Okay, this may sound random, but this is a serious question!

I've lived on my own for about 6 years and never had a full fridge. I always assumed it was because I lived alone. But, I've been living with my husband now for about 2 years and still never have a full fridge.

And it's not a "We haven't shopped in awhile" thing. We spend $300 on groceries and still manage to have an empty fridge.

We tend to eat things that don't require to be in the fridge. Our cabinets and freezer are full. But when people come over, they always comment on how empty my fridge is! So I want to stock it. I just don't know with what.

Notes: We eat fruit & veggies, but it goes bad so we buy a little bit at a time. My husband refuses to eat leftovers... so I always cook just enough We mostly eat meats and frozen veggies which stay in the freezer

SO WHAT SHOULD I PUT IN MY FRIDGE!?!?!?

My roommate and I make a point of going grocery shopping every week and only get what we need on a weekly basis, spending $50-$100 depending on what we're buying. But we have somewhat of the same problem; we rely on frozen foods (mostly premade meals and meats) and pantry-related stuff, so our fridge is often empty.

At the moment our fridge mainly contains condiments (bbq sauce, ranch dressing, hot sauce, ect), a few baggies of shredded cheese, drinks (pop, juice, cans of tea and the like), bread, bagels and cream cheese, lunch meat, jello, milk, eggs and butter.

Sometimes we have fruits and vegetables, but as I said we shop on a week to week basis and our meal plan for this week didn't include anything fresh on those counts since we can get away with the cheaper alternatives of frozen or canned. In fact a lot of stuff that's traditionally kept in the fridge has cheaper pantry or frozen alternatives that we choose because we're on a budget, which is part of the reason our fridge is so empty.

Honestly though I'd say don't worry about it. It was the same when I lived with my mom, we kept basically the same things almost to the letter and so did my roommate's parents and my roommate when he was living with his husband. Especially because fresh fruits and veggies are so expensive and go bad so quickly, you know?

Echoing the sentiment that you shouldn't worry about it too much! You guys have your own tastes and lifestyles, and there's nothing wrong with that.

I'm currently taking care of my dad, and the fridge is kept fairly full. However, it's mainly because he has diabetes and doesn't like drinking plain water. So... we've got about fifty different sugar-free drinks stuffed in the fridge for him. I usually keep stuff for salad on hand, and he likes pre-made sandwiches and leftovers a lot. Otherwise, like I said, it's mostly drink stuff for my dad and condiments. We're a bit deceptive with our full fridge. :) Most of it is just us trying to stay stocked up on stuff for him to drink.

Things I like to keep that stay edible even after two weeks are:

-apples -carrots -small bottles of milk (check the exp date) -cabbage, onions, and sometimes lettuce as long as you use them from the outside in. Just toss off any dead parts and leaves. -eggs, I totally ignore the expiration date. I've never had a problem eating them a month or so afterwards. -any opened pasta sauce, jams, condiments

What's wrong with eating leftovers?! Sometimes things are better the next day just saying.

I suppose drinks would be a good way to fill it up without having to buy more food. We don’t drink soda or much juice. But we both love Powerade zero. I could see that being a fun thing to keep around. Hope your dad keeps good health ??

Thanks for the suggestions. I agree leftovers are great! But it’s hard for me to eat them alone and hubs just won’t do it. I’ve gottwn him to eat leftover pizza before. That’s about it. I’ve gotten really good at cooking the right amount tho. Def going to see how long I can keep eggs. I’ve never tried to use them past their date - good to know you can!!

My husband is the total opposite, he loves leftovers and always makes enough food for a small army even though it's just the two of us! He'll cook once or twice a week but make enough for both of us to take to work and to eat at home.

As a result, our fridge is full of leftovers for the most part, and the usual condiments. For regular groceries, we tend to have milk, eggs, yogurt, cheese, fresh veggies, and plenty of juice.

But honestly, whatever works for you is good! Don't let other people's passing comments change how you shop. If you and your hubby are happy with your food, that's all that matters :)

Ditto to the eggs, they stay fresh for-freaking-ever. If you're concerned about an egg, crack it into a cup first so you can see if it still looks pretty and egg-like. Another test is to set your egg in a cold bowl of water:

I think you are doing a wonderful job if you don't have much left in the refrigerator. My goal has been to limit what we keep in there, because oftentimes it will go bad. The refrigerator "staples" we have are these:

• Veggies that benefit from the cold to prolong their life
• Condiments. (I always have a jam, sour cream, butter, ketchup, BBQ sauce and lemon juice.) (they last forever too.)
• A big container of minced garlic (will never go bad, or at least I have never seen it!)
• Iced Tea (I make it in a gallon batch and keep it in there because my boyfriend hates plain water to drink and the tea is a healthy alternative. lasts a little over a week, longer if you remember to take the tea bags out. ~4bags/gallon + 1/2c sugar or so)
• Cheese, we're addicted.
• Tofu, we're mostly vegetarian so we keep a backup tofu for a quick protein option.
• and of course.. leftovers! I work all week, so I bring any leftovers we have as my own lunches.

My parent's fridge is always chock full and bursting with things and I always hated that. One reason was that I could never put any leftovers in there! another was that they really didn't need it that way. There was always a lot of food that they simply forgot was in there. So in my opinion, a lightly stocked fridge is always best. Especially when it's just one or two people. :)

when i watch various shows and they open their fridges and they're full, im wondering what am i doing with my life, lol. But the thing is, everyone is different, and so we can't compare ourselves with others.

our fridge currently has a green salad, a bok choy, soy sauce, cinnamon flavored coca-cola zero in a 2 liter bottle, a margarine box, 2 (probably expired and less than half left) packages of butter that for some reason i refuse to throw away for now o.o, some ketchup, some tomato sauce, some cherry tomatoes, some greek yogurt, some juice (i think it's real juice from fruits), a box of baby spinach, and some bread. oh, some eggs,vitamins and some cosmetics as well o.o if there's any stew left over, i'll put that in there as well. LOL. wait, there was some cheese in there as well - is it over already? o.o

our fridge is almost never full - except christmas/new years and easter when our parents give us more food. fiancee also doesn't really like to eat left over food - i really see no issue with it, but it depends on how old it is, of course. we try to have stuff in the fridge that can be put together at least into sandwiches.

I learned from my parents that I don't intend to keep it fully stocked; it seems like we always have so much food going bad because we don't see it or don't want it all & it seems not only is the food wasted but most of the space in the fridge too really

Probably not the best one to give advice since I'm one of those people who's always unearthing someone gone bad in the fridge but I'll second eggs. Most hard cheeses last a while and are super tasty (like manchego), butter also lasts forever if it's properly stored. If you eat bread you can toss that in the fridge and it'll keep from going stale/moldy so fast (especially in summer). Honestly, I think an empty fridge is better than a full one where you're losing stuff as long as you're both happy with it.

My fridge is next to empty. I am home maybe 6 hours a day and that is just to sleep. I mainly have a apartment to legally say im not homeless. just busy. But my boyfriend has a fridge that is SO FULL it barely closes. not including his pantry that is a walk in closet. I swear he is prepping for dooms day.

I think the most my fridge has is frozen fruits for smoothies, coconut milk, eggs and some left overs that need to be tossed tbh

we try to always keep eggs, milk, cheese slices, and butter, because those are the things that get used the most when cooking other than that.. sliced sandwich meats, snack jello/fruit cups (they don't have to be chilled, but they taste better that way), condiments/jams, water

never stock more than you think you'll be able to eat, we used to overstock our fridge and so much stuff goes bad very quickly, especially deli meats

we have 4 of us and we spend like 300 dollars a month on groceries we have like canned corn and like beans and lots of rice and in the fridge , eggs , butter, cheese , shredded cheese , 1 gallon of milk, then like I fill up the bottom part with bottled water. a 1 pound bag of kale and spinach then brocolli we only buy 2 at most of the bunches of broccoli and we use one for one meal and another ,then we have 2 squach , 3 zucchinis and a small watermelon usually my bro cuts it up and puts them in zip baggies, we freeze one loaf of bread and then we have frozen veggies and a lot of meal in the freezer lol, we usually have too much left over that in order to make room we give meat sometimes to like our relatives

This is what all is in my fridge, which is pretty empty for my tastes right now. I need to go shopping, hopefully, tomorrow after Amerigas puts propane in our tank (heating).

• Strawberry Jam, Blueberry Jam, Grape Jelly (my son likes variety!)
• 2 gallons of milk (Have a 1-year-old who loves her milk, going through roughly 1 gallon/week)
• Leftovers (Soup and Spaghetti, will be eating on this for at least one more night each, spaghetti was put in just minutes ago)
• 1 Gallon of Sweet Tea
• 1/2 Gallon Orange Juice
• Butter, Cream Cheese
• Lunchmeat (Honey Ham and Roast Beef)
• Cheese (Kraft Singles, Pepperjack, Meunster, and Gouda)
• Half a carton of eggs
• Chocolate Syrup, Caramel syrup, a jar of maraschino cherries
• Kale (We seem to prefer this to Iceberg Lettuce when making salads and putting on sandwiches/burgers), ~1/4 of an onion, 3 carrots, and half a tomato

I tend to keep more meats and stuff in the freezer, and I really prefer using fresh veggies when I can. I try to stick to a pseudo-meal-planner and go to the grocery store 2-3 times per month.

As I said, this is a fairly small amount to me, but I also have two kids to tend to.

Dr Pepper bacon eggs and alot more stuff