Five Reasons to Stockpile Food

by Mary Ann Romans | More from this Blogger

24 Jul 2008 08:11 PM

Among frugal living people, there is sometimes the debate about stockpiling food. Critics of stockpiling food point out that the money used on stockpiled food could be put in a bank to earn interest instead of invested in food that might go stale or bad. They may say that with a general income that keeps pace with inflation, there is no sense in stockpiling. Or they say that the stockpile takes up too much room in the home, costing you livable space.

All those reasons may be valid, but I still have to say that I am pro stockpiling. Recent raises in food prices, by as much as 200 percent in some cases have far exceeded any cost of living increases that might be available. Thanks to stockpiling, we have been able to rein in the high cost of food for our personal family economy.

Here are five reasons to stockpile food:

• To get a good deal. when chicken or your favorite cereal goes on sale, buy enough to at least take you to the next sale. Why pay 99 cents for a can of tuna when you can budget only 59 cents, for example.
• To save money on gas. Stockpiling will allow you to have fewer trips to the grocery store. This not only saves time, but it saves on gas and wear and tear on your car.
• To be prepared. Lean times can sneak up on you. If you have a stockpile of food in your home and need to skip grocery shopping for a month, you will still be able to feed your family.
• To compensate for a variable income. If you know that you get laid off every summer, if you freelance for a living or have more of a variable income, then stockpiling might help you with your budget. To make meal planning easier. Cooking from a pantry or freezer is often easier than shopping for specific ingredients from the store. You can be a little more spontaneous and adaptive as needed when you have everything already at hand.
• Do you stockpile? What tips do you have to share?

Storing Your Stockpile

Stockpiling Pizza

My Bakery Stockpile

The Ethics of Samples

Learn more about Mary Ann Romans

Mary Ann Romans is a freelance writer and mother of three children. She lives in Pennsylvania with her husband, the kids and a 16-pound cat.

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ruthann8 (6378) 24 Jul 2008 08:30 PM

We have tried to stockpile on food but we end up just eating it! We do stockpile on freezer items, they seem to be less tempting.

But I do majorly stockpile on cleaning supplies, deodorant, shampoo, paper products, body wash, etc. I purchase extra when something is on sale or when I go to Sams Club.

MegfromAllAboutAppearances (330) 25 Jul 2008 08:52 AM

We don't stockpile, per se. However, at any given time, we tend to have enough stuff that we could survive for months. At my house we tend to restock a pantry of staples and buy a lot of stuff we use. For example, we get the big bag of baking soda and the big bottle of vinegar since we use them for cooking and cleaning. We also have a lot of rice since it's easy to make in the steamer and extra can always be frozen. Other staples: toilet paper, paper towels (though to a much smaller extent because we use cloth towels almost exclusively), a few types of sugar, a few types of flower, cornstarch, baking powder, different kinds of beans and peas, whole wheat couscous, whole wheat noodles, olive oil, vegetable oil, loose tea, frozen bananas, etc. Then we supplement with fresh stuff from the garden (though it's rather pathetic still) or from the local grocery store.

We have very limited cabinet space so we keep a lot of the dry food like beans flour in matching clear containers on a few bookcases in the kitchen area. It's really quite a nice looking display and there's something very comforting about being able to see how much food we have -- though thankfully I don't find it too-tempting in that form.