Building a Grocery Stock Pile Equals Money in the Budget!

Hi Everyone!

Have you seen the show on TLC Extreme Couponing? Its crazy isn't it! We can't really do that here in Alpena. It is difficult, but I don't think I will ever be able to get out of Neman's with over $1000 worth of groceries for less than $50. I love Niemen's but they do not double coupons, the do not put out that many store coupons. These things make it impossible in this town to do this, and seriously, who needs 64 bottles of mustard!

Today I am going to talk about Grocery Stockpiling. I'm not talking about getting 6 to 8 months ot more of groceries stocked up. But about 6 to 8 weeks is a good number to strive for. Sales make circles. Pasta might be on sale (different brands) every 4 to 5 weeks at 10/$10. This is a good price. But say it is Barilla Pasta. In your coupon binder you have 5 buy 2 boxes, get $10 off. You just lowered your price on those boxes from 10/$10 to 10/$5. A 50% savings! Now if you had 10 of these coupons (buy buying inserts off Ebay or getting coupons from your friends and family members) you could get 20 boxes of Barilla Pasta for $10. If you eat pasta dishes twice a week (summer is coming, pasta salads, yum!) that is 10 weeks of pasta!

Step #1 Getting Started

• Take a look in your panty or your grocery lists. What non-perishables do you buy the most? Pasta? Salad Dressings? Mustard (ok.. I will stop with the mustard..)?
  

  
   

• Write it down. Write or estimate the approximate amount that you should or would go through in about 6 to 8 weeks time. This also depends on you storage space available. I am Lucky enough to have a large walk in pantry. My garage is being overtaken by diapers, wipes, and personal products (I am far from the extreme couponers)
  

  
   

• Look ahead. You get the Neman's Circular on Saturday. I am hoping to get a sneak peak the week before the ad comes out. If I do, I will try and keep you posted. See what is going to be on sale. Do they have 10 /$10 Pasta? Or juice? Eggs? Cheese? Sale on Frozen Veggies? Stock up! Think how Walmart gets before Alpena gets an inch of snow.. Yeah, go crazy! Before you actually shop, look up on a coupon database. See what coupons are available for that product. Pintables are great, but save your inserts! Buy a Detroit Free press! They have all 4 normal inserts (2 Smart Source, 2 Red Plum) and a P&G Brand Saver when they come in(only quarterly I think)
  

  
   

Step #2 Prepare

• Make a Plan. What do you have in the pantry? What is on sale that week? If you have a freezer or deep freezer (Awesome!), What is in there? Plan some meals with what is on sale and what is in your pantry.
  

  
   

• Make your Store Plan. Say Neiman's has Pasta, pasta sauce, and bread on sale that week. How much, honestly, can you store without taking over your living space or adding on to your house? If you have a deep freezer and you can get bread, decent bread, for $.99 a loaf, why not grab 10 loaves of bread and filling up a shelf or a tough Rubbermaid tote full of bread, throwing it all but what you will eat that week, in the freezer. I recommend totes because if, like me, you have a chest freezer, bread tends to get smushed.. Though Logan really like the funny shaped Almond Butter and jelly sandwiches they make..
  

  
   

• Make a list, Stick to it, and Do Not Go when you are hungry! Even if this means you must eat something before you go, do it..     
  

  
   

  • Write it down, seriously. Kind of like this..
    

Product		Sale Price		Coupons available		Price after coupons	Total Amount buying	Total Price
Bread, Aunt Millies Hearth Bread		.99 a loaf		$.50 off 5		$0.89	10 loaves	$8.90/10 loaves
Lunch Meat, Deli, Sarah Lee Ham		$1.49 lb		$0.50 off 1 lb		0.99/lb	5 lbs	$4.95/5lbs (freezes well)

 

Step #3

• If you build it, you will save! Every time a sale and a coupon match up, get it. You may spend more money a week initially, but just think, the week will come when all you have to do is buy 2 gallons of milk, some lettuce and fresh veggies for salad, and maybe some chicken, if its cheap, just because you know you need it. Guess what? You just got your groceries for $30 a week! That's 10lbs of chicken @$0.89, 2 Gallons of milk, close to $3.00 a gallon, and $29 worth of fresh produce!
  

 

• The Trick is to buy large amounts during a sale and have a coupon to match up. Say Oreo's are on sale. $2 for a package ( I think I saw some for 2/$5 last week) You have a super craving, like the worst pregnancy craving every. You have 4 $0.50 coupons. Buy all 4 packages for $1.50 each. Yeah, you won't eat them that week, but if you are preggers, you will have a similar craving. Get it?
  

  
   

Step 4

• Organize it. Don't put the freshest stuff at the front, put it in the back. Date it. I have a permanent marker hanging from a piece of yarn in my pantry (things disappear with a 2 year old..) Date it as you unload it; put it in the back of the shelf. You don't want to be eating 2 week old cheerios when there are 3 month old ones in the back..
  

  
   

• Chest/Deep Freezer. If you have one, you are in luck! Uprights (they have awesome things called shelves!) are great for organization, but cost a bit more to run (supposedly, I have used both, they both raise your electric bill about the same), but chest freezers freeze better. So you got 20 lbs of chicken at $0.69lb at Perch's? get yourself a vacuum packer, place in portions your family will eat, vacuum pack and freeze, making sure you label what it is and date it (once pulled out Venison, after it thawed, I realized it was the heart.. boy were the dogs lucky that night.. blech!)
  

  
   

Step 5

• Go Slow! Don't go out and spend $300 the first week! Spend $50 more than your normal, if you can. Use that $50 to buy extra of what you need that is on sale. It is not worth spending the money to stock pile without going slow. It may take you a while.
  

Step 6

• Enjoy! Once you are stocked up, why not hit those big sales and donate it, if you can? This is my eventual goal, to not only be able to get by on $40 to $50 a week for all necessities, but when I see a big sale and I don't need it that time by, to buy it anyway and donate it! That is why Extreme Couponing grosses me out. These people are more shopaholics than anything. They should donate anything that is over, say on the high side, 6 months more than they would need. There are people out there that truly need the food.