When I was growing up, the answer was easy. Once a week. One store only (well, there weren’t a lot of stores where we lived, anyway. Actually, I don’t think there were as many store options anywhere, back then.) Always on Saturday.
It’s a lot of years later. I now live in a metropolitan area, one that has several large grocery chains, several smaller stores/chains, low price stores like Aldi and Save-A-Lot (yep, we have both). And sometimes there are some pretty good deals at Walgreens, Target, etc.
Sometimes, I think my ideal is to shop less - I know there are some people who basically do a big once-a-month shopping trip, with a little fresh stuff in between big trips. There are times I think I’d like to do that. Then reality hits - I believe I’ve confessed to being something of a bargain junkie. Truth is, I’m afraid of missing GREAT deals! There have been weeks, however, that I did not grocery shop AT ALL. I was pretty well stocked up (it’s amazing what you can freeze) and there were no good loss leaders. I kind of liked the feeling of not shopping that week.
Then, I have weeks that are the opposite. I’ve mentioned before that I have not one but TWO big grocery stores that are walking distance from where I work. And should there be a phenomenal loss leader - I just may shop every day that week. The egg adventure comes to mind, but there have been other daily shopping expeditions.
Recently, however, the loss leaders have been few and far between. I seem to have fallen into grocery shopping once a week. Talk about going full circle back to my childhood…But I know me, and I know that this, too, shall pass. So I guess the answer to the question of how often I grocery shop is a very definitive…”It’s depends.” Check with me again next week.