Taking Stock Part II: Edible
This is a new series on MoolaSavingMom.com all about stockpiles! For strategic couponers, a stockpile is the evidence of our hard work.
Last session we talked about taking stock of our personal care products stockpile. It’s a little easier to take stock of those products because they have a longer shelf life than some food products. Also their use is a bit more predictable- most of us brush our teeth everyday but we may not eat grits everyday!
Another reason it’s a bit harder is because we don’t usually have a consistent schedule of use of each pantry product. Most personal care products are used daily (well at least I hope so!) but we don’t use lentils everyday. What I do is make a list of all the items my family uses routinely. These are the “staples” in our pantries. Depending on your family’s tastes it can include items such as (these are just very few examples!):
- Canned Tomatoes
- Canned Fruit
- Instant Rice
- Juice
- Popcorn
- Chicken Broth
So generally what I do is make a master list of staples for my family. These are the items that I will stock up on whenever they hit their rock bottom price. I have compiled a list of commonly used pantry items. You can download it here: Taking Stock Part II
There are some really awesome resources to help determine how long items can stay on the shelves. Having 40 boxes of Cheerios is pointless is your family will only use two of them before they expire!
Sturdy Staples
Guide to Expiration Dates
Keep it or Toss it Guide
These resources are great because if you know that you eat Tacos every single Thursday for Taco Thursday’s then you may know you use one box of taco shells a week. A three money supply would be 12 boxes or a 6 month supply would be 24 boxes. Stocking up on any more may lead to expired product being wasted. Too few and a new sale may not run again and you may have to pay full price (or at least more than you’d like).
It’s a balancing act and it will take time and mistakes to find your perfect balance. No one ever rode a unicycle without a few falls….no couponer ever built a stockpile without a few falls either.
Spend a week or so determining what your need is – do you use a jug of juice every week. Look at the brand of juice you like (or the ones you are most likely to buy) how long is their shelf life? If you can get enough to fulfill your family’s needs for that time period- stock up. There is no magic formula unfortunately that we can just plug in our family size and get a nice list of how many of each item to buy.
Once you have enough of the product STOP buying it. There is no point in having 65 bottles of mustard on your shelves if your family barely uses one bottle a year! That is just looking for bragging rights ( I got 65 bottles of mustard for free!) and is wasteful.
If some thing is free (well almost free- in most states you pay Sales Tax on the PRE-coupon price!) most likely I will get it even if it is not something my family uses or if we are completely stocked because it’s important to me to donate to our local food banks.
I suggest looking through the pantry list (above) and taking note of any items you routinely buy. Those are the items you want to stock up on. Estimate how many of each product you will use within a month. Most pantry items have at least a 3 month shelf life so stocking up on 3 months is a good idea.
Some products’ shelf lives are so long that I stock up as much as possible without worrying about my family’s use:
- Laundry Detergent
- Dish Soap
- Dishwashing Tabs
- Paper Towels
- Bath Tissue
- Kleenex
Next up: Organization!
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