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

[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]

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]

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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]

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]

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]

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]

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!

 

[Goonie]

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!

Of course many of those days, like yesterday, we pick up just a couple of items. Yesterday it was milk, a can of wax beans, and 1 onion........and a 40¢ cup of coffee. Other times it's just milk or a loaf of bread........and a 40¢ cup of coffee. If someone followed me shopping, they'd find that there is usually a [-]coffee[/-] common denominator each trip.

This morning it's -7F outside.....I ain't going to the dang store! We're gonna whittle down our stockpile!

 

[Sue J]

I go once a week and then every once in a while I try to stretch it to 10-12 days just to use up stuff. But if I do that I usually will need to stop and pick up salad and bananas and turkey lunch meat since those things don't last.

My store prices their meat so high that I only buy if it's a featured sale item or marked down because it's getting close to the sell-by date. I've gotten some great bargains buying the dated meat and never had a problem. I have a Foodsaver vaccum machine, so I vacuum pack and freeze stuff.

I stock up on Bounty paper towels and toilet paper. Hubby knows that if he's out and sees Bounty on sale, just buy two 8 or 12 packs and we'll find a place to put it. We don't have a lot of cupboard space so I use our guest room closet as a kitchen annex for large stuff like paper products and unopened cereal boxes.

I go to PetSmart for canned cat food. I buy 8 dozen cans of assorted flavors (and a corresponding amount of cat litter) for our 2 cats and that lasts for quite a while unless my sisters cats are visiting when she travels.

I like to have a break from the weekly shopping so that I can see what's in the back of the cupboards and freezer. It's fun to try to use up what you find and be efficient about it. Ok, it's fun for me, I don't know how the rest of the family feels about it.

 

[bright eyed]

I go about 2 times per week and rotate between costco, trader joe's and target. The rotation helps ensure I have the perishables and fresh fruit/veggies and the variety of stuff we like. So each trip i buy about 1-2 weeks worth of stuff they only have at that store.

I used to really hoard but I found it prompts my teen son and partner to EAT MORE! So I've started the opposite strategy - I only buy enough to enjoy for a day or two (which is a gallon of juice, milk, bags of snacks, etc) and then we starve for a couple of days so they "appreciate" what they get. Pleas to ration haven't worked. I just try to buy stuff for me I know they won't like and hide the food for the little kids.

I always have plenty of bread (which I freeze) and lunch meat around...

 

[loosechickens]

Well, we live in a motorhome, and one would think that there wouldn't be much room to stock up food........but, last year when we decided to go to Europe for several months, we were going to leave our motorhome at a friend's house in Scottsdale, AZ. In early September it is still really hot there, so we started at the beginning of the summer to eat up our food supplies. We bought NOTHING except bare minimums of fresh veggies, etc., and when we left in September, we still had to pack FIVE boxes of staple foods to store in our friends' air conditioned house.

A vestige of our old hippie 'back to the land' life of the seventies and eighties, I guess, when we raised a big garden, kept chickens, and bought staples several times a year from an organic food co-op. Old habits die hard......

Who else on any normal day can find 25 pounds of whole wheat flour in their motorhome? I bake all our bread and baked goods from scratch, so it goes fast.......just can't face the prospect of not having enough whole wheat flour......

LooseChickens

 

[W2R]

I put "normal shopper", but during hurricane season (June 1st through November 30th) I shop every other day.

My old refrigerator/freezer was ruined due to food left in it when we evacuated for Katrina. Afterwards I bought a beautiful new black Kenmore refrigerator that I just love. It is the niftiest refrigerator I have ever had. No way am I going to risk ruining my beautiful new refrigerator, too! So during hurricane season, I don't keep any more in it than I can take with me in a cooler.

But when it is not hurricane season, I am a "normal shopper". I shop once every 1-2 weeks at one grocery store.

When I ER to Missouri, I am hoping my new home will have a large pantry or pantry closet. Then I can shop for large quantities of non-perishables. My present home is pretty low on pantry space (like, none). But after ER, I'd like to have a big stockpile of food that would last weeks, like Goonie has.

 

[Fireup2020]

Friends of ours just had a baby - and discovered PeaPod and the like. For a suprisingly nominal fee, you grocery shop online and they deliver to your countertop/kitchen table! For $4.95 (I am sure I would have spent this in grocery impulse buys) groceries will be here tomorrow! (missed the deadline for same day delivery - had been stalling to go out, and realized - hey, I can do this online too!) For even less of a fee or nothing, you can place your order and have them place the bags in your trunk at the store! I can spend HOURS in a grocery store, so this could be my new timesaver - and save the long dawdling trips for the foo foo stores!

 

[cute fuzzy bunny]

One of our local chains delivers orders over $xx for free. Based on my prior delivery experiences which involved hardware store deliveries of all the wood nobody would buy in the store, and appliances with giant dents in them...I'm not sure its that good of an idea for things not in cans.

Thick cans.

 

[Ronstar]

The wife and I go grocery shopping every Sunday, and get the same stuff every week. Mainly for breakfasts and lunches. I'll stop a couple of nights and pick up something for dinner if we dont have what I want in the house.

 

[Fireup2020]

Peapod follow-up...just placed my third (almost dead on the money for "monthly" shopping trips) order...have been more than pleased with their delivery, online selection, manner of accepting substitutes or not, and with online coupon codes and sselecting the 7:30 am to 1:00 pm delivery time has been a true saver! Fewer impulse purchases, 15 min online to order vs. 1-3 hrs in store, and I do not lug the bags around at all (they place them on our kitchen table!)

 

[freebird5825]

keep lots of canned and dry goods on hand, especially during winter. always have a case of bottled water on hand plus 2 gal jugs.
freezer is full of leftover meals - small portions of larger meals
keep a variety of meats/seafood on hand. buy in medium bulk and cook up meats in crockpot. then divvy up into bags for later grab and cook.
use dollar stores for paper goods, cleaners, soups, what not.
could easily eat for 1-2 months without meat if had to.
not a member of bulk stores. found i spent too much there, cuz it was such a deal. lot of food wasted due to freezer burn.
perishables and fresh stuff - shop approx 2x per week as needed, only if downtown anyway.