Why I stock pile

The other day someone came over and saw my HUGE FULL pantry.  They asked me WHY I buy 10 boxes of popcorn or 20 cans of fruit at the same time.  "You will never eat all that this week" they said.  "This week?" I countered, "These will last us two months.  I need it to."

About 2 months ago, the sale items at Harris Teeter were mostly breakfast items.  Pop tarts and cereals.  I got each box of poptarts for about 10 cents.  I bought about 40.  $4 for 40 boxes?  That is about the regular price of just 1!!!  Boxes of cereal were about the same.  I probably bought another 20 or so (sadly I ran out of coupons!).  I have 3 kids and a big eating husband, so we go through a box of poptarts and/or a box of cereal at most every breakfast! 

Cereal and pop tarts have not been at such a low price since.  Since this month is Thanksgiving, I don't expect them to be that cheap again until maybe the new year.  So, I haven't bought any breakfast items since then.

This week it was canned goods, last week was pasta. Each week offers something new I can stock up on and not buy anymore until the next sale comes where I can get it virtually free and most likely I am really low on the item or completely out. 

Another reason I stock pile is because it is good to share.  Last week I got about 40 bottles of Gingerale for free.  WONDERFUL, it is great for Thanksgiving, Christmas and the New Year get togethers. I have already shared several bottles with friends and family. 

Once a month or so, I go through my pantry and pull out items that either are close to expiring or my family just didn't like too much.  I offer through www.freecycle.org or www.craigslist.org.  There are ALWAYS families struggling to put food on the table and if 2 or 3 grocery bags of food will help them out, I have plenty and we can share.

My grocery shopping trips might look like a hodge podge of items that could not possibly make a full meal or meals for a family of 5- but combine it with what I have stocked at home- we eat like queens and kings on a pheasant budget.

Here's a great example.  Chicken was on sale a while ago (I brine and freeze the chicken in freezer bags).  I got each package for about $1.  Frozen Rhoades rolls were on sale last week at HT and I had a coupon that made them free.  I bought (sadly- no coupon!!) two packages of Knorr alfredo noodles at $1.35 each.  So my total was about $3.70.  Add in maybe a quarter for some milk, the margarine I got free (Thanks Country Crock!) and for $3.95 I feed my family of 5 plus my sister a hearty meal.  I even had some canned peaches and pears that I had canned (thanks to freecycle the fruit was free!).  Each person ate a full meal for less than 70 cents each!