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 don't do a weekly shop. Stopped it ages ago. I just shop every couple of days to get food in for that evening and the next day. I have found I've saved on average about a hundred pounds a month and never throw food out.

Bread, fruit and vegetables as they don't usually last a week.

I don't do top-up shops, I meal plan and I shop for what I need. That includes getting fresh salad, fruits and vegetables a few times per week because they don't last. I do a store cupboard shop whenever it needs doing, usually every two months.

I live near a lot of shops and it's also a way of getting out the house for some fresh air with my toddler. We walk, we go to the park, we go to the shops. It's not hard to understand.

i do a massive shop once a fortnight. Freeze meat but then as I am meal planning we go and get the bits we need to make it something if that makes sense? So if we're having kofta, halloumi,salad, hummus, pitta for dinner i'll have the lamb mince, cheese, spices, herbs and possibly the hummus in- but i'll need the salad, and possibly the hummus and pitta. If it's a crappy day weatherwise/ we've more time than we thought we're more likely to turn the lamb mince into meatballs/moussaka and that requires different stuff to go into it that such as aubergines and mint. If I am buying Aubergines I may as well get a block of cooking mozarella and make a parmigiana melanze, so will get garlic bread stuff to go with that.

Ah, a thread about my thread I believe.

The reason I need to do top up shops in the week are 1. We shop at Aldi and can't always get everything we need there so I get a few other bits from a larger supermarket in the week.

1. Bread, milk, toiletries get used up
2. Might have forgotten an ingredient or realise a cupboard staple has run out

You win my vote for the strangest post of the week.

I don't plan our meals in advance so I only get basics at the supermarket, the rest I get when I know what I want to cook or find something on special offer. I always cook fish on the day I buy it, the same with a lot of veg.

Because I like eating veg that's not brown.

Fresh food is the obvious answer.
Access to a different shop / set of shops once a week.
Teenagers or other family members who may not always eat at home.

My question to op would be do you not end up throwing food away due to overbuying?

I live in Spain and buy fresh fruit, vegetables, bread, fish, every single day. A weekly shop is odd for me.

How are you having fresh food?
I couldn't shop for a week. Impossible.
Maybe dishwasher tabs, washing powder, cereal and water, loo roll and kitchen roll, stuff for school snacks, lots of bottles of water, once a month.

Not so much top up shops, more 'replacing everything I bought less than 24 hours ago'. I have 4 dc's including 2 teens and I'm absolutely amazed by the sheer quantity of food they can eat. How they stay slim is beyond me

Do you have a better understanding of the concept now OP?

Milk. For us the main reason is to get fresh milk and fresh veg as while some veg last a week out of the shop most do not last well.

Do you have children OP? In the last week: One emergency orchestra rehearsal called for 6pm after school, so no dinner required. One overrunning show so no dinner required. Four extras appeared after dance lessons, four extra dinners required. Three children stayed over after a late trip return - three extra breakfasts required - two still there at lunch time doing rehearsal, so two extra lunches. Meal planning when you all work full time and have teenagers just doesn't work.

We don't do a weekly shop, I like to pop in most days and get what we need for the day.
We live 3/4 mile from town and I tend to shop on foot, normally combined with other activities or the school run. Our fridge was too small to fit any more than food for a day or so (just got a bigger one but haven't broken the habit). Also have the bonus of a free coffee with each trip!

I live almost next door to to a Tesco local. Every three or four weeks I get a shopping delivery of bulky and heavy stuff, plus frozens and things I can't get in my local supermarket.

Most days I shop in the local supermarket, usually in the afternoons so I can pick up yellow sticker things, which I then meal plan around for that night or put into the freezer for another day.

I find this works out cheaper than doing a big shop. Also there's much less food wastage as I'm only buying what I need at the time or things that can be frozen.

Where is the OP?

I think we're just frothing to ourselves

I'd like to add the scenario of needs changing - invite a child over for dinner where I know they won't like what I had planned, so I pick up something else.

This has to be the dullest thread ever.... zzzzzzzzzzzzzz

Fruit, vegetables, bread, fish & meat. Walking to the shops helps our activity levels (no need to drive to butchers, fishmonger, market stalls/greengrocers etc).

Is most of your shopping beige and frozen, OP? I cannot understand your lack of understanding otherwise.

It's the staggering lack of imagination that makes it worthy of notice..wake up! Get worrying for the nation's brainpower!

Meh. Stealth boast

Why is a weekly shop the 'right way' OP? Why not every two weeks? Why not every other day?

Personally, I don't do a weekly shop, I tend to go 3x a week (ish) and get stuff we need/want for the next 2-3 days. This works for me, everything is fresh, we have what we fancy and don't have to commit to what we're eating a week in advance.

I'd prefer not to eat frozen meat, bread and veg and no fresh fruit at the end of my enforced 7 day food shopping break.