Why are people stockpiling?

[Amila]

Call me naive- are people doing this because of the rising costs of food? Or because you think that it will become unavailable? I honestly don't know. Thanks.

[PapayaMom]

I personally believe it is related to peak oil. Actually there was a story on yahoo this morning about it.
http://green.yahoo.com/news/ap/20080...vivalists.html

It is scary if you think about it and there are a lot of frightening websites about it.

[velochic]

I stockpile because my parents grew up during the depression and they taught me that it is more cost effective.

By having an adequate pantry, you are not forced to make purchases when items are needed, but not on sale. Also, no trips to the store for that one item you forgot... saving on fuel costs.

During natural disasters, you are prepared.

With the cost of diesel, trucking strikes wouldn't affect you.

I particularly like growing my own food and putting it up because I know EXACTLY what goes into it.

And yes... there may periods of time when only local foods are available.

[jeca]

I think it's to help out for when the prices go up even more. I bought a deep freezer for that very reason.

[Pancakes]

I have a minimal stockpile, but I do it because I'll buy 10-30 of something when it's on sale. If I know we'll need it, and it's cheap, why not buy 30 of them? It's also comforting that if we ever get into a situation where we are unable to afford food or unable to access food, we'll have it.

[enkmom]

I do it because we have had BIG, unexpected expenses in the last few months, and having plenty of food in storage has enabled us to eat well with very minimal expense. When my cash flow is not as tight again, I will rebuild the stockpile. Knowing we can eat no matter what else happens gives me great peace of mind.

[A&A]

For example, the maple syrup I buy at Costco (64 oz.) has gone from $16 to $20 to $22 in the last year. So if I buy a couple extra, I'm saving myself the difference of whatever it will go up to next. Groceries could triple in the next four years.

[fresh_water]

We do it because this last winter was scarily sparse as far as money goes. We bought groceries but weren't always able to pay bills. It was food or bills. Not both. I can't do that again. We don't know what this coming winter will hold as far as DH's job is concerned but we just can't live that way again. We have the capacity to buy extra food now and throughout the summer, so we will. We are preparing for a worst case financial scenario.

[katheek77]

Originally Posted by velochic

I stockpile because my parents grew up during the depression and they taught me that it is more cost effective.

By having an adequate pantry, you are not forced to make purchases when items are needed, but not on sale. Also, no trips to the store for that one item you forgot... saving on fuel costs.

During natural disasters, you are prepared.

With the cost of diesel, trucking strikes wouldn't affect you.

I particularly like growing my own food and putting it up because I know EXACTLY what goes into it.

And yes... there may periods of time when only local foods are available.

: All that.

I grew up that way - with stockpiles, so to speak. Velochic mentioned something a few weeks back about most people not having even a 2 week supply of food on hand, and I was floored. I mean, I understand most people don't have six months or something, but, everyone I knew growing up had at *least* 2 weeks worth of food in the house...even my best friend's family, and they were on welfare for a time...

[Paxjourney]

I don't stockpile, I do try to keep on hand a stocked pantry of foods we normally eat. A few reasons why I do: It cuts down on needless drives to the grocery store, By buying somethings in a larger quanity that we use daily/weekly I know we are set for dinner that night. I hate to grocery shop so if I see that ketchup is on sale for 79 cents then I'll buy 5 or 6. For our family thats like a 6-9mo supply then I don't think about ketchup again until we are down to 1-2. I always have some pasta around and extra sauce. Quick meals in a flash. So while we don't have 2 + years of wheat in a bucket (um not even sure I would ever want 2 years wheat) we do have 45days or so of oatmeal since thats what my kids love to eat.

[greenluv]

We do it just because we can make our money go so much further if we plan ahead and buy on sale and with coupons. We then keep an inventory of what I already have on hand and all of our meals come from the inventory list.

A few weeks ago bacon was an unadvertised special for .99 cents a package at my local grocery store so I ended up buying 30+ packages over the week. Keeping track of what's on sale allowed me to buy still more bacon for $1 a package because it went on sale 2/$4 and I had $2 off one coupons.

I have lots of bacon on hand, but this will be used for salads and added to baked potato soup etc. which keeps the overall price of the meals I make way low. Eating well without going broke doing it is also kind of fun

[MorganRiley]

I am not suddenly stockpiling because of media doom about the economy

I always stockpile

It saves gas, time and effort of repeated trips to the store during any given week

It allows me to be flexible and prepared in my meal planning...and spontaneous

I buy LOTS of something when its on sale

I buy BIG bags of stuff like flour, sugar, rice, dog food...because its cheaper than buying small bags and I have room to store it in my basement pantry

[Norasmomma]

Well I always have had a decently stocked home, but recently we had some gaps in our income last winter and so I have begun a stock pile because of that. I used some of our stimulus $$ to buy extras of things we use that were an excellent price. Like the pp I bought a huge bag of dog food because it was cheap(we have 2, I'd like more I've got big dogs). I have bought cans of tomatoes, salad dressings, pasta, meats, powdered milk and many other items because frankly sometimes we have little $$ in the winter. We always have HUGE expenses in October(when winter comes in the NW), so it makes sense to me to get as much as we can now, at least things that have a long shelf life. I live in the country far from town and I want to go there as little as possible, the less we drive the more we save, even if that means spending a few more $$ at the store. Last March was a little bleak for us, and if we can make our emergency fund a little bigger, and our food and household stash the same it would help our family breathe a little easier when those times of less are here. That's why we are doing these things. I also always keep track of sales and buy accordingly, so that means sometimes it's 10 lbs of bacon or burger, I have a freezer and can keep a lot of food in my home, plus I like to be able to make a meal plan AND not really have to go to the store.

[Belleweather]

We generally try to keep a good pantry on hand, but we're increasing it for a couple of reasons:

1. Food prices are likely to keep increasing, so we're locking in today's cheaper prices on stuff we use a lot of.

2. It's kind of a hedge against higher heating prices -- our power bills are about half what they are in the winter during the spring and summer, so we buy a ton of staples and put up fruits and veggies and reduce our grocery spending in the winter.

3. It's also insurance. If something goes completely to cock and we have no money (job loss, really is what I'm worried about) I feel a ton better knowing that we've got enough rice, beans, pasta, flour, speghetti sauce, etc. to keep us from starving. We had to really rely on that when DH and I were both out of a job last summer, and it saved our asses. I don't want to be without that safety net again, and would love to increase it.

[annethcz]

I've always tried to keep a stocked pantry. I grew up in a house with frugal parents who always had a stocked pantry, and it would seem strange to me not to have much food in the house. It also seems to simplify my life to have needed items on hand, and not to have to run to the store all of the time.

[sanguine_speed]

We don't stockpile. We are limited in space. However, I do buy larger quantities of foods we use more often. I don't call that stockpiling, though.

[justmama]

we are stockpiling food as well. I have been for a while now. I always keep a stocked pantry and it has saved us in the past when things have happened financially and we haven't been able to afford much. But lately with food getting so expensive when I see things that are non-perishable on sale, I stock up because it's a safe bet to say that food prices won't be going down anytime soon and my income won't be going up.

[Kaitnbugsmom]

I stockpile because there are 5 sometimes up to 7 of us in this household and we go through alot of food, and also because I have always bought in bulk whenever possible, especialy meats and dry goods, because it's how I was raised. I have went long stretches where it was a roof over our head and heat within or food on the table and a roof over the table, but no heat. That sucked and I pray to never see those days again

[Treasuremapper]

We dont stockpile, but recently I started buying two backups of everything we buy on a regular basis. We have a big pantry, and it cuts down on the stress of running out of some critical ingredient and being forced to go to the store. A few weeks ago it came in handy when one of my daughters was very ill and I could not go shopping at the regular time. I was able to coast for a week, even using frozen bread and frozen veggies that I keep as a backup.

[mamamilkers]

We don't either, mostly from lack of space. We live in a small apartment and, well, we'll be SOL if anything really big goes down!