When to replensish stockpile items?

[crunchy_mama]

So- this is where I struggle. I buy lots of things in bulk but I wait until they get down low or I run out a lot of times before I replace them. So- I could at any given time have either none of something OR a 1 yr supply. Not very smart huh? In an effort to get more organized and such I have been thinking about this- how much do I want/need at a time? The supply is of course still going to vary according to the time- I guess what I need to figure out is what is the base supply I want. Right now I am thinking on coconut oil- I used the refined for most of my everyday cooking. I could use animal fat- but it is not easy to come by the good stuff and well I am lazy. So- I started buying the coconut oil in 5 gal pails- right now I am down to about 50%- I bought it about 3 months ago- so 5 gals is about a 6 month supply at current usage- although I could definitely cut my usage down as I am VERY liberal with it.

[JTA Mom]

I think it's a factor of amount & longevity. How long is coconut oil good for? If only a year, and 5 lbs is a 6 mos supply, you don't want to buy another bucket until you are at least 50% through to avoid spoilage. This way, if you buy a new bucket once your first is 50% gone, you will use up the new bucket in 9 mos (3mos for first bucket, buy new one, use up first (6 mos) start using new one (at 6 mos marker, but by now it's 3 mos old, so only 9 useful months left).

Things that store indefinitely--wheat, white flour, white rice, etc, I'd go more on how much you use & where your comfort level rests. Say, do you start thinking about buying more once you've used 25%, 50% 75% up? Also, how fast do you use it? For example, in terms of pasta, we use about half a bag a week. Once I get to only 2 bags left, I know I have 4 weeks of pasta left. I usually get more then because a month buffer is as close as I want to get.

I buy a lot on sale, so it's flexible. If I see a great sale on pasta when I still have 6-8 weeks of it left, I'll stock up then. There aren't really hard & fast rules for 'when' to buy more, as long as you take useful life into account.

hth!

Ami

[crunchy_mama]

Thanks for the idea- I went ahead and ordered the oil- what I have doesn't expire til 2011.

[Usually Curious]

Originally Posted by crunchy_mama

Thanks for the idea- I went ahead and ordered the oil- what I have doesn't expire til 2011.

Where do you order 5 gallon buckets of coconut oil? TIA

[crunchy_mama]

I bought it from Tropical Traditions. Last time I ordered from Wilderness Family Naturals- but then someone was saying that their's was not the best quality- anyway TT had a great deal on it- and everyuthing I read says they are good quality.

[Ianthe]

If I have 2 packages of something, I replace one when I open a new one, for example- if I have 2 gallons of olive oil, and I open one of them, I will buy another one to replace the one I opened.

Or if I have 10 packages of pasta (we use a lot of pasta) I will replace it when it is halfway used, or I might just replace as I am using it.. if I use 2 a week, I'll restock those 2 on my next big shopping trip so that I am back to the original 10 packages.

[annettemarie]

Moving to Mindful Home Management

[krankedyann]

I stock based on the sales. Buy enough to get me through until I expect the next sale. If it's an item that never goes on sale or a sale isn't timed as I expect it, I replace it as I use it. If I come on an unexpected good deal, I get as much as I have space for or can afford. We have a local salvage that carried organics, so I do just as much of it as I can when I find things, because their prices are up to 75% off normal prices, and a lot of the time it's just something like a dented box. Their stock isn't reliable, so when you see something at a good price, you get all you can afford because who knows when they'll have it in again.

If it's bought in 25 pound or more increments, I buy once I'm one-third to one-half of the way through it, depending on how easy it is for me to get. Sometimes I have to order things with my co-op several months in a row to be able to get something in.

[mamadelbosque]

I'm trying to gradually build up a supply where whatever my quantity is that I want to *always* have (say, 25# of beans, or 50# of wheat), I have enough storage to store 2x that, so that as I rotate through it, I sometimes have 50# of beans, but always at least 25#.

[velochic]

I never have just one of anything. Once I had my stockpile where I wanted it, I replace as I use. One for one.

[mamadelbosque]

Right, but if your buying in bulk then you can't just buy 1# of beans everytime you use 1# of beans It'd defeat the whole purpose of having bulk storage

[velochic]

Originally Posted by mamadelbosque

Right, but if your buying in bulk then you can't just buy 1# of beans everytime you use 1# of beans It'd defeat the whole purpose of having bulk storage

Well, in my case, bulk doesn't matter as I have a one-year stockpile. I still replace when I use one up. For example, right now we have about 110# of rice. We go through about #10 per month... I just replace every other month with a new #20 bag. The only thing we "run out" of is beef as we buy a side per year.

[crunchy_mama]

aha- but what about stuff you buy in superbulk- like 6 mo to 1 yr at a time? I buy my whole supply of chickens for the year- they don't butcher year round- although I guess the idea is that dh should hopefully get a deer or 2 in Nov and then we get our chickens around May- so then it would naturally round out that way.

[velochic]

Originally Posted by crunchy_mama

aha- but what about stuff you buy in superbulk- like 6 mo to 1 yr at a time? I buy my whole supply of chickens for the year- they don't butcher year round- although I guess the idea is that dh should hopefully get a deer or 2 in Nov and then we get our chickens around May- so then it would naturally round out that way.

I mentioned that in my previous post... beef is the only thing we buy in super bulk and I replenish it once a year. That's just us, but because of processing fees, it doesn't make financial sense to buy it more often and smaller amounts. We buy from a friend, so even in a SHTF scenario, we'd still be able to get the beef.

[Jyotsna]

I'm still in the "building phase" of my food storage. I'm about to move into month three of my plan, having purchased something major each month, along with all of my regular bulk purchases. This month I purchased 25# of rice. We eat about 8 - 10 lbs of rice (this is a staple food for us as we eat Indian food regularly, and when we don't eat Indian, we are still eating vegetarian all the time). I haven't used any of the 25# of rice yet, since we still had 10 lbs we were using, so we really had 35lbs of rice. Anyway, once we have used 15 - 18 lbs of rice, I'll re-fill. I plan to buy 50lbs of rice next time. I just didn't have 50lbs of storage space.

My plan is to buy one major bulk item each month till I have the bases of my pantry. At the same time, I will replace each item when it is halfway used. It's important to replace the item before you have used it up 1/2 of it, or else there is no point in buying in bulk. You don't want to end up with an all or nothing situation, where you have feast or famine. That is just what most of us are trying to prevent.

I'm not going to run to the store to replace my tomatoes that we ate more than we should have tomarrow, but when I go to the store next, I will purchase enough to replace, plus some. '

Okay, it's too late at night to be clear. Darn.

[crunchy_mama]

I do appreciate everyone's thoughts. I guess my stockpiling is different than others. I don't have a local coop. Lots of things I buy in a big amt at one time. Like some noodles I get from Trader Joes- I get those when we go to St. Louis a few times a year- I cannot just buy them when I use them as it is 2 hrs away. The problem w/ planning that is our trips up there are sporadic. Just more I need to think about and plan out and prepare for the worst. WE are still working on getting settled into this diet, so it is taking a bit to see what and how much I use of different things.