Just counted how many times I've been to the supermarket in the last month!!!

[Beamine]

I've just been looking at my bank account and have logged how many times between us (dh and I) have been to a supermarket/food shop in the last month and I counted 39 transactions!! Amounting to 475.00 approx. So although that's not a huge amount to spend on food in a month, we are obviously very disorganised! So I'm aiming this month to go a lot less and hoping to cut the cost.

How many times a month do you go food shopping?

@TheCanyon

Family of 6 and last time I totted it up it was 800+ a month. Dh would nip in after work for bits/kids snacks etc., He's been shielding so it's been magic spending on other things. Ends tomorrow though...

Wow that's a lot! Maybe we can all let each other know how we get on this next month, seems to be a few of us what want to change

When the schools are off (ie no packed lunches required) we went once a week.
Now I'm making 15 sets of sandwiches a week, I'm doing a top up shop mid week. So 8-10 visits a week, depending on how the month falls.

@DancesWithDaffodils

When the schools are off (ie no packed lunches required) we went once a week. Now I'm making 15 sets of sandwiches a week, I'm doing a top up shop mid week. So 8-10 visits a week, depending on how the month falls.

Do you mean 8-10 visits a month? Wow 15 sets of sandwiches !!

Bear in mind that it's not how often you go but what you buy.

Shopping more often may allow you to pick up offers and maybe waste less.

Whereas if you stick to once a week you might not get round to using everything you buy before it goes off.

I feel like I'm never out of the supermarket- twice today for example.

1st for BBQ stuff later when we realised we need packed lunch stuff.

We can go 2 or 3 times per day.
We always forget stuff and we always need stuff that we haven’t thought of.
Bain of ADHD. Lists mean nothing as we usually lose them.

@BarbaraofSeville

Bear in mind that it's not how often you go but what you buy.

Shopping more often may allow you to pick up offers and maybe waste less.

Whereas if you stick to once a week you might not get round to using everything you buy before it goes off.

Well, yes I did find if I did big shops I would waste more but I need a happy medium.

@Bythemillpond

We can go 2 or 3 times per day. We always forget stuff and we always need stuff that we haven’t thought of. Bain of ADHD. Lists mean nothing as we usually lose them.

Sounds like us!! My head can't cope with it!!

Oops, yes. I do mean 8-10 a month.

Sandwiches for me, DS1 and DS2 for 5 days a week....

@Bythemillpond I use Evernote on my phone and computer for lists - you can sync it across devices so you and your DH can both have it and you probably lose your phones less than bits of paper

I’ve just checked and I’ve been to Lidl 15 times in April so far. We also do 1 big weekly shop in Morrisons. Occasionally pop into Asda, Tesco or Marks and Spencers as well. I say every month I’m going to write meal plans and shopping lists so I don’t end up in Lidl nearly every day, but I’ve not managed it yet.
I saw somewhere the average food spend for a family of our size (2 adults and 1 toddler) is about £70 pw

I find a big shop more wasteful and less well thought out. We go shopping about every 3 days and get stuff for those 3 days and anything else that's been put on the list eg binbags, ketchup, that you don't buy all the time. By going every 3 days we get really fresh stuff, and buy things that are on offer to cook for those days. We very rarely throw anything away because its gone off.

God this is me and I thought exactly this today about the utter waste of time after going in two supermarkets and still having a list for tomorrow.

I'm going to book a fortnightly online slot and try to top up no more than once or twice a week.

We split our shop into two £40 deliveries a week with tesco delivery saver paid with clubcard vouchers. Means we can get fresh bread/milk/fruit/veg etc mid week.

I've been into a supermarket less than 10 times since March 2020.

PattyPan Dh shops separately as he only gets his food as he eats meat and I wouldn’t know one end of a steak from another. (I hadn’t added his shopping times into my daily supermarket runs) He also knows I will forget to get him what he asks for. He is the one who makes the lists we lose. Adult dc all eat different stuff. One is vegan, I try to steer clear of wheat and no one can agree what veg they want so we all make our own food. I like curries (hot ones) whilst Dd only likes mild ones and dd doesn’t like anything with spice in.
Before lockdown i was much more in control because people had jobs and weren’t around all day (still would go twice per day) and they used to be fed on the job. Now any control over the fridge is gone. I have no idea what we spend on food.
Making a list on your phone would only be good if I went out with more than 12%

@Parker231

One online delivery a week and one top up for fresh food each week.

Same here.

I don't go. I have an Asda delivery every Thursday and that's it. No top ups, we make do and freeze stuff.

My monthly credit card statements average 3 or 4 shops per month. A couple of big ones and one or two top-ups.
I got a 2nd hand chest freezer last year thats in the garage and has bread & milk (and other things) in, so I don't need to pop out for that which means I don't then get other stuff.
I mix between Tesco (mainly click & collect) and Aldi (only when I go to work as I drive past it), so if I've done a couple of Aldi shops I might need to pop to Tesco to get stuff I can't get in Aldi.

This is me it's lethal I smoke also but I'm spending £300 a month in the corner shop then about 600 in Sainsbury's! I need to stop it but it's right there so I'm constantly nipping in and out.

I don't know how so many people go shopping so often.

Me and DH dislike shopping so we do a big shop about every 6 to 8 weeks and then just go if we need anything fresh so probably once a fortnight, sometimes less than that.

I have a rough meal plan for a month and then each week make a more definite plan.

We buy food in bulk especially things we eat a lot of, so pasta, rice, chickpeas, different lentils, beans, tinned tomatoes. We have a fridge freezer in the kitchen and a tall freezer in the garage. We always have bread and milk in the freezer although I use oat milk but buy those in bulk.

In the freezer we always have frozen veg and fruit along with meals I have batch cooked, home made soups etc.

We waste literally no food.

I go once a week, I mealplan, freeze bread for the week, supermarket milk speaks lasts 10 days. I use the more delicate vegetables earlier in the week. Always keep frozen veg to useful for the end of the week.

I'm saving a lot of money!

We were shopping like this prepandemic (never online always in store) now it’s noticeably less. I do a big shop online every 2 weeks and then topping up fruits, vegs, milk, meat every 3-4 days. I found it’s better in terms of offers and less waste. I always have some staples in my cupboard and freezer which will allow me to go through the day without shopping. Because of COVID we now have a few packs of UHT milk in the cupboard and more variety in the cupboard and freezer.
However it’s only 3 of us and I’m in charge of cooking and planning, I would struggle much more with a bigger family as we don’t have much space.
If we need something specific one of us will walk to a local shop in the evening and it will count as brisk walking. Or we can pop in on the way from school. But the rule is to stick to the list and don’t shop around.
I’ve found online shopping very convenient as I feel uncomfortable wearing mask for some time (my glasses are steaming) so can’t actually spend a lot of time in the shop.

lynsey91
Maybe get your mind round the fact not everyone lives like you.

Firstly how do you keep stuff fresh for nearly 2 weeks. We usually eat a salad with our meals so can’t imagine a lettuce, tomatoes, cucumbers etc fairing well after 13 days in the fridge.
Secondly take away your freezer in the garage which a lot of people don’t have, add in a few adult children, different dietary requirements, irregular working patterns for 4 people and you can see that meal planning a month ahead when we don’t know who will be in or out, home late or leaving early or need a packed lunch from day to day would lead to a lot of wasted food so we shop when we need to which is at least twice, maybe 3 or 4 times per day.

Click & collect once a week and no more than one or two trips to our little Sainsbury’s for top ups if we have ran out of something or teens have guzzled everything in sight.

@Bythemillpond

lynsey91 Maybe get your mind round the fact not everyone lives like you.

Firstly how do you keep stuff fresh for nearly 2 weeks. We usually eat a salad with our meals so can’t imagine a lettuce, tomatoes, cucumbers etc fairing well after 13 days in the fridge.
Secondly take away your freezer in the garage which a lot of people don’t have, add in a few adult children, different dietary requirements, irregular working patterns for 4 people and you can see that meal planning a month ahead when we don’t know who will be in or out, home late or leaving early or need a packed lunch from day to day would lead to a lot of wasted food so we shop when we need to which is at least twice, maybe 3 or 4 times per day.

Of course I know not everyone lives like me. I just could not be going to the supermarket every week let alone every day or more than once in a day!

Food shopping is pretty boring and I have better and more interesting things to do with my time.

Never had a problem with most salad stuff lasting 2 weeks or even longer. Lettuce doesn't always but tomatoes, beetroot, celery, cucumber, radishes all do.