Stocking your pantry with basic food can really pay off. Not only will it save you money, but it will leave you prepared in the case of some crisis that prevents you from purchasing food right away. Having a stockpile of food is always a good idea.
We are currently in the process of trying to build our stockpile back up. We’ve had a number of things happen that have reduced our stockpile to very little, such as cooking from the pantry, losing storage space and giving away about half of our stash to a family that needed it more than we did.
The problem for us now, is that we are seriously trying to pay down our debt, so we have a very tight food budget. Couple that with the fact that food prices are continuing to go up, and we don’t have too much room for stockpiling.
I know the lack of a healthy stockpile has my husband nervous, so I am doing my best to slowly build it back up in the following ways:
Taking the time to use coupons and sales to get items for super cheap and then stocking up on them.
Incorporating more cheap meals and then using the extra grocery money at the end of the month to buy extra canned goods, dry beans and other staples.
Stocking up on pasta when I found a good clearance sale at Target.
Seriously saving up part of the grocery budget to join a CSA for fresh “free” produce throughout the season (the fee was paid out of the grocery budget of a previous month).
Shopping the clearance cart at our grocery store for half price goods for my stockpile. If a box has a small dent or a flavor of cereal is discontinued, it gets placed on the cart and marked off.
Using up whatever cleaners, laundry detergent, shampoo, etc., that we already have even if it isn’t our favorite in order to save a few extra dollars from the budget for stockpile goods.