As I read frugal and financial blogs and discuss money-saving tactics with people, I have noticed two distinct frugal grocery styles. People tend to be either stocker-uppers or week-to-weekers. Both have well thought-out reasons for their thinking. I am definitely in the stocker-upper camp. Let me tell you why!
Stocking Up is Responsible
I have always been taught that having food storage is important. Food is pretty important to, you know, survival, so it just makes sense to be prepared. I want to have food to feed my family should any crazy circumstance befall us. If there is a natural disaster, or we are stuck at home due to a storm or illness, or there is a trucker strike and food prices double, or we suddenly don’t have an income for an extended period of time, having food storage would calm bellies and nerves while we figured out our next game plan.
I could come up with all sorts of crazy “what-if” scenarios, but honestly I am not stocking up because I am scared. I feel that being prepared is part of my responsibility to my family.
Stocking Up Allows for Flexibility
Many people plan a weekly menu, then shop specifically for the ingredients to make the meals on their menus. Having food storage allows you to be flexible with that menu plan. I don’t know about you, but my food mood often changes from the time I make a menu to the time I need to prepare dinner. Having options is freeing. And it will definitely relieve some stress to know you have plenty of food on hand when unexpected guests knock at the door.
You not only have flexibility about what you eat (and who you share it with), but you can be flexible about when you go shopping. Since our cupboards aren’t bare, I don’t have to stress about getting to the store on Monday because we have no food in the house. If something more exciting comes up or I just plain don’t feel like shopping, I don’t have to.
Stocking Up Saves Money
Ahh, saving money. The part you were waiting for. The three main ways I save money by stocking up are buying in bulk, buying in season and buying on sale. Stocking up to save money, might sound counter-intuitive. Stocking up sounds expensive.
The idea is, if you stock up on what’s on sale, in season, and cheaper in bulk, you won’t need to buy those items again for a long time. As you transition into a system of always buying in bulk, in season, and on sale, you won’t have to buy everything every time. You will just buy things at great prices and very little at full price. To help illustrate these principles, let me describe the SixFiguresUnder household grocery shopping plan.
I grocery shop once a month (remember how we live in the boonies?). I don’t make my grocery list according to a menu plan. Instead, I keep a running list of things we are almost out of (or will be out of in the next month or so). There are some things that make the list just about every month like milk and cheese.
We mostly cook from scratch, so most of my pantry staples are ingredients like flour/wheat, sugar, beans, rice, oats, and pasta. I also buy different fruits and veggies depending on what is in season (meaning the best price) and what we having coming out of our garden.
After buying what we need to replenish our fridge and pantry, as well as seasonal fruits and veggies, the rest of the budget goes to stocking up. Sale prices fluctuate weekly and seasonally. Once you get ahead of the game and have enough staples in your pantry to live on for a month or so, you can focus on buying things only when they are a great price. If you keep on top of things, you won’t have to pay full price very often.
Here are a few examples:
- When peanut butter is on sale for a good price, I buy 10 to 20 jars, depending on how good the price is. We eat a lot of peanut butter, so I am never worried about having more than we can eat.
- The best time of year to buy chocolate chips is around Thanksgiving and Christmas. I watch for a good sale around the holidays and buy a year’s supply of chocolate chips (mmm). We have never had a problem getting through chocolate chips either (now, rationing is a different story).
- When pears are in season and selling for rock-bottom prices at the local orchard, I spend $40 and buy 150 lbs of pears (or more). We will eat them fresh for several weeks. I ‘ll also can dozens of jars of pear halves and pear puree, and we’ll freeze some pears halves for smoothies.
A Stock Up Challenge
If you have been a week-to-weeker when it comes to grocery shopping, try setting aside a portion of your grocery budget to stock up on sale items or buy something in bulk. Consider starting with items that you eat regularly. Even a few items a week will help build your food storage, which will help you be prepared and flexible and will save you money at the same time! Are you up for it?
If you are a stocker-upper, keep up the good work! What are your favorite things to buy in bulk? Have you found some incredible deals to stock up on? What other stocking up tips do you have?
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I like that you talked about how having food storage would allow you to be flexible with the menu plan. Shopping for food every time is always quite a hassle, so I am thinking that we should start stocking up on food in our pantry. So with that in mind, I am planning to go shopping in our local grocery store this weekend.
I would love to hear if you have tried shopping at Aldi and what your thoughts are. Also, do you eat meat and do your children wear disposable diapers? We are so close to being out of debt and this post gave me the push I needed! Thank you!
Hi Brit! That’s exciting that you are so close to being out of debt! You can do it!!
When we were in law school, we shopped at Aldi and LOVED it! Unfortunately California doesn’t have Aldi. 🙁 We do eat meat, but not every day, maybe twice a week or so. We used disposables until we moved to California (three years ago), then we switched to cloth. You can read about why we switched and how we got cloth diapers free or cheap.
I have been calling this my “food hedge fund” for years. When something is on sale, I buy in bulk. I also can and agree with previous comments on how great canning is! This is the first year I canned like crazy- and even crazier is that I look forward to those winter mornings when I can sip a cup of coffee and enjoy my vanilla pear jam on toast! LOL
Great post!
“Food hedge fun”– I love it! 🙂
Great site girl! I love some of your tips! There are only two of us, but I still stock up, shop the Sam’s and do the farmers markets in summer! It makes alot of difference! I hope the garden does better this time too…we did some rocking soil stuff to bring it up to date! And might I add SO PROUD OF YOU for getting out of debt! I will be in July! Keep going you will get there! 🙂
Thanks for the kind words Cami! That’s awesome that you’ll be done with your debt in July! Best of luck on the garden!
Can you tell me how you store your fruits (you said pears) when you buy so much in bulk? I am a stocker and just returned home from overseas and am starting over. I have been stocking up only when things are on sale. I’m off to a good start, but now I am getting to fruits and veggies until the garden is producing. The store around the corner has apples cheap right now, but I’m not sure how long they can store before I have to can them. Great posts. I have been reading a lot on your site!
Hi Amber! I store what will fit in the fridge (or in a cool basement) until I can, freeze or dehydrate it (or until my family eats it). If you’re going to sauce the apples, it’s okay if they aren’t super crispy like you’d want them to eat fresh. Just be watch for any that are bruised of have bad spots. You know what they say about one bad apple!
This is for the lady that buys organic, has she gone to farmers markets and they will sell lower at closing time so they do not have to reload it.She can check her paper for orchards that let you pick your own and you can can almost everything without all the stuff that commercials cans have in them. It is well worth the extra work to do many things yourself and learning new things can be fun.
I have been canning and drying and freezing foods for years.
My best advice is get a FoodSaver, it is the best investment I have ever made. I buy flour and seal it to keep fresh and bugs out plus If I want to store longer in frig or freezer I just seal up and will keep months longer. I really like the jar adapter as the liquid doesn’t do well in bags. I wish I had the vac/sealer when I first got married. I am going to go now as the bean soup is ready for my special seasonings. And you can seal spices and herbs for longer life too.
Stephanie,
I have a really hard time stocking up because most of the things I buy are organic, non GMO, and antibiotic free. These products hardly EVER go on sale or bought in bulk. They are very expensive. So how can I afford to stock pile.. most of these item do not have coupons either.
You can sometimes find reduced prices (even on organic and special foods) when foods are close to their “use by” date. This is when having a freezer is handy. As long it goes in the freezer before the date and use it quickly after it is thawed, you can really save money by freezing.
Have you looked into buying bulk whole foods with a natural foods company (rather than a grocery store). When we lived in the midwest, I had a friend who would place a big order with a natural foods company to get products in bulk. She would let us all know when the order was due and we would let her know what we wanted. It wasn’t a multi-level scheme or anything, just friends putting their orders together to get a bulk prices and bulk shipping options.
I have been stocking up to save money for some time now and love to run to my pantry upstairs instead of spending gas money and time for one item I need for dinner. It is reassuring to know if a disaster hits, I am prepared with water and food.
I love Augason’s Moo Milk which is powdered. It tastes so much better than other powdered milk. Plus, you can get in strawberry and chocolate. We usually travel with a small can. I figured it out that It cost me $1.76 a gallon. I buy a gallon of milk and then when it is half empty, I mix up some Moo Milk and add it to the whole milk and no one is the wiser.
I have recently bought a vacuum seal mason jar system for my Foodsaver and some oxygen absorbers. I have already started using the system and it works great.
Now, to put that dehydrator to work. Beef jerky is on the agenda.
I am so thankful for blogs like yours and utube videos showing how to can, dehydrate, vacuum seal and store food correctly. I especially appreciate learning “store what you eat and eat what you store.”. After all, you aren’t saving money if you end up throwing it away.
Great Blog .. I would love to be a stocker upper. As a working Mom I feel like I’m always out of stuff. I do stock up on peanut butter too when it’s on sale though! I’m curious, how do you shop monthly for milk? Do you freeze it? We go through it pretty quickly.
Hi Lisa! Milk can be a tricky one. Sometimes I freeze milk (if the deep freeze isn’t filled with other things). Sometimes I do make a mid-month stop by the store (if I’m in town) to pick up 4-5 more gallons.
Also, my kids and husband are fine with powdered milk. I’m not a big fan of it though. We have lots of powdered milk in our food storage. I’ve found that a splash of honey and vanilla helps the flavor (though I rarely add them anymore since nobody minds it plain). Also, drinking it very cold helps.
I used to be a week to weeker but for the last few months I have been stocking up. It saves money and especially gives me peace of mind! Nice post.
Yes Linda! Saving money and peace of mind are two big benefits of stocking up! Thanks for sharing your experience!
A lot of these tips we know about and should start doing, but currently have NO space for storage…but hopefully that will change as we clean and reorganize and get rid of all the extra.
One thing that I think helps us a bit is we’re a family of vegetarians (who sometimes are vegan without meaning to) so we don’t buy meat. I’ve read a BUNCH that if you make even just one day of food per week be vegetarian that can cut back some financially.
We’re in the process of hopefully selling our house and moving, and on my list for our next house is enough space for stocking up, and any canning that I know we want to get into!
Love this so far, and super excited to keep picking up some new tips!!
We aren’t vegetarians, but we don’t eat much meat. I have to kind of chuckle when people make talk about having a meatless dinner one day a week. We are the opposite. We make a big deal about the day that we actually have meat.
That’s exciting that you’ll be moving to a new spot that has more storage. We live in the unfinished basement of my in-laws and have limited space (2 BR, 1 Bath, no closets), so we have to get creative. 🙂
In our house, my husband does the canning. He’s also the chief gardener. I just make requests. My back keeps me from doing much gardening but we have some peach trees and raspberry bushes and we go strawberry picking as well as apple, blueberry and cherry picking each summer to freeze or can for the follow ing year. We grow or buy enough tomatoes each year to can our own tomato sauce and we use Amazon to stock up on things we use a lot of at a great discount using Amazon Prime + Amazon Mom. I also watch for sales on things like canned tuna and clams to stock up. We have a pretty full pantry at all times and being gluten free because of 2 of us having celiac disease, this is very reassuring. I’m lucky enough to have a deep freezer as well as lots of pantry space to store food. If you have room for a deep freezer it’s a great investment because even if you don’t’ want to can or can’t for whatever reason, freezing food is a great way to preserve it. I’ve also used my dehydrator for some fruits and jerky.
We love our deep freezer as well! It’s nice to be able to stock up on meat and other perishables, as well as produce from our own garden.
That’s fun that your husband does the canning. My husband always helps me, which makes it go so much quicker (and he does the clean-up!).
I love canning and freezing veggies! My uncle and grandfather plant acres and acres of veggies every year. They sell them but they let me have whatever I’m willing to pick! That includes organic green beans, purple hull peas, organic corn, squash, cucumbers. We eat on them all year and this saves us a ton of $! I’m new to your site and I’m loving all the info!
That’s great Kendra! You can’t beat free organic veggies! I’m glad you do a lot of canning and freezing to take advantage of all the produce!
I’m just starting to stock up but trying to find a balance between stocking up just for the sake of stocking up and stocking up the things that we actually use. For example, I have cans of ravioli that we never eat, and likely will never eat. Those will probably end up at the food bank. At the same time, I could probably get a huge bag of flour, brown rice, and oatmeal. And also I need to buy a deep-freezer.
We LOVE our deep freeze! It saves us so much money. Between buying meat on sale (like turkey at Thanksgiving) and freezing our garden produce, ours is always full. A full freezer helps keep the energy costs low too (and deep freezes are pretty efficient anyway).
I do a bit of both because we’re just getting everything back on track after a job loss. I have decided to add extra money to our grocery budget until I get a decent stockpile again JUST for stockpiling. I missed out of the best tuna fish price I have seen in YEARS because our grocery money was already gone. THAT won’t happen again! 😀
I hate it when that happens! That’s a great idea to set a portion of your food budget aside just for stocking up!
hi just saw your blog on pinterest an i would like to start canning my own but have no idea where to start any advise?
Hi Liz! I have a detailed tutorial about canning applesauce and canning tomato puree. Those will give a good idea of the general process that will apply to canning anything, though the canning time and head-space will vary depending on what you’re canning. I’ll have more tutorials to come.
There’s also Ball’s canning book
and Google. 🙂
I, too, want to learn canning. My favorite items to stockpile are various types of canned beans. You can do so much with them! Chili, soups, tacos, meat stretchers, salads, etc. love them! They are also a great protein!
We eat a lot of beans too! Not only are they good for you, but they are cheap! I usually buy dry beans, cook them in bulk, freeze them, then use them like I would canned beans.
What a great post. I’ve been doing this for a few years now, and have a few items that I need to STOP buying (why do I need a cupboard FULL of pasta?!!). Thanks for sharing!
Haha! I’m imagining opening your pasta cupboard and being drowned in pasta! Great job stocking up!
Canning undoubtedly gets easier with each time and success…. and the odd failure or three. Eventually, you get tired of throwing away the surplus, so the only thing to do is start preserving it.
I am blessed to have my mother-in-law close and she’s a canning expert! She preserves everything, so I’m learning from the best!
I need to be so much better about this. We are definitely week to weekers and when I get down to the bare cupboards stage I get really uncomfortable and that is when I spend a ton on groceries. I would just have to figure out how to do the rotation to make sure that I don’t just dump stuff in the basement and not use it.
The rotation is the trick I guess! Start out by stocking up on the things you use the most. Everyone has their own favorite go-to meals. Make a list of what the staples for you are.
I don’t stock too much–because we don’t like most canned or boxed foods, and the freezer in our rental place is very small! But, we love fruits–berries are so expensive in the grocery store, so this summer when they were in season, we picked many lbs. of “self-pick” berries at a farm down the street. They were organic, inexpensive for berries, we got to support a local farm, and I still have frozen berries in my freezer, so it was a great deal all around!
That’s great Rachel! Berries, especially in the off-season, are so expensive. Way to stock up when they were a good price!
These are some great tips. We recently got out of debt 100% and this would be a great way to stay out of debt!
Congrats for getting out of debt!! That’s so exciting!
Hi Stephanie,
First off, hats to you for canning! Who does that anymore? I wish I knew how. I’ve seen older family members do it, but wow, I have no clue where to start.
I agree with you about stocking up. I can never stick to a weekly menu. I like to be flexible, but I can see from your blog, there’s a whole lot I can do to be more frugal. Thanks for the tips!
Thanks for stopping by Jennifer. I learned to can from an 85 year old man! Random, I know. When we were first married we lived in the basement of an elderly couple. They had peach trees and one year there was a crop so big it broke a main branch off of a tree. Suddenly we had lots of peaches that needed to be used. I have since branched out to lots of other things. I have learned lots from my mother-in-law too. It can be intimidating at first, but once you’ve done it a time or two, it’s pretty simple.
Just found this website and love it! I have a Ball Blue Book of Canning and Preserving that I have used for years. My mother-in-law of forty years taught me a lot about canning for which I am thankful. There’s something special and satisfying about canning your own food, seeing it lined up on the shelves, and knowing it’s there come winter.
I totally agree Dani. It definitely feels good to be able to can your own food. It’s work, but it’s empowering.
That’s fun that you learned about canning from your mother-in-law too!
Love the post! I definitely agree with buying in bulk. Sometimes this can be accomplished at the local grocery store, too. My grocer will occasionally have “Buy one get two free” on cuts of meat. This past weekend I spent $11 and got enough steak, chicken and pork for the next two months!!
That’s awesome deal on meat! Thanks for sharing. Meat is so expensive!
Even at buy 1 get 2 free, $11.00 would buy me 2 packages (+the 4 free). How can 6 packages last 2 months. Even if I had just myself and DH. Could you tell me what exactly you were able to get for 11.00 that will last you 2 months? It’s disheartening when I come on these boards to try to find ways to be frugal and hear stuff like this. I feel like there is no way I could do that so why bother trying at all. It’s like watching extreme couponers, seeing them spend 2.07 on 1000.00 worth of food, then you realize it was BS. They spent money on the coupons and up to 40 hours planning and shopping….never calculated or added to that $2.07 and they don’t do this kind of thing routinely. I wish things just weren’t presented as normal when they are not.
It’s really hard to compare what a month’s worth of meat is from one person or family to the next. In my family growing up, it wasn’t dinner if it didn’t have meat. Now, we have meat once or twice a week. For a single person who eats meat once a week, $11 of meat could last two months, but for a large family it might only last a meal or two!