How organised are you with food shopping? How often do you go?

[Enjoytheweethings]

Sometimes, we meal plan and then sometimes the wheels come off and I feel like we constantly have to go to the shops to get stuff. It drives me nuts.

My folks used to do one big food shop a week and now I am in awe of the consistent level of supreme organisation! Maybe a quick top up shop for milk and fruit or veg but apart from that the kitchen was always stocked.

How organised are you with the groceries? Do you meal plan and rotate menus?

Very organised.
I supermarket shop almost every day as I only have an under the counter fridge (larger freezer) and two teens. One gas allergies, one will onkt eat beige and I'm GF and middle aged. Three different meals a day.

Two online deliveries a week.

I meal plan and do one online shop a week. During the week I often top up with bread and milk.

I use a combination of online deliveries and Lidl /Aldi as both are very close. I don't meal plan as such but there are foods I always have in.
My kitchen cupboards and freezer are always full, I try not to run out of things ie pasta, tinned tomatoes, baked beans. I don't wait until I have run out of something to buy a new bottle. I look to see what meat is on offer and stock the freezer when there is a good deal.
I cook from scratch and keep a supply of curry, bolognese sauce, chilli, casseroles and pizza dough in the freezer. Nothing gets wasted, overipe fruit is used in cooking, bits of veg get chucked in a soup, leftovers get eaten for lunch. I always have the means to make a meal or bake a cake!
I probably shop twice a week, we eat a lot of fruit and veg and teen DS drinks loads of milk!
When I shop in person I try to stick to a list but if I see a reductions worth buying I grab them. I had a pork tenderloin last week in Lidl for £1.00
I'm on a limited budget and watch what I spend, I have been keeping a spreadsheet since the start of the year to track spending on all groceries, including toiletries, alcohol and cleaning priducts. Currenty my average spend is £100 a week for 2 adults and two teens (15 / 17).

We do a meal plan on a Friday for the coming week and get an Ocado delivery Saturday morning. Occasionally we do a top up shop at the supermarket that weekend too if there's something unavailable but we really needed it / wanted to make that partic meal etc, and occasionally our meal plan gets out of whack if I unexpectedly work late or someone feels unwell and doesn't fancy what was on the plan but the most part that's us sorted for the week.

Doing the meal plan itself feels like the hardest part trying to balance variety with ease and speed for weeknight meals / things which need salad / freshest stuff at the start of the week when we've just got the delivery versus stuff that will keep until the end of the week, but it saves us a lot of time for the rest of the week once it's done.

Once a week. Then the milkman comes 3 times a milk (just milk delivered).

Yes I would add this to the benefit of meal planning and one shop - its extremely rare that we end up wasting anything.

Supermarket mostly every week or 10 days
fruit and veg market 2 times a week or more
butcher every fortnight

We shop every Saturday and meal
plan. Mainly because I hate waste so make sure we don’t waste any food. We have a family whatsapp channel where we add what we need/want. Works well for us

I shop very regularly, most days on the way home from work probably and at least once on the weekend. I sporadically do an online shop too for bigger household items but a set weekly food shop with everything planned so far in advance is my idea of hell.

Rolling two week meal plan, list of respective ingredients for week one or two saved on internet shopping site, plus a list for weekly essentials. Have a white board to record any extras we need to add to basket. Have delivery once a week and occ need to top up bits and bobs. Takes the mental load out of it. If you want more variety you could do a rolling 3 or 4 week meal plan. We tend to swap around meals every so often and particularly when seasons change to keep it fresh. Young family so like to avoid tantruming toddler in supermarket and unnecessary additional stress in our lives!!

This is one of the few areas where my organisation system holds strong.

I don’t meal plan. But I stock up on ingredients. And in this stage of life I don’t spend longer than 30 mins making dinner, and seldom even as long as that.

I keep meat in single portions (flat, thin, quick to defrost) in the freezer. If I make sauces, ragus etc I make extra to freeze, but I’m not snobby about jars. And I have a selection of frozen veg.

Lunches are sandwiches, fruit, salads and fresh veg so I buy a weeks worth.

Breakfast is cereal, toast, eggs, or porridge.

I organise my food storage so that I can see at a glance where the gaps are and I just fill those. I keep a designated space for my off-piste selections but if I know I can only fit two random jars that take my fancy I won’t buy more than that.

I don’t make a shopping list. I just take pictures on my phone and fill the gaps.

I shop once a week, get a milk delivery twice a week.

We eat soft fruit before hard, and I defrost bread for the end of the week- the crust is noticeably chewier but that’s all.

Yes its great how people avoid the supermarket for a week or two.. but meal plans no thanks.
Buying stuff on the day doesn't mean you waste food. That's up to whether you eat all your dinner or not.

I can see that food waste could be minimal if you literally shopped every day, but surely sometimes you need to plan meals in advance? e.g., if you only need half a bag of spinach for your meal today then you either plan to use it later in the week or risk wasting it. Plus shopping daily is obviously impractical for many people.

I wouldn't fancy having the same meals every week, but you need to know what meals you intend to make if you are to reliably buy the ingredients you will need.

Presumably you at least plan your meals a day or so in advance? Otherwise, what happens if you need to defrost something or don't buy something on the way home that you'll need for your evening meal? I'd hate to get home, go to make dinner, get halfway through the process and realise I needed to schlep to the shops for something!

I meal plan and buy specific ingredients for the next 2/3 dinners.

Picking up breakfast, lunches and other staples (fruit, milk, eggs, peanut butter, bread, cereal, butter etc) at the same time when needed.

I’ll make sure any left over vegetables are incorporated into the following 2/3 dinners or for lunches.

I aim to always have bananas, apples or pears, 1 or 2 of strawberries/blueberries/raspberries.
Rotate between oranges, grapefruit, plums, peaches, kiwis, mangos or any other fruit that looks good.

Often pick up discounted food and freeze it, but aim to use it fairly quickly.

One weekly delivery on Saturday or Sunday that covers food for most of the meals during the week. Usually I end up topping up a couple of times during the week (fresh veg, milk, extra bread etc) but the bulk of it is done online.

I cannot understand why people choose to do a physical family food shop in this day and age. It seems nuts to me that you would voluntarily subject yourself to the hell of a packed supermarket and a stressful car journey at the weekend and lose two hours of your life you won't get back.

Just me and DP and we tend to do two online shops a month then top up in between. We always do a meal plan on a Sunday and depending on where we are in the shopping cycle we either look at the stocks and figure out meals, or order ingredients. We keep a pretty well-stocked freezer/cupboards but do go through things like eggs and break at some lick.

Pretty organised. Meal plan every week, one weekly food order. We do run to the local shop during the week sometimes, not for things we've forgotten really, but just extra things we want. If I decide I want to make a cake, I may not have all the ingredients, so will go get them. Our nearest proper big supermarket is about 20-25 minutes away, so we do order in as much as we can. Sometimes if I need something that they don't have, I'll make a special trip somewhere, but that's only if I have to.

I meal plan for each week. Then do an online food shop once a week.

I shop every day because me and my other half will eat everything in one day regardless how much we buy

Sainsbugs is a 30 mile round trip away, and Waitrose 100 mile round trip, so I plan thoroughly and get a once a week delivery, ordered online, which is cheaper than the petrol to drive there, and considerably less time and effort! I certainly can’t “pop out” for anything forgotten, although the village shop has basics.

I decide what to cook and eat whilst shopping and bearing in mind what I might already have at home, if anything. We eat loads of different things

This book - What’s for Dinner and the website Taming Twins is really good - has meal plans, shopping lists and nutritional info too - even my teen DS has made some of these meals! Helps with the shopping lists and meal plans as you can use the ones she made or do your own

One big shop once a month then a weekly shop for perishables. Once in a while though I may have to nip to the shop for something extra. I’d say my kitchen is well organized.

Always plan. One Ocado delivery, one recipe box and one veg/fruit box every week. Various pet things on subscription or Amazon subscribe and save. Rarely go to a shop.