to ask if you shop weekly or monthly?

[ihavenocats]

I'm working on a book which I hope will help people deal with the cost of living crisis. It's kind of a cookbook but a bit more than that, focusing around cost and time-effective, easy cooking that is nutritious. A holistic approach for busy working families with a win/win/win/win ethos - cheap food, nutritious food, tasty food, quick food.

I'm sorting my recipes into weeks now and wondered when costing up, if I should use weekly or monthly.

So if you are a family with children (doesn't matter how many) How often is your big food shop?

IABU - I do a big monthly shop.
IANBU - I do a weekly shop

Weekly for sure, we buy lots of fresh stuff

Nearly daily! We eat a lot of fresh food and hate meal planning as never fancy what I’ve planned. Tend to just pick up some veg/meat/fish on the way home depending on what we fancy.

I do both. I get a monthly delivery when I get paid, and buy the fresh stuff I need through the month.

I don't think it really matters which way you choose. Some people will prefer to think of it weekly, some monthly. I think most people are smart enough to work out one from the other, and those that struggle probably have people in their lives that can help with that.

Big online shop ever 6 weeks or so for bulky/ heavy/ long life stuff (as I don't drive).

Weekly shop for fresh stuff, with occasional top ups for milk ect.

I go to the supermarket every 3 days when generally our milk and bread has finished and plan meals for those days.

Weekly - I have a delivery saver pass and get my food delivered. I'm considering having a delivery every 8 days to try and eek the finances out.

2 adults, 6yo. Monthly shop for all the pantry staples, long life items and detergents. Weekly shop for fresh items. We are not big meat eaters so buy that weekly if we want that.

Weekly with top ups. Fresh produce doesn't last a month.

Both , a Costco stock up on payday , then everything else weekly , with the odd top up thrown in

Closer to daily. The only people I know who shop monthly are Americans with massive freezers.

I seem to be at the supermarket every 2-3 days at the moment, and I can't even call it a 'top up shop' as its £40+ each visit.

That's on top of doing a 'big shop' once a week.

I order a week's worth of food (Ocado, Waitrose, Tesco depending on my needs) - but some weeks are bigger than others (e.g when we need to buy bulkier items, or replenish a stock of something) - so I guess those bigger weeks would count as my 'monthly' shop.

We also buy the odd thing between shops if we fancy it or have run out. But that happens less and less these days as I try to stick to a plan (and a budget).

Similar to Honaloulou, I don't drive so tend to do a big, bulky/heavy delivery every 4/5 weeks with toilet roll, tins, pasta, washing powder etc and then shop weekly for fresh fruit, veg, meat etc. Then extra little trips for top ups of milk, bread and more fruit.

That's great. Thank you. I'm going to cost weekly shops then and offer weekly meal plans. The idea is to remove most thought and cash from the equation and present recipes that are super simple but tasty, always nutritious, and that can be customised or "pimped" up which will also be in the book but I will assume the lowest amount of money and time possible.

I hope it's helpful to people. I love cooking and love the feeling of eating well and want to share it (and possibly make money along the way)

Weekly. I don't understand how a monthly shop would work - fruit and veg doesn't last more than a week (if that!) And fresh meat not long, although can be frozen. Plus the amount of milk we would have to buy to last a month would fill our fridge. Surely if you shop monthly you have to do a weekly top up shop anyway.

As my post above explained. I shop monthly on Ocado for all the pantry items, detergents, long life items, kid snacks, biscuits etc. Weekly shop is fruit, veg , bread, milk, meat and it's for the meal plan of the week.

I do weekly and meal plan so I buy only what we need.

My goal is an empty fridge on Sunday night (I shop Monday morning)

Same as PP, monthly for bulky pantry items, drink etc and every few days for fresh bits.

Good luck with your book!

Weekly but I try and do a "big shop" fortnightly and a top up with fresh shop in between that isn't so big.

Weekly for most stuff, but every 2 months for wholesale items (we get from a catering supplier that branched out during COVID) for stuff that lasts - tins, dry goods - pasta, rice, breadsticks, frozen stuff - part baked breads, frozen ham, household stuff - like washing up liquid. Much cheaper if you've got the space to store things!

big twice weekly.

no car and shopping trolly needs to be manageable.
has the advantage that fruit and bred are fresher.

This is me too!

I wish we had the space for a months worth of groceries.

Weekly plus top ups. I don’t understand how monthly can work eg I’d only buy beans or tinned tomatoes if on offer. If x date is bulk shipping day and they aren’t on offer what do you do? There’s certain things always come round on offer and I couldn’t pay full price.

Bi-weekly for the big shop of cupboard and freezer staples at the supermarket. I'll get plenty of fresh fruit and veg in this shop too. Then I'll pop to the local grocers for more fruit, veg, milk and eggs in the other weeks to top up.

I shp fortnightly but one shop is usually larger as I stock up one shop & then buy things we have used up & fresh things like milk, meat & veg the other.