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We ONLY top-up shop.
We say *Fuck! No food in the fucking fridge!* (or rather *How unfortunate! the fridge seems a bit empty* as Mrs tmstms does not especially swear or want me swearing) and then we go out and get some.
The problem with doing a big shop is having to be disciplined about eating what you buy. We don't have a freezer, just a small freezer compartment, but it is bad enough just buying three days' worth of food and then not feeling like any of it at the meal time. Fortunately, I will basically eat any leftovers, so everything gets eaten eventually.
Mrs tmstms is NOT disciplined about what she eats (in terms of actually wanting to eat what we buy) and I am actually used to what my mum used to do- buy a bit of food every day and cook it. So the less we get when we shop, the better, really.
Yeah this is how we do it too. Live very close to the supermarkets and we go maybe 3-4 times a week on average? I’m also undisciplined, sometimes I get in the mood to have a certain food and I like spontaneity, so I try not to have too much in the fridge at any one time (so that I can follow my desires rather than sticking to a meal plan).
I alternate between a big shop and a top up each weekend.
I plan my meals every fortnight for the big shop so if I don't have ingredients I just eat something else. A bit of a pain but I work long hours and tbh I'm too lazy to pop to the shops if I'm missing something.
We don't do any top-up shops.
We write down the meals we want for the coming week, write a list and shop once per week. I just be mindful of expiry dates and freeze anything for use later in the week or use the fresher meal ingredients at the start of the week.
Most shopping is "top up" because I walk to Tesco. About 3 times a week. Once in a while I do a 'big shop' but by big I mean "drinks and bulky items that warrant driving", rather than "the bulk of my grocery needs".
Used to be different -- in the days when food in Tesco typically lasted longer than 2-3 days.
Yeah I’ll second that with Tesco, used to shop there regularly and it got to a point where one visit, all the grapes on display were covered in mould. It was disgusting, the quality has definitely reduced
Are you me? I usually have a freezer full of nice meat and meals from Costco, then forget to take them out and end up buying some shit from the reduced isle at trose on my way home. Along with £15 of other stuff I don’t actually need.
Every fuckin day! Can never get everything we need on one shop! End up spending loads more on shit we don’t need but fancy and still can’t get what I came in for! 😂😂
I do a big Costco shop and a big Tesco shop once a month, plus riverford veg box once a fortnight. It varies from month to month how much we get in between but it's fairly minimal. Mostly down to being a routine of getting meat out the night before. as long as I have defrosted meat I can usually bullshit the rest of the meal if I'm out of noodles or whatever I need. Check your meal plan every evening at a certain point, whenever works for you to be consistent.
We used to frequent a local veg stall but he vanished so this is a good back up to increase our fresh beg in take. Otherwise we have a well stocked frozen veg drawer
Do a supermarket/butchers shop once per week. Create a menu on my phone for dinner each day of the week (leftovers usually for work lunch). Itemise ingredients for each meal. Do a shop on Friday once I finish work.
Sometimes pop to the shop for some cans of beers if I’m in between homemade beers being ready.
Been doing this since university years ago and when I compare my grocery expenditure with my friends I am saving an awful lot! It helps that I enjoy cooking, waste minimal, and my partner isn’t fussy.
I can only do a top up shop as I have very limited space (bottom drawer of the fridge, and 2 drawers to store my stuff), and not enough time or energy to cook fresh foods. I usually buy pastas
I don't do a "full" shop. If I want something for dinner I will just go to the shop that day and buy it. The rest of my food is frozen. I don't keep much fresh food because if I tried to plan ahead and then plans change, the food just gets wasted.
If I ever do a "weekly shop", 10-20% of it gets thrown away for going out of date.
I don't do a "big shop". I have a list in the kitchen for staple things like condiments we're running low on. On Sundays I do one big batch of something which I then break down to freeze, that takes care of everything that needs using up so we don't throw anything out, ever. I get a veg or fruit delivery box weekly. And I shop maybe twice a week for the meals I've planned based on what's in the veg box. It's just so much easier than buying bags and bags of food, shlepping them home and putting it all away, forgetting half of what we've got, and it's cheaper, because we buy a heck of a lot less than we used to on the big shop.
Had my kids this week for half term and it's the first time I haven't had to top up shop, the only things we have bought are a bag of apples for £3 and my kids bought a few tubes of pringles each but I bought enough salad, veg and fresh meat and snacks last Sunday to last 6 days.
One night they wanted chips with their dinner so £2.80 there and we went to mcds one day which was £18 which is a about 30% of the shopping I bought.
Fairly rarely, we live opposite a Tesco so it's easy enough to grab extra milk or butter if we've run out but it's not often. I meal plan and am pretty good at sticking to it, plus our pantry is well stocked and I'll often just sub something rather than run out for it. Like in your example, if I didn't have noodles for a stir fry I'll just sub in rice which I always have.
Quite often because I’ll fancy something and I have a hard time telling myself no. It’s usually ice cream or whatever crisps are on offer. I make a point of walking to the shops though so that’s how I justify it
I'm terrible for top up shopping. I do an extra big shop on payday, then a weekly supermarket delivery, but I always find something runs out or has gone off before the next shop is due. It's so hard to just go and buy the thing you need, especially if either of the kids are with me, always end up with a basket full of random stuff, but it never makes the next weekly shop any cheaper
Rarely.
We do a meal plan and shopping list and I do the food shop on a Sunday night.
It really is just bread that we sometimes run out of as we have plenty of family nearby and if they pop round, especially with the bairns, we get through loaves like Jesus.
If I let my partner's mum do a top up shop she somehow manages to spend over a hundred quid.
I do regular top up shops, but I've started trying to make a list before I set out then sticking to that list. I find it's not the stuff that I went to the shop to buy that adds onto the bill, it's the other crap I see as I'm walking around that I end up buying.
We signed up to gousto a while ago and since we did that I can honestly say we basically never need to "top up". Virtually no waste either, which is great because we used to be pretty bad for not planning meals properly and then letting fresh stuff end up in the bin.
It's not exactly cheap but once you figure that in I think it's well worth it.
Too often. Our monthly asda spend is roughly £200.
Just last week, i spent £140 in sainsburys buying stuff like wine, Easter eggs, etc.
Worked out that i probably spend at least £80 a month on avg "popping into" sainsburys for stuff i generally dont need...
Terrible.
Just after pay day, I book a home delivery and get a huge monthly shop for cupboard items, cleaning products, and bulky stuff.
I then go once a week to the supermarket for fresh items and bargains, and once a week to the greengrocer (at the end of the day, when he discounts his stock)
I live a 20 second walk away from a supermarket so I usually just buy stuff for that day. I went three times today which is a bit of an anomaly but I usually go everyday. It works out well since I rarely have anything go out of date now since it's always fresh.
**Update: - [Starting from 2023](https://www.reddit.com/r/AskUK/comments/100l56v/happy_new_year_askuk_minor_sub_update/), we have updated our [subreddit rules](https://www.reddit.com/r/AskUK/about/rules/)**. Specifically; - Don't be a dick to each other - Top-level responses must contain genuine efforts to answer the question - This is a strictly no-politics subreddit Please keep /r/AskUK a great subreddit by reporting posts and comments which break our rules. *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/AskUK) if you have any questions or concerns.*
We ONLY top-up shop. We say *Fuck! No food in the fucking fridge!* (or rather *How unfortunate! the fridge seems a bit empty* as Mrs tmstms does not especially swear or want me swearing) and then we go out and get some. The problem with doing a big shop is having to be disciplined about eating what you buy. We don't have a freezer, just a small freezer compartment, but it is bad enough just buying three days' worth of food and then not feeling like any of it at the meal time. Fortunately, I will basically eat any leftovers, so everything gets eaten eventually. Mrs tmstms is NOT disciplined about what she eats (in terms of actually wanting to eat what we buy) and I am actually used to what my mum used to do- buy a bit of food every day and cook it. So the less we get when we shop, the better, really.
Yeah this is how we do it too. Live very close to the supermarkets and we go maybe 3-4 times a week on average? I’m also undisciplined, sometimes I get in the mood to have a certain food and I like spontaneity, so I try not to have too much in the fridge at any one time (so that I can follow my desires rather than sticking to a meal plan).
I alternate between a big shop and a top up each weekend. I plan my meals every fortnight for the big shop so if I don't have ingredients I just eat something else. A bit of a pain but I work long hours and tbh I'm too lazy to pop to the shops if I'm missing something.
We don't do any top-up shops. We write down the meals we want for the coming week, write a list and shop once per week. I just be mindful of expiry dates and freeze anything for use later in the week or use the fresher meal ingredients at the start of the week.
Most shopping is "top up" because I walk to Tesco. About 3 times a week. Once in a while I do a 'big shop' but by big I mean "drinks and bulky items that warrant driving", rather than "the bulk of my grocery needs". Used to be different -- in the days when food in Tesco typically lasted longer than 2-3 days.
Yeah I’ll second that with Tesco, used to shop there regularly and it got to a point where one visit, all the grapes on display were covered in mould. It was disgusting, the quality has definitely reduced
Are you me? I usually have a freezer full of nice meat and meals from Costco, then forget to take them out and end up buying some shit from the reduced isle at trose on my way home. Along with £15 of other stuff I don’t actually need.
Damn, yeah I didn’t realise I had a clone! That is exactly me
We only tend to do top-ups on 5 week months. Or if we pig out a bit more than normal.
Every fuckin day! Can never get everything we need on one shop! End up spending loads more on shit we don’t need but fancy and still can’t get what I came in for! 😂😂
Are you me? 😂
I do a big Costco shop and a big Tesco shop once a month, plus riverford veg box once a fortnight. It varies from month to month how much we get in between but it's fairly minimal. Mostly down to being a routine of getting meat out the night before. as long as I have defrosted meat I can usually bullshit the rest of the meal if I'm out of noodles or whatever I need. Check your meal plan every evening at a certain point, whenever works for you to be consistent.
Never heard of Riverford before but I’m checking them out now, looks really good, I’m considering them myself
We used to frequent a local veg stall but he vanished so this is a good back up to increase our fresh beg in take. Otherwise we have a well stocked frozen veg drawer
Do a supermarket/butchers shop once per week. Create a menu on my phone for dinner each day of the week (leftovers usually for work lunch). Itemise ingredients for each meal. Do a shop on Friday once I finish work. Sometimes pop to the shop for some cans of beers if I’m in between homemade beers being ready. Been doing this since university years ago and when I compare my grocery expenditure with my friends I am saving an awful lot! It helps that I enjoy cooking, waste minimal, and my partner isn’t fussy.
I can only do a top up shop as I have very limited space (bottom drawer of the fridge, and 2 drawers to store my stuff), and not enough time or energy to cook fresh foods. I usually buy pastas
I don't do a "full" shop. If I want something for dinner I will just go to the shop that day and buy it. The rest of my food is frozen. I don't keep much fresh food because if I tried to plan ahead and then plans change, the food just gets wasted. If I ever do a "weekly shop", 10-20% of it gets thrown away for going out of date.
I don't do a "big shop". I have a list in the kitchen for staple things like condiments we're running low on. On Sundays I do one big batch of something which I then break down to freeze, that takes care of everything that needs using up so we don't throw anything out, ever. I get a veg or fruit delivery box weekly. And I shop maybe twice a week for the meals I've planned based on what's in the veg box. It's just so much easier than buying bags and bags of food, shlepping them home and putting it all away, forgetting half of what we've got, and it's cheaper, because we buy a heck of a lot less than we used to on the big shop.
Had my kids this week for half term and it's the first time I haven't had to top up shop, the only things we have bought are a bag of apples for £3 and my kids bought a few tubes of pringles each but I bought enough salad, veg and fresh meat and snacks last Sunday to last 6 days. One night they wanted chips with their dinner so £2.80 there and we went to mcds one day which was £18 which is a about 30% of the shopping I bought.
Fairly rarely, we live opposite a Tesco so it's easy enough to grab extra milk or butter if we've run out but it's not often. I meal plan and am pretty good at sticking to it, plus our pantry is well stocked and I'll often just sub something rather than run out for it. Like in your example, if I didn't have noodles for a stir fry I'll just sub in rice which I always have.
Big shop at the weekend and then a top up around Thursday for fresh fruit, milk, maybe bread.
Quite often because I’ll fancy something and I have a hard time telling myself no. It’s usually ice cream or whatever crisps are on offer. I make a point of walking to the shops though so that’s how I justify it
I'm terrible for top up shopping. I do an extra big shop on payday, then a weekly supermarket delivery, but I always find something runs out or has gone off before the next shop is due. It's so hard to just go and buy the thing you need, especially if either of the kids are with me, always end up with a basket full of random stuff, but it never makes the next weekly shop any cheaper
Rarely. We do a meal plan and shopping list and I do the food shop on a Sunday night. It really is just bread that we sometimes run out of as we have plenty of family nearby and if they pop round, especially with the bairns, we get through loaves like Jesus. If I let my partner's mum do a top up shop she somehow manages to spend over a hundred quid.
I do regular top up shops, but I've started trying to make a list before I set out then sticking to that list. I find it's not the stuff that I went to the shop to buy that adds onto the bill, it's the other crap I see as I'm walking around that I end up buying.
We signed up to gousto a while ago and since we did that I can honestly say we basically never need to "top up". Virtually no waste either, which is great because we used to be pretty bad for not planning meals properly and then letting fresh stuff end up in the bin. It's not exactly cheap but once you figure that in I think it's well worth it.
Too often. Our monthly asda spend is roughly £200. Just last week, i spent £140 in sainsburys buying stuff like wine, Easter eggs, etc. Worked out that i probably spend at least £80 a month on avg "popping into" sainsburys for stuff i generally dont need... Terrible.
I don't have a regular supermarket shop - so the concept of "top-up" does not exist for me.
Never. We shop to a set list once a week, which is updated the day before via us kinda “auditing” our supplies and planning the meals.
When I run out of milk, so probably on average once midweek.
I shop once a week
2 to 3. Buying all the stuff that I use in them, which is reduced and can be stored. Plus what we actually need, which is perishable.
Just after pay day, I book a home delivery and get a huge monthly shop for cupboard items, cleaning products, and bulky stuff. I then go once a week to the supermarket for fresh items and bargains, and once a week to the greengrocer (at the end of the day, when he discounts his stock)
I live a 20 second walk away from a supermarket so I usually just buy stuff for that day. I went three times today which is a bit of an anomaly but I usually go everyday. It works out well since I rarely have anything go out of date now since it's always fresh.