Stockpile/Pantry Dilemma

[Mckeekitty]

I was going to post this on the Stockpile Challenge thread, but thought I might get more feedback here...hope its okay!

I seem to suffer from a disconnect on bargain items vs. a reasononable stash of real necessities. For example, I purchased 30 boxes of Ronzoni linguini last year because the sale was fantastic...less than fifty cents a box. Since there are only two of us, I thought the pasta would last a year.

I stored the pasta in the back of our cottage. We went through a humid period last summer and the cardboard boxes "swelled" up. I was probably into our third box of pasta when I noticed WORMS appear on the surface of the boiling water...they were in the pasta!
As such, I had to toss all the boxes out.

I also tend to stock up on items that expire long before I ever get to them...I get really discouraged when I have to throw food away.

I have decided to limit my stockpile to those things that don't expire and are easy to store...laundry detergent, dish washing detergent, bar soap, shampoos, toilet paper, tampons & pads. Food items are limited to cans of tuna fish, minced clams, chicken boullion, and a few other items I KNOW I will use. And, of course, I only purchase these items with coupons AND on sale.

We rarely use canned vegetables, but I find myself purchasing them for an "emergency" when they are dirt cheap. Years go by and into the trash they go. Ugh.

[vickilynn]

Th?e stockpile is new for me, so it took awhile for me to figure how to do it for the 2 of us. I just have 2 or 3 of what we eat and when the kitchen is out I go to the stockpile and then re purchase. I'm not planning for a disaster. I remember when people were putting in bomb shelters and stocking up. How would you be able to close your door to others? I live in a hurricane zone, so we watch the news and act accordingly.

[Cricketlegs]

Rule number one to a proper stockpile is never buy what you don't eat or can't eat in a reasonable time.

My rule #2 is don't buy 10 items of the same thing at one time. Better to buy 2 over 5 months time to stagger expiration dates unless you are prepared to eat all 10 in a very short time span.

My rule #3 and maybe the biggest one is YOU control your stockpile, you get to decided how much and of what you will stock. The stockpile is PERSONAL and there is no wrong way to do it really.

[Mckeekitty]

Thanks for the suggestions.

Neither of us have a hoarding mentality, and it is nice to have stuff that we use regularly on hand. I think I just went overboard in the past. I just took out a tube of toothpaste that expired in 2005! I must have bought 25 tubes years ago on a great sale! I Googled if expired toothpaste is really an issue...conflicting information, so out it went...9 tubes of Colgate! I just feel deflated at the waste I create when I stockpile too much...I can't even donate these things to a food pantry.

I'm going to concentrate on those items where expiration isn't an issue...like kitty litter!

I do stock up on essential foods when a blizzard or hurricane is in the forecast. We prepare our ice chest for storing perishables and freshen up the 25 gallon water jugs. We have a small generator, but will only use it if the power is out for more than three days.

[peanut]

I date everything that comes into my stockpile with permanent marker on the can lid or box front. I plan to use everything within a year of purchase.

I also have a basic menu plan with corresponding grocery list. And I can extrapolate from that to figure out how much of a certain ingredient I use in 6 months. I never buy over 6 months because invariably I deviate from the menu plan and I end up with my '6 months' stockpile lasting 9 months. Or someone decides they don't like a particular menu item and it has to be changed...leaving with ingredients to use up within a year. Or the seasons change, requiring a different menu... Any number of reasons for a stockpile to be overbuilt really. I just make sure I have the basics.

I know some people who go through their stockpile once a year and clear it out for the food bank. I've never done that. I'm not sure the food bank would appreciate cans and boxes with dates written in permanent marker on them!

Now there are only two of us I have become vigilant about checking expiry dates. I went through my salad dressings the other day and tossed expired ones. I am not risking food poisoning.

[Contrary Housewife]

I find it also helps to keep an inventory. I go through mine 2-3 times a year and note how much of each item I have. Then I can glance at it while menu planning and see that I have 12 packages of kielbasa that we need to start eating, or that there is still a package of last summers tomatoes that ought to be used up soon. I can also make a note on the shopping list when I get to the last pack of something like breakfast sausage, so I know to stock up next time it is on sale.

[lotsadebt]

How about a twice yearly sweep through? Gather everything that is going to expire soon and donate it to a foodbank. Some of these are getting hit with alot of people who are out of work. Plus I think everyone out there know someone who is struggling and would like a few boxes of pasta, toothpaste.

There is a major couponer/blogger in the ohio area who does this: It is just him and his wife. The guy lives for getting stuff for free, or for pennies. It is a game for him. Whatever he can get for free he gets is whether he can use it or not. Twice a year they clean out the stockpile and donate it. He brags on his blog how many pounds he donated.

[Bellaboo]

Something that has helped me is storing items like pasta, rice, and flour in glass jars. Most of my glass jars are giant pickle jars and such that I just wash and reuse. I've found that they do a great job of keeping the bugs out of dry foods.

[ladykemma2]

Thanks for the suggestions.

Neither of us have a hoarding mentality, and it is nice to have stuff that we use regularly on hand. I think I just went overboard in the past. I just took out a tube of toothpaste that expired in 2005! I must have bought 25 tubes years ago on a great sale! I Googled if expired toothpaste is really an issue...conflicting information, so out it went...9 tubes of Colgate! I just feel deflated at the waste I create when I stockpile too much...I can't even donate these things to a food pantry.

I'm going to concentrate on those items where expiration isn't an issue...like kitty litter!

I do stock up on essential foods when a blizzard or hurricane is in the forecast. We prepare our ice chest for storing perishables and freshen up the 25 gallon water jugs. We have a small generator, but will only use it if the power is out for more than three days.

from a chemistry point of view toothpaste doesn't go bad. expiration dates - use common sense.

[Judi Dial]

I date everything that comes in: stockpile or regular pantry. That way I know what's oldest. A fine sharpie works as do retail price stickers (I use these on cans so I can see them in the pantry, it's too dark to see something written on the label).

Also, periodically (every 3 or 4 months) I go through and weed my pantry and stockpile. I move items that have to be used to the FRONT of the pantry and the others get moved toward the back, so I use the oldest items first.

If I've had an item 2 years or longer and haven't used it, I get rid of it. The exception for this is shelf-stable items: jarred pasta, rice, beans, grains, etc.

Buying 30 boxes of pasta is just fine, but what you needed to do was bring them home and put them in jars the day you bought them, then you could have used them as you need. I have some broken jasmine rice I bought 4 years ago, we had some last night for dinner, it was fine.

I think because we get mice every fall I've gotten used to the idea that anything I want to keep I have to repackage in a mouse-proof container. Usually that's pickle jars from a friendly hot dog stand.

IHTH!

Judi

[rowdy35]

ok, thanks for the ideas. I had not thought of storing in pickle jars but I am going to try that.

I usually do a "clean out" a couple times a year where I will just eat down the stockpile so nothing goes bad or expires. Then I will start building it back up. This works when money is tight and I don't have extra for groceries (like right now) I am currently going to eat all the food in the freezer before I re stock it.

There are only two of us too but we eat at home and we pack lunches daily so we actually consume a lot of food. We really don't waste much. If I have extra I will freeze it or give it to my in - laws.

I only stockpile items we eat a lot of : tuna, beans, canned soup, crackers, pasta, cranberry juice, pop & potato chips. The other stuff I don't worry about because we won't eat it in time and I only donate to food drives about 2 - 3 times per year.

[Incognito]

Expiration dates are not an issue with me.
I buy everything well before the expiration date. I freeze perishable foods, and when I take them out of the freezer, I use them immediately.

I store all foods out of reach of bugs; cereal boxes are up high on pantry shelves; everything else in the cupboard is in a quart-sized glass jar, tightly closed. Actually I rarely see a bug in my home anyway, except for a few spiders in the basement, and one cockroach in the bathroom in the 11 years I've lived here.

I use the oldest stuff first, and the only time I throw anything out is if it's been sitting in the fridge and has gone moldy, or if it has deteriorated or gone rancid and is inedible, or if I am allergic to it -- IE: hairspray, etc.

My only rule is:
Can I still use it? Or will I get sick if I use it?
I decide accordingly.

[Grainlady]

Rule number one to a proper stockpile is never buy what you don't eat or can't eat in a reasonable time.

My rule #2 is don't buy 10 items of the same thing at one time. Better to buy 2 over 5 months time to stagger expiration dates unless you are prepared to eat all 10 in a very short time span.

My rule #3 and maybe the biggest one is YOU control your stockpile, you get to decided how much and of what you will stock. The stockpile is PERSONAL and there is no wrong way to do it really.

You've hit the proverbial stockpile nail on the head with these rules.

Reality counts when stockpiling. For instance, we regularly use one 16-oz. jar of peanut butter each month. With that knowledge, and the use-by dates on the jars, I know I usually can't have more than 6-8 jars at any one time on hand. Occasionally I'll find a great bargain and will designate any of the older jars to be added to the menu for making peanut butter cookies and other baked goods containing peanut butter - which is above and beyond our normal 1-jar per month use.

As a general rule, I'm not purchasing anything for storage that has a 2009 use-by date. Most things I purchase are 2010 and 2011, and usually no more than one or two at a time. I keep a running inventory list of things in my stockpile in my Price Book, which always goes with me when I go shopping.

Like Cricketlegs said, don't purchase large amounts all at once. Can you really use 24 cans of tomato sauce in the next 7-months? No matter HOW good of a bargain it is. See if you can trade your "great bargain" for something else that you need from someone else. How many of (fill-in-the-blank) do you consume each week/month.... Base your stockpiling on those real numbers.

Watch those loss leaders.... especially peanut butter. There was a terrific sale on PB recently, but the use-by date was just a few months away, so I had to limit the number of jars I bought because of that. Often loss leaders have use-by dates that are close at hand. That means I don't automatically put the newest purchase at the back of the stack because sometimes it must go to the front, or in the middle somewhere, when you check the use-by dates.

I check our stockpile every couple months, or so. Things I know we won't realistically get used, I'll donate to the Food Bank or share or swap it with someone else. My sister-in-law is good for that!

Storage methods.... I can't say enough about using a FoodSaver when it comes to long-term home food storage (dry goods and in the freezer). All foods in storage will last longer without oxygen, heat, and light. I eliminate oxygen in stored foods by using a vacuum sealing method (FoodSaver), combined with a moisture-proof containers (glass canning jars can be vacuum-sealed as well as the storage bags). I store things in a cool, dark basement - well away from the heat and light. Even commercially canned foods will degrade faster in the can if they are stored in heat higher than room temperature, which is considered 70°F.

I have reduced a number of foods that take up a lot of space in storage by buying, using, and storing TOMATO POWDER (http://www.thespicehouse.com/spices/tomato-powder). I no longer need or store: tomato sauce, tomato paste, pizza sauce, or spaghetti sauce . I can make all those things by using tomato powder and my own spices from the garden or purchased spices/herbs. Add to that dehydrated tomatoes from the garden. You can stuff a LOT of dehydrated tomatoes in a quart jar.

I dehydrate seemingly "tons" of apples each fall (usually free for the picking) and store them in vacuum-sealed canning jars. I make applesauce, apple cobbler, apple pie, and all kinds of things using dried apples, rather than purchased canned goods. They are a favorite snack food around here as well.

[Mckeekitty]

Thanks so much for the suggestions...the input is really appreciatied!

I've come to the conclusion to stockpile ONLY those items that are necessary, on sale, coupon in hand, and don't expire! Why purchase toothpaste with an expiration date when I can purchase dental floss that doesn't expire? Why purchase cat food which does expire when I can purchase kitty litter that doesn't expire (although I'm planning to make my own kitty litter soon). Toilet paper, laundry detergent, shampoo...those items will be the staple of my stockpile.

We live in an old cabin, and the elements really are an issue. There is humidity, and often dampness in our pantry area.

I am going to continue to stockpile some foods...but no longer bulk items like rice, flour, pasta...the worms and bugs took over. I'm not disciplined enough to rotate my stock on a regular basis. It is, afterall, just two of us. I would be much more attentive if we had a larger family.

Hell, I've found bottles of prescriptions for those "just-in-case" scenarios...all old and ineffective. I get discouraged with the waste of money in the spirit of frugality and prepardeness.

Thanks again for the input. I'm going to go the way of non-perishable stockpiling!

[redmaples]

great ideas everyone!
we are currently eating from pantry & freezer to get the small stockpile pile down before
the harvest season. our pile though is pretty small compared to everyone elses stockpiles, we could have in gone in less than 2 weeks easy (5 adults)!!
we never seem to stay stocked up on anything for longer than 6 months!