One thing is for certain – Planning out the family meals certainly takes up a lot of my time. With four hungry children, I hear “Mom, I’m hungry” quite a bit. I’ve found that by careful planning and keeping my pantry stockpiled, I’m ready to fix a meal when needed without the hassle of constantly running to the store.
My pantry is filled with the grocery items that I use in feeding my family all the time. Snack foods, pasta and sauce, fruit drinks and water, every food category finds itself represented in my pantry. By paying a quick visit to the pantry, I can prepare meals in a hurry without batting an eye.
Building a pantry stockpile takes a little time, but I think you’ll find it well worth the trouble. You can start building your own by following these easy steps:
Make a list of the things your family eats. You’ll want to start by listing the meal items that your family eats regularly. Don’t forget, though, that you also need to list snacks and drinks. Anything your family eats should make the list.
Scan grocery ads weekly for the foods on your list. When you see a good buy on one of your pantry items, don’t hesitate to snap it up. If Kraft’s mac’n’cheese is on your list and your local grocery store is selling boxes of it for $.29, why not buy 10 or even 20 boxes? It will last forever on your pantry’s shelf, and your kids will love having it for lunch. The same logic applies to your favorite crackers. (Maybe you shouldn’t buy 20 boxes, though.) After a little practice examining the grocery ads, you’ll learn to recognize a great deal when you see it.
Keep an eye out for bargains outside of the grocery store. Do you have a dollar store that you frequent? (If you don’t, you should.) I’d be willing to bet that you’ll find inexpensive snack items, canned goods, and soda there. Next time the kids are looking for an after-school snack, you can choose from the wide spectrum of snack foods you bought for $1/box to satisfy them. Wholesale clubs and farmer’s markets are other good sources of inexpensive food.
Rotate your stock. If you purchase food in bulk, it’s important to use the older stock first. Just remember to do what the grocery stores do, and put new stuff behind the old stuff.
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I buy up a lot of pasta and tomato sauce whenever it goes on sale or I have some coupons. They’ll last through a nuclear winter, and I buy the whole grain pasta so it makes for healthy meals.
Keep some chicken stock near by, as well as canned meats like chicken and tuna. Once you have the stockpile just turn on the food network and you can likely make a variation of whatever they’re cooking (unless it’s a statue made of chocolate).
Great article. I am a huge fan of stockpiling and it has slashed my grocery budget to practically nothing. Don’t forget, you can (and should) stockpile non-food items like toiletries and cleaning supplies. This week, Walgreens is once again paying customers to buy toothpaste (buy 2 tubes for $3, use a printable from the internet $1.50 off on each tube, pay just the tax and then get a $1 register reward so in an 8% tax state you make about .70 per 2 tubes you buy). There is no reason anyone with a CVS, Walgreens, or Rite Aid should ever pay for toothpaste, shampoo, razors, etc. You can also get deals on food items at drugstores too. For example, this week CVS has crackers (Ritz, Wheat Thins, Triscuits) on sale 5 for $5 and there were $2 off 2 coupons out a few weeks ago- I now have 15 boxes of Ritz crackers that I paid $0 for. As for cleaning supplies, etc.- if you live in an area with a Kmart, watch for Kmart double coupon days. Periodically, Kmarts will double coupons up to $2, and you can snag a lot of great stuff for free or close to it by using these high valued coupons doubled.
Great post!
A word of caution, however, to other people. Stockpile only on items that you would really consume. Stockpiling is a great practice but if you do not pay much attention to the expiration date, your stock would be worthless.