Food purchased - just in case?

Jane10 I like to keep champagne, ready chilled, too

Oh yes, I always have the chilled bottle of champagne ready too. It never gets wasted, though!

exactly ;)

I've never done a meal plan in my life, perhaps that's something I need to consider?

I hate food shopping, I'm a reluctant and spontaneous cook, to be honest if I could just take a pill instead of eating I'd be very happy
DH rarely cooks, eats absolutely anything and is therefore easy to please.

I do buy too much and I do end up chucking stuff out but generally everything does get used up.

I thought about getting a bigger freezer until I realised all I'd do is fill it faster!

Good point loopy!

Nearest shop is about 14 miles away - apart from a little village shop with limited stock. I partly buy there - to keep it alive as a going concern - and also from Tesco online. In neither do I have too much problem getting small amounts with long eat-by dates. And if something starts to teeter in that direction I stick it in the freezer. I cannot cope with food waste - the children make a real joke of it.

However, some goods (usually dry goods), of which you only use a tiny amount, are a problem: spices, for example. I also have a problem with tea, as we only get "builders' tea" when we have builders in! My DDs try and see if they can find the item in the larder which has the longest date on it, as they know I will not throw anything away - youngest is winning by finding some food colouring from 15 years ago! I'm sure it is harmless!

use by dates for dry goods are just silly! And for a lot of fresh food too- we regularly eat food past sell by date- trust your nose is much better than a date, within reason, and cook well. Never ever been ill - butr did get campylobacter from porrly cooked chicken in a restaurant in the UK a few years back.