Groceries....Buy when needed or stock up?

[imoldernu]

56 years of marriage has filtered our taste to a somewhat limited selection of food. 2 minutes to Aldi's and five to Hy-Vee (Illinois Valley's version of Whole Foods) so keeping less on hand, especially on fresh stuff like veggies and fruit...
the rule of thumb is current container plus one... so a single backup.
We also have an "old stuff" section of the pantry for the once in a while things.

The exception is for the ultra specials... for instance, the Aldi German bread for Octoberfest... $2.79 but clearance @$.25 so we buy and freeze 8 pkg's. Same for seasonal stuff like pumpkin cheese... or peanut brittle... whenever we can buy for $.10 to $.15 on the dollar...

One of the advantages of buying in a generic store, is learning the prices. After we buy mushrooms for $.69/package at Aldi's, and see the same item, from the same farm at Walmart for $2.49... we're very aware. Things like $.99 pineapples taste just as sweet as the one for $2.49 from other stores. We go through bananas faster than monkeys at the zoo, and while $.39 to $.44 a pound isn't much of a savings from $.69 to $.79/lb it's a help, over the long run.

DW made a BIG mistake on Tuesday... Didn't realize she was buying the organic bananas, and was nearly apoplectic when she found out they had charged her $.79/lb. Now we're gonna watch and see if she gets any healthier..

As for other than food stuff... usually keep full "one unit" back up of paper products and OTC pharmacy and cleaning items.

The "one back up" plan has worked almost perfectly as we haven't had to make more than one or two trips because of "running out" in the past several years.

If we have to go to ground, we're safe, as a neighbor gave us two big cases of tomato paste that has an expiry date of 2015... We keep it in the garage, on a top shelf.

 

[haha]

My kitchen is small and lacks storage, while I live very easy walking distance to many stores. I tend to shop 5 times/week or so, sometimes as often as twice daily to Trader Joe.

Ha

 

[NanoSour]

I wouldn't say we stock up, but with our new membership to Costco, we're definitely buying in bulk more than we ever have. I think overall we're making out pretty good on the membership, but it is an adjustment to the 5 weekly trips to Wally World that we used to make prior to our ER journey.

With 3 kids still in the nest, we can still go through those paper products a pretty good clip.

 

[Marita40]

I live in a condo with minimal storage space so I don't stock up--much, that is. I'm also single with two cats, and the most important items to have are the cat food and supplies. I buy those on a schedule, every two weeks, to make sure not to run out. Otherwise I grocery shop once a week.

 

[Lcountz]

I love Aldi's!!!!!

I agree about fresh fruit/veggie prices....I was a Big Name store snob for years until I finally woke up....I am lucky I guess cause in my Aldi's the fruit and veggies are very fresh and I found their rye bread with seeds to be BETTER than the big name brands...

I love cranberry sauce with my turkey...Aldi's is very good, with a little orange zest on it....

Cheese.....my God...Brie, sliced cheese, gouda..SO MUCH LESS than the other stores.....and just as good!

Stollen....and Panettone cake..so good......

I vowed to try everything and return what I could not eat....so far I have returned nothing.


When I think how much I've wasted on food over the years that Aldi was right up the block it makes me sick!!!!!


For those who have not tried Aldi, please do...if you don't like what you get, they will refund you AND replace with another item....

I still buy too much!!!! Imoldernu...I like your idea of one extra....frees up space too.....(PS I enjoy ALL your posts!!!!!)

 

[foxfirev5]

Neither of us particularly likes grocery shopping so we wait as long as possible. We don't stock up but would have enough on hand to last at least a week. Our kids would not agree with the last statement. When they stop by they always comment on the empty shelves.

 

[Greencheese]

The only thing I stock up on is Captain Morgan handles. Occasionally the liquor store around here has $20 off a purchase of 10 handles

 

[RunningBum]

My kitchen is small and lacks storage, while I live very easy walking distance to many stores. I tend to shop 5 times/week or so, sometimes as often as twice daily to Trader Joe.

Ha

Here is the difference. I am a 5 minute drive to a convenience store named Black Rock Market, but known locally as The Black Market for their prices. 20 minutes away is an IGA that looks like it's from the 60s and hasn't been restocked since then. A real grocery store is about 30-35 minutes away, over a mountain pass, so I've got to do a certain amount of stocking up. Planning is a must, but a price I'm willing to pay. My schedule is ruled by bananas. I eat one for breakfast and another in the evening, but have a knack for finding green ones when I know I'm coming back down in a few days, and yellow-turning-brown ones when I'd like to not have to come down for a week.

As far as Campbell's soup, my son just opened and tossed a couple cans of chicken noodle that were well past their date last week.

I thought about an extra freezer, but between the cost of that (including energy cost) and threat of loss in an extended power outage (or high additional cost of a backup generator), I've passed on it. It would be different if it were a whole family up here, but we probably wouldn't be on a mountain top in that case either.

 

[braumeister]

This is subject I sometimes wonder about. It seems as if some people go a bit overboard on the "stocking up just in case" thing as they get older.

When I moved my mom from her apartment to an assisted living facility, I found dozens of packages of toilet paper, napkins, paper towels, and similar household items in her closets. Some of them had been stored in there so long they had dust on them.

I've never been that way, but I wonder if it's something I'll have to watch out for in the future!

 

[Katsmeow]

Depending on where you shop and what you shop for, you can save a lot of money by stocking up on items that you use that are on sales. Grocery stores generally (I'm sure there are exceptions but I'm talking about in general) cycle products in terms of when they are on sale. So there will usually be a time within a 12 week or cycle when something is at its lowest price. If it is non-perishable it makes sense to buy those things in bulk then (consistent with how much storage you have) rather than buying them, say, once a week when you pay an overall larger price.

For awhile I belonged to the grocery game website where you would be told how to maximize coupons and sales to save a lot of money. (I quit after awhile when we started going to a grocery store that does in store coupons so I could easily see the savings while at the store). If you stick with it, you can actually save a lot of money doing this.

 

[tmm99]

I definitely stock up - First is things I can freeze - mainly meat. For example, I just went and picked up a split half pig from a local farm. (It is much cheaper this way than buying pasture pork from markets.) I get chickens from a local farm too and I stock them up for winter. Another thing I stock up on are some canned goods that I'd like to have handy all the time like stewed tomatoes, tomato paste, beef broth and chicken broth - I get them when they are on sale. I used to stock up on pasta (Barilla Pasta price can be as low as $89 a box on sale), but I hardly eat any pasta now, so I don't buy them anymore.

I thought about power outage also, and I have a couple of friends in another town with a deep freezer who are willing to accommodate my meats for a few days if I am willing to share the meat with them (I've had 1/4 cow, 30lbs of salmon, 1/2 pig at one point in my freezer..)

 

[Walt34]

We buy pretty much on an "as needed" basis, weekly. We live within ten-fifteen minutes of three grocery stores and a couple minutes more for two others. Although we get some 2+ foot snowfalls once in a great while we've never been unable to get out for more than a day or two. (I swear, that 4WD GMC will climb a telephone pole! Or close to it.)

I do almost all of the grocery shopping. It started when we were married and I was working shift work and more often than not had days off during the week so it was easier for me. And I'm better at sticking to a list. That and DW takes forever to go through a grocery store, having to stop and carefully consider each possible permutation, connotation or denotation of everything. I'm a "hunt it down, kill it, and move on" shopper.

We'll use coupons for something if it's for something we'd buy anyway but don't buy anything just because there's a coupon for it.

No freezer so that limits perishables that we can keep.

 

[HillCountry]

We don't like to stock up. Who can remember that stuff on the corner of freezer?

We don't even buy bulk snacks from Costo anymore. They are too big and kids will run out interest before they are finished.

And with several grocery stores including Whole Foods 5 minutes away, DW just grabs whatever is needed for the next couple of days.

 

[ShortInSeattle]

Since moving downtown into a smaller space we no longer stock up. Walking to the store 2-3 times a week doubles as exercise for us.

Since switching to more of a whole foods diet (veggies, meat, fruit) we don't buy much that is nonperishable anyways.

 

[ABQ2015]

I live alone and don't have a large kitchen or pantry. I buy household cleaners, paper goods, vitamins, frozen fish and seafood, beef and chicken, chicken broth, yogurt, frozen fruit, cereal, coffee, etc. at Costco. When the food items are getting very low, I'll make another trip to Costco - about once every 4-6 weeks. For perishables and items that I don't care to buy in bulk, I go to the grocery store about every ten days - when the fresh fruit and vegetables and milk are down to almost nothing. I'll keep some extra canned goods and non-perishables in my cabinets but try to use most of it before I buy new stuff. I don't like having the cabinets really full, throwing away food because it expired, etc. Also I would hate going to the grocery store more than once a week.

 

[gardenfun]

This is a fun thread!
I love my location in the suburbs--a 5 minute walk to a family owned grocery store with meat and produce that is locally grown. 6 minutes to Trader Joe's, 10 to Safeway and Whole Foods.
I am single with a tiny kitchen and have recently lost 18 pounds on the low carbs/high protein diet. So for the first time since having a husband and two growing boys at home, I joined Costco just to get a lot of nuts for cheaper than my local grocery store: walnuts, pistachios, and my new addiction: marcona almonds from Spain.
I don't stock up, never really have....I love the "European" lifestyle of walking to the shops to buy stuff for dinner. Not possible when I was w*rking.

 

[daylatedollarshort]

I don't stock up, never really have....I love the "European" lifestyle of walking to the shops to buy stuff for dinner. Not possible when I was w*rking.

That is our long term dream / plan - retiring to a flat in a Mediterranean country and walking to the farmer's market for fresh food each day.

Until then it is life in the U.S. 'burbs, American size chest freezer and stockpiling loss leaders and bulk food from Costco. I just bought my first bulk, food grade storage bins last week. I bought the bins just to save to save time and money but I guess as a side benefit I am also prepared for the next apocalypse as well.

I live within walking distance of a few chain grocery stores but most of the produce at the stores near my house isn't all that fresh and costs much more than the ethnic markets. I have to drive to get to the ethnic markets so I don't go every day.

 

[seraphim]

It would be nicer if the fresh food walked from the market to us every day.

We go out every couple of days for fresh meats, veggies and fruit. When necessary, we make a larger trip and stock up on staples and canned/frozen goods.

Also, when we prepare meals, it's often enough for two meals. Leftovers can be prepared creatively.

 

[RAE]

I definitely stock up - First is things I can freeze - mainly meat. For example, I just went and picked up a split half pig from a local farm. (It is much cheaper this way than buying pasture pork from markets.) I get chickens from a local farm too and I stock them up for winter.

Yeah, we do the same thing. We get a side of beef from one farmer friend, and a whole lamb from another. Sometimes the one farmer has chickens available, too. That (and some venison from deer that I harvest) supplies our meat needs for the whole year, pretty much. These are are available in the late fall, so that's when we get them. And we have a friend that trades us salmon filets for garden veggies (we have a big garden). We have a big chest freezer in the basement, so storage is not a problem. In our case, stocking up on meat is something we do mainly to get the best quality meat available (we know exactly how the animals were raised and what they were fed).

 

[martyp]

We are not stocker-uppers. When I was w*rking I planned out a menu for the week and shopped for everything on one trip. We have some canned items that have been around for a while but for the most part I shop every couple of days for fresh foods. Leftovers go into the freezer and labeled with the date. They get used up within the month.

 

[RitaR551]

The best way for me to comment on OPs question to recall a recent reaction from a houseguest from Taiwan. Upon opening the double doors to our food pantry, her spontaneous comment was one word...."WOW!". Same reaction when she looked in our upright freezer. :-}

 

[Al in Ohio]

I was born after the Great Depression. We buy as needed about once per week except occasional mid week runs for milk since we have two milk guzzling boys.

IMO the "stock up" mentality is left over from the depression era generation that food rationing has left a lasting memory or those children of depression era parents who drilled it into their kids that are unaware of the modern era ease of obtaining anything at any time in plentiful supply from right around the corner.

 

[Al in Ohio]

I love Aldi's!!!!!

Cheese.....my God...Brie, sliced cheese, gouda..SO MUCH LESS than the other stores.....and just as good!

Stollen....and Panettone cake..so good......
)

I pay for all my cakes thank you very much!

 

[Cassie]

One of my goals when retired Is get my pantry organized again. I will most likely stock up on some things and shop as needed for others. Grocery shopping just might be the highlight of my day/week

 

[brewer12345]

I was born after the Great Depression. We buy as needed about once per week except occasional mid week runs for milk since we have two milk guzzling boys.

IMO the "stock up" mentality is left over from the depression era generation that food rationing has left a lasting memory or those children of depression era parents who drilled it into their kids that are unaware of the modern era ease of obtaining anything at any time in plentiful supply from right around the corner.

Well, it is all readily available... until it is not. It is a trivial cost to hedge against shortages, supply chain disruptions, natural disasters, etc. so I am happy to do so. YMMV.