How often do you shop for groceries, how often do you eat out?
 

I'm curious to know how often you do your food shopping and how often you eat out. Are you within walking distance of stores and restaurants? Do you drive your car or take your golf cart? Also, do you find that you have enough food and paper product storage?

I spend more on food down here, food of same or similar quality/brand is more expensive here than at similar-quality stores back home. For me that would be Publix vs. Big Y, and Fresh Market vs. CT Natural Foods and Produce. Big Y is the "expensive" grocery store back home, and where I used to do most of my shopping. Now, I have to get most of my stuff from Walmart, which I avoided in the north.

We order take-out often here, but that's not much different from how we lived back home. Fast food dinners, sometimes pizza, sometimes subs, sometimes Outback, sometimes prepared "re-heat and serve) stuff from the produce store (they had a catering business too, you could get chicken piccata over rigatoni, home-made in their own kitchen and sold by the ounce - really delicious stuff).

I cooked as well, but ground meat here is insanely expensive. Thankfully I learned that Fresh Market has ground chuck for $2.99/lb on Tuesdays, so I stock up every so often and we have meatloaf or mac & meatballs one night, with enough leftovers to last for lunches for the whole week.

I like being somewhat conservative in my grocery spending but I am not what anyone would consider "frugal."

Re: paper goods: we don't use paper or plastic plates, and I wash and re-use chinese takeout soup containers and take-out containers from Carabba's as well. So I never spend anything on that stuff.

TP and paper towels I still have some from when we moved in November 2019. I had rewards bucks from Staples and used them to stock up a couple times a year, even though we never ran low. So I had around 200 rolls of toilet paper at the start of the pandemic, and around 50 rolls of paper towels. We still have some left, but we're down to our last dozen TP rolls so I started buying again. Up until recently, the last time I paid out of pocket for either was maybe 2014.

Typically go food shopping twice a week and restaurants lately 1x a week soon to go up to 2x. We go by car.

We did not have enough storage so we purchased a good sized pantry closet.

I usually take the golf cart. I have plenty of storage. I shop at least 2 days every week because I don't like milk that's close to the expiration date, so I buy just a 1/2 gallon at a time.

I only travel by car. It may sound strange, but I go to Publix almost every day and buy food that is ready to eat.

Trader Joe’s, (same prices as up north) Whole Foods (actually less cost than up north) every 2 weeks. Produce comes from container garden at our house. Beef, Pork and Chicken we have raised free range. We split with 3 others. What I can’t grow, or buy at farmers market in between driving to Gainesville, is few and far between. Coffee is a big expense, Blue, and Kona shipped in. Only eat out if it’s something we don’t prepare well. I don’t keep budget on food cost but do notice big difference in prices in Florida com paired to Michigan. So we drive a car.

Big grocery run once per week.
Need something run once per week.
Always by golf cart.


Eat out once per month...............outside dining.

Doesn't sound strange to me at all.

We eat twice a day (late breakfast and early dinner). Have for years. We eat out dinner almost every day. Probably cook dinner at home at most once per week. On average, I would say we make one trip to Publix for groceries, less than $100. That doesn't count paper goods and cleaning supplies which I buy at Walmart.

We sometimes take the cart to dinner but more often drive one of our cars.

FWIW.

kathy

2021 0305 Friday @ 13:51
I do my food shopping at:
1. The Villages Grown, 2666 West Torch Lake Drive, The Villages, FL 32163 (352) 775-7866
2. Costco, 2225 Grand Cypress Drive, Lutz, FL 33559 (813) 279-7031 Note: "Straight shot" down I-75 from TV
3. Publix, 770 Kristine Way, The Villages, FL 32163 (352) 259-8244
4. Fresh Market, 3470 Wedgewood Lane, The Villages, FL 32162 (352) 391-9620

Should you opt for the Costco in Altamonte Springs, FL, there is a Whole Foods "just up the street".
1. Costco, 741 Orange Avenue, Altamonte Springs, FL 32714 (407) 786-7802
2. Whole Foods, 305 E Altamonte Drive, Suite 1000, Altamonte Springs, FL 32701 (407) 767-2100

re: (eating out)
I prefer to eat at home. However, my preferences for dining out are Bluefin Grill & Bar and the The Villages country clubs. They are wonderful when dining "off hours". It's not that the other eating establishments are unappealing, it is just that I have not spent enough time in TV to experience anything otherwise (remember, I prefer to eat at home). Also, I am alone. I dine when I have a guest.

Final Thought
My daughter is married to a wonderful Italian gentleman. They live in Florence, IT. My son-in-law's mother takes her bicycle out daily to shop for the evening meal's ingredients. We would say that the young man's mom shops daily. In so doing, she brings home fresh ingredients and makes just enough to satisfy the family (and any guests). They have lived this way for decades.

I use this method of shopping whenever I can. I buy organic, where available. I cook it the same day or within a very few days. I consume it in the same time frame.

Enjoy. :-)

We grocery shop four to five times a week. Most of those are by bike to Aldi. Aldi prices are the same nationwide except the fresh items, mainly dairy. Aldi also owns Trader Joe's which explains why they do not price gouge either. No reason to pay inflated Villages food prices.

We don't have a storage issue but admittedly our kitchen is pretty large, we have drawers that are empty.

Some how having a destination/purpose makes the exercise seem more meaningful. It is 18 miles RT by bike. Aldi on 466a is slightly 'off campus' so the cart is out.

We eat out once to twice a week.

Aldis does not own Trader Joes (or vice versa). They are two separate companies independently owned. The owner/CEO of the company that owns Aldis is related to the owner/CEO of the company that owns Trader Joe's but those companies do not share revenue, shares, officers, boards, offices, responsibilities, etc. etc. etc.

Thinking they're the same or related would be like me saying I have a cat, and my sister, who doesn't live in my house has a cat, therefore we are co-owners of two cats.

Friday, car, enough paper to cope with a dysentery outbreak, and very seldom eat out.

I assure you it's an innocent question and one that could be asked on any neighborhood forum. We are interested in possibly moving to TV. I am starting to think about the logistics of what size house we'll need, the amount of storage we'll need, etc. In order to make the most of our visit there, I need to think about what type of house we would like to buy because we obviously can not look at every possible possibility while we're there.

It's nice to get a general sense of what to expect once we get there. Another question that I might post is: What is your routine now that you live in TV? I would ask that just to get an idea as to how many activities people actually engage in day to day.

I have no idea where any of these people live and TV is a huge community so this all very general, getting a ballpark feel for what to expect as a Villager.

Once a week by car, since COVID rarely eat out, before COVID ate out for lunch once or twice a week. But when we started staying home became more self-indulgent. Must have smoked salmon for breakfast at least once a week, for example. Don't buy tomatoes unless they are Campari. Guess I figure the money saved by not eating out can supply little food luxuries.

That doesn't sound strange at all to me. We take advantage of the rotisserie chickens, Mardi Gras wings, subs and salads pretty often, too. It's good stuff.