I tend to buy groceries at least twice a month, sometimes it is more than that because of impulse. Otherwise, I operate on a 35 ~ 65 budget.

I consider my monster javas, rice, pasta, coffee/creamer, oatmeal, almond milk, water, bagels/waffles with cream cheese and things to mix the pasta and rice with as essentials. They’re always staples in all shopping trips.

My shopping lasts no more than 10 ~ 15 minutes, maybe less, because I always know what I’m after. I hate having to hop around stores to find things one other store doesn’t have because while I could find cheaper alternatives, I am sometimes met with more pricier options which may force me to go without one of my essentials for a while.

My goal with grocery shopping is to extend rations as much as possible while moderating how much I eat. I do shop for processed foods like frozen and canned stuff, but I find that it actually helps my rations. I don’t particularly pick up things like loaves of bread or produce because from my experience in the past, I always feel like I have to eat them sooner or they’ll spoil and I don’t really like having to feel like I got to wolf down something as soon as I buy it.

Longevity is key to me.

I tend to spend a weekend cooking and freezing loads, then not really cooking for weeks.

So it’s a massive targeted shop every few weeks to do that, then mostly small trips (often on foot/bike) to the local shops to get milk and any odd things I run out of, or if I feel like mixing dinner up with something else.

I go almost every day. It’s a good reason to get out and go for a walk.

What I buy mostly depends on prices/discounts. And only what I can carry in my backpack. Potatoes when affordable, otherwise rice; frozen veggies, ham/cheese, bubbly water, beer.

When I notice my fridge fails to either 1) hold enough prepped stuff to microwave an entree, or 2) provide snacks or something-pie – it’s grocery shopping time. I mostly keep to the membership stores, so just one/two visits a month, maybe. I only buy as much as I can carry in one trip from car to fridge.

Until yogurt drinks are in season again. Then it’s worth getting delivered by the pallet.

A mix of pre-planned list if we ran out of something or we want to cook something specific and in-shop decisions seeing what’s on promotion that week or what’s close to the expiration date and discounted a bit more.

We try to have like 3 servings of meat per week, and a constant stock of tomatoes, onions, garlic and lettuce and two other veggies (depending on what’s cheap that week: pepper, broccoli, zucchini, eggplant, potatoes).

For dinner we usually try to stock: Bread, 3 types of sliced cheese (a cheap “mix”, a cheddar and something fancy like a Camembert or Gorgonzola), and 3 types of cold cuts (prosciutto, krustenbraten, salami, chorizo, Mett, etc).

We keep a big stock of UHT Milk, pasta and rice, and restock when there’s a promo or we run below 2 weeks of supply. Some lazy food like frozen Pizzas or ramen always needs to be available.

We buy eggs every two weeks from a local farmer.

Usually one big trip a week with short visits on a need-to basis if run out of something mid week.

A bag of frozen chips/fries, potato chips/crisps, 2 boxes of 12 eggs, some cereal, chocolate, maybe a crate of pop (Dr Pepper is my fave) and milk.

I eat a lot of fresh food that doesn’t last a week; I shop every other day. I also eat a lot of things that last forever and are cheapest in bulk, like beans, rice, pasta. As a result, I honestly don’t know what a week of groceries looks like.

1 kg / 7 packs of sliced Bacon, 2 dozen eggs, 4x 6 packs of beer.
I prefer a healthy varied diet with lots of vegetables, so I’ve decided beer is vegetables.

My groceries aren’t interesting, but I had a friend who only ate what went into a mug.

He carried around a ceramic mug, either collecting free stuff or telling people about his mug to see if they’d put food in it. Free samples, a few grapes, and occasional hand outs all went into the mug. I filled it with soup when he came by.

I walk each day to the local markets and grab whatever I feel like that day That’s a good walk and is usually my cardio for the day.

Right now, it’s usually a couple chorizos, and then I use the leftover oil to fry potatoes, seasoning the potatoes and then use the leftover oil/spice from the fried potatoes to fry a bunch of diced tomatoes so I have a thick fried salsa.

bag of tomatoes is five quetzales, same for a bag of onions or potatoes.

I grabbed a tamale and some carnitas yesterday for 4 bucks.

I like walking around and seeing what’s open and available each day.

1 lb of salt. 20 lbs of long pork.

A shopping list on Google Keep has been a game changer. We have a shared list with my wife. Whenever we run out of something essential or need something, we add it to the list. Whenever one of us is in a grocery store, it’s easy just to go through the list.

I go grocery shopping once a week, and I’m buying just for two adults. Most things I get at Aldi, and some things at Giant if I don’t like the Aldi version, or Aldi doesn’t sell it. I do make a list ahead of time, but I buy mostly the same things every week.

A typical aldi trip includes bananas, berries (rasp or blue usually), avocados, some kind of fresh green veg for dinner (typically spinach, asparagus, or green beans), bread, jaffa cakes, coffee, low-fat cheese, laundry detergent & fabric softener, windex, dishwasher pods, toilet paper, canned fire-roasted tomatoes (soooo many easy recipes with these!), sparkling water, eggs, egg whites, almond milk, yogurt, and pierogies. Then I typically get my meat at Giant (most of Aldi’s meat is pretty gnarly), plus things like toothpaste, evaporated milk, sugar packets, paper towels, canned lentils (my Aldi doesn’t carry these???), and a little bouquet of flowers. And then some random things I buy on Amazon, like my tea (yorkshire gold), farro, protein powder, low-fodmap ingredients, etc.

I spend about $150 a week unless I’m out of something expensive like paper towels.

The butcher delivers meat once a week on a schedule

About every other week go to the local wet market for variety

Anything else is ordered about once week from the local western style market (free delivery)

These days, we tend to sit down on Sunday evening and plan out our meals for the week, then go shopping on Monday. We go to the farmer’s market Saturday and plan our meals around what vegetables we could buy locally.

I don’t consider very many things essential. Maybe dry beans, rice (sub millet, quinoa, or other cookable grain as needed), lentils, flour, and salt? Without those I’d have troubles surviving, with an adequate supply of those I could live for months, it’d take a while to even get sick of all the things you can make with it. I’m willing to cut pretty much anything I need to out of my diet if it’s not available and honestly I think the obsession with having all foods available at all seasons is weird.