As a coupon clipper and overall frugalista – they don’t call me “Super Coupon Girl” for nothing! – maintaining a food stockpile is always one of my goals. My bad knees have kept me from doing much of any shopping this year, and my food stockpile is pretty much used up aside from a few items in the freezer, so one of my goals in the New Year is to resume my shopping and build my pantry back up. (I still have a pretty plentiful cleaning supply stockpile so I’m good there!)
There are a number of reasons why people stockpile food. My biggest motivator is to save money – for example, if you normally spend $2 per package on rice, and you find a deal where you can get it for .50 cents with coupons, it makes sense to buy multiple packages to keep on hand and save yourself time and money running out to buy it later. Another popular reason that people stockpile is to keep emergency reserves on hand. Websites like BuyEmergencyFoods.com have become a popular place for people to pick up items for their household that could be used in the event of a catastrophe. But stockpiling isn’t just the forte of survivalists – there are plenty of reasons to have emergency food other than a natural disaster. An emergency stockpile is also a help if you have an unexpected financial expenditure and find yourself short on money, because if you have food already on hand that you can fall back on in hard times, that’s one more expense you can cut when you have a tough month.
So how much should you buy when you’re building a stockpile? It really comes down to your budget and space. I know many people cringe at the thought of stockpiling, because they picture a hoarder’s house filled from top to bottom with junk, but that’s not effective stockpiling. I personally despise clutter, so I’m not going to buy 500,000 cans of soda. If you’re overloaded with your stockpile, it’s time to organize and purge – it should be working for you, not the other way around. And of course, you shouldn’t buy more than you can afford, regardless of the awesome sale price. Another important factor is to keep in mind the shelf life and expiry dates of food. If you’re buying with an eye to stockpile, you need items with a shelf life that will allow you a reasonable amount of time to use them so that they won’t end up going bad and going to waste.
So readers, tell me: Do you stockpile? If so, do you build your pantry slowly as you find great deals (like me)? Or do you use websites like Buy Emergency Foods to stock up on supplies in bulk?
I am a coupon girl too so when I find a good deal I grab it! My stock pile grows from there 🙂
I do like to stock up when I see a good deal, though I try not to go overboard (or donate the extreme amounts to the foodbank!). I especially like to do it if it is something that rarely seems to go on sale or has a long shelf-life.
I am a avid couponer. I have a food stockpile and a non-food stockpile, and most o it I’ve gotten for free or super cheap with coupons. Gotta love it!
I try to keep a stockpile of the things we use often.
I keep a stockpile of the items we use often (food) and A stockpile of the beauty/health items too.
I don’t coupon much because most of the coupons printed are for foods our family doesn’t eat. I do however try to stockpile on some canned stuff. Unfortunately, we are currently eating through our stockpile as we are trying to pay off some of our student loans. That said, I do think it is very important to have at least a 3 month supply of food and water in case of emergencies.
I wish I had room for a stockpile. I used to have one of cleaning supplies, but I just don’t have the room in the house for food.
I have a food storage we are slowing building. All food that we use and eat but that is good up to 25 years. It gives me peace of mind knowing my family would be taken care of in the event of an emergency. I also stockpile when there are great deals too!
We stockpile but not for the reason of sales and stocking up. We want to be prepared for any event in which we can’t make it to the store. Like Tiff, it is great peace of mind to know we would have all we need and not go hungry in the event of an emergency.
my cabinets look like the grand canyon, empty. All the time 😛 lol
I cleaned out my pantry last week! It took a LONG time! I try and only stockpile the things I really use a lot of like pasta, sauce, canned corn…37 boxes of cake mix take up a lot of space and I rarely use it!
I also stockpile when they have canned veggies or soup on sale! I also coupon so I try to wait until the sale goes on then I can make my dollar stretch further.