Is your kitchen full of food all the time?

[Croissantsfordinner]

I was at a friend’s house last weekend and she opened a few shelves and fridge in front of me and noticed every single inch was stocked with lots of food - I mean lots! It made me realise that the only times when my fridge is full is when we get our bi-monthly grocery delivery and then we eat what’s in it and it gets emptied quickly. I do a weekly refill of fresh products but generally I don’t keep loads of stuff around, just enough to feed us for the next 3-4 days. So in my fridge, even when well stocked, you will only find 1 pack of meat (we don’t eat much of it anyway), 1 type of fish, some eggs, some cheese, plenty of veg and fruit and 3-4 condiments. And milk. That’s it. Cupboards are generally stocked with a few packs of pasta/rice, some canned tomatoes, coconut milk and a pack of porridge and one of cereal + some peanut butter, tea and coffee and 1 or 2 packs of snacks for DC. I don’t tend to store lots of snacks and other type of food unless I am having guests over.
I wonder if I am a bit unusual and most people are more like my friend?

Yeah I always have loads of stuff in. It was drummed into me when I was young to always keep a stock of tins, packets etc so if I ever ended up on the bones of my arse or unable to shop I'd still be eating.
Served me well when lockdown hit in 2020 and food deliveries were hard to get.

I buy in bulk as it’s much cheaper, I appreciate you need the space to store it. Pasta was on offer recently so I bought 6 bags. If it is shelf stable stuff I buy a few. We have a big cupboard with just sauces, jams and stuff like that, DH is obsessed with cranberry sauce so we always have loads in, I hate it personally.

I would be the same as you op. Full fridge/larder the day I shop. Disappears very quickly with teens in the house. The fridge looks pathetic today. There’s some ham, cheese, eggs and soup. Fuck all in the press only waffles and bread. Some cereal. I have loads of packets, tins etc but my kids wouldn’t class that as food! I’ll shop tomorrow and it’ll look full again..for 20 minutes.

Yes the cupboards and freezer are always packed. I do one huge shop a month and then top ups a few times a week, but on the wind up to the big shop the fridge starts to empty out.

Outcome of growing up with not much food around I think.

I live rurally and my lane often gets flooded so I'm well used to keeping fully stocked. Tins, non perishables, frozen food in a chest freezer etc.

I could probably feed 2 adults for 6 weeks, although the menu would become increasingly....beans & lentils

Larder has enough pasta and beans etc to last 3-4 days without shopping (useful in covid) but the fridge only has a couple of days. But we live 5 mins walk from a good supermarket and have been known to go there 2 or even 3 times in a day when we forget things.

Cupboards and freezer are full! Its only DH and I, but we both WFH and cook most meals from scratch. We buy bulk from the meat and fish market, bag into 2 person portions and freeze.

My 'system' is that if I open say tartare sauce or a packet of fusilli, I add it to the list to then have a spare in the house. Not for everything, but mainly condiments and things we use often.

We meal plan and buy what is needed for the week’s meals. Other than this we tend to be around 500g to a kilo of dried pasta, 500g or so of rice, a tin or two of tuna and or mackerel, and at least a couple of eggs in the fridge plus butter and milk, then maybe a ‘brick’ of vegetable soup or a jar of asparagus in the cupboard or a yoghurt or two or a bit of fruit or veg if they weren’t used in a meal, plus coffee, tea, flour, sugar, cocoa powder, salt, pepper, dried herbs and spices, own brand Nutella, and sometimes jam. Our cupboards are definitely bare towards the end of the week.

Yes, loads as I buy in bulk when stuff in on offer for our usuals

My teenage DD used to moan all the time that wew are an 'ingredients' house.

She's consciously being more healthy now so it doesn't bother her, but we are the same as you OP. Especially on the lead up to the big shop.

Currently in our fridge, I have leftover chicken (I'm one of them who gets 3 meals out of a chicken and boils the bones for stock 😂😂).

Some yogurts and cheese, milk, a few condiments and not much else apart from a bit of veg.

Lots in the cupboard pasta, rice, tinned tomatoes and stuff in the freezer like bread, frozen meat, etc.

I tend to keep a good stock of snacks and essentials such as cereals, rice, pasta, tinned tomatoes and beans etc but fresh food I pay what I need weekly, or twice a week. I tend to meal plan and do a weekly shop and then pick up any fresh bits as needed along the way. I have 3 major supermarkets within about a mile so I’d rather pick up fresh food between big shops than buy more than I need and waste it. I do a fair bit of batch cooking so the freezer is often full but if 2 extra
people turned up for dinner I’d probably struggle to cook them a meal!

Having too much food in the cupboards weirdly stresses me out. I like to eat down what we have even if it’s stuff that’s not going off. Weird maybe!

Well stocked cupboard and fridge due to hungry teens

Yes. We have two deliveries each week and are always well stocked up. I hate running low on anything.

By the end of the week my fridge is always bare with only condiments/milk left in it. We tend to only buy what we are going to use that week.

I have a full cupboard of staples like rice, pasta, flour, spices etc

Freezer is mostly frozen veg, and batch cooked meals for my toddler so not alot of room for much else.

We’ve got about six months worth of food in the cupboards but get a fruit and veg box delivered weekly. We buy yoghurt every few days and milk gets delivered every other day. Don’t eat much meat or cheese etc anymore. Fridge is mostly full of half eaten leftovers in tubs waiting to be turned into another meal. We are definitely an ingredients household - if you want a snack it involves making something.

My family of four could live for 2-3 months on what I have at home. It's too much. Sometimes o worry that my freezers are no more than a very expensive bin. But I grew up in poverty, and have developed middle class nigellaesque soft spot for a new kind of bean, legume or pasta shape. Or a new condiment. Or a new kind of grain- it's probably not healthy. But it is a harmless hoarding I feel.

I have enough food for 3 days, getting a food delivery Friday.
I like seeing the shelves 2/3 full as overstuffed cupboards and fridges make me feel suffocated. I hate clutter and maximalist, multi colour aesthetics overwhelm me. I love clean and minimalist look however my teen hates when the fridge starts looking empty

my Fridge and pantry are always well stocked. I could make you basically anything you wanted to eat right now.

What’s a press?

If i lived where i had ample storage and was far from supermarkets or had no grocery deliveries so easily then yeah i would stock up but food hoarding like in Covid times everyone taking so much is repulsive and selfish. We really needed rationing then because some people have an emotional reaction to hoard and overbuy food at the detriment of others..in normal times, I would wonder why you're so scared of hunger.. the irony it's not even overweight people that hoard food in cupboards necessarily.

For those who have 2 / 3 / 6 months worth of food is it because it saves time? Or is it more of a prep-ing thing? Or something else entirely? I would be really stressed to see all that stuff but I understand I’m strange so curious about other perspectives.

I live v close to the supermarket and we don't have a lot of space - cupboards, hanging door shelf and mini fridge and freezer. So I do my main shop on Monday and pick up a few bits besides but by the weekend we don't have a lot in.

To be clear i dont mean kitchens where you have all the spices and flours possible and you are an active cook or baker where you will actually use them up with minimal waste i mean the 50 packs of ramen and you rarely ever eat ramen just stacked in your kitchen just in case!

I like to be prepared and could never be accused of being a minimalist. We have enough food to keep us fed for months. It might not be the most varied, fresh fruit/veg/dairy-rich diet, but we have a large freezer stocked with meat and a good stock of pasta, rice, tins, flour, and other non-perishable foods. I find comfort in knowing we have a decent supply of food on hand.