Food: are you a hoarder/stocker-upper or a daily shopper?

[cute fuzzy bunny]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sarah in SC CFB, I never thought I'd say this, but thank God my DH doesn't cook--we'd be big as houses with that kind of "man" cooking. Not that bacon wrapped meatloaf doesn't sound really awesome!

Hey, its all good. Thats my turkey meatloaf with jerk seasoning mixed in. Without the bacon wrapping (actually I usually use prosciutto) it'd be pretty dry and tough. Still probably a lower fat food even with the bacon wrapping, at least in the meatloaf family.

Darn tasty for turkey meatloaf too.

My wife and son are as thin as rails, but I'm making up for their thinness at least a little bit. When we go to the doctor, he does look at me suspiciously and I can see him imagining us at the dinner table, me with all the food piled up in front of me, growling and snapping, while my skinny wife and son look on hungrily...

[calmloki]

Quote:

Originally Posted by maddythebeagle I am awaiting a reply that you made cake out of that, too ......

Needs more bacon:Bacon Cheeseburger Cake - Allrecipes

[haha]

I shop three to five or more times a week. Stores are close so I figure why should I store it when I can let the store do it for me. Also, some days the fish or meat in the counter just doesn't look very good, so I go back the next day.

This week I did something different- I knew I wanted food around for the Division Championships, so I bought 6# of pork chops and made them Sunday morning. I like cold pork chops for breakfast, so I might do this again from time to time.

Ha

[cute fuzzy bunny]

You know whats pretty good Ha, if its your bag? Get some of the smoked loin chops. I've seen them in the supermarket and both Costco and Sams sells them for a very good price.

Nice with a couple of eggs in the morning for a change of pace from ham/sausage/bacon...and they keep for a little while too.

[d]

Quote:

Originally Posted by cute fuzzy bunny Now what exactly am I going to do with a 3lb bag of sundried tomatoes and a big plastic jug of enough dried mushrooms to reinsulate the attic?

didn't you just provide an answer to your own question?

[Moemg]

I'm a once a week shopper . I check out the ads and plan my menus accordingly . My So is a horder so when he shops we have 20lbs. of chicken breasts that I have to think of ways to use .

[crazy connie]

Here in Phoenix we have Fry's Food & Drug which is part of Kroger. The 1st Wed of every month you get 10% off of all grocery items (minus alcohol/tobacco) as a designated "SENIOR REWARDS" shopper. So, that is my stock up day! I need to buy 2 months on the staples to take advantage of the sales. By getting the extra discount and buying mostly the on sale staples I can usually get about 40% off. Then I hit the produce market as needed, and the Oro-wheat bread outlet about once a month.

I could feed an army for a year but usually just my kids!!!

[HFWR]

Hoarder of non-perishables, so I only shop when I'm out of milk or bananas, etc. Maybe once every week to ten days.

[haha]

Quote:

Originally Posted by cute fuzzy bunny You know whats pretty good Ha, if its your bag? Get some of the smoked loin chops. I've seen them in the supermarket and both Costco and Sams sells them for a very good price. Nice with a couple of eggs in the morning for a change of pace from ham/sausage/bacon...and they keep for a little while too.

They sound good. Do you heat them up, or just eat cold?

I've been getting up early to catch the market opening and a good fast tasty breakfast is nice to have.

Ha

[Nords]

We buy milk/fruit/veggies every week. It's mostly so that our kid can do her own shopping and understand the work that's involved in feeding a starving teen household. When we're empty-nesters spouse wants to do her grocery shopping via the South Beach food-delivery system.

We also keep a pantry of hurricane food, along with a couple weeks' supply of propane & charcoal. (I wonder how long that dried salmon is good for.) When Civil Defense blows the sirens we fill both bathtubs and a couple dozen milk jugs with water.

The submarine force's 90-day patrols taught me how to cheerfully dine on month-old lettuce, six-week old eggs, 'fresh' fruit, and all their dried/powdered components. Nothing that our great-grandparent pioneers weren't dealing with in the 19th century.

A case of MREs sounds like a good idea, too, along with a couple gallons of Tabasco to wash it down.

[brewer12345]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nords . A case of MREs sounds like a good idea, too, along with a couple gallons of Tabasco to wash it down.

Hey, they are meant to be survival rations, not a culinary experience.

[lazygood4nothinbum]

the bulk i buy in bulk and most of the rest i piece meal. toilet paper & paper towels and protein shake is all bulk and i've gotten comments from cashiers when i buy it. the rest is whatever i feel like during the week and whatever has run low. the rare piece of fish gets bought that day. vegetables i prefer as fresh as possible & i like bananas before they get too ripe so they have me at the store often. fortunately the store is only a few blocks away. don't even need the car to get there. not a problem.

[cute fuzzy bunny]

Quote:

Originally Posted by d didn't you just provide an answer to your own question?

Yeah, I was thinking about the benefits. If the house starts smelling good, you've either got a roof leak or a fire going somewhere.

Hmmm. Olfactory based home maintenance and safety options...unless I'm mistaken, this is a totally untapped market place...

[cute fuzzy bunny]

Quote:

Originally Posted by haha They sound good. Do you heat them up, or just eat cold?

The ones I get are fully cooked; they're warm smoked. You can eat them as is cold or warm. I either nuke them for a minute to warm them up or fry them alongside some eggs with a little bit of butter to put some brown on them.

Some major hammy brand name like smithfield produces them. Most of the ones I've seen are lean, boneless loin chops...sort of like inch thick slightly smokey canadian bacon, but I've occasionally seen regular center cut bone-in chops as well.

They keep for about 3 weeks in the fridge.

[FIREd]

I tend to keep large stocks of non-perishables (e.g. 50 lbs of flour to make homemade bread, 10 lbs of sugar, 15 lbs of rice, at least 5-10 lbs of pasta, 10 lbs of potatoes and plenty of booze, you never know) probably enough to feed us (and keep us loaded) for 6-8 weeks.

But I go to the grocery store almost everyday to shop for fresh produce and meat.

I keep almost nothing in my freezer (we lost power once for several days and had to throw everything away, so I don't stock up on frozen food anymore). And since I cook almost everything from scratch, we have almost no processed foods stocked up in our house (except some cans of progresso soup for when I don't feel like cooking).

[youbet]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Moemg I'm a once a week shopper . I check out the ads and plan my menus accordingly ..

That's my strategy too, unless DW has some special request for me to fill.

Our neighborhood is loaded with grocery stores (major chains plus independents), butchers, produce markets, seafood shops, ethnic shops, etc. The competition is keen and the ads are full of loss-leaders at super prices. Read the ads, plan the menus and the store route and go shopping!

I do use the local Sam's Club for certain staples and packaged items.

[Goonie]

We hit the store about 5 days a week. We're close by, so it's not a problem. If I go for coffee with my friends, Kroger's and Aldi's are across the street. The butcher shop is a couple of blocks from home....easy walking distance. And the other grocery store that we frequent is less than a mile from home, and I usually go in there several times a week to grab a 40¢ cup of coffee anyway. Of course I have to go to the Mexican grocery store at least once or twice a week to pick up fresh, home-made pico de gallo & tortilla chips! YUM!

Our freezer is thoroughly stocked, as are the cupboards, and the refrigerator. We buy fresh produce and milk a few times a weeks. We buy non-perishables on sale as much as possible.....tomorrow there's a sale on Quilted Northern!!! Milk goes on sale tomorrow also......but when I went this morning to get my coffee, the clerk said she'd give me the milk for the sale price! I like family owned businesses!

We could probably survive on our stockpile of food for a month or more!

[ladelfina]

Thanks, guys.. I have to note at this point the near-perfect Bell curve: 2/14/29/15/2.

I guess there are really 2 components to this question, but I didn't know how to present them in a single poll because it's really more of a matrix: shop often vs. rarely & keep a lot vs. a little on hand. Seeing as for me there's usually no savings incentive (go connie!!), I guess it's just a ant vs. grasshopper instinct to fill the place to the gills. Or habit.

For example, I am fascinated by Goonie's answer, because if I had that kind of stockpile I would never bother food shopping 5 days/week! I am very jealous of youbet with all those choices (especially the ethnic shops); 'round here there are ethnic shops but they are all Italian!!

[brewer12345]

Quote:

Originally Posted by FIREdreamer I tend to keep large stocks of non-perishables (e.g. 50 lbs of flour to make homemade bread, 10 lbs of sugar, 15 lbs of rice, at least 5-10 lbs of pasta, 10 lbs of potatoes and plenty of booze, you never know) probably enough to feed us (and keep us loaded) for 6-8 weeks.

Didn't think about it before, but I generally have between 50 and 100# of grain on hand for brewing. If we needed to, I suppose we could survve o n t hat for a loooong time.

[simple girl]

I've recently switched from once a week shopping to more like every other day shopping with once a week trip to superWalmart to replenish non-perishables. We are doing the every other day shopping since we are eating a ton more fresh veggies right now with being on a diet. It's a lot more expensive and time consuming but worth it for our health. Hope to keep this healthy trend going!