Groceries....Buy when needed or stock up?

[Al in Ohio]

Well all I know is that in my entire lifetime no foodstuff of any type has ever not been available to me at a moments notice. Logistics, methods and efficiencies, not to mention being the citizen of the lone superpower in this world, in this age, kind of makes stocking up a " feel good" thing that realistically has not been necessary since WW2. The only possible exception is the gas shortages of the 70's, but that's not food and your kind of limited in how to store too much of that.


For me it's a matter of space being valuable. I'm more a fan of " just in time" logistics. For me it's a trade off of storing just enough for convenience sake of minimizing trips, but no more than that to also avoid the extra clutter and having to shift stuff around just to figure out what's there.

 

[brewer12345]

Like I said, YMMV. I am far more comfy with enough food, water, booze, firewood and ammunition on hand to make a go of at least the first couple innings of the zombie apocalypse. Naturally others may feel differently.

 

[W2R]

Like I said, YMMV. I am far more comfy with enough food, water, booze, firewood and ammunition on hand to make a go of at least the first couple innings of the zombie apocalypse. Naturally others may feel differently.

Nothing wrong with that, as long as you keep cycling through things so that the food isn't out of date by the time you get to it.

Having all that stuff could come in handy even without the zombie apocalypse, if you encounter even a limited natural disaster, if you are extremely sick, or if you just don't feel like shopping for any one of a number of reasons.

Al in Ohio also has a point for those with extremely limited space. If I was living in a 400 square foot studio apartment, for example, or on a boat, stocking up on these items might present problems.

 

[brewer12345]

Nothing wrong with that, as long as you keep cycling through things so that the food isn't out of date by the time you get to it.

Having all that stuff could come in handy even without the zombie apocalypse, if you encounter even a limited natural disaster, if you are extremely sick, or if you just don't feel like shopping for any one of a number of reasons.

Precisely.

 

[daylatedollarshort]

I was born after the Great Depression. We buy as needed about once per week except occasional mid week runs for milk since we have two milk guzzling boys.

IMO the "stock up" mentality is left over from the depression era generation that food rationing has left a lasting memory or those children of depression era parents who drilled it into their kids that are unaware of the modern era ease of obtaining anything at any time in plentiful supply from right around the corner.

By stockpiling bulk foods and loss leaders on sale, I am trying to stock up on foods when they are at least 1/3 to 1/2 off their regular retail store prices.

Where else can you get a 50 to 100% tax free return on your money? For us that would be like saving enough money on groceries for a free trip to Hawaii every year for the rest of our lives.

 

[ShortInSeattle]

SHTF = Excrement Hits The Fan. Disaster supplies: water, powdered milk, MREs, beans, rice, salt, etc.

What company do you use for that stuff? I see there are some companies that specialize in cans of freeze dried food.

 

[Gumby]

We have a freezer in the garage, so that when there is a good sale on large packages of chicken, for example, we can buy the big package, use one breast and freeze the rest for later. We also have a few weeks worth of canned food for hurricanes, etc. We rotate our canned stock by giving the oldest stuff to the church food pantry on a regular basis.

 

[Fishingmn]

I keep a few cases of food from CostCo in the basement along with water for an emergency. I will give that food to a food shelf in 6 months and restock it.

As for regular food, I go the store very frequently as I usually don't decide what to make for the 2 of us until the afternoon. The grocery store is less than a mile away and in warmer months I often ride my bike.

 

[simple girl]

We switched to eating organic as much as possible about 1.5 years ago. I searched all the local options (limited) and found the best prices at Costco for organics. So I go there maybe once a month and stock up on organic meats and frozen veggies. They also have fabulous frozen wild salmon fillet and patties which are very convenient to have in the freezer. I've never been a fan of frozen fish, but what we have purchased there has been really good.

I'm still comparing prices for paper products with what I can get at Walmart - too busy to get my price book completed but it is on my list of "things to do". So sometimes I will buy paper products at Costco, sometimes Walmart.

Otherwise, I do our shopping for other items from the local Walmart. Need to check out the Aldi's - thanks for the reminder. I'll be less busy with work this spring so I can get back to more cost comparison shopping (and reading posts here!).

 

[brewer12345]

What company do you use for that stuff? I see there are some companies that specialize in cans of freeze dried food.

Costco mail order, mostly.

 

[Surewhitey]

Buy as needed...I like fresh foods.

TP & non-food, larger qty's.

 

[scrabbler1]

Depending on where you shop and what you shop for, you can save a lot of money by stocking up on items that you use that are on sales. Grocery stores generally (I'm sure there are exceptions but I'm talking about in general) cycle products in terms of when they are on sale. So there will usually be a time within a 12 week or cycle when something is at its lowest price. If it is non-perishable it makes sense to buy those things in bulk then (consistent with how much storage you have) rather than buying them, say, once a week when you pay an overall larger price.

This is pretty much what I do. I live in a small apartment so I have little storage space but I do stock up on the food items I use often, especially if they are non-perishable or can be frozen. The most important item I look for when it is on sale is boneless chicken (cutlets) because I can save $20 when I load up on them when it is on sale. But if I lack the freezer space at the time I still have to forgo buying those packages.

From a practical standpoint, I try to keep a little extra in inventory in case I can't get to the store (bad weather, usually) or in case the store is out of the item (which happens with one or two items). I go to the store every 10-14 days but once in a while it is a little longer than that. (I have a local minimart I can get my milk from in case I run out of only that.)

 

[gozer]

I live less than 2 miles from the grocery store that I frequent. Things that spoil are usually bought as needed. If there is a really good price on meat, we will sometimes buy, vacuum seal, date and freeze. Items with very long shelf life are usually stock up things when prices are good.

If the zombie apocalypse arrives, I have enough toilet paper and bourbon to last a good while. I also have stocks of other less important things like canned food and basic cooking supplies.

 

[Bestwifeever]

This thread reminds me a cute movie, Blast from the Past, where a family hides in its well stocked bomb shelter for 35 years. Hilarity ensues.

I am not worrying about the zombies because they don't eat food anyway. So we have maybe a week's worth of staples on hand but prefer buying what catches our eye every couple of days. We don't have any ammo either for the relic we inherited, but bullets don't work on zombies so we should be good there too.

 

[Walt34]

... but bullets don't work on zombies so we should be good there too.

Not to hijack the thread, but what does work on zombies? Does one have to use a machete or explosives?

 

[daylatedollarshort]

Not to hijack the thread, but what does work on zombies? Does one have to use a machete or explosives?

Squash racquets and golf clubs, per Shaun of the Dead.

 

[Walt34]

Um, okay. Now back to groceries...

 

[HFWR]

Squash racquets and golf clubs, per Shaun of the Dead.

Hopefully I'd have more success clubbing zombies than I do hitting golf balls.

 

[MRG]

I've never been to Aldis, had the impression they were just canned foods. I'll check it out. Thanks for information.
We don't stock up much now. I go to grocery at least twice a week for fresh food. We did for Y2K, had lots of gas for our Ford 8N. Lots of food, water, and yes reloading supplies(still stay stocked on those).
After a recent ice storm, while I was in hospital 3 days, it stunk coming home to not as much food as I would have liked. Quick run to grocery store to restock some stuff, that was no fun. Feeling like I was going to fall over at any moment, but I need to get food, bs to that. We will start keeping more on hand.

MRG

 

[Bestwifeever]

Squash racquets and golf clubs, per Shaun of the Dead.

They do a lot of running away in the Simon Pegg movies, too.

 

[rodi]

No Aldi's in my hood... Not even sure if they're in my state...

I agree that Costco has some of the best prices on organic stuff...

I shop at costco and sprouts (a produce place). We make an effort to cycle things through. We have limited pantry space, and no second freezer... We do buy things like organic diced tomatos in cases of 8... but we use them often when fresh tomatoes are out of season. We move the older stuff forward in the make-shift pantry, when new canned goods arrive. Same with the freezer... cycle the older stuff to the front when we load in the newly purchased stuff. No issues with finding really old stuff buried that way.

I stock up on some items that I get annoyed when they run out. My preferred brand of toothpaste isn't sold at costco so I keep an eye out for a sale end buy in bulk when the price dips.

I have two boys (tweener and teen) that eat a lot and drink milk in vast quantities... so we have to shop weekly - and infill with milk from Sprouts during the week.

My goal has been to make more "real" food vs relying on processed food - so we're now buying flour, beans, etc in bulk. They're stored in bins on top of the fridge.

 

[MBAustin]

I stock-up on paper goods at Costco but that's about it other than the occasional super sale on meat we enjoy. We do have a separate freezer but it mostly contains the homemade chicken stock I make from carcasses and frozen leftovers of our main dishes for DH to eat when I'm traveling up north to see my mother.

I am pretty good now about planning well enough to avoid emergency runs to the store during the week.

 

[Live And Learn]

We are stocker-uppers. When there is stuff on sale at silly low prices I buy with both hands. Due to grocery store promotional pricing, I now have 8 turkeys in my basement freezer awaiting my attention. .

Turkey is my favorite protein so I absolutely stock up on it when it is 59 cents a pound. I've made 7 turkeys so far, and another will be made tonight. I roast, debone and freeze (1/2 a turkey per freezer bag). I have a small cube freezer and a deboned turkey takes up surprisingly little space. Meat is one thing I always stock up on when it is on sale. Thankfully the amount of space available limits how much I can store otherwise I'd probably overdo it

 

[NW-Bound]

...I am not worrying about the zombies because they don't eat food anyway...

But, but, but that's the problem! Only if zombies would eat food, then I would be able to satisfy them with stuff that my wife chokes our refrigerators and pantry with.

Anyway, I have been able to get my wife to stop buying meat for a while, so that we can go through what we have frozen and see what already gets freezer burn and what has not. She did not label anything, so I said we should just thaw a pack of mystery meat and I will think of a dish once I find out if it is beef, pork, or chicken.

 

[tmm99]

I have a system on keeping correct inventory on meat in the freezer since I buy by 1/2 pig, 1/4 cow etc. I have extra large ziplock bags and mark them with numbers, and put different cuts of meat in them while I keep track of what I put in in each numbered bag in a piece of paper. I have a sheet just for pork and I have a separte *beef* sheet. If I want to eat ground beef for example, I look at the beef sheet and find bag numbers with ground beef, and find the right bag in my chest freezer. It's easier to plan meals too since I can see what I have on just two sheets of paper (for pork and beef). I'm sure this system would work with many other types of foods. I initially thought keeping the inventory up to date was hard, but it hasn't been at all (this is my 3rd year.)

I am otherwise not a very organized person...(I sometimes find mystery items in my fridge!)