Does stocking up your freezer and pantry really work for you?

[Jill in Chicago]

It does for us. We really use the food and it is very rare that something goes bad and we can't eat it.

I see many posts though encouraging each other to use up stockpiles of food.

I wonder though, do people tend to shop/stockpile the deals and then never use them.

 

[rumrunnergirl]

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[padawans]

Yes I keep my pantry and freezer full. Its really reduced the amount of money I spend on food each month. I'm not running to the store all the time. Therefore theres no tempation to impulse buy. It reduces the urge to go out to eat because you can always find something to eat at home.

 

[budbeerlady]

We use a stock pile. It took us a while to get one built up but it is very freeing money wise to NOT have to purchase everything at the store each week. With the Meijer cheese deal this week and the cereal deal a few weeks back we are good for many months. Other items I keep a 2 month pile going, stuff like coffee, pasta salad, taco shells, etc. I could go with just buying milk and bread for our family for a long time if need be. And it has been very helpful to pass on the bounty to our friends if need be. Dh's friend couldnt believe the costs of the food I was taking home, he wants me to do his grocery shopping. Not going to happen.

 

[williamson_ja]

It's saved us more than once. I love having our storage of food. Ours is mostly canned goods plus a freezer full of meat. We bought an entire cow all butchered up and ready for the freezer for only $1.33/ lb. That included LOTS of ground beef, but also the really good cuts of filet minon, ribeye steaks, etc. I have a very large family to feed, so lots of meat in the freezer works for us because I know we will use it. A smaller family would probably have a hard time using up a whole cow before it went bad. lol. On the other hand, canned foods stay good for a really long time. Just about anyone could benefit from stocking up on some canned goods when they go on sale.

 

[amylynne01]

Definitely! It has dramatically reduced the number of trips to the store for just one thing for dinner (and walking out with 17 more). I can plan meals in advance knowing what I have. For September, I am aiming to use up the stockpile instead of bringing more stuff in since it's there to be used. I only need produce, milk, eggs, bread, and meat for the whole month.

 

[Tiger926]

We do this as well. It requires good storage equipment, and a Foodsaver for sealing meat, and your food will hold up very well. Now, the big thing for us is dealing with hubby's hoarding issues - I have finally taught him the difference between stockpiling (purchasing 2 or 3 boxes of crackers that are on sale), as opposed to hoarding (purchasing 5 boxes of the same cereal that go stale and must be thrown out).

The other issue is getting hubby to abide by the organization rules - oldest expiry dates used first. As well, as only buying a reasonable amount of meat - don't like it to sit in the freezer too long, although Foodsaver bags are great.

We find it's great - we cook at home 6 out of 7 nights, and the other is eating at parent's house for weekly Sunday dinner, so it works well for us, as long as above conditions are met! We pretty much only need to buy staples such as: milk, eggs, produce and luncheon meats. We stockpile all kinds of things when they are on sale, and it saves us big time!

Tiger

 

[Piecey]

Yes, but I also understand those threads.

I coupon so we end up with multiples of some things that build up over time. I have recently started doing weekly meal plans. I know whats in the freezer/pantry and try to plan off of that and the grocery ads. Sunday afternoons (pre-baby, anyway ) I would sit with the ads, my coupons and make grocery store lists and plan meals off of that and what we already had.

It's really worked out well and kept us from having tons of the same old meals, rotated. I tried to do at least 1 new meal a week for dinner.

The stockpile has been particularly nice lately... we had no idea what to do for dinner the other night so I went to the freezer and pulled a bag of corn, pork chops and made a box of Pasta Roni from the pantry. Definitely cheaper than ordering a pizza or chinese!

 

[bookgirl]

I try to cook double or triple batches of foods (or at least components). I keep them in the freezer to pull out on late days or I don't want to cook days and I do big batches of homemade soup then freeze them smaller for work lunches. I don't do pantry stuff however, because we like to rotate what we have. If I get a really good deal I get them and we eat what we will then I give it way. It works really well for us.

I should add that I do tend to hang onto canned items longer than stuff in boxes. I just don't want them sitting around forever. I've never found anything in a box, but you know it can happen.

 

[ceecee]

It does for us. We really use the food and it is very rare that something goes bad and we can't eat it.

I see many posts though encouraging each other to use up stockpiles of food.

I wonder though, do people tend to shop/stockpile the deals and then never use them.

I can't stockpile too much or I forget to use it by the expiration date. I guess I should rotate my stock and that would help.

 

[bettymae1121]

For me, stockpiling doesn't help save money in my grocery budget because the places I shop don't have sales (Trader Joes, Costco, and local veggie stand). But, having a stockpile in my pantry/freezer means I'm never really "out" of anything, which in turn means I never have to make more expensive runs out to my local stores (TJ's is 40 minutes round-trip, Costco is even further) or be tempted to eat out because "there is nothing in the house to cook." So, it does save me money, just not in a way I can really show on a receipt.

 

[3boymthr]

Yes and no.

I've stopped stock piling meat and veggies as I never seemed to use them before they went bad and my freezer is too small to put more than a few days worth of food in it.

I now stick to stockpiling only staples like rice, flour, ketchup, canned goods, pasta, etc.

 

[Dismom55]

Yes for me, has for nearly all of my 38 yrs of marriage. I buy stockpile canned goods and non perishables. When it comes to things like flour and sugar, I put them in a zip lock bag for storage, I rotate my supplies just like they are supposed to in the store, I wait for things to be on sale, then I purchase as much as I can of that item. I do not have a basemen, but I do have a large bedroom closet and the bottom of said closet is filled with canned goods of all sorts.

However, I DO NOT stockpile things like crackers, they will get stale and be of no use to me.

When money gets tight, I do not have to worry about how I am going to feed the family. I do buy ahead on things I can freeze like meat and frozen veggies, but with those they will get freezer burnt if not eaten in a short time. I have a guide in my cook book that tells me how long things are good to freeze, I try to stay well within that range.

I also buy some canned meat product, that way if things get really tight, I still have protien to feed the kids. When they were little, I even purchased dried milk product and kept gallons of water on hand for weather emergencies and such like that, another reason to keep canned food on hand. We live in the midwest and winter can be dicey, keeping some things on hand is a must, not really an option.

 

[mykidsand_i]

It totally works for me...but I also like the fact that there are those threads that encourage us to use things up.

There are certain months when I've got so much of a stockpile, that I do need to put a stop on spending and just use what we have. Things go on sale in 'waves' and every 3 months or so, the rotation starts over for the most part. I've done my research for my area and that is what I've found here. It's a 3-4 month rotation. And, there are times that I can stop spending on 'stock ups' for a few months because we end up with a lot.

I use coupons on top of sales and gift cards earned from surveys or frequent shopper things, so most of my 'stock pile items' are more than 50% less than the listed sales price. BUT even if it's a 'free or close to free' item, I would never want to throw it- because replacing it with a like product would cost money- so it's still throwing money away.

I use the 'file system' and mark exp. dates on each product with a black marker. I put ALL new products purchased at the BACK of what I already have, so I have no choice to use up the things that expire first.

I think where people get into trouble with stock piles is when they buy things JUST BECAUSE THEY ARE ON SALE or a big price reduction. In order for me to purchase multiple things, my family must use it regularly. If I buy a new product or something that we only occassionally use, I buy only 2-3 of the item instead of 5-10.

I think my method has worked very well for us. We've saved a LOT of money over the years and I'm never wondering what in the heck we're going to have for a meal!

I also think it works DIFFERENTLY for different people. To one person, stockpiles mean that they stock up for a few months, then STOP STOCKING UP and using up all of their stock to start over again. That is what works best for me. To another person, maybe their stock of items is buying fewer at a time and re-stocking more frequently...

 

[disney4us2002]

No, it doesn't seem to work for us. My teenaged sons think they have died and gone to heaven if I purchase extras of items they love. They just seem to eat more and go thru stuff faster. The freezer is full but I started looking at some of the dates of stuff last weekend and it is time for a big cleanout - I have some stuff dated 2007. We also burnout on some dinners so I may think I'll be needing a certain amount of something and then we're tired of it and noone wants it for dinner anymore.

 

[beansmom]

No, it doesn't seem to work for us. My teenaged sons think they have died and gone to heaven if I purchase extras of items they love. They just seem to eat more and go thru stuff faster. The freezer is full but I started looking at some of the dates of stuff last weekend and it is time for a big cleanout - I have some stuff dated 2007. We also burnout on some dinners so I may think I'll be needing a certain amount of something and then we're tired of it and noone wants it for dinner anymore.

BTDT!!! What I really loved is when I'd get a great deal on something they LOVED, all of a sudden, they didn't like it anymore. Oy.

We stockpile...we have 3 full freezers and lots of dry goods as well...my challenge for this month is to spend no more than $25 per week and eat what we have here. I just came home with 5 dozen free ears of frozen corn and 100 pounds of apples for saucing, pie filling and storing for winter.