hi new to stockpiling

[hmcart]

Hi everyone. I think it is time for me to start a stockpile. I have always bought a little extra on good sales but with 6 people in our house and trying to work with a tighter budget I need to have more on hand. I have a good sized pantry and decentsized chest freezer. I am also trying to waste less by freezing leftovers for lunches and such. I would love suggestions!

[Anna43]

Watch sales on products you use. Whenever you find a sale buy as many as you can afford.

Menu planning is a good way to get control of your food budget. Limiting snacks/soda/juice also helps. Plain air popped popcorn is a good inexpensive snack as opposed to microwave packets. Preparing cooked breakfasts rather than using expensive boxed cereals also saves a lot.

I use cash for groceries and anytime I have extra left at the end of the pay period, I put it aside for purchasing stockpile items.
Having that extra cash in an envelope in my purse allows me to take advantage of unexpected specials.

[Cricketlegs]

Today I had good coupons and good sales and that is what I bought. They were HBA but I stock them too.

That is the trick.

First determine how long you want to stock. 2 months, 4 months, 6 or a year.

Once you do that you need to determine how much or many you will use realisticly in the time period you have chosen.

Make a stock pile chart or what you want and how many you need and use it every time you shop so you don't over buy on any items as well as letting you know how many you are short.

Since we are STOCKPILERS and NOT HOARDERS and we USE what we buy you need your chart/list as food comes and goes.

Newest food in back as you buy and mark your dates in sharpie in large print so you can eyeball it quickly.

put flour and corn meal and sugar(if you want) into gallon bags. Don't open the bags, just pop them in and seal them. Ants, weevels and mice will KILL a stockpile like nobodies business and break your heart.

The first time you go shopping. Shop regular leaving you $20-$50 of your grocery budget just to stock. Buy your groceries paying attention to what is really on sale and use your coupons if you have them and start your stock.

When you put up your groceries add your stock to your pantry oldest to newest and do your numbers on your chart list.

Now you have started. next month do the same moving on to the next batch of sales. Add to the stock.

You should at this point be seeing something happening on your shelves. You should also have planned out your monthly meals to help you minimize what you need for grocery shopping for the month to have more money to stock because once you get it going you can actually SKIP a month of shopping because you have it all on hand(not that we would do that. We would spend it on our stock because we are addicted to stocking and couponing!!! bwhaaaaaahaaaa er ummmm......

Good stocking!

[oheoh's momma]

I use coupons and sales for my name brand products and try to get them dirt cheap...Watch sales and stockpile only what use on a regular bases. I also buy lots of generics for instance store brand evaporated milk is .49 cents a can I Plan on buying ten.. The brand works for me just as well as carnation for a lower price....ALWAYS look for sales and remember to rotate old to the front new to the back... Look for dates on your product buy the one with the furthest date...
Good luck... hugs

[greekislandgirl]

Excellent tips on this thread! I have a few of my own to share:

- I have a dedicated savings fund that I call the "Stockpile Fund". I had a 2011 Stockpile Fund and now I have a 2012 Stockpile Fund. How much I put into it depends - last year since I was just starting my new stockpile at the new house, I put a LOT of money; this year, since it's already established, a lot less. The money comes from little windfalls that we might get - a freelance job here, a rebate there, and so on.

- I check the supermarket circulars online. We don't get the paper circulars in the mail much anymore so I have all the websites bookmarked and every few days I open them all up at once and just flip through. I write down the store name, the product, the price, and the date the sale ends.

- I keep a notebook, broken down by categories, that looks something like this: (Dairy Category) 1% Milk, €1.30/Liter @ Supermarket XYZ, have 3 Liters on hand; purchased a total of 64 Liters in 2011. I keep this updated constantly so that I know where the cheapest prices are (I only write down the price of the item I bought, so it's the cheapest price and if the price goes up, I draw a line through the old price and write the new price above it - this lets me see that the price is going up over time, which can be useful - it shows you which products are more important to stockpile sooner).

- I keep the freezer full. It burns less electricity when it's full, saving money!

- When I buy flour or dried fruit, I put each bag into the freezer for about 72 hours. (I've read that 48 hours is adequate but I've had problems with bugs in the past so I do overkill.) This kills any bug eggs that are already in there (which is the norm, actually) so they don't develop into actual bugs in your food! Then, I put dry bay leaves in my flour storage jars and I also tape a few of them to my pantry shelves for good measure. Bugs hate the smell of bay leaves. Anything you can do to prevent bugs is worth doing!! (All these tips came from FV members.)

- I label everything. Once something's been through the freezer for its bug treatment, I put a label on it saying "Frozen Jan 2012". I label storage jars so that there's no confusion. I bought some cheap white labels and I use those instead of a Sharpie to write dates on things because sometimes the packaging is so colorful it can be hard to see - the white label stands out.

- At my main supermarket, if they have a sale on seltzer for example, and I go and there's only one 6-pack, I'll buy it and I'll know that that's it - but at another supermarket I go to for sales they sometimes have, I know to check back after a few days because they often restock sale items. Get to know your supermarkets and how they function. Some are all about advertising sales to get you in the door, and having small amounts of the sale item on hand, to keep you from saving too much money - others are more sincere about the sales and have in large quantities and order in more. Some stores run one-day specials, some run two-week sales. If a store has a one-day special, I try to go in the morning. If it's a two week sale, I'll often go back several times as they get more in stock.

- Never lose sight of the cost of your coupons. If you have to purchase a newspaper, spend a minimum, or meet any other kinds of requirements to save money, you're not saving as much as it says - so you have to decide if it's still worth it. It often is - but just be realistic about what you're saving and how much money is still actually leaving your wallet.

- Beware of sale prices on namebrand items. They still may be significantly more expensive than the storebrand or a generic brand. My supermarket often puts namebrand pasta on sale for €0.99/box. But the store brand is €0.45/box!!! It never goes on sale, but it's still a much better deal.

- Stockpile ingredients so you can make anything you want. If you stockpile all purpose flour, you can make thousands of recipes. If you stockpile devil's food cake mix, you can make devil's food cake - not that useful. I don't even stockpile self-rising or cake flour, since they can easily be made from all purpose flour and a few other ingredients I keep in my stockpile.

[ladytoysdream]

Check the sales flyers, either from the paper or online.
Try to use the sale items for that week's meals, and your stocking up.

If TP is on sale at a great price, and hopefully you have some coupons, then stock ahead. It won't go bad

I like meat sales. If I find things we like on sale, then I buy.
Currently I am seeing boneless chicken breast on good sales. I bought some because of a gift certificate I was given. Some was used in meals this past week. Quite a bit was frozen in meal size packages. I don't want any more in the freezers right now of chicken. If I do buy some more boneless chicken this week, I will pressure can it. That gives it a longer storage life.
Also when putting food in the freezer, use FREEZER bags or wrap. Don't economize and try to use general food storage bags.
Try to keep a inventory list for the freezer. One thing that works for me is to keep like items on the same shelf. So that way if I am pulling hamburg for a meal, I can basically see how much more of it, I have on the same shelf.
I also took time late last fall to go through the freezer and if something had been there awhile and was not getting used, I put it on a separate shelf, and it becomes dog food or chicken food. We have a mystery bag of meat in the frig right now, defrosting, and it probably will be dog food cooked later today.

So basically you find sales, buy, store the food. Then you rotate your inventory, and when you see you are getting low on something, you look for another sale.

I got my eye on a couple of coffee sales this week. We are not low on it, but I don't intend to let that happen if I can help it

[MakeADollarHollar]

All good suggestions. About all I can add is...

Don't purchase *anything* you don't really like, even if the price is right. It will sit on your shelf and never get used. This goes for soap, shampoo, lotion and especially food items.

Date all your items and rotate them but remember that most everything will last well beyond it's recommended Best By Date.

Like LadyToy'sDream I also Pressure Can meats when they are on sale. It's the best way for me to really take advantage of good sales and makes for super quick meals. I also keep our freezers organized. Like items are stored together and every Saturday I empty the regular freezer and restock what ever I need from the deep freeze and restock again when I find a sale.

Good luck!

[oheoh's momma]

If I have a coupon and can get an item for 0 free I go ahead and get it for the church food drive... So even if u don't use it and can get it for free u are passing on the good fortune... That is my take on free stuff that u don't use. I donate cascade free, toothbrushes, V05 shampoo and suave condition. hugs

[dinah]

when i started stockpiling i was worried about food going bad so i started with HBA (health & beauty aids). conditioner, shampoo, soap, toilet paper, kleenex, tooth paste, and shaving cream. next i did some cleaning supplies (dishwasher detergent and dish soap, that kind of stuff).

after i had a nice non-food pile going on i moved into foods. things i know we we eat and things that i know have a long shelf life (peanut butter, salad dressings, cereals, granola bars).

i've concentrated on having a 'wide' stockpile versus a 'many' stockpile. the most i have of anything is 6 salad dressings. i have a lot of 2's of things (ie. ketchup, lemon juice, chick peas, etc...). we don't have fantastic sales here in manitoba, so i mainly shopped air miles sales (buy 3 get 40 Air miles, that kind of thing). if couponing and sales worked differently here i might shop differently.

i have become fanatical about checking expiry dates. one of the first purchases i made for my stockpile was already expired. i spend a lot of time in the grocery store checking for expiry dates!

[Cricketlegs]

I buy at the best price too. If Kroger mustard is as good as french's and still cheaper after coupons I go with the Kroger or other generic product.

It isn't about just using coupons for me, it is about getting the biggest bang for my buck.

It has to taste good but other than that let the best priced item win!

[WV_mom_of2]

The first thing I would do is make a list of everything you use on a regular basis. And I do mean everything! Foods, pet foods, health and beauty, cleaning, paper products, spices, etc. Once you have that list you can take a few quiet minutes and figure up how much of each you use for a set period of time(say one month). Then decide how many weeks/months you want to stockpile for. You will be able to figure up how many you need for this time period and buy from there. Some things I try to remember....

1. Don't overstock your freezer if you live in an area where the power could be off for long periods unless you have a backup plan to keep it running. We have a generator and keep gas on hand for it at all times.

2. Start off slowly if money is tight. Even one extra can of green beans on sale is better than a can at regular price!

Good luck!

[Winkie]

Since we are STOCKPILERS and NOT HOARDERS and we USE what we buy

I love this comment. I need to remind myself of this!