New to stockpiling..question?

**melina123** · 01-01-2009, 12:26 PM

Hello,

I am going to start stockpiling....my question is how and what to stockpile? Budget is extremely tight this year!

help get me started....what do I do? We are a family of 4...one still in diapers.

Melina

**redmaples** · 01-01-2009, 12:38 PM

oh, but, i know you are going to get a lot of responses & help here on this topic.

i would start w/ collecting up some coupons on things you use
& later trying to match them w/sales

esp. things like the diapers..(have you considered cloth?)

you'll have to know what you want (what do you eat?)
& learn what best prices are on these things

with tp you can get big 20 pks on sale w /coupons to pay 50 cents a roll or less

so, start out small...maybe diapers one week, tp another week so you aren't breaking your grocery spending budget all at once

buy one get one free sales are great for stocking up...even in small ways

that's the way i get laundry soap & lots of other things

yesterday it was a frozen ravioli bogo, that put two quick meals in the freezer for 1/2 of the regular price

good luck w/ your stocking up plan, it really can be fun hunting for bargains & very rewarding knowing that you aren't paying full price for items ...which eventually frees up more$ to spend on bargains!

**fixer** · 01-01-2009, 12:54 PM

- Make sure you stockpile things that you will use not just ones that are a good deal.

- Watch expiration dates and be sure to rotate so the oldest will be used first. By expiration, I mean when something spoils, not the actual date.

- Make sure you know what you have so you don't end up with ten years of garbage bags. (personal experience)

-Pay attention to the advice you get in this forum. There are a lot of good, experienced stockpilers to learn from.(much better than me)

**melina123** · 01-01-2009, 01:14 PM

Thank you guys. I've recently moved to France (South -west) from Boston and I'm not sure of shops/sales...haven't found one second hand store yet! I shop at Lidil which is the equivalent of Aldi. This is a whole new adventure for us! EVERYONE hang dries clothes here....it is the coolest thing.

Melina

**thefrug** · 01-01-2009, 01:15 PM

This is the way I do it:
I use coupons on things that we eat. I only get name brand IF with the coupon they're cheaper than the store brand.
BOGO: I use one, stock pile the other
If theres a sale on soup and I have coupons, I buy the extra can or two and stock pile them.
Just before Thanksgiving here my store had 5lbs flour on sale for $1.50 a bag! I have two stock piled, that I've vacuum sealed. Sugar went on sale, so I have two 5lb bags of that stock piled.

I had some extra money in the grocery budget, so I used it for stock piling.
Just start out small. Extra can here and there when they're on sale.

**homesteadmamma** · 01-01-2009, 01:17 PM

I also watch for the loss leaders. However, they have to be something I use on a regular basis.

When I started to stockpile, I started with the basics - like toothpaste, toiletpaper, laundry soap, etc. From there I added other items. When you start with the basics, you can usually find a coupon or two for those items. I find coupons often are only good for foods we don't eat.

**LastDragonfly** · 01-01-2009, 01:54 PM

Originally Posted by fixer

- Make sure you stockpile things that you will use not just ones that are a good deal.

- Watch expiration dates and be sure to rotate so the oldest will be used first. By expiration, I mean when something spoils, not the actual date.

- Make sure you know what you have so you don't end up with ten years of garbage bags. (personal experience)

-Pay attention to the advice you get in this forum. There are a lot of good, experienced stockpilers to learn from.(much better than me)

Is that a bad thing? jk. I got a good deal on tomato sauce once. It took me two years to use it. OMG.

Good advice about rotating. When I first started, I didn't know about rotating.

**dcompton** · 01-01-2009, 04:04 PM

If you don't have sales or coupons there, I would start with the most inexpensive staples. Try to pinch the budget enough to pick up an extra bag or rice or pasta or beans or a can or two of veggies on a shopping trip. Get things that are the most basic elements for your fall back on cheap meals. Work on a small stockpile of those things first so that you would be able to actually use the stockpile to eat if money is extra tight some week. Once that is done, go on to other things.

**Grainlady** · 01-01-2009, 07:30 PM

Lots of great advice already posted...

- "Experts" recommend you store a variety of foods, rather than a lot of one thing. I'd also suggest you eventually cover all the basic food groups (meat, vegetables, fruit, dairy, grains). In other words, it's better to have 2-months worth of a variety of foods rather than 200-pounds of rice only in storage.

- Check sell-by, use-by, and expiration dates of items you plan to purchase. Don't purchase a large quantity of something that have all the same use-by date if you can't get that many used in that time. Say, 24 cans of tomato sauce, if the use-by date is March '09. Do you normally consume 2 cans of tomato sauce a week? The more items you have in storage, the farther out you'll want use-by dates. I try to choose dates in 2010 or beyond now that I have a full year's worth in storage. I also keep in mind our normal eating habits, which change with the seasons.

- These are some categories you may want to cover (they are in no particular order of importance).

1- Grains, legumes, seeds (for sprouting - sprouts are a garden in a jar)
2- Sweeteners, salt, oil, dry milk
3- Canned, dried, fresh & frozen vegetables and fruits
4- Juices (fruit and vegetable)
5- Pasta
6- Meats, eggs (I use powdered whole eggs when they are cheaper to use than fresh eggs and always keep them in storage), nuts and nut butters
7- Seasonings/flavorings
8- Baking supplies

- I dedicated $5-$10 of my $50/week budget towards stockpiling, but I normally choose foods that were on sale, manager's specials, or discounted foods and coupons if possible, to put in storage when I first started.

- I once read about a woman who purchased a huge amount of ground turkey because it was such a bargain, and filled her freezer with it. It was a valuable lesson how too much of a good thing can be a bad thing - even a bargain. The entire family boycotted the use of it after it became the primary meat source. Variety is a good thing...

- Keep an inventory somehow, somewhere. Whatever works for you. This will help prevent wasted food. Wasted food is the most expensive food you'll buy.

- Store foods in a cool, dry, dark area. If you have to store food in temperatures warmer than 70°F and an area high in humidity, then you you probably won't want a full 1-year in storage. In high heat you will find the contents of canned goods will degrade and textures may change much faster than if you keep them in optimal storage temperatures and humidity levels. Attics and garages are not good storage places - too hot and too cold. Don't place canned goods where they can freeze.

- Make sure your storage shelves can hold the weight of the contents. If using free-standing shelves, attach them to walls so they can't accidently fall over (kids do so love to climb).

- Even properly stored, flour has a shelf-life of 6-12 months. If you don't bake in the summer, then having large quantities of flour in storage isn't a good thing - because old flour makes icky baked goods. You may want to stock-up on flour and baking items in the late fall (when you do a lot of holiday baking), and let the stock dwendle down some when you don't do a lot of baking.

- After the holidays is when I stock up on nuts. In-shell and shelled nuts are generally at the lowest prices, often discounted, so I know I'll dedicate a portion of my weekly food budget to those. Hubby will shell nuts for me while he watches sports each weekend, and I'll vacuum seal shelled nuts in FoodSaver bags and freeze them.

- There are certain things I stock up on just before school starts because they are often loss leaders at the store (Kleenex, peanut butter, etc.), so I'll try to find coupons for those things about that time of the year.

Bottom line, if you buy groceries, you can stockpile. You probably already do it and didn't even think about it. You'll eventually stock your cabinets and pantry with foods you normally buy and use, you'll just purchase them before you actually need to use them.

Good luck!

**Mavourneen** · 01-01-2009, 09:58 PM

One thing that I learned as I went: storage.

1. Find creative places for storage. Mr Mav and I have a very small house - only 1,400 square feet. After much internal debate, I found a great place ( for me, at least ) to store my stockpiles - underneath my living room couches! That's right! If you walked into my living room and flipped up the little couch ruffle, you'd be surprised to see a whole grocery store under there!

2. I bought those low profile plastic rolling "under bed" storage containers to house foods like rice, pasta, cereal under the couch without attracting insects or mice.

Mr Mav always has a good laugh when he walks into the living room and I'm on my knees with my butt in the air and my head under the couch looking for something!