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?

We get a food shop delivered every week on Fridays. I roughly meal plan but most meals are "one meat thing plus some veg" so the decision about which veg with which meat isn't set in stone. Rarely need to do top up shops and don't have much food waste. Things like pasta and rice are bought in bulk and we always have it in stock.
I used to do 2-3 shops in person weekly before the pandemic, and only plan 2-3 days of meals at a time, it was the pandemic which forced me to get my act together with planning food shopping.

Always meal plan. Start off buy checking the freezer (I always freeze leftover ingredients), and then build a healthy varied plan with reference to what we are doing each night and how much time we have, and what ingredients need using quicker etc. When unpacking the shopping I check the dates and freeze where necessary. I have an ongoing shopping list on the calendar that everyone in the family adds as things need replacing. If its not on the list, it doesn't get bought.

Only ever have to go to the supermarket in person if something was unavailable or unsuitably substituted.

It takes me about 30 mins max to do the meal plan and online shop, plus 10 to unpack it and put it away, so it's very economical of my time. And I spend less than £100 a week for high quality meals for 4 adults (including all the other normal household stuff), so it's economical in money terms.

I know many people just wing it, but whenever I try that I spend a fortune, and we end up with boring, unimaginative meals, or having to go out to buy extra ingredients. Clearly thinking on my feet and meal planning in the supermarket as I go along isn't a skill I have.

I live about 45 minutes away from the nearest supermaket and you need to book weeks in advance for a delivery, so mostly get one delivery a month, and I packman meals and snacks but not too religiously, and then have to spend at least a week being inventive with whatever the local shop has to make up for it. I always end up spending too much letting the kids go to the local shop, and I can never work out why my shop is so expensive. really wish there was something closer but we get by I suppose