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

[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]

Quote:

Originally Posted by gardenfun 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]

Quote:

Originally Posted by 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.

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]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lcountz 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]

image-1227830692.jpg

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]

Quote:

Originally Posted by 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.

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.

[Al in Ohio]

Well all I know is that in my entire lifetime no foodstuff of any type has ever not been available to me at a moments notice. Logistics, methods and efficiencies, not to mention being the citizen of the lone superpower in this world, in this age, kind of makes stocking up a " feel good" thing that realistically has not been necessary since WW2. The only possible exception is the gas shortages of the 70's, but that's not food and your kind of limited in how to store too much of that.


For me it's a matter of space being valuable. I'm more a fan of " just in time" logistics. For me it's a trade off of storing just enough for convenience sake of minimizing trips, but no more than that to also avoid the extra clutter and having to shift stuff around just to figure out what's there.

[brewer12345]

Like I said, YMMV. I am far more comfy with enough food, water, booze, firewood and ammunition on hand to make a go of at least the first couple innings of the zombie apocalypse. Naturally others may feel differently.

[W2R]

Quote:

Originally Posted by brewer12345 Like I said, YMMV. I am far more comfy with enough food, water, booze, firewood and ammunition on hand to make a go of at least the first couple innings of the zombie apocalypse. Naturally others may feel differently.

Nothing wrong with that, as long as you keep cycling through things so that the food isn't out of date by the time you get to it.

Having all that stuff could come in handy even without the zombie apocalypse, if you encounter even a limited natural disaster, if you are extremely sick, or if you just don't feel like shopping for any one of a number of reasons.

Al in Ohio also has a point for those with extremely limited space. If I was living in a 400 square foot studio apartment, for example, or on a boat, stocking up on these items might present problems.

[brewer12345]

Quote:

Originally Posted by W2R Nothing wrong with that, as long as you keep cycling through things so that the food isn't out of date by the time you get to it. Having all that stuff could come in handy even without the zombie apocalypse, if you encounter even a limited natural disaster, if you are extremely sick, or if you just don't feel like shopping for any one of a number of reasons.

Precisely.

[daylatedollarshort]

Quote:

Originally Posted by 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.

By stockpiling bulk foods and loss leaders on sale, I am trying to stock up on foods when they are at least 1/3 to 1/2 off their regular retail store prices.

Where else can you get a 50 to 100% tax free return on your money? For us that would be like saving enough money on groceries for a free trip to Hawaii every year for the rest of our lives.

[ShortInSeattle]

Quote:

Originally Posted by brewer12345 SHTF = Excrement Hits The Fan. Disaster supplies: water, powdered milk, MREs, beans, rice, salt, etc.

What company do you use for that stuff? I see there are some companies that specialize in cans of freeze dried food.

[Gumby]

We have a freezer in the garage, so that when there is a good sale on large packages of chicken, for example, we can buy the big package, use one breast and freeze the rest for later. We also have a few weeks worth of canned food for hurricanes, etc. We rotate our canned stock by giving the oldest stuff to the church food pantry on a regular basis.

[Fishingmn]

I keep a few cases of food from CostCo in the basement along with water for an emergency. I will give that food to a food shelf in 6 months and restock it.

As for regular food, I go the store very frequently as I usually don't decide what to make for the 2 of us until the afternoon. The grocery store is less than a mile away and in warmer months I often ride my bike.

[simple girl]

We switched to eating organic as much as possible about 1.5 years ago. I searched all the local options (limited) and found the best prices at Costco for organics. So I go there maybe once a month and stock up on organic meats and frozen veggies. They also have fabulous frozen wild salmon fillet and patties which are very convenient to have in the freezer. I've never been a fan of frozen fish, but what we have purchased there has been really good.

I'm still comparing prices for paper products with what I can get at Walmart - too busy to get my price book completed but it is on my list of "things to do". So sometimes I will buy paper products at Costco, sometimes Walmart.

Otherwise, I do our shopping for other items from the local Walmart. Need to check out the Aldi's - thanks for the reminder. I'll be less busy with work this spring so I can get back to more cost comparison shopping (and reading posts here!).

[brewer12345]

Quote:

Originally Posted by ShortInSeattle What company do you use for that stuff? I see there are some companies that specialize in cans of freeze dried food.

Costco mail order, mostly.