben and Jerry's. As I said, I have two preschoolers. One of them is at the "why" stage.

Lots of reasons, I do it all the time.

If I look in the fridge and freezer and I really don't fancy what is on offer I do a top up shop. Or if I fancy something and an ingredient is missing I will nip down to the store and then end up buying other things.

I don't eat a lot of bread so when I fancy it, it has to be just baked from the bakery counter, Warburtons Toastie from the freezer doesn't cut it.

I have lots of pets, I am always running out of food or cat litter.

We eat a lot of fruit in this house, bananas are either too green or too brown if you only buy them once a week.

I love a nosey in the reduced fridge for a Tuesday evening bargain.

I forgot the washing powder, I can't leave the washing for four days.

Because my children get through more milk, bread and fruit than I have room to store in the fridge/freezer in one go.

this - I usually do the "big shop" on a Sunday, but we go through a 2 litre carton of milk every day and a half on average and I don't have room to keep 5 cartons in my fridge. by Wednesday there's no fruit or bread left either. So we have to go and buy more.

I eat a lot of salad - it tends not to last a week 😕 Plus kids eat stuff and you need more (bread cheese etc)

Fresh veg and fruit usually has a shelf/fridge life of 3-4 days, we need more after that.

Because I don't know on Monday what we'll want to eat on Friday.

I do top up shops because I get pissed off about 2/3rds of the way round the supermarket and think 'Ah stuff it. I'll come back another day'. Also because we run out of things too . I reduce my top up shops when I get into the habit of shopping online as I will order everything we need - particularly larger/bulk buy items - which then cuts down the number of times I have to go shopping.

Because I like fresh crusty bread, fresh fruit and chicken etc and the thought of meal planning for a whole week bores me.

So I top up shop 3 times a week.

Agree...it's bread, fruit and salad for us.

I do top up shops for the chocolate.

I always start the week really good and just buy a few snacks in with the big weekly shop but come Wednesday or Thursday and I'm craving a big bar of galaxy.

I convince myself I'm just going for more milk / bread etc and in goes the chocolate.

I do more top-up shops than main shops most weeks.

Not a big deal tho. I walk past the local Co-op up to TWELVE fricking times a day on some days. Popping in for some pasta or cheese just only adds to the pant-wetting joy of my suburban SAHM life.

I only get perishables in the top up shop, so bread, milk, eggs, salad/veg and fruit. Mainly because we use it quickly so it runs out, and those things really do need to be fresh otherwise they're horrible.

We don't do a "big shop" but every three weeks or so we will fill up the freezer with meat, frozen jackets, etc. DH walks back through Sainsbury's on his way home and will usually text to ask what we need, because I'm home first. So I'll dig in the freezer and ask for the next couple of days worth of milk, veg, bread etc. He usually finds a gem in the reduced section too!

There's only 3 of us in this household but DH & I both work full time so it's easier for us to do a monthly shop & just get meat out to defrost in the morning to cook when we're home later on. We only top up on bread & milk that way. We found we were spending about £80 a week on weekly food shop including our packed lunches, whereas a monthly costs us £130. We buy a couple of loaves of bread & freeze one loaf. Just easier & worked out cheaper for us.

I'm 37 years old with two DC and I don't think I've ever done a "big shop" in my life.

But that's just how we do it. Don't imagine that everyone else lives like us.

do you get the second half of the week's fruit and veg from tins?

Me and DH do a big shop about every 6 weeks so we have to do a smaller shop for things like fruit and veg but no more than once a week. Although we try to make it about once every 2 weeks because we both hate shopping.

People saying fruit, veg, bread and milk doesn't last a week! That is so not true. You can freeze bread and milk anyway so they can really last a few weeks.

The fruit and veg I buy lasts a week if not longer. There is no way on earth I am going shopping every few days.