Anyone grocery shop once a month?

[betharoo0]

I was wondering.... I was going to try it. We cook really simple and I will buy powdered milk....maybe invest in a small chest freezer....hmmm any suggestions? Iam just TIRED of shopping every week!

[baronmom]

here lately, I have only been shopping once or twice a month. Not really cause I want to, but because we don't have the money to go more often. Now I do admit that we have to get milk several times a week. I was lucky and had a nice supply of meat in the freezer from Christmas. It can be done, and on very little money.

[annymoll]

I go once a month, but have considered going maybe bi-weekly in the coming months. Monthly shopping has it's good points and bad. I feel if I'm not in the store, I don't spend, so one time a month keeps me out of the store. I have a couple of freezers, plus my freezer over the fridge full of meat. Basically I shop for everything else that one time.(I freeze milk,never had a problem with it.)
The only problem is that I still have to get out to purchase the fresh fruits and veggies that we so love.I have been relying on frozen and canned as backups. We seem to run out of coffee and soda as well, but that's because we over consume them!! It's also alot of work to carry in all those groceries sometimes.
Another plus is that it really does save on gas to go that one time in the month, and I'm such a tightwad I budget that gas into my bill.
I would say give it a try, if it doesn't work you can always go the bi- weekly route.Also, it's a little more work to have to plan a months worth of menus, but once you do, you can just rotate them month to month. Good Luck!!

[wanderinggrandma]

When my kids were growing up, DH was paid once a month. I would plan a menu for the month, make a grocery list for items needed, I always have had the stocked pantry and freezer, and would also do OAMC for a lot of the dishes. I would freeze the milk--grate/slice/cube the cheese and freeze it also.

I was very attached to my Make a Mix and More Make a Mix cookbooks. I made the meat mixes and cookie dough in huge batches and shaped into rolls and froze it. I would write with Sharpie Pen what it was, temp to cook at and length of time. VERY, VERY handy to have on hand.

I remember buying apples and oranges by the case. They kept fine. I do think sometimes I would plan on a mid-month grocery trip for fresh veggies in the winter. Summers I usually had a garden.

You can do this if you are organized and have proper storage for what you purchase. I've been thinking of trying this again.

Good Luck!! (I will say some of my friends thought I was nuts )

[emortis13]

Three days ago, I decided that I was sick of going grocery shopping every week and instead I am now trying to buy food a month at a time. The sucky part is I always forget something. Usually important things like toilet paper.

So, the last three days have been “fun”. Aldis, Double Dragon foods, Sams Club, Cub Foods… yep fun… I think I’m gona invest in some of those cardboard carry containers. I’m sore from carrying in so much stuff down two flights of stairs. Granted, I had male help, but it was still a lot more then two grocery bags.

[kaykwilts]

I know people who do it but I would find it hard to do. I used to go three times a week and now I go once a week. Maybe eventually I could get up to twice a month. I don't know.

[SammeyG]

I have been doing well at shopping once a month. Now I do go one other time to buy like milk and veggies. But that is it. We recently bought a small chest frezer in december due to the fact that we had so much deer meat. With that I buy very little of the other meat. The only reason that I buy some meat is so that we aren't eating deer meat all the time. But I have found that it helps to shop once a month.

[Marie78]

We go once a week (a small trip) to our local grocery store for produce, dairy, lunch meat, bread, and anything we might need to complete a meal for the week. I do two bigger shopping trips each month at Aldi and I try to get the majority of food for the month on the first trip. The second trip costs us less. because it's for things that we ran out of or are running low on or that I forgot the first time around. I would like to only shop once a month, but I don't think it would work well for us right now. We live in an apartment with only one small freezer.

[Peaches]

I do a big shop once a month, and then pick up fresh fruit and veg if we need it at the greengrocer on the way home from work. I also do a Costco shop about once every three months. I spend less money shopping this way rather than shopping weekly. It's also less time consuming. Before I go shopping I take stock of the freezer and pantry and go from there. My food budget used to be £250/month. I've managed to get it down to between £150-200 per month. I also feel like I spend less time in the grocery store, because I only go once a month.

[Neeley]

We shop once a month. We have certain items we get from certain stores. We head to Sam's first, from there we hit Super Wal-Mart. We then go home unload everything and make a quick run to Publix and Bruno's. All of these stores are within 5 miles of my house so it's not like we are running all over town.

DH bought some really nice shelves (7 foot high, five feet wide and three feet deep) This is where my mini grocery store is set up, food items on top shelves, H & B and paper products on lower ones. I also have two other sets of smaller shelves that hold the over flow. All of these items are the back-ups. Like, we use 3 jars of peanut butter a month so the extra two go on these shelves and one goes in the kitchen cabinets; we use three boxes of tea a month so one in the cabinet and three on the shelves, four boxes of crackers - one in cupboard three on shelves etc... My shelves and deep freezer are in my laundry room along with washer/dryer and some other shelves and storage bins for my craft items - it is a really nice sized room. The kitchen has a large cupboard that gets filled along with two other regular cabinets. My mom bought me a deep freezer last year and by the time we finish the shopping for a month it is so full nothing else will fit in it or the one above the fridge.

We do not drink milk, only powder is used for cooking so no need to go out every week for that. We buy enough bread for the month and freeze it. I do use buttermilk to make my salad dressing but I buy it with a date that is far enough out so I do not have to go out for that either. DS does eat fruit like crazy - between 3 to 5 dozen oranges(a week), plus a couple dozen apples(a week), a dozen pears(a week) and between he and DH six pounds of bananas (you guessed it - in a week)so we do have to buy fruit bi-weekly. I eat about five pounds of shredded lettuce a week so I have to go one other time mid-month to get my lettuce, too.

We buy enough food once a month for thirty days worth of breakfast, lunches and dinners. Plus a few extra days, just in case we don't get to the store in time. DH does not eat lunch out, he takes it to work. The kids are homeschooled so all of theirs and my lunches are from home as well. 90 meals a month. Just to give you an idea of our once a month shop here is a few examples of how much we get to avoid shopping again in the month: We use a roll of toilet paper per day on average so we start the month out with no less than 36 rolls- but usually more, a roll of paper towels every day and a half so at least 25 rolls for starters, 50 lb dog food, 20 lb cat food, 10 lb rabbit food, 60 cans wet cat food, 60 2-liters of diet soda, 12 loaves of bread, 72 slices of American cheese, 15 lbs of shredded cheese, 20 -25 lb of rice, 6 lb of grits, 4 boxes of instant oatmeal, 25 cans of tuna(people and cats eat this), 3 dozen eggs, 3 large coffe cans, 30 yoplait whips, 100 individual bags of chips - (DH takes a good bit to work to keep in desk for snacks, the rest stay in my Durango in a rubbermaid box - snacks on the go), plus all of the fruits, veggies, meats, vegetarian products for me, etc......

It takes us about four to five hours from start to finish - but it is worth it for us. DH hates to grocery shop and my rule is everyone grocery shops since everyone eats.

Ok - I have chatted enough about this - sorry for the looonnnngggg post.

[wanderlusting]

Wow Neely-your are ORGANIZED! I hope when I have kids, I can get them to eat that much fruit!

[foxxyroxie]

I think you could classify me as a once-a-month shopper.

I shop once a month (usually during the 1st week of month) for staples and pantry items... ketchup, mustard, relish, cereals, potato/noodle/rice packaged items, rice, noodles, spaghetti, sauces, soups. I'm still using veggies and canned tomatoes I bought before Thanksgiving... they were such a good deal I bought a crap-load... literally cases... because the veggies were 25 cents a can. We go to a day-old bread store and I basically do a once-a-month there too... basically because it's out of the way for our normal routines and I can free most of the stuff. It's a really cool store where they have a 39 cent table and that includes whole grain and cinn-raisin english muffins, a variety of bagels, donut holes, 8-pk wheat or white dinner rolls, pitas, whole wheat bread. Sometimes if we're lucky they have hamburger/hotdog buns too. Of course we pick up other breads and 'goodies' for lunches but must of it is 79 cents or lower. We usually walk out with 5-6 overstuffed bags for about $10

I only shop otherwise for sales, mostly for meat and produce. Milk we buy when it's on sale ($2 or under) and we freeze than when necessary.

Hope this helps.

[justpeachy92]

The only thing I do once a month is buy meat (sams club) and bread (discount bread store). I would have to go out weekly for milk and produce, so I take advantage of the loss leaders and coupons to make meals with the meat we have on hand. I would like to do shopping once a month but find with my dh and kids the more of something I have on hand the more of it they eat, then I end up buying more to replaces what should have been enough to last weeks.

[i.m.cheap]

I don't think I could do once a month shopping. I like to take advantage of the weekly sales. I do however sometimes buy enough of one thing to last for months, if the price is low enough. So my weekly shopping is mainly for milk, produce, bread (bakery thrift store), and whatever the best loss leaders are at the two stores near me that double coupons. If meat sales are good one week, I might buy enough meat to last a month or more, then not have to buy meat the rest of the month. A few months ago, I bought twelve Freschetta pizzas, because the sale and doubled coupons combined to make them $1.74 each. We still have three pizzas in the freezer, a new coupon came out last week for .75/1, and I got eleven of these coupons, so now I am watching for another sale. The coupons expire 4/11/07, and March is Frozen Food Month, so there is an excellent chance I will be able to stock up again. These pizzas normally sell for about $5.99, and having them on hand keeps us from ordering pizza. When the price drops below $3.00 with coupon/sale, I stock up. I do this with EVERYTHING. I have a "rock bottom price" that I look for, and when I see it, I stock up.

[peanut]

Neeley, I'm impressed by your organization! I wish I could do the same. We don't have the fridge space for enough produce to do once a month shopping. Otherwise, I have a cold room I use for staples, canned goods and HBO. I buy things on sale up to 6 months in advance.