Do you shop frequently or use up the fridge?

[Stock Pot]

I like to think my wife and I are pretty efficient shoppers, but things come up. Living in a rural area, we tend to buy for a week at a time. I put our dial at about 70% "use up the fridge".

 

[blissful]

Hi Stock Pot, We were a working family until a month ago and now DH is retired. We are trying to re-vamp our shopping now. So we would like to go out once a week and shop and yet we are people with lots of freezer space and pantry in the basement and we are trying to shop less. It's quite a transition really.

We are currently snowed in, and yet we need to leave so we don't drive each other crazy. So shopping is now an activity that we do to get out of each other's hair, not that we can afford it either. We used to shop JUST once a week to save money on gas, now we shop every few days wasting more money on gas than on food. It's ridiculous. 'What? we need a cucumber or 4 gallons of milk, I'll go to the grocery store.' Crazy people live here.

 

[roadfix]

If we had a grocer at every street corner I think we can live off of a large cooler.

But when you shop at Costco you better have a large fridge plus a chest freezer.

 

[Stock Pot]

Yep. It's a real "life balance" thing. I try to avoid any produce going to the landfill or leftovers of any kind. It ain't easy, though.

 

[caseydog]

Hi Stock Pot, We were a working family until a month ago and now DH is retired. We are trying to re-vamp our shopping now. So we would like to go out once a week and shop and yet we are people with lots of freezer space and pantry in the basement and we are trying to shop less. It's quite a transition really.

We are currently snowed in, and yet we need to leave so we don't drive each other crazy. So shopping is now an activity that we do to get out of each other's hair, not that we can afford it either. We used to shop JUST once a week to save money on gas, now we shop every few days wasting more money on gas than on food. It's ridiculous. 'What? we need a cucumber or 4 gallons of milk, I'll go to the grocery store.' Crazy people live here.

My 85-year-old dad can't sit still for five minutes. He goes to the store at least once a day. Kroger, Target, Lowe's... there is always a reason for him to go somewhere -- just to go somewhere. Mom sews, reads and watches FoxNews all day. Dad spends all day finding "work" to do.

As for me, I have the old "all this food in the house and nothing for dinner" problem.

I have been trying to use up meats in the freezer, and I'm making progress. But, I can not buy fresh veggies unless I have a meal planned for them within about 48 hours. I must have hard plans for my fresh veggies before I buy them. Otherwise, I'll waste them.

I have a Kroger two miles away, and drive a MINI CooperS, so it really isn't a waste of gas for me to shop often. Since my office is in my house, I don't rack up daily commuter miles, either. If I am doing a job for a customer, I charge them fifty-cents a miles, so I actually make a profit on most of my driving.

So, I'm probably slightly in the "shop frequently" category, but no by the same degree as my Dad. Not even close.

CD

 

[Katie H]

We generally use what is in our fridge/freezer. Most of what I purchase at the market are staples and non-perishables. Along with those items, I buy fresh fruits/veggies.

I've become more likely to "review" the manager's specials in the meat department as a purchase. In other words, buy today or it's gone. Most of the time we consume these items within days of purchase. Especially fresh fish, which we both really enjoy.

 

[tenspeed]

There are 3 supermarkets and 2 seafood markets within a 3 mile radius, and I drive by one of them if I go anywhere. If I just need a few items I take my bike to the store (except in winter). Meal planning a day in advance is long term planning for me.

 

[Aunt Bea]

I shop about every other day when I'm out running errands.

I check the weekly fliers and try to base my meals for the week on what's on hand at home combined with what is on special that week.

If things start piling up at home I go on a shopping diet for a week or two and try to eat out of inventory. I also do that in the weeks leading up to a major holiday. It helps me to save money on the weekly shopping so I can splurge a little on the holidays. It also makes room in the refrigerator and freezer for an assortment of new leftovers.

The main thing that I need to keep an eye on is the vegetable crisper, out of sight out of mind!

I try to clean out the crisper by making a pot of soup, crudités or a cooked vegetable medley of whatever odds and ends I find.

Buy less and waste nothing!

Good luck!

 

[larry_stewart]

Out of convenience I go once a week. The fridge looks a lot different after I shop than the day before I shop.

We also have a second fridge and freezer outside in the garage, so realistically, even if the main fridge is getting close to empty, be probably have a good 2 - 4 weeks worth of frozen stuff for us to live off of.

 

[Andy M.]

We shop once a week. Sometimes we do the supermarket and Costco on one trip. We still have to occasionally run out for a thing or two we need or forgot.

 

[Cheryl J]

Both, I guess....as mentioned, I try to use up perishables first and build a meal around those. I make salads, omelets, and skillet dinners often with fresh veggies in mind to use them up before they go bad. Usually there's a few little one serving vacuum sealed packages of meatloaf, kielbasa, ham, leftover rotisserie chicken, etc. in the freezer that I can build on, in addition to the larger packs of meat that eventually become smaller meals.

On the other hand, I can be rather impulsive. For example...with the recent dinner pics here of scallops tempting me, I just had to go to Albertson's today to get a pound. I don't mind going to the grocery store for just a couple of things - I'm out near the county line and so is Albertsons, so I use the back road. It's a 5 minute drive with no traffic signals and only one stop sign.

Now that the farmers market is in full swing I try to go there for fruits and veggies, but they're only here one day a week. Everything there is SO tempting, now there I really have to use self control.

 

[Cooking Goddess]

My 85-year-old dad can't sit still for five minutes. He goes to the store at least once a day. Kroger, Target, Lowe's... there is always a reason for him to go somewhere -- just to go somewhere. Mom sews, reads and watches FoxNews all day. Dad spends all day finding "work" to do. ...

Your folks could be my folks in a way, except that mine aren't around to amuse me anymore. When Dad needed a break, he would head out to the garage in the decent weather, since he had a little workshop out there. He'd putter in the basement during cold weather. And when he really needed to get away, he'd head over to this old-school discount store (a very small chain worth of stores in the Cleveland area) called Silverman's. Dad could ALWAYS find a reason to make a run to Silverman's!

 

[Cooking Goddess]

I'm mostly a "stuff the fridge - empty the fridge" kind of person. There is a small grocery store at the bottom of our neighborhood about 3/4 mile away, but their prices are on the higher side. If I need something in the middle of fixing a dish, they're convenient. I'll even dash in there with no make-up and almost-sloppy clothes. Otherwise, I stop there only on my way home from another store if they have a "special" that I can use. My regular stores are either 4 or 8 miles away. A trip there requires proper attire (jeans and a decent top) and a smidge of make-up. If I have to bother to look "pretty", it's going to be a big shopping trip. It's also the reason I try to group all of my errands to once or (maybe) twice a week.

I am the kind of shopper grocery stores despise - I shop loss-leaders. I plan a week's menu around what is on sale. I stock up on staples when they're on sale. I rarely buy anything unless it's on sale. Except for necessities that usually don't go on sale - such as milk. However, when we're getting low on milk, or other things that I know are much less expensive at Aldi, we head to Aldi. We use that trip to also shop Lowe's, Target, or another store in the same general area as Aldi.

 

[PrincessFiona60]

I don't have a new habit, yet. I currently have too much veg in the fridge. Looks like soup for the weekend.

 

[caseydog]

Your folks could be my folks in a way, except that mine aren't around to amuse me anymore. When Dad needed a break, he would head out to the garage in the decent weather, since he had a little workshop out there. He'd putter in the basement during cold weather. And when he really needed to get away, he'd head over to this old-school discount store (a very small chain worth of stores in the Cleveland area) called Silverman's. Dad could ALWAYS find a reason to make a run to Silverman's!

I have slowly made my dad's power tools "go away." Mostly, because they were cheap and sitting in a garage in Houston, so they were also rusty and unsafe. I have replaced all of his cheap rickety ladders with expensive, safe and lightweight ladders -- six feet or less in height.

When I visit, and build or repair things, I give him the tape measure, because he is a mathmagician, and he makes sure I cut the lumber at the right length or drill the hole in the right place. He's happy, and nobody ends up in the ER.

Amazingly, he has gotten very, very good with computers and related technologies. He's an engineer, so that makes sense, I guess. He used to call me regularly for help, and now, I actually learn about some occasional new thing from him. His house is full of stuff that would make some Millennials envious.

CD

 

[rodentraiser]

Even though I'm not on food stamps anymore, I find I am still following the sales from store to store. I still buy food to last for a month, so my fridge is stocked at the beginning of the month and more or less empty by the end.

 

[Whiskadoodle]

We had about a week's notice pending the snow-storm that hit us last weekend. Didn't blink an eye, nor went to any store. Lived thru the storm and still don't need to go shopping. Frig is getting cleaned out, freezer is full, pantry is bulging. Ran out of bread and milk, but neither are crucial.

The only crisis that would need attention is if I ran low on cat kibbles.

My issue is I copy a recipe ingredients to make something, shop for needed items, then I don't make it or use half the ingredients making something else. And the pantry shows it. It appears there are a lot of mis matched goods that could use some inspiration how to use or figure out why I bought in the first place.

I have several reasonably accessible grocery stores. I read their ads on line or flyers before deciding where i will shop.

Dx and I shop together sometimes, esp if we are making dinner together or the weekend. Sometimes we split orders, esp if we shop Costco.

 

[Cooking Goddess]

We had about a week's notice pending the snow-storm that hit us last weekend...Ran out of bread and milk, but neither are crucial...

So this wasn't you then?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i6zaVYWLTkU

 

[CakePoet]

I bulk shop once a month, then every week I get stuff that has a short use by date.

So yes I use up everything I have in the freezer, I dont use my freezer as safe for better days, it is there for everyday use and I have menu plan so in the end of the month I most likely just have some chicken left.

 

[Whiskadoodle]

Chuckle.

Reminds me of this scene from Kurt Vonnegut's Slaughterhouse 5. Billy Pilgrim time travels and had a airplane accident.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cy9a0bSCse8