Why Bother Doing a Big Shop

This is what The Big Shop looks like when I got it home. Yep...it is a lot a food (in fact, it was too much for the bags I took) but it lasts.

Why bother doing such a big shop?

1. It saves time in the long run.

Time is precious for everyone, and I know that I would rather not spend my time in a supermarket if I don't have to.  It took me about 2 1/5 hours all up from start (ie getting in the car to drive down), to finish (all groceries packed away in the fridge and cupboard).  This is only 2.5 hours in 3 weeks.  If I average that over the three weeks, it is less than an hour a week I have spent shopping over those three weeks (I haven't added in my market shopping - fruit & vegies - which is another 2 hours all up start to finish over that time).  

Part of the time savings was that I have a shopping list that I put together for my local supermarket that is done by the aisle, this really helps as I just follow the list as I walk through.

2. It saves money.

Money is precious.  The less I spend on things that are then going to be just chucked away (crappy plastic), or impulse buys (those tantilising smells from the in-house bakery), and the things that I didn't really need anyway, each time I go to the supermarket, the better.  

It has been proven that every time we visit the supermarket, we pick up "a little something" and it takes titanium strength to resist the powers of marketing who are so incredibly clever in their placement of the things that we don't really need next the lower priced, on-special, basic essentials.  If you have a heaving trolley so full of basic essentials, it becomes physically impossible to pick up those little extras (and somewhat embarrassing at the register if you rock up with three trolleys to boot).  

So, if you only have room for the essentials for your family for the 3 weeks or so, then that is all that you will buy, add in a few bits that you know your family needs and bake the rest.  You have the extra little bits of time now (maybe...), or get them to do it! 

3. It is great to learn how to "eat out your pantry"

We have had a load of fun working out that we still can make meals out of "nothing".  I had thought that there was nothing left to make dinner with, then, we scratched around in the pantry, and found that we had enough bits to make a chickpea cottage pie.  Not only was it nutritious, it is actually one of the boys favourite meals.  It is great to see the pantry get right the end of what it was able to provide, and then we are able to start afresh.  

4. Makes the food last longer

This round, we are curious to see how long we are able to go for.  We are not going hungry, and we do think that we could probably be eating less.  We know that when we were travelling last year we ate less, moved more, and felt healthier.  We are all now talking about "rationing" the food, as in "making it last".   This is the kids as well (I have 3 growing boys), and they want the food to last as long as it can so that the "yummy" stuff is still there at the end of the time.  They are experimenting with making the meals and snacks as well as they understand what we have on offer.  It probably helps that they lived it last year with no shops around for 2-3 weeks, but still, it is a great way to think, and stops us from getting too soft (in the belly), and make our food and money last longer.

The long shopping list

Photo courtesy of Bruce Turner

We learnt last year when we were travelling that we had to make our grocery shopping last longer than 1 week, and sometimes longer than 2 weeks (not by choice, but because there were no supermarkets in coo-wee).  By the end of our 9 months of travelling we were nearly experts at shopping for food that fits into tiny spaces, is nutritious, meets a tiny budget and will last for nearly 3 weeks.  

Somehow, the cushiness of city life has taken over, and we got back to bulk food (in more ways than one), that costs more and needs us to go back to the supermarket every week.  

We knew that we could do it before, we had been pushed to the limit and survived, not only survived, but we were a whole bunch healthier, and the food lasted a whole lot longer too.  What was the difference?

We had gotten into the habit of buying wider variety of "stuff", and stuff that sits in the cupboard, only to be used here or there, but not to be used up, and we were not buying thinking of what we would need for the essential needs of a family of 5 (4 boys) over the whole of the period.

So, we sat down and looked at what our needs were, the basics.  It ended up being a fairly extensive list, however, if it was going to stop us going to the supermarket every week and "accidentally" throwing those extra incidentals in, then it would probably be worth it.  

My husband summed it up one day, when he was making scones after asking what went in them, by saying, "So what we really need is flour, butter, powdered milk and sugar, and lots of that, and then we can pretty much make anything."

Yup, that's right.  Bulk of those will see you through a long way.  Add onto that, oats, sultanas for some muesli, a whole heap of crackers, loads of pasta and rice, and red lentils, tins and tins of tomato, corn, tuna and legumes, meat* for the freezer and you start to see how the basics, the essentials of the pantry that can sit there for the 3 weeks and slowly be consumed.  

We now draw up our "lucky dip" menu (chosen by everyone in the family); 21 different dinners to choose from, ensuring that we include the all the food needed for them on the shopping list, and then these are the meals that we eat.  It is good for us because it is not too structured.  Some people like their menu suggestions more structured, if that suits, go for it.

So, how is it going?  Well, after I hauled around (by myself) the most enormously overloaded trolley (I did vow to NEVER be that woman), and after the checkout, it somehow didn't fit back into the one trolley, assistance was required by one of the checkout chicks. Yup...Me making banal conversation with a 20-something about my ridiculous amount of food.  Anyway, at that stage, I thought that it would only last 2 weeks.  A friend of mine who has 2 girls and a boy laughed when I told here and said that they go for 6 weeks!!!! WOW! I would have needed 4 trolleys.  So far it has been 3 weeks and one day and we have been to the market once for fresh fruit and vegies (normal), and bought more 12 more rolls of toilet paper and bread about every 4 days.  We are on the bottom of the barrel for the powdered milk now, with the boys whingeing about the flavour now (they didn't really complain last year).  It is probably time to go again as some of the essentials are starting to ebb away, however, some of them are surprisingly well stocked still, so time to look at the list and make sure that we are not "over-buying"

*We don't eat a heap of meat so this doesn't impact our freezer much.  We generally only eat free range chicken, and kangaroo.

To Market, To Market, To Save on your Money...

Five different pears - in season now

...and buy the best produce there is to find. Every week you can find us down at the Queen Vic Market buying up big on our fruit and veg for the family (we do buy up big). I have been going there for the last 12 years and couldn't imagine not going there for few reasons.

One is the camaraderie from all the stall holders who have gotten to know me over the years and the recipes that they will give me and hugs and the stories they share
Two is the smell of the fresh produce - nothing beats it
Three is I always know what is in season by seeing the fluctuations in price
Four is that I can choose to get the best of the best by being picky about what I will put in my trolley
Five is the coffee at the end
Six is the borek that I have with it
Seven is all the friends that I bump into there
Eight is knowing that I will not get it any cheaper anywhere else in Melbourne
Nine is coming home with a trolley that I can hardly lift out of the car and knowing that it will all be eaten by the end of the week

using cake stands on cake stands for new season apples