Frequency of shopping trips?

[Eleanor]

How often do you grocery shop and have you found one method to be better budget-wise? I shop once a week because I feel I tend to waste more or pick up more extras throughout the week if I do it every other week or once a month.

If I only buy one week's worth of meals for myself and my boyfriend it's easy to know how much of everything we need and exactly what meals we'll be having. Plus, we buy A LOT of fresh produce, like that's the majority of the groceries, and these must be purchased more frequently.

But, this means I don't really do any bulk shopping since I only buy 1 week at a time, and I think I could spend a lot less if I did bulk every now and then. What do you do?

[DebtFree&Broke]

I usually only shop once a week, but this week I am doing a few trips. I only buy a few of the same things every week like milk, salad, apples, bananas, and bread. Everything else I stock up on when it comes on sale. Yesterday I bought 5 Country Time Lemonade mixes for $.50 each instead of $3.99 each. It saves a lot of money when you buy things on sale instead of only buying what you need this week. Of course you have to know you can use it up before it expires.

[Eleanor]

It saves a lot of money when you buy things on sale instead of only buying what you need this week. Of course you have to know you can use it up before it expires.

Hmmm, that's a good point. I'm thinking I should make a list with the things we consistently need that might go on sale and don't expire very quickly like pasta, rice, beans, olive oil, etc. and try to keep an eye out for when those go on sale.

[BudgetSurgeon]

One of my Budgeting Techniques is to shop less frequently. For us, that means food shopping once every 2 weeks, instead of every week. Additionally, we shop in a supermarket that is 4 miles from our home, which is in a less affluent area. The savings that result are as follows:

- Reduced driving. At IRS' $ 0.55/mile, 8 miles saved per 2-week period, is a saving of $4.40.
Over the course of year, that amounts to $4.40 x 26 = $114.40;

- The supermarket we shop at gives us 5% off of our bill, whenever the total amount is over
$250. That's a $12.50 saving per shopping instance, which translates to $12.50 x 26 = $325
per year;

Now, in order to shop for 2 weeks, I need to accompany my wife to the supermarket, because she cannot do it alone. But, by doing this, we shop less frequently, and save about $439 per year.
Not too shabby!

[disneysteve]

At this point, we generally shop once a week. For budget purposes, shopping more often is much better. When we were young and childless and had more free time and energy, we would do more comparison shopping, couponing and sales which would require going to a few different places each week. Now, with busy lives and hectic schedules, once a week is about all we can manage. We occasionally have to stop in some other time to pick up things we need for a specific meal but otherwise we get by with the weekly trip.

[v_keely]

twice a week. It has proven to be more cost efficient since sometimes buying a lot at once results in some of the products expiring and me having to throw them out! eek!

[Kelli-Saving Money]

Shopping trips...twice is nice

Agree...twice seems to be my sweet spot as well. I think it matters less how frequently you go to the store, but more that you have a plan and a list that you stick to ensure you do not overspend.

[Eleanor]

Agree...twice seems to be my sweet spot as well. I think it matters less how frequently you go to the store, but more that you have a plan and a list that you stick to ensure you do not overspend.

Hmm, ok thanks for sharing! I am generally very good about planning all of the meals for the week in advance and then making a list and sticking to it, but sometimes things come up to change the plan and it drives me absolutely crazy.

But, the reason it seems smarter to me to go once a week, like I am now, instead of every 2 weeks is that I feel like things get wasted or forgotten about if we shop for 2 weeks at a time. Plus, we have to buy produce at least once a week anyway, so I figured we might as well do everything weekly. But, perhaps we should get all of the non produce bi-weekly and pick up produce every few days?

For budget purposes, shopping more often is much better.

Thanks, could you please explain the reasoning for this? I feel like it is and that's what I'm doing right now, but my boyfriend hates it and I need some compelling evidence to convince him it's worth the hassle...even though I do all of the grocery shopping.

[FinancialFreedom]

I try to limit my grocery shopping to once a week. I normally pick one day to go and grab what I need, and make that my shopping day. This way, I'm not wearing down on the gas money.

[preetim22]

I only shop once a week the reason for this is i get fresh items every time and by which i dont feel need to stock up items.

[Am0rph]

Once a week but i do this online now. Tesco have a new account offer saving 15 on your first shop

[Thrif-t]

I usually go twice a week but only because I'm big on buying reduced items. We don't really eat a lot of processed food most everything is fresh. I like to go and check out whats on the reduced shelf and I usually come home and cook it up or freeze it. I've found that I actually spend less money if I'm buying and preparing fresh foods, plus it's healthier for you. The trade off is I go more.

[CashUp Sammy]

Buy big, cook big, eat big, freeze big.

Shop once a week.

I like cooking and eating my food but dislike all of the cutting, preparing, cleaning etc. Would rather do it all batched up and do it once! Make enough for the week (two dishes) alternating what I eat each day. Combination of refridgerated and frozen leftovers.

Then start again with another big cook up on Friday nights or over the weekend.

Staples are
-lasagne
-chicken risotto (freezes and reheats well)
-spaghetti bolognese
-curry & rice
-a big slow cooked stew.

all fairly cheap to make.

Yummo!