Once a year: A truckload of Hot Cheetos® snacks and a truckload of Schlitz® beer. Life is good.
It took me four hours to post this reply, because I left for groceries six times. Short term memory prob-, [car door slams, wheels squeal]
One day a week we do ALL of our “non-emergency” shopping in 1-2 trips to and from home. Hit the Wal*Mart, Kmart, Target, Home Depot, farmer’s market, the mall, yard sales, grocery stores, as needed. Depending on the sales, we may shop at anywhere from two up to four local grocery stores, plus the farmer’s market, and the odd food item from Target.
Planning out each operation (the “traveling salesman problem” constrained by food spoilage and defrosting considerations) the night before is kinda fun, plus it forces us to put everything on a list, which cuts down on impulse purchases. We have been compiling our purchases on a spreadsheet (in cross-tabbed categories) and can look over weeks, months, and years of data.
Never saw any benefit to going to Sam’s Club, Costco, BJs, or any similar place - the prices are NOT that great, even assuming we used the entire unit purchased (even with 3 kids, this is unlikely for most things). Around Christmas I usually sign up for one of those free 30-90 day trials to poach the loss leaders and similar draws, but avoid the places otherwise and cannot understand why their parking lots attest to such a level of crowding.
The healthier you eat, the more often you have to shop. Those who grocery shop once every week or two likely have unhealthy diets of processed junk food. (Exception for those who live out in the country and grow their own food.)
Big Costco hauls once a month. Beef, Chicken, Fish all the canned stuff plus all the paper towels etc.
Every day or so for local produce.
Once a week.
Hit Wal-Mart on Tues morning, place nearly empty, have list set up by floor location of stuff, zoom thru.
Then on Thursdays get 5% “senior discount” at local grocery for meats and vegetables.
I use the commissary for meats and general groceries every other week, then I usually use Piggly Wiggly or WalMart for produce a couple of times a week. The commissary is a huge money saver, but we live about a half hour away from base, which is why we only go every other week. The Pig is just down the street from my work, and WalMart is on the way home for hubby, so it is more convenient for the stuff that goes bad quickly.
See what you started???
Once a month for big things, and a few times a month for little things. I admit to being somewhat of one of those evil “Survivalist” types and keep a good stock of food that is rotated just in case.. but you cant keep a freezer full of meat forever.. lol so we DO shop once a month and do a huge costco run.
When I was growing up my parents, and most of the others in the area, shopped every two weeks. It was 45 miles to the nearest grocery store that actually had low prices and every one drove to that one. So, every two weeks, the pickup was loaded down with food and my mom made it last for two weeks sometimes almost 3 because of the way my step-father was paid. Myself, I shop about twice a week and sometimes do small errands in between.