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 →

Organize Your Stockpile by Becoming a Shelf Life Expert

I’m always on the look out for good stock up opportunities. When something goes on sale, can be “purchased” for free with coupons, or is on a deep clearance, I instantly calculate how much of that item should come home with me. It is important to know how much, logically, you should stockpile of a particular item or category of items. For example: how many jars of peanut butter should be in your pantry right now until the next great low price? How many boxes of pasta, packages of toilet paper or bottles of shampoo? it all depends on the … Continue reading →

Prepping for a Hurricane on a Budget

If you are in the path of Hurricane Sandy, the Frankenstorm as many are calling it, then hopefully you are safe and secure and well prepared. My home is right in the path of the storm, and we are just a few minutes away from landfall of this historic hurricane. I’ll keeping writing as long as I have power or until the time that I have to take further action. The wind is definitely picking up to scary proportions. While we aren’t too concerned about flooding of our home, except for maybe some water in the basement, we are concerned … Continue reading →

Use FIFO to Save

What is FIFO? If I didn’t know better, I would think it was the latest hot Christmas toy in the form of an electronic dog, or a new way time of money management account. FIFO is neither of these things, but a way to store and stockpile and save money by buying the things you need at the lowest prices and then using them in an organized way. To simplify things, FIFO stands for First In First Out. It means that when you stockpile and store things in your pantry, you use up the oldest stuff (the first in your … Continue reading →

I Lost Some of My Stockpile

When you improperly store your stockpile, you can wind up losing money. That is what happened to me. Don’t let it happen to you. The other day, I was packing up some sandwiches to take with us on one of our frugal summer adventures when I got to the last of the roll of plastic wrap. Since I try to buy ahead when things are on sale, and I have a small stockpile, I’m never worried when I run out of certain things. I just headed downstairs to the basement to pick up a new roll. It used to be … Continue reading →

2012 Drought Stockpiling

The drought of 2012 is expected to have a huge effect on already high grocery prices. Expect your grocery budget to go up by the end of this year. Now is the time to start stocking up on certain food items and ingredients to get you through the price increase and minimize the impact the drought pricing will have on your family budget. What is the 2012 Drought? A scarcity of rain combined with higher than normal temperatures has lead to weak US crops. These crops have grown slow or have failed to grow at all. In some cases, the … Continue reading →

Dollar Tree Online Grocery Clearance

What happens when you combine the following three things: a dollar discount store, bulk clearance and online shopping? You get the best deals. Did you know that you can buy in bulk from dollar and discount stores? This is a great way to stock up. You can do this in person, at the actual store of course, but often you won’t be able to get enough of the best bargains to make a decent stockpile. That is where this little secret comes in: you can actually shop the deals online and in bulk. For example, on the Dollar Tree website, … Continue reading →

Warehouse Store Stock Up Tips

Do you find that using a warehouse store means that your grocery bill is going up not down? It could be the way you are handling your bulk purchase buys, how you are stocking up on them and how you are using them. Here are some tips to help you get everything under control and use warehouse shopping to your advantage to save money. Freeze, Freeze, Freeze If you find yourself with a lot of waste in your food, you’ll need to take action to make sure that items don’t good bad before you can get to them. One way … Continue reading →

Time to Stock up on Peanut Butter

There is something a bit sticky about peanut butter. In fact, get ready for sticker shock. That is because peanut butter and other products that are made with peanuts could be going up in price as much as 40 percent by the end of this month. Peanut butter is such a staple in our home. The kids literally eat it up, and we go through a lot of jars in any given year. It is a great source of protein for my kids, and I don’t even mind the extra ‘good” fat, since they are on the thin side. I … Continue reading →

Stocking the Pantry on a Budget

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 … Continue reading →