Tag Archives: stockpile

How to Build a Grocery Stockpile on a Tight Budget

I recently received the following question from one of the Families.com readers about building a stockpile. “I know that buying things when they are on sale and building a stockpile saves money, but how can I do this when the normal groceries cost so much?” Sophia. Sophia has a really good point (hi Sophia!). It can be tough to build up a good stockpile when there isn’t any extra money to do it, but it can be done. You can start out small. Even an extra $5 a week toward a stockpile item will help. With $5, you can buy … Continue reading →

Grocery Stock Up Sales

Need to replenish your stockpile? Now is the time. Many stores are offering grocery stock up sales and promotions on pantry foods. Grab your grocery store flyers, make your list and get shopping. Step 1: Clean Out Your Pantry Before you head out to one of the many grocery stock up sales out there, first take the time to see what you already have. You can discard anything that is expired or hasn’t been used in a year. Donate anything that is still good and toss the rest. I like to take everything out and dust the shelves, too, but … Continue reading →

Stocking Up On Diapers Ahead Of Time?

Stocking up on diapers while you are pregnant is a good idea for a number of reasons. When you have a newborn, making trips to the store is a little more work than it used to be, so anything you can do to eliminate these trips is a plus. When you don’t have an immediate need for diapers, you can wait around for the best sales and buy in bulk at rock bottom prices. You won’t have that luxury once you have the baby and all you have left is what’s still packed in the diaper bag. (Now, if you … Continue reading →

Top 5 Stockpiling Tips

Stockpiling means getting your groceries at the very lowest prices, and then purchasing enough to last you until you can get to the next great sale. This way, you never pay full price for any groceries at all. Whether you are new to stockpiling or have been doing it for years, you might find the following stockpiling tips helpful. 1. Pay attention to sales. Grocery store sales are cyclical. This means that they usually occur every so many weeks, or they may be seasonal in nature. Start making a list of when things go on sale. For example, maybe roaster … Continue reading →

Managing Your Stockpile 2

Do you have a well-organized stockpile? It doesn’t take too much effort to maintain a stockpile if you know a few tips. Yesterday, I started talking about how to manage your stockpile and avoid waste. Now, let us continue with the tips, including some recipe secrets. When you have a stockpile, it is important to be flexible enough to adapt when there are dietary or taste changes. For example, my husband used to take lunch meat as his lunch to work almost every day. Now he prefers soup. So, I have a couple of jars of mayo and salad dressing … Continue reading →

Managing Your Stockpile

Having a stockpile of food and household goods that you purchase on sale makes good sense, especially now when the prices on things keep going up and up. For example, I purchased an extra bulk box of laundry detergent for $20. The price today is $30 for the same box. That is a 50% increase! The bulk organic flour I purchased cost me $25 for 25 pounds. Today the price is $50, a 100 percent increase! I purchased cans of pizza sauce on sale for 59 cents. The price today is 99 cents. You see what I mean. But one … Continue reading →

More Creative Ideas for Stockpile Cooking

There are three great reasons for cooking from your stockpile. You may want or have to skip your shopping due to budgetary concerns, you may be moving soon and want to use up the food you have, or you may need to clear out the food that is close to expiring, to avoid waste. I have been concentrating on this third reason for getting creative with the pantry food, but I’ll forgive you if you have one of the other reasons to do it. This post is part of the Ideas for Cooking from Your Stockpile Series. Hopefully you have … Continue reading →

Getting Creative with Almost-Expired Food

Using what you have in your pantry is important when food prices have risen so much. Creating meals from your pantry can reduce your weekly food budget or allow you to skip a shopping trip or two. It also prevents food waste. Sometimes you are faced with just a few strange items to use up before they expire or go bad. This is where you have to get creative. I’ll offer you some tips, as well as links to a couple of recipes that will help you create real meals from a collection of end-date food. This post is part … Continue reading →

Ideas for Cooking from Your Stockpile

With food prices continuing to rise, stockpile cooking is a great way to stretch out that food budget and minimize food and money waste. Whenever money is tight, you should always start with what you already have. Having a robust pantry allows you to make many different meals, but what if you find your pantry slimming down? With less bargains available, I have been seeing some shrinkage in my pantry. That is why it is so important to get creative and use up what you have. Now, when I mention cooking from your stockpile, I really mean your pantry, your … Continue reading →

Containers in the Pantry

It is no secret that I usually keep a well-stocked food pantry. In fact, I have more than one. Having a stocked pantry makes it easy for me to plan meals and to fix meals economically, stocking up on groceries when the deals are good. We’ve written a few different pantry articles here on Families.com (I’ll give you the links to them at the end of this article), but I have some more tips to share, namely, using containers and reducing dead space. Using Containers Just because something arrived to your home in a certain package, doesn’t mean that it … Continue reading →