Stockpile Challenge

[brenda67]

Okay ya'll, I went to the store. I looked liked warmed over doggy drool. No one got in my way lol!

I spent $115.

Everything I got needs no refridgeration and is the beginning of my stockpile. None will go in the pantry.

I have to leave in a minute to go get my dd from a school event(she is on yearbook staff) so I will post what I got.

I didn't stock up on a bunch of any one item and what I was really wanting to accomplish was getting my stockpile binder with sizes, prices, and brands up to date so I can make good decisions on how many I really need.

If I am buying huge catshups and we only use one regular size a month then I don't need to waste on 12. I would probably do 8. And now I know that the Food club brand which I have used before is $1 cheaper for the same size than national brand. so I will save $8 there just knwoing my brand and saving another $12 by not buying 12 so a savings of $20 in catshup.

So just catshup wise I had a very productive day.

Another incentive I have is I get %5 off groceries if I get $35 of gas and I get %5 off any Food Club brand item after I buy 5.

Today I save $4.70 just by choosing Fodd Club brand--which are cheaper and good anyway so no telling how much I really saved over national brands.

So, when dd gets here she will hog the computer but I will come back and post my amounts of items etc.

A question-- stockpilers do you tend to just buy whatever or do you load up on one item and move on? I worry about a, the bottom falling out at home and running out of time, b, expiration dates of buying all at the same time, c,running out of space and not having a well rounded stockpile.

Another--would you sacrifice a somewhat better price(say 10 cents a pound etc) to save room in your stockpile. Would you buy more smaller or more larger to get the most of your space?

When stockpiling I stock up on sale items that I will need/use before it expires and it has to be a brand that I know my family likes! btdt changing brands and it was a big waste of money...My main thing is to stock the foods/items that my family eats weekly now.. (but I'm aiming for several months worth of food like you.. but not until I figure out what works best for me and coming up with some kind of plan/system))our main meal consists of meat,starch and veggie.. I'm set for veggies and (I've been using my foodsaver a whole lot for the past week) stocking up on boneless pork roast and boneless pork chops that's on sale for $1.49 lb.. also stocked up on sale hamburger and made lot's of meatballs flashed freeze them..waiting until the next big sale..I'm not sure if I helped you out at all or not? but that's my plan for now..

[LynnLC]

I am starting mine... hope to build up to just getting milk, produce and meat.

[Cricketlegs]

When stockpiling I stock up on sale items that I will need/use before it expires and it has to be a brand that I know my family likes! btdt changing brands and it was a big waste of money...My main thing is to stock the foods/items that my family eats weekly now.. (but I'm aiming for several months worth of food like you.. but not until I figure out what works best for me and coming up with some kind of plan/system))our main meal consists of meat,starch and veggie.. I'm set for veggies and (I've been using my foodsaver a whole lot for the past week) stocking up on boneless pork roast and boneless pork chops that's on sale for $1.49 lb.. also stocked up on sale hamburger and made lot's of meatballs flashed freeze them..waiting until the next big sale..I'm not sure if I helped you out at all or not? but that's my plan for now..

Every idea helps. If not me then someone else who is doing our challenge. My grocery doesn't have a whole lot of what I buy(staples--very little prcessed crud here and that is what coupons and sales tend to be) so I rely on the Food Club discounts of 5% because I have eaten the foods and know which I like and which are gross(sliced cheese yowsa but I also like REAL slices not in plastic so I am picky there anyway).

Everyone who has an idea or question SHOULD post so we can bounce ideas off one another.

[thehughughes]

Good luck I am excited to see all the post.

[HappyMama]

I just started doing this also since we have a house now w/a big pantry and a full size basement..this is what I have for a years supply of now..

Hundreds of different size batteries *expires after 2012*
4- 150oz bottles of Tide *only use 2Tb each load*
80 plus bottles of Pert Plus 2 in 1 shampoo & conditioner
20 plus bottles of Dawn dish soap *I make my own Dawn Direct Foam*
40 cans of canned Corn *have rain check for up to 100*
40 cans of canned Spinach *have raincheck for up to a 100*
10 cans of canned Green Beans *have raincheck for up to a 100*
40 plus boxes of different size pastas
Cold medicine of all different types *free after rebate..thank you Riteaid*


I'm sure there is more but that's all I can think of that is fresh in my memory..
Since having storage space is all new to me I need to figure out a way to keep everything organized and accounted for..We will not be living in the house for several weeks until all the remodeling is finished so I can't go overboard till I have a designated spot for my storage area in the basement...I will however buy a couple of cans with tight fitting lids to put 50lbs of sugar in.I also want to buy 50lbs or more of Flour.. there is a refridgerator at the house that we keep plugged in and the freezer is empty so I figured I could fit a big sack of flour in there..that's perfect from keeping the fridge from running when there's nothing in the freezer part as well as I could stockpile my flour that way..I don't have the room in my fridge/freezer or storage here at the trailer..


Does anyone have any suggestions for what kind of containers you store your flour/sugar/brown sugar that you bought in bulk? I want to be able to not have to leave my home in the winter (other than work of coarse) and have enough of all my baking supply's on hand to do so..TIA...


BTW Cricketlegs what a great post I'm look forward to reading your updates!

Brenda,

I use 5 gallon food grade buckets for flour , sugar etc. You can get them at bakeries sometimes, or buy them just make sure they are food grade.

I stock like Hippygal...lol as you know .

I just donated to the food pantry as I have way too many toothpaste , shampoo and still have a couple years. Plus I sell homemade soaps , and all those as well so I have tons of my own. They give me a key now...lol was able to donate tons of cereals and pastas as well as hit that awesome sale before.

[cheles2kids]

Okay, first off, for you question on *when* I'm planning on starting my stockpile.
I suppose I've already kinda started it for next year.

A couple things that I have a years worth of things on hand:
Liquid laundry detergent, as I already mentioned.
Pickle relish.
Peanut butter.
Somewhere around a 4 months supply of pasta, I would like to up this to definately the years worth. We eat pasta at least once a week.
I have probably a 1.5 months supply of frozen milk.


Some things that I want to work on first:
Staples such as rice, sugar (both brown & white), oatmeal, cocoa, tea bags, flour, and butter (this freezes really good).
More frozen milk.
Dog food, kitty litter, chew bones, and their monthly heartguard.


As for how I add to my stockpile, I think I probably do a combination of what you already mentioned, Cricketlegs.

I buy when I find a really excellent deal and for some items, I will go ahead and buy X number of an item that I might be needing at that moment.
Like pasta sauce.
Kroger's brand is always $1.14 a jar.
Right now I have 5 jars, because I needed some last time I went shopping and I went ahead and picked up 4 more.

This is something that I haven't noticed going on sale, but I feel that the regular price is good enough for me to pick it up at anytime.
*If* or *when* it should go on sale, I would definately pick up enough to finish off my years worth, which by my estimations, should be around 7 more jars, but I might just err on the side of caution and make it an even 14 instead of 12.
Sometimes we use it for other things as well.

I don't always shop exclusively with coupons, so I watch the loss leaders, as well as trying to check the weekly ads & then if it's something that I know we use, I will try to do multiples with coupons (if I can find enough coupons).

Hopefully I helped a little bit & didn't ramble too much!

[cheles2kids]

I think I'm gonna use your idea Cricklegs and as I continue to add over the next several months, I'm also going to try and critique my lists some.
That way I'll have a better idea of what exactly I need to add & of how much.

I think this thread came at a good time for alot of us, because some of us are just starting our stockpile, while others have a small one started but this will give us a chance to really be more diligent in adding to it.
Especially with the beginning of the new year just right around the corner.

So for the next couple of months I want to:
Add at least one shelving unit downstairs.
Buy at least 4 buckets with lids to store items in.
Get a more accurant count of what I need, make a stockpile list to carry with me each time I go shopping, just in case I find a good deal on any item on my list.
Go through the freezer & use up anything that we need too, in order to make more room for our new stockpiled items. This will also be a good time to defrost it.
Try to look at my grocery budget a little closer & see how much more that I can put aside soley to use for stockpiling.

[POOTERSMOMMY]

Great idea.
I have about 2 yrs. of H&B and laundry. Prob. over a year of rice and dried beans. Tons of pasta.
I cleaned out the freezers this summer and inventoried everything in them. (we have 2) Typed it up on comp. and it's attached to frig. I mark off what I use and pencil in new for next typing. I always know what I have and where it's at.
I put flour, rice and pasta in freezer for at leaast 2 weeks. It kills any insect eggs. Ugh!!!! Then I double wrap in old grocery (plastic) bags for storage.
I home can - so I have at least a years worth of spaghetti sauce, salsa, pickles, relish, jellies of all sorts, tomatoes, frozen zucchini, apples and more.
I told DH - if the bottom falls out of things tomorrow - at least we can eat - it may not be real varied, but we have food.

I love the idea of stockpiling for at least a year. Think of the money you can save. We all know that everything will be more expensive next year - and the year after.......... Everything you stock today - is like money in your savings accout.
GOOD LUCK

[Cricketlegs]

Well, I went to walmart and bought 2 really tall, 5 shelf, wide sturdy interlocking shelves. They came to around $68 for the both. They are very very nice Plano brand so if you need shelves you should check them out. 5 minute not tool assembly.

I put all my food on them I bought as well as any major mulitples of flour, sugar, etc remembering to put earlier expiration dates to the front and older to the back.

I also stacked my 7 sacks of dog food to take up less room.

I have space for 5 more sheles if I need them.

Now the LIST tadadadaaaaa!

Today I added to my stockpile

3 bags holistic dog food--17lbs each I think
1 gallon veggie oil
1 bag all purpose flour
1 bag self rising flour
(I had 5 bags flour so I added 3 to stock, one to canister, one left in pantry)
1 gallon white vinegar
1 large decaf coffee for when my Keurig k cups run out each month(will explain later)
1 lg box instant rice
1 huge cylinder old fashioned oatmeal
1 huge bag honey cheerio type cereal
3 cake mixes
1 gallon jar dill pickles
1 large spaghetti
1 bag hersheys semi sweet choc chips
1 bag straws--I like straws okay!!
1 lg egg noodle
1 lg elbow macaroni
2 cans evaporated milk
5 wolf brand hot dog chili(I make my own reg chili but in a hot dog hurry meal I buy these)
1 bag sugar(added one bag plus a double bag from pantry, left one in canister on counter and one in storage container in pantry)
6 cans tuna--6 oz!!! the store brand is still 6 oz!!
1 catshup(added one huge honking catshup dds grandmother sent us from Sams from the pantry and have one in fridge lol)
4 cans soup-try to avoid because of MSG....
3 bottles salad dressing in 3 flavors
1 large jar mustard
1 large miracle whip
2 cans rotel tpye tomatoes but in full sized cans
2 cans white sliced potatoes(when in a pinch they work in a jiffy)
1 tub salt--ment to grab sea salt but goofed..oh well can use it to unstop drains
1 bacon bits
3 bbq sauces
1 pack family tea bags
2 cans lg peaches
beans--lima, navy, great northern,blackeyed, pintos in 2 and 4 lbs and some more than one bag


Saved 4.70 buying Food Club items.

About the coffee. I have an nice expensivee and 100% wonderful Keurig coffee system that uses k-cups

you get 18 cups for $10. Now I manage to get double but only 18 cups at a time meaning I have a rediculous disney cup that holds a ton of coffee.

I run the largest size cup it makes -mug size-and then I leave the k cup in and run it through again and I have the mother of all coffee. Takes me hours to drink it lol.

Once or twice a week I have coffee at my moms so I get 18 plus 4=22 cups of coffee for $10. Then when I run out of cups for the month I use my keurig filter and put regular coffee in it the rest of the month. I can't just run out and buy coffee k cups like a mad woman. It is just a little way fot frugalise a GREAT cup of coffeeeee! Ahhh!

So I spent $115 in a month I wasn't even starting my stockpile in yet lol!

I had extra and didn't want it to get fiddle farted away.

The shelves were spendy but needed and will alway have a purpose in my home so no troubles there.

[Cricketlegs]

Oh and as a side note, while at the store I worked on my price book and came home and then cleaned it all up to take with me whenever I am on the town and need price comparisons.

I started making a list of how many of each item and rounding the cost to the nearest dollar how much a years worth will cost me. I will then put it in a graph to mark off how many I have/ need for at a glance ability.

[vwalker99999]

...20 plus bottles of Dawn dish soap *I make my own Dawn Direct Foam*...

...Does anyone have any suggestions for what kind of containers you store your flour/sugar/brown sugar that you bought in bulk?....

Mind giving us the secret to make Dawn Direct Foam?

On the storage front... usplastics.com has a lot of really great food grade storage options... not always cheap, but not overly expensive either, and if they meet the need... worth the price.

[vwalker99999]

A question-- stockpilers do you tend to just buy whatever or do you load up on one item and move on? I worry about a, the bottom falling out at home and running out of time, b, expiration dates of buying all at the same time, c,running out of space and not having a well rounded stockpile.

Another--would you sacrifice a somewhat better price(say 10 cents a pound etc) to save room in your stockpile. Would you buy more smaller or more larger to get the most of your space?

My situation is a little different than most. There's just my 79 year old mom, my sister and myself, both very middle aged. We have 6 cats amongst us. There's only a certain amount of hardship any of us are going to be able to withstand or would want to.

My concerns aren't so much about making sure that our lives go on, as per usual, with all of the comforts we're used to now, as they are about having what we need to truly survive a life altering emergency. My freezer is full, as is my room-sized pantry, and yet I still feel unprepared. After living through the aftermath of the category one inland hurricane that hit Ohio when the remnants of Ike met up with another front from the west, I find myself more concerned with what happens when one has to live without modern conveniences. Specifically electricity, gas and running water. To that end I've divided my survival strategy into two categories: immediate short term and the long haul.

1. For the short term I've got large quantities of bottled water. For the long term, I'm saving for at least two rain barrels and I've found plans for making an activated charcoal, sand and gravel filter out of a five gallon bucket that easily makes roof water drinkable. I also want to get some collapsible water bags for storage.

2. I'm buying seeds for sprouting which store well and takes care of the short term and which have the added benefit of being a renewable resource. They can be grown to produce more seed, if the situation allows (if it doesn't, I'm not sure that being prepared is going to matter much.)

3. Short term: I've got blankets and warm clothing galore/ Long term: I'm trying to figure out where I can put a wood burning stove in this tiny house.

4. Short term loads of matches and lighters/Long term: a magnesium survival fire starter.

5. Short AND long term: Fishing line and gear are also good things to have on hand, just in case.

The list is endless.

As for stockpiling, the only things I'm willing to concern myself with are things with a very long shelf life that can be used in a number of ways (as foodstuff and medicinally) and can be eaten warm or cold, cooked or raw or sprouted. Peanut butter, applesauce, seeds (quinoa is a great choice as it contains every single amino acid,) dried beans and rice (both can be sprouted,) jerky, honey, sugar, salt, wine, dried veggies and fruits, nuts in the shell, tuna, canned cat food, black and herbal tea bags (many medicinal uses,) etc. I'm also looking into some products from mountainhouse.com which have shelf lives from 7 - 25 years, depending on which products you buy. These aren't my first choice in what I would want to eat, but they'll add to our options.

I also am in the midst of learning more about what foods can be foraged locally and learning to safely identify them. Ideally, I want to eradicate my lawn and set up a self sustaining forest garden with fruit and nut trees, fruit bearing bushes, and perennial and edible undergrowth that will provide food for years to come. Hard work, to be sure, but once established it virtually cares for itself. It sounds a bit overboard, but again even if hard times never come, it will, at the very least, lower my grocery bills while increasing the variety of my diet.

In my opinion, we need, as a society, to move away from maintaining our perfectly trimmed and mostly useless green lawns and should instead put our efforts into creating food sources that are not dependent upon gasoline to transport it to our tables. Our gardens can still be landscaped and beautiful and simultaneously functional. Using companion planting that supports healthy, vibrant soil, rather than chemical fertilizers and pesticides ensures our own well being as well as the earth's. As we are discovering more and more each day, we are, ourselves, a part of this natural world. It's time we realize that squandering even our most basic resources (like land) is equivalent to shooting ourselves, or our children, in the foot.

OK.. jumping down off of the soapbox

[brenda67]

Mind giving us the secret to make Dawn Direct Foam?

On the storage front... usplastics.com has a lot of really great food grade storage options... not always cheap, but not overly expensive either, and if they meet the need... worth the price.

Sure...I use my empty Dawn Direct Foam bottle pour 1/3 cup of water & 3TB of any dishsoap into the bottle slowly..gently stir the soap &water together so not to make any bubbles.. repeat this session once more to fill a 13.5 bottle..It's close as a copycat as you can get and a he## of alot cheaper..Enjoy..

[Cricketlegs]

Playing with the idea of going to get another 2 shelves.....I am going to need them eventually and it would be nice to get everything in its permanant spot now before my pile gets bigger and I have to buy shelving and move it all.

I am trying to group it in a way that flows--grains with grains with beans
baking supplies
chocolate UP UP UP and away from doggies
heavy items like gallons of vinegar, oils, and pickles to the bottom and canned goods second shelf from bottom.

Nothing in a package that dogs might be able to get into.

I may hem some fabric and add velcro to the fabric and shelf across the top to cover the food..maybe.

Oh and I added brown sugar last night.

I am going over my pantry today to reorganize it to get it ready for my monthly shopping in November and I may move food if I deem it a good idea. I want to use my pantry stuff...dates you know.

I really need to go through the deep freeze.

When we lost power to IKE I threw all my fridge stuff in there and it stayed icy cold but when I took it out I left the freezer stuff from the fridge in there and I have no idea what is in ther really.

I need to use this stuff up. I may not be buying any meat this November and working with clearing this baby out--it needs a defrost anyway and a good scrubbing!

[Dobby]

I just buy whatever is on sale that we like, whether we need it or not....I was so tired of running out of things and then having to pay full price for them. So whenever laundry soap, toilet paper, etc is on sale, I grab one. I have enough laundry stuff to last about a year, and enough toilet paper for about 6 months.

Due to what is already in my freezer/pantry, I only really need to spend $25-$50 a week on groceries, but end up spending a minimum of $100 because of things that are on sale that we will use. Makes me feel more secure, as I'm a single mom with rarely any child support coming in. I know I can feed us comfortably for at least 2 or 3 months if necessary without shopping much.