> Have you ever been grocery shopping?

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When you live within walking distance of a grocery store, there's rarely any need for a big shopping trip with many bags; it's easier to just stop by every day or two, perhaps on your way home from work, and bring home a single bag you can easily carry.

In many European cities, you can just walk to a grocery store a few blocks away, and just go every day or two, picking up a few items each time.

You only need one bag, so it’s not a burden at all. Worst case, it’s incredibly easy to add a basket to a bike (or mobility scooter), so you can put your day’s groceries in there.

And as an added benefit of density, grocery stores are more efficient. There is a “general” one with all of the basics — fruit and veggies, cereal, meat, pasta, basic sauces, breads, convenience foods. Those are everywhere. Then if you go a little further, you’ll find specialty stores with “asian foods” or others, which you may not use as often but can get some rarer things there.

That sounds a lot more time consuming than going to Costco (a five mile drive) every week or two.

In my experience, having done both, it is a bit more time efficient at the Costco, but it also changes what you buy (lots of fresh food doesn't actually do well for two weeks). This is assuming you have the places you need in easy walking distance of course. At one time I had a grocer/butcher/wine shop/etc. all literally on the way I would walk home from subway anyhow, so my overall time was probably even shorter than a big grocery run every 2 weeks. I paid a bit more, but then I got better produce and bread, and could change meal planning on a dime if I saw something good. All tradeoffs I guess.

Yep. I either do it by bike for the big weekly purchase or go to the nearby store (5 minute walk - doable even in the dead of Canadian winter) for smaller everyday stuff.

I guess it depends on how much bulk you are buying at once, but most bikes are compatible with a basket of some kind. A bike trailer could also be an option.

In the Netherlands you'll see Bakfiets/cargo bikes. https://www.bakfiets.com/

I live in a neighborhood that has a couple of "upscale" supermarkets nearby. So we get our perishables there, and any last-minute need, by bike.

Every few weeks, we load up the car with all of the non-perishables, at a huge discount supermarket that's a few miles away.

Seems like an OK compromise.

This is sort of an interesting one. The combination of home refrigeration and suburbs created the "weekend shop", but it's not a given that this is optimal or even really desirable.