Buy in bulk/stock pile tribe - Page 18

[Juvysen]

Anyone stockpiling in case of quarantine issues that may eventually be related to swine flu?

[SeekingJoy]

Not really. I just re-organized/re-inventoried my pantry stockpile. We would be fine for 3+ months, despite not really making any bulk purchases in more than a month. Now, if I didn't have this food, I certainly would be.

[Ianthe]

Originally Posted by Juvysen

Anyone stockpiling in case of quarantine issues that may eventually be related to swine flu?

I stockpile for a variety of reasons, emergency preparedness is one of them

Thanks for the bump! I've missed this thread!

On a personal note, I am SOOOOO excited Costco accepts food stamps now! (DH got laid off last month)

[Aubergine68]

Originally Posted by LizzyQ

I stockpile for a variety of reasons, emergency preparedness is one of them

This.

I did a lot of home canning and freezing of produce in September and October, which means that my pantry is pretty full right now as it is. If it turns out that we need a stockpile for quarantine reasons, we could certainly consider ourselves prepared.

[Juvysen]

My stockpile has sadly waned over the summer, because I got pregnant and we had to start paying for the homebirth and preparing to buy a larger car I'm somewhat freaked out over this. I think we could probably reasonably do a month... more than that would be pushing it. *sigh*

[AllysonB]

I am pretty new to this, but have become quickly addicted to this way of thinking. It is only me and my boys. We are on FS and have never had such an abundance of food. I don't know where to put alot of it, since we have had to downgrade to 900 sf. I am still learning about storing all of it though. For example if I store grains/rice in a 3/5 gallon bucket, does it need to be in a bag/pillowcase also? I would likely be getting into it to fill up the cabinet stock, so maybe 1-2 times a month?

[frugalmama]

we are stockpilers too - I probably have enough to last us a year or so in the house.

[happyhats]

I've just gotten into stockpiling, as well as couponing. I don't know why I never lived this way before. I thought I didn't have the room. I thought that couponing was a hassle. Granted, I don't coupon like some people. I haven't run out of the store with two or three hundred dollars of groceries for twenty dollars. But we DO have two hundred dollars of our grocery budget left over and thats with occasional splurges.

I enjoy knowing I can eat out of my home for a long time. It defenitely saves money and makes me feel less of a slave to the grocery store. Right now there's not been a lot of great sales, and it's awesome knowing I can go without shopping until we go to Costco next week.

I also got more into stockpiling recently because we will soon be without foodstamps. That sounds like I just spent money willy knilly because I had aid, but that's not what I mean. We're not making that much more, really, so we do have to be careful. Also, not relying on food stamps to eat opens up a lot more possibilities, as there are a lot of u pick farms and stands on the side of the road, etc that we couldn't take advantage of. This year we can. And we can especially take advantage of it if we know we have enough meat, cereal, milk, grains, etc already saved up for us.

For me, it's also a matter of waste. Buying that fifty pound bucket of sugar means I don't buy a lot of little bags. It ALSO means I'm more likely to cook a sweet from scratch. Same with potatoes, grains, other produce. I'm not running to the store, or running out for fast food NEARLY as often because I have so many options right at home.

[Amys1st]

Originally Posted by Juvysen

Anyone stockpiling in case of quarantine issues that may eventually be related to swine flu?

Wow, reviving my old thread!

Well not really related, but I just got a whole hog this week, and I cannot tell you how many swine flu jokes I have received from it.

[Juvysen]

Originally Posted by Amys1st

Wow, reviving my old thread!

Well not really related, but I just got a whole hog this week, and I cannot tell you how many swine flu jokes I have received from it.

Love it

Well, I didn't revive the thread - the person before me did, but it reminded me to ask if anyone's leaning that direction.

[frugalmama]

Originally Posted by happyhats

I've just gotten into stockpiling, as well as couponing.

We do the same - have for years now.

Only dilemma is what to do with the large amounts of free after coupon things that we don't use a ton of.

Could we talk on this thread about using it up? Or shall I start a new thread?

[Leta]

We've been on a self imposed semi-quarantine, and I have been grateful for our stockpile, I'll tell you what.

Several little kids on this street have gotten H1N1, and our school district, as well as the very close by neighboring district both shut down for about a week due to the high number of kids with the flu.

However, that means I'm going to spend more $$$ than usual tomorrow when I go shopping, because we are actually out of stuff like butter and coffee (we almost never run out of these items, just rotate thru), plus Thanksgiving is coming and I want to do some Christmas shopping... sigh.

The good news is that the grains and legumes and veggies and condiments have all held out, I still have plenty of these.

Over the past two weeks, I have made succotash and hoppin' john and mujadara and pasta fagiole and pea soup and chili and veggie sloppy joes (lentils) and black bean/brown rice burritos, all very vegetable heavy meals, based around legumes and grain, completely out of the pantry, so I'm feeling good about that. Interestingly, carnivorous DH has been loving it. All I have to do is melt a couple tablespoons of bacon fat into a "boring" vegetarian meal, and he's happy.

[Amys1st]

Leta, do you live near me, I want to come for breakfast, lunch, and dinner!

LAst spring when Easter and passover were in the same week, the grocery sales were incredible here. One local store had the pasta I normally buy on sale for 79 cents for a 1 lb bag. I bought 20 bags. We just finished that up this week. And my kids eat pasta at least twice a week. I bought 4 bags of each: elbow (mac n cheese), mostochooli (tunnels as dd calls them) rotinni, and a few others. So now will buy a few but wait until they do another sale and buy it again! So for under $20, I fed my family meals for 6 mos at least twice a week. This includes pasta salad with home made dressing, veggies from my garden, mac n cheese, baked pasta dishes which cost about $4 extra to make and can feed 10.

[KayTeeJay]

Wow, you mamas are amazing! I am just beginning my foray into bulk buying and cooking in advance/freezing and everything. I have really never couponed either, and when I look at my budget, I KNOW it is costing me money.

I admittedly havent' been through the thread to see if this has been discussed already, but does anyone have advice on the best containers for bulk flour, sugar, etc...? And does anyone have any recipes for hearty dishes made with beans or lentils that I could make for a hard-working, meat-loving man?

[frugalmama]

Originally Posted by Amys1st

One local store had the pasta I normally buy on sale for 79 cents for a 1 lb bag. I bought 20 bags.

wow - this really shows me how widely prices vary from place to place. I normally pay .79/lb for pasta, and often catch it on sale for .59/lb.

That's for plain cheap pasta though.

[Amys1st]

Its the store brand so it would be considered more cheaper pasta. But the quality and taste is right up there so we always buy it.

Now the biggest challenge I have right now, is the freezer. We bought our whole pig. Its taken up about 60% of the fridge right now. Need to make room for the beef coming in Feb. I can store about 30 lbs of the ground beef upstairs in the normal freezer, but the other stuff might be crazy for a while. So we plan on eating a larger ham (tried thanksgiving to no avial) and some of the other stuff at least once a week for a while. Should not be hard, considering this pork is so so yummy!

[Leta]

You know your toddler lives a stockpiling house when...

"Mo-om! I need moos juice! Pease!"

"We're out of juice right now, babe."

"Mama, get juice fromma base-ent."

"We're even out of juice in the basement. I'll get more later today when I go shopping."

"No juice inna base-ent?"

"Nope. We finished the last can this morning."

*Long pause*

"But, Mama... We not get juice atta store. We get eggs an 'nanas atta store. We get juice fromma base-ent!"

She cracks me up.

In other news, I went shopping today and spent $235! Eek! And I forgot coffee, grumble, grumble.

Breakdown:

$50 new wireless router
$65 for 36# unsalted butter
$15 gallon giardinerra
$2 4 rolls
$3 1/4# fancy lunchmeat
$12 three giant bags of cereal
$7 my lunch on the fly
$9 quick dinner at home
$12 ten cans juice concentrate
$8 25# flour
$5 10# sugar
$6 3# chocolate chips (unplanned but on sale)
$4 2# walnuts (unplanned but on sale)
$5 gallon of dill pickles (our homemade pickles spoiled )
$10 new razor and five blades for DH
$6 eight toothbrushes
$4 DH's deoderant
$1 loose leaf
$1 bathtub hair catcher
$1 photos
$2 Qtips
$3 picture frame
$6 brown leggings for me

I've already spent $30 this month- eggs, produce, two pairs of shoes from Goodwill for DD, sewing supplies- so after today, I have $80 left in my household budget for the rest of the month. Once I buy coffee, I'll have about $70 left. That should be fine, tho', especially as I get WIC again on the 22nd.

[mrsjtc]

My hubby is getting an unexpected $1000 bonus next Friday (apart from his Christmas bonus - his boss is awesome!) and I think we're going to spend some of it on stock piling.

I'd love some ideas! We have a freezer full of grassfed beef, canned fruits and some tomatos from our garden, 50 lb. oats, 25 lb. popcorn, 100 lb. potatos and then just some random boxes of pasta and cereal.

I'm hoping he'll want to spend around $200 on stockpiling. Ideas?! Lists? Load my basement, ladies! I'm SO excited to do this!!

ETA: We're big meat and cheese eaters, not so much with legumes. I like them for lunches but I can't pass it off as dinners too many nights each week. I bake mostly from scratch and will probably buy 50lb. ww flour and 50 lb. AP flour. We also have 100 lb. wheat berries, anyone know other ways I can use those until we replace our wheat grinder?

[Hazelnut]

What kinds/how many storage tubs does it require for that level of storage, can I ask? I don't have that much, but I'd like to get some more.

[jewellz]

Subbing. This is me. I have a whole (bed)room dedicated to food. Tons of shelving and even a shelf just for cans that FIL made. We have food allergies so have to be prepared incase something happens and wouldn't be able to borrow food from neighbors or something like that.