How long can you go without grocery shopping?

[annibe11e]

I did this challenge out of necessity once. I was divorced, working part time and raising a 5 year old. We were living in an efficiency apartment and driving a borrowed vehicle. It was grim. One day, we needed a few groceries, but my checking account was already on borrowed time thanks to a tire repair.

We managed for 3 weeks after the day I thought I needed to go shopping. It wasn't pretty, but it changed the way I see my pantry. I would encourage anyone to try a non-shopping challenge. The worst meal we had during that time was a tuna casserole made with elbow macaroni, a can of tuna, white sauce made out of vegetable oil, flour and prepared powdered milk, and topped with potato chips crumbs from a bag I found in the back of the pantry. I could barely force that meal down, but my 5 year old LOVED it.

I think I could go for several weeks on what I have right now, yet I still shop every week. Might be time to try this again.

[Blessed]

For everything but milk, and eggs maybe 3 months. I have tons of frozen produce and fruit from the garden. We prefer fresh but could make it.

[hamchan]

I don't do frozen or canned veg, so we could make it a while, but they'd be some pretty weird meals, and not the healthiest. We have over 10 lbs of frozen chicken breast, 1 lb of ground chicken breast, 8 or so frozen battered fish fillets, half of a 5 lb bag of rice, half of a 10 lb bag of pintos, 1 lb of black beans, 6 cans of no salt added diced tomatoes, 1 lb lentils, a huge canister of oatmeal, about a half pound each of yellow and green split peas, some peanut butter filled pretzels, some dried pineapple, one can of water chessnuts, one can of bamboo shoots, some peanut butter and a couple jars of jelly, half a box of saltines, and a truck load of various kinds of pasta. We've also got oil, vinegar, and lots of seasonings. In the fridge I have about 8 Greek yogurts, a bag of shredded lettuce, some flour tortillas in various sizes, 2 lbs of shredded cheese, mustard, mayo, a little bit of sour cream, half a package of veggie "burger", 10 eggs, a box of butter, a mostly full jar of salsa, a head of cauliflower and 2/3 of a huge zucchini. We also have a container of teff grain and a bag of garbanzo bean flour.

[disneysteve]

We could last quite a while but it wouldn't be fun and would be seriously lacking in nutrition. We eat a ton of fresh produce so that would be a big gap in our diet. And dry milk just isn't the same as fresh milk though I mix a batch now and then when we run out.

[kork13]

I'd say probably 2-3 weeks no problem. I normally go grocery shopping only once every 1-2 weeks anyway... but beyond a month or so, I'd need to get pretty creative with whatever I had left. I want to eventually build up a stock of stuff that would last me at least a few months, preferably closer to a months (as an emergency preparedness thing), but that's probably going to take a while.

The only problem I'd run into would be the perishables like milk, fruit, & vegetables. I have enough frozen veggies & canned fruit to last me a few weeks, but I'm really rather short on canned foods. I could make my own bread for a month easy, but my only option as far as milk would be ***shudder*** powdered milk... I grew up on that stuff until I was about 7 or 8 years old, when they were finally able to get fresh (not rotten) milk to my island (Guam) at a reasonable cost... I would not relish going back to it as an adult unless it was a survival need.

[fruitbowlk]

I can go longer than I do. I never completely us the food in my freezer. I mainly go for fresh fruits and veggies if I dealt with frozen ones only I could go with grocery shopping for months.

[disneysteve]

I never completely us the food in my freezer.

Same here. I periodically get on a kick to clear stuff out of there because eventually stuff does go bad even in the freezer so it's a waste of money when that happens. But then I just forget and go back to the usual routine. I really need to get better about this.

[bjl584]

Maybe a week.

I don't see the point really. At least from a financial standpoint. If I hold off shopping for as long as possible to "save money", then I'll just be forced to go shopping at some point for a large quantity of groceries. I'd end up spending two or three more times what I normally do when I do finally have to go shopping. It would completely defeat the purpose.

That said, it may make sense to hold off shopping a day or two if there is a sale that happens to be coming up on a particular item. In that case, it would make sense to wait. But, normally, for everyday shopping, I don't see the advantage.

[disneysteve]

I don't see the point really. At least from a financial standpoint.

To me, the point is what I said above: reducing waste. If something buried in the back of your pantry expires before you use it, that costs you money. If something in your freezer gets destroyed by freezer burn before you use it, that costs you money.

[dojo]

We shop once a week usually, the pantry is pretty well 'stocked' with food that could help us not starve for months if it was the case. We also have meat in the fridge. I don't think it's wise to keep from shopping for many weeks, but it's always a good idea to not let food go bad in the fridge/pantry either.

[MonkeyMama]

Maybe a week.

I don't see the point really. At least from a financial standpoint. If I hold off shopping for as long as possible to "save money", then I'll just be forced to go shopping at some point for a large quantity of groceries. I'd end up spending two or three more times what I normally do when I do finally have to go shopping. It would completely defeat the purpose.

That said, it may make sense to hold off shopping a day or two if there is a sale that happens to be coming up on a particular item. In that case, it would make sense to wait. But, normally, for everyday shopping, I don't see the advantage.

Agreed.

We are from a high cost area where space is sacred though, so have never been particularly food stockers. We just eat as we go. If you saw our pantry, it's kind of empty. Which to me, seems easier to prevent waste. There might be enough to last *me* a LONG time, but there are 4 of us, and I am the lightest eater, by a mile. I'd have to look through our freezer and ponder. We generally have 7-10 days of food on hand (for 4), plus could maybe eat through the junk and the canned/boxed or frozen food that we more keep on hand for ocassional treats. Having extra storage space is probably prohibitively expensive (For an extra freezer or a larger pantry). & I've never found any bulk food deals that we could really eat through or seemed to generate cost savings. I am open to changing my mind on that when I have two teenagers. But, until then, we just shop every 7-10 days.

[TheKayla]

Probably about 3 weeks, but I buy mostly produce and don't buy a lot of processed foods that wouldn't keep regardless. I would hate running out of that produce and having to live off that processed stuff I do have though. :/ I'd feel sick in no time. I just buy fresh food, almost all produce, no meat or dairy, and very little processed foods and that saves me a ton of money overall, keeps me healthy, and don't typically have a lot of pantry items except for bread, peanut butter, pasta, and some condiments.

For me, I would never want to see how far I could stretch it, because the sacrifice would mean getting more foods that are less healthy. After all, the longer the shelf life the shorter your life! I'd rather save on groceries on the regular by making smart choices more frequently.

[TheKayla]

To me, the point is what I said above: reducing waste. If something buried in the back of your pantry expires before you use it, that costs you money. If something in your freezer gets destroyed by freezer burn before you use it, that costs you money.

I go by the opposite view in that I never keep enough 'stock' items in the first place to really miss stuff that would go old. I suppose if you have a moderate amount of food at any given time, this would be relevant. I have about 5-10 things in my pantry right now, same in my fridge. I go by the week generally, and most of my long-term stuff is baking stuff that won't go old for a long, long time, like flour or spices.

[Caoineag]

1-2 weeks. While I have a little separate freezer for stock up runs, I also use all those items up over time. I basically use the freezer to get expensive basics at sale prices (butter, frozen veggies, meat). Everything else gets bought fresh. I do have some canned goods but I rotate stock and let things get low in time for the next sale. Dried goods are few and far between if they aren't baking supplies like flour (very few processed items here).

[hamchan]

We only have a small normal sized freezer and two small kitchen cabinets for food. We're just very organized and don't buy a lot of stuff that sits in the cupboards. Any time I see a non-perishable or frozen staple for a really good price I stock up and get as much as I can physically carry home. It's going to be important to have a bit of a stock pile when DH gets his kidney transplant, since unless he manages to find a live donor we will not have much warning before he has to go in. The less shopping we have to do, and the less we have to buy, the better.