Buying Groceries

[jastinjr]

The wife and I, plus the 2 dogs and 1 cat and we all live in 30 foot motorhome. Here is the question. How do you buy your groceries? For the week, 2 weeks or a month at a time when you are on the road. Do you buy more when parked for more then a week at a time? If you do work camping and at a place for 2,3 weeks or month do you buy more? Also where do you store everything, because the more you buy the more space you need. How much do you budget for groceries?

[EdInArk]

Originally Posted by jastinjr

The wife and I, plus the 2 dogs and 1 cat and we all live in 30 foot motorhome. Here is the question. How do you buy your groceries? For the week, 2 weeks or a month at a time when you are on the road. Do you buy more when parked for more then a week at a time? If you do work camping and at a place for 2,3 weeks or month do you buy more? Also where do you store everything, because the more you buy the more space you need. How much do you budget for groceries?

Don't you mean "Here are the questions?"

OK. Just kidding. We also are in a 30' RV, but we don't live in it. My wife does most -- OK, all of the grocery shopping, but I can tell you what I've observed.

She buys a lot of non-perishables. Our toad is small SUV, and it stays pretty much full behind the front seat. And one outside bin is full of plastic trays full of canned goods. Even so, we must hit a grocery store at least a couple of times a week because our fridge is just too small.

[grindstone01]

Same as when we lived in our S&B house, keep pantry and freezer stocked and usually hit a Walmart once a week.

[Mr_D]

Dependd on whether you cook or eat out. Late DW didn't like to cook and neither do I even though I learned from my mother, a Home Ec teacher for 33 years. The late DW's favorite dinner was "reservations".

[CampFire Junkies]

We have been on a couple of 30 day trips and the DW stuffs the freezer portion of our MH with all types of different meat products and homemade soups. Canned goods, pasta, chips/crackers and s’mores fixings go into our pantry.

We start out with produce, dairy and bread, but do purchase as needed when depleted.

When we do eat out we normally have leftovers stored in the fridge that we utilize for a second meal.

DW consistently uses the Instant Pot and I grill on our portable 2 burner Coleman...

We drink tea and lemonade made from powdered mix like Crystal Lite.

It is all about PLANNING your meals around your individual tastes.

[kerryvan]

We keep a well stocked pantry. Mostly filled with good value finds from the area we are currently staying. Our travels over the past 10 months has been eye opening to the cost of groceries across various regions. Our diet changes accordingly.

Sometimes we don’t use the toad so we need enough on hand to hold us over.

[Old-Biscuit]

Buy groceries when you did then

Buy in bulk IF you have room to store it.......

RVs are nothing special......just on wheels so don't over think/make it complicated

[Jthigh]

We cook almost every meal, our last 4 month trip we only ate out maybe 4 times. We stock non perishable items pretty much the same as at the house. Pantry and cabinets are packed after a grocery run. Big issue is mainly produce. We try to consume those earlier than the non perishable items and usually have to restock produce before needing other items. We use special containers for our produce that does help extend the shelf life of them as well. They do actually work.

[Sweetbriar]

A little bit of meal planning and keeping a running list will go a long way to staying inside a space and cost budget. Keep impulse buys to a minimum and watch how much room is available in the fridge/freezer. The 1/2 gallon size flavored coffee creamer may cost less per once than the quart size but do you have room?

When we're on the road we usually have enough frozen and shelf stable items for 10-15 days. FFV (fresh fruit and vegetables), dairy and such about a week. Shopping schedule is no different then when at the homestead. Usually triggered off one or two commonly consumed items that are low such as coffee, creamer, milk and such. If we're traveling between camp sites we'll take advantage of being out to shop. Keeping a updated list makes this possible and easy. We have a toad along so heading out once set up isn't a problem unless we're 100 miles from anywhere. If that's the case you plan ahead or go without.

Budgeting is also no different than at home. Prices will vary by location but for the most part are fairly stable for the common everyday items. Hard to save by shopping at Sam's Club or Costco. Where do you keep a 50 lb bag of rice or 64 oz jug of Texas Pete? There are other ways to save. A store cooked rotisserie chicken can cost less than a whole or even parts of an uncooked bird. Store brands, white label or generic and such to save a bit more. Canning, vacuum bag freezing and long term storage is a very limited option when on the road. Cool, dark storage places are a premium.

Did a lot of time at sea during my Navy life and all meals were planned out in three month blocks 45 days in advance. Made for an easy shopping and packing list. Plus they had a guy that ran inventory updates each night. Planning to that level might drive someone nuts. Plus there will come a day when crock pot chicken and rice is on the menu but you've got a taste for a charcoal grilled cowboy rib eye steak with corn on the cob drowning in butter along with fresh green beans sautes with a bit of fat back. I can feel my arteries hardening just thinking about the meal.

[Whirrlly]

we easily go 2 weeks easily on our groceries for 3 people I carry.
we have the smaller fridge so I just flatten all my meats into bags and can store a good amt for the grill in meats easily in the freezer. The fridge part easily holds the veg/milk/condiments etc we use.
I have my canned goods, boxed goods in the cabinets.
In fact we have plenty of room

when out and about if we need, say a new bread, we just pick that up at the convenience store gas station or whatever when we are there.

ONE thing I try so hard to do is NOT hit the store a lot. I am on vacay, in my fun mode, and grocery shopping is not a fun thing to do one bit for me but for hubby who almost never shops, omg he loves hitting the new and different groceries in our destination area cause he loves to check out the diff. products so I have to contain him NOT to want to grocery shop at all

if I end up with a residential sized fridge when we full time in the near future in our new unit, then I bet I can easily do a 3 week to almost a month before I have to think of a real re-shop of foods.

budget for groceries I try to make a bit less than what I would spend at home because if we are on vacay in the rv it means there will be more eating out at some point. So for the 3 of us I would spend about $200 for a 2 weeks supply of food give or take.

food and eating out is a real budget buster if you are not careful I shop every sale I can find at all times LOL

[hgtyd]

We've found that we eat much healthier when we're in our fiver. We have also found that our Food Saver vacuum packer is wonderful for use in the rig. When planning a trip, we go to Costco and get our meat, then break down in to individual packs for the 2 of us. We vacuum pack it and throw,it in the freezer. We're fortunate because we have a pretty good sized freezer so we can take a lot. Once we run out, we look for another Costco and start over. Of course we do weekly shopping for fresh fruits and veggies and milk.

We eat at "home" so much more when we're traveling. Don't overthink it! There are grocery stores all over so you'll never go hungry!

[dons2346]

We buy as it is needed

[Dmrad]

In the stick built I used to get groceries weekly. Now in the RV I have a MUCH smaller refrigerator/freezer so I do go a little more often. About once every 4 days, sometimes 5 days. We eat a lot of fresh veggies and fruits and meats. Not a whole lot of canned or boxed foods. We probably spend more than a lot of people because we try to buy most of our produce organic.

[tundranurse1]

I agree with Campfire Junkies. I have a Crock Pot combo slow and pressure cooker, similar to the Instapot. I try to fix more meals that can be cooked in this. Makes enough for multiple meals & doesn’t heat up the camper.