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

Online delivery twice a week (delivery saver) as I meal plan for 1/2 the week, then replan depending on what has been actually used.

I am unlikely to be alone in not being able to do a full weekly plan with a teen who doesn't know in advance when he is working or going out. I find when I get two smaller deliveries I have nicer and fresher veg, milk, bread and much less food waste or food which gets thrown into and then languishes at the bottom of the chest freezer for years weeks.

We bulk buy at the butchers every 3-4 weeks, but don't bulk buy cupboard staples as use them to get my online order up to £40 so I don't get charged for delivery. Regularly buy and meal plan to what is on offer at the supermarket at the time.

I think everyone's circumstances are so different depending on preferences, ages, stages of their own and their families lives. It will never be a one, even if it is a flexible one size fits all for meal planning.

For things like washing powder and cleaning materials it's once a month. Fresh food weekly and pantry is as things get low.

I shop weekly, but I don't shop for the week, IYSWIM

Store cupboard stuff gets replaced when it runs out, and that can be at quite irregular intervals.

In his weather, I'm buying bread and some fruit/vegetables more often, as it just doesn't seem to keep

Weekly shop with fresh meat, fruit and vegetables but I do a tin/frozen/stuff like bin bags and tin foil once a month.

I work close to supermarkets and tend to do my shopping on foot to save petrol, so I don't do a weekly or monthly shop, I just go when we need a few things. I do still have a weekly budget though, which although low compared to a lot, I can keep to.

Monthly I buy
Cleaning stuff
Toiletries
All freezer things
Spices
Pasta and rice
Cupboard staples
Coffee
Tea
Eggs
Cheese
Butter
Condiments

Weekly
Meat
Veg
Fruit
Bread

Definitely weekly. Most food wouldn't last monthly unless we were refilling the freezer.

Weekly. I've never shopped monthly...wouldn't occur to me. I don't have the cupboard space to do so anyway. I go to the supermarket twice a week.

Honest question - for those who shop weekly and are families with children, how do you store that much food? And do you literally meal plan 30 odd days of meals?

Just interested, as we have teenagers and can hardly store one week of supplies. And I don’t think we would be organised enough to meal plan for a month.

Sorry, that should read those who shop MONTHLY

2 adults and a 10mo. Get a delivery weekly (too lazy to actually go shopping) and occasionally pop to the local express to pick up anything that can't wait.

I've said yabu, but that's because when we're "ok" financially I would shop weekly, when I am trying to save money I buy every 10 to 14 days,as I think monthly shops are not savers as the top ups usually are way more expensive over all cumulatively.

Same here, I don't drive so get all my non-perishables & long life items every 6ish weeks as needed. I make sure I overstock so I can stretch it out to when I actually need the bigger things.

Then every weekend I buy fresh stuff like meat & veg.