Stock Pile

I am determined to stock pile and get my food storage set this year. I want in my storage enough food, diapers etc. to last us 3 months. I will start with this then gradually get to years :)
Some things to remember-
1- Food doesn't stay good forever! Keep track of those exp. dates!
2- Just because it is cheap doesn't mean you will ever use it. Only stock up on things you will actually use
3- Coupons are your friend and so is price matching.

First off make a list of at least the top 12 meals you cook all the time. If you can do 30 meals then do it! This part will take time so be patient. Not only list meals but items you buy all the time as well. Things like deoderant, shampoo, hair spray, fem. products etc. should be on the list as well. Once you have the meals down then you need to write down every single ingredient you would use to make that meal. Take your list and figure out how many of each item you would need to last you 3 months or whatever goal you have.
For example- I know that I will make spaghetti at least once a month. So for Spaghetti I need noodles (3 packages for 3 months), spaghetti sauce (3 bottles for 3 months).........you get the picture now :)

Now that you have your list of items you will need to purchase to stock pile get them organized and in a place you can refer back to often. Now you are set to try and find the best deals for these items. You can also be on the look out for coupons for those items. Sunday coupon inserts in your paper, printable coupons and make sure and keep those store adds you get every Tuesday (well for us). Take your list, take your coupons and your store adds and lets start finding deals! So I know that pasta noodles will be on sale at Smiths ($1.00 each) and I just found a coupon that I can print 3 times for $.50 cents off of 2 packages so you do the math but $.25 cents off an item is big! Sometimes you can get them for FREE!

Now that you have purchased a stock pile of items SHOP FROM YOUR PANTRY!!!!! Replace what you take next time there is a good deal on the item. The worst thing you can do is get that bag of chips at the store for $1.00 because it was $3.00 off and then never ever use it. Then you are tossing money out the door. Make sure you shop from your stock pile.

Seems like a lot of work but when you pair this with your weekly shopping list/trip from the previous post you can do this all at once and pretty soon your grocery bill will be smaller and smaller. It will be work at first because you don't have your lists and your stock pile of coupons but once you get your lists together and you coupons together you can start to tackle what seems impossible. Pretty soon you will have a pantry/storage full of items and instead of running to the store at 9:00 at night you can head to your stock pile and grab the item :)

I will take pictures as I can. From nothing to 3 months is the goal! Happy shopping everyone!