shadowsbiker

I use a two child bike trailer that I was given by an old neighbor. I bring along cardboard boxes that fit nicely in the trailer to make it easier to load and unload. As a plus, I can bring my son with me if I am only planning to purchase a few days worth. I also tend to visit the store almost daily since it is only a 3 mile round trip. If I am aiming for a few items I stick to a trunk bag and a Trek grocery pannier.

SBRDude

I was car free in college and loved it. I just used my backpack for daily needs and went with friends in their car whenever they were already going to the store and I needed more stuff. It was always very easy and I wish I could do it now.

gerv 

Why can't you do it now?

folder fanatic

I don't store very much food in the refrigerator especially the freezer. This appliance are in the smaller range (10 cubit feet). I buy frozen food maybe for no more than 2 days worth and refrigerated food no more than 3-4 days. I allow for power outages. I like dry goods and canned goods. I usually prefer to store as much as I can-3 weeks supply for each person in the household. As for grocery shopping, I use a handcart to tow my food home. If I am lucky, I car pool. I find that bikes are in the way as far as lugging food home. Even with bags & panniers, I cannot take much home. I would have to make many round trips to bring home enough food for the family.

This becomes a real balance between the realities of the limits one can load up a 2 wheeled bike and make it worthwhile to use it efficiently as possible. I really think that a work bike (like a tricycle or a quadricycle) would work better for me. Unfortunately, I doubt that it would work in a high bike theft probable area like mine is.

Or even better:

robi

Family of 5, the boys are 17 and 13, they eat more than the restof us do combined. Our daughter is 16 and does not eat too much. But stll we have to buy quite a bit.

3 of us just ran to the grocery store and got nearly a week's worth of food.... BUT we buy bread and rolls etc, for breakfast several days a week a tthe local baker.

There really is no trick to this... if you cannot get everthing in one trip. you make two,...

robi

crazybikerchick

Produce tastes better fresher. When I was in Toronto we would shop every day or two for fruits and vegetables, and keep items on hand in the pantry for longer.

Now that we live somewhere where the closest grocery store is 50 km round trip + a ferry ride, we try to get as much as we can at one time, supplementing with what's in the garden (we just moved here so haven't been able to establish what we want to eat), the limited and expensive local general store, and a nearby farm produce stand.

The trick is getting anything that is already frozen as it will thaw by the time we get back. A soft sided cooler bag works well for keeping things cool but I think for frozen food we would need to put a larger cooler and ice on a BoB.

electrik

Exactly, why buy fresh fruit and let it sit for a week un-eaten, except of course by some fruit flies! IMO, if people shopped more frequently our diets would improve and grocers could stock fresher and more perishable foods, due to higher turn-over, instead of trying to find the most shelf-stable and typically un-nutritious stuff out there.

sauerwald

I grow most of the veggies that I eat, so no transportation is required.

More often than not, I stop on the way home from work to pick up a thing or two from the grocery store, for dinner that night.

I LOVE my trailer (Cycletote Utility Trailer) for the 'big shopping' which I do on weekends.

I do rely on purchasing more stuff which is delivered. Especially bulky items.

Robert Foster

True except you would be losing time shopping that you could use for any number of other things. Visiting friends, reading books, riding, going to a show. We are the customer and I am not sure it is our task to make life easier for the shop keeper. If the stores are taking delivery more often they are charging more because their delivery cost is more. Plus you are always only a day or two from being out of food.

For me the main issue is I don't like to shop. I have better things to do with my day that walk the isles of a store looking for things to fix for dinner every other day.

wahoonc

Interestingly enough my local chain grocery store gets 2 produce, 1 meat and 1.5 dry goods trucks a week. A few weeks back they didn't get one of their produce trucks, the produce section was basically empty. Fortunately there is another store a few miles further away that did get their produce truck. I buy my staple goods on a regular basis, but will supplement them with fresh goods a couple of times a week. FWIW most of the local farmers' markets that I frequent are only open one day a week, the remainder comes out of my garden on a daily basis.

Aaron

rockmom

We're a family of four and hit the grocery a couple times a week. I take one day and the spouse takes the other. One of us generally stops by the farmers' market once a week during the growing season. We sometimes walk, sometimes bus, and sometimes bike on grocery trips. We have a bike trailer from when the kids were smaller that we use on bike trips and backpacks and canvas bags for bus and walking trips. Also the grocery and farmers' market is between work and home, which is mighty convenient.

electrik

Meh, what is the point? Preparing for the apocalypse? You'll need way more food than that... One can always stock dry goods anyways, but they don't have to eat them every meal just to skip the store. I feel part of the problem with people's diet is they want to be visiting friends, reading books, riding or going to a show instead of preparing something half-way nice which requires not much time but, does require fresh ingredients. Part of what re-enforces this "meal as chore" attitude is the slippery slope of **** prepared meals which distort peoples perspective of what a good meal can taste like and do for you. I wouldn't want to cook either if i felt it was going to be kraft diner or frozen tv meals.

You can change your attitude that meal time is a chore, it is not always so and if you learn to prepare a variety of dishes it can become something enjoyable to shop every few days instead of rushing through the same old list.

gerv 

electrik, you sound like a Slow Foodist. But I agree. I think the dinner party is a kind of a great extension of what you suggest... Take your time. Enjoy your food.

4000Miles

Bleh. Between going to school full time, working 20 hours a week, and keeping the grades in good shape, I don't have TIME to go shopping every 2 days. Keeping a weather eye on Craigslist for a cheap trailer for now...

Torrilin

I shop with panniers and the only reason I end up getting groceries more than once a week is because I'm pretty rabid about local food (the Meat Lab on Fridays, the downtown Farmer's market on Wed or Sat, and fill in with TJs, Midway, Woodman's or Copp's as needed). If I just wanted to shop at Copps or TJ's, I could get by off once a week or less... using panniers.

Roody

Why do people think it takes more time to shop frequently? This is not my experience. I would rather run in and buy 2 days of food in 5 minutes than go once a month and spend 2 hours in the superdupermarket.

crazybikerchick

It really depends on how far away you are from the shops, whether they are on your bike commute from work anyway, and what kind of shopping you have available. If you have to go to the superdupermarket every 2 days its a pain. But if you are a short stroll away from a green grocer along the road and not a huge parking lot, it can be extremely pleasant.

electrik

Another good point as most of us are near to a grocer... particularly if we are going to make a go of living car free(IMO)... So you're right that there is a lot of resistance to shopping frequently because people automatically associate that with the long 1hr, shopping trips to find a purchase supplies for the entire week or more! If you're just shopping for two days it's simple to decide what to eat(no crazy complicated meal plan) and it's relatively fast to accomplish.

Robert Foster

I don't know I think it depends on how many other things you do. I only live at the most a mile from a "SuperDuper" grocery store. That being said I also do all the cooking for the family and have a series of foods I plan for the whole week. I gather all the spices and extra things I need to be sure I have them on hand. Then I prep the meals and in some cases prepackage what I am going to cook for a later date. I will freeze some of the food in the packages or freezer bags and take them out to thaw the day I plan on cooking them. But the key is I can buy in bulk to save more than if I bought ever other day or worse yet every day. If the have a sale of beef, Chicken, Turkey or Fish I can take advantage of the sale price and save 25 to 30 percent on my food bill. The fresh vegatables can remain in the crisper for a day or two and used in the meals for the first day or two.

If I need fresh vegatables I can easily ride to the store and get them. But if I prep them first and freeze them in the portions I need for later it is saves me time and money for the rest of the week. A Small 18 -20 CF refrigerator can easily store enough food for 2 people and I keep enough dry goods for at least a month, rice, some pasta shells or macoroni last even longer. That is one of the main reasons I got a trailer so I could keep my family food plan and keep my food budget lower than if I didn't shop food sales. as far as how long it takes to shop? I spend more time in line than I do going through the store. Figure I spend 30 to 40 minutes in the store twice a month and twenty minutes or more twice a month putting food away.

It is a little like planning to be car free. You have to plan your trips and organize you life to be at places or work at the time you are supposed to be there. Car people can just hop in the car and go. ( Not debating the effect on the world oil supply here just saying how it is for car people.)

Everyone has their preferences I am sure, but I would dare say I would match my unit price for food against daily or simi daily shoppers. (the statement doesn't apply to people who grow much of their own food however.)

Like some others our farmers markets are only on Saturday. I would still only be shopping once a week at best. But I still don't really care to shop. So that is the reason that my shopping strategies would include a trailer.

electrik

You're really organized there!

Robert Foster

Believe it or not I got the idea from two of my best friends. The Husband was a Executive Chef and the wife did high end catering in Palm Springs. They opened a restaurant close to our house. They had two employees quit un-expectantly and my wife stepped in to take the reservations and work as the hostess. I got to work as the prep person and help with the monthly brunches cooking the Eggs Benedict, Crepes and things like that. They taught me that if you are going to have a good restaurant you need to know your menu and you needed to prep your food ahead of time.

That might not be necessary for home cooking but it saves me a lot of money by buying things they have on special in larger units. With the money I save I can buy more bike parts, or bikes as the case might be.

memnoch_proxy

My MTB: bike trailer, panniers, handlebar bag (can hold 6pack +1 quart bottle)
Wifes cruiser: wire cargo baskets, bike trailer and/or backpack
We make lots of small trips, often to the farmers market with the kids.
Good trailer tip: keep grocery bags vertical by using some key-chain clips to clipped to the roof tube or upper seat staps of the kid trailer, this keeps the flopped-over grocery bag phenomenon at bay. Also allows you to safely clip in the bags of lettuce/greens last, in front/atop of heavier items.

Newspaperguy

One of the two grocery stores in town is half a block from where I work. It takes me a total of 15 to 20 minutes at the end of the day to walk there, pick up what I need and walk back to the office. Then it's a short bike ride home. The other store is 0.8 kilometres from where I live. In summer, if I go to the closest fruit stands, I'm adding at most another 1.5 kilometres to my trip.

For fresh fruits and vegetables, I prefer buying on a regular basis.

Because I'm not getting that much at any one time and because the loads aren't heavy, I can just carry the grocery bags home as I ride.

Roody

My priority for food:

1. Taste and freshness
2. Sustainably produced
3. Nutritious and safe
4. Convenience
5. Price (dead last)

If your priorities are different from mine, of course your shopping strategies will also be different. I chose my residence to be convenient to my lifestyle. The City market where i do much of my food shopping is a 6 minute bike ride on a bike trail. The superdupermarket is about 12 minutes away, on a busy highway.

Robert Foster

I understand.

1,2,4 are subjective and 3 and 5 I am pretty sure I can match statistically. With 5 being my ace in the hole.

What I was never real clear about when we were raising kids was what same brand foods so often cost so much more at the city markets? Tuna, frosted flakes or Cherios even oatmeal. Bread, pasta, Ice cream all tend to cost more even though they come from the same places and are the same brands. It isn't any fresher, safer or sustainable than the goods sold at walmart or any of the other supermarkets. Yes you might have a point on fruits and vegatables but the meat tends to come from the same places as does the poultry and dairy goods. Most of our farmers sell their produce to the supermarket as well as the city market where they still exist.

But like you said we all have different priorities. Cost and the fact I don't like shopping and my background with stocking up boats and RVs for extended trips has carried over to my home shopping. Some stores have even started a home delivery system again. There have been times that I have felt that there might be a future for some online service and a large warehouse type of Massive Supermarket that would deliver your online order. It is already easier to get your medications that way. Even for your pets.