Over the last couple of years there has been a lot of talk on social media about stockpiling. Just about every frugal / thrifty/ prepper YouTuber has multiple videos out saying " stock these 25 items NOW !! " Or " Buy this NOW !! " If you listen to them all you'd be running to the supermarket to grab just about anything.
My advise is to stockpile slowly ( but not too slowly ), surely and all year round. Please don't wait until there is a shortage of something. Don't wait until you see a news article about weather events or coming shortages. Don't wait until you are running low on something. You just never know what's around the corner and you can't predict growing conditions or worldwide sicknesses.
As a stockpiler of over 25 years, I've been able to ride out the recent shortages with little to no disruptions to my monthly shopping trips. If something's not on the supermarket shelf for a while, that's ok. I have plenty of backups.
Am I rich because I have a stockpile ? NOPE !!! Up until recently our income was what the government considers a VERY low income. Now we are considered low income. I've just made sure I looked out for the sales, knew my prices and mostly bought ingredients.
Do we have a big home ? NOPE !!! We live in a 15sq, 3 bedroom home with a carport ( no garage storing facilities ). Even when our girls were living at home and in 2020 having 6 people and a cat living here, we still had a very healthy stockpile.
Stockpiling is a way of life that looks after your family. Nothing is more important.
While I don't post photos of my stockpile now, here are some old photos of items I've stocked up on.
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| One of my monthly shops from years ago |
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| $1 each on clearance, |
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| 1/2 price and I dilute them |
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| 1/2 price and I dilute them |
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| Laundry soap to make laundry powder |
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| Knitting cotton 1/2 price to make dish cloths |
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| 1/2 price for casseroles only. |
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| 1/2 price and an everyday item. |
Are you an long time stockpiler or a recent one ?
What's your strategy for keeping your stocks up ?
Links to previous stockpiling articles
Good info. I think everyone should do this. You buy like I do.
ReplyDeleteHi Wendy, I have been a fan of your blog forever, don’t usually comment. Thank you for the time and effort you spend on this blog, I have learned a lot, and sometimes just gotten a bit of inspiration to do a bit more. I had a stockpile of probably six-8 months food and supplies when my husband passed in December. Over the past few months I have given huge amounts to the food pantry. I eat maybe 1/3 of what we used to eat, and many items were for him. Once I get back to normal I will restock what I need. But I agree, in normal times, I just replenished based on sales. Hilogene in Az.
ReplyDeleteI'm so sorry to hear of your husband's passing Hilogene. My Dad passed away in April last year and my Mum had a good stockpile of food. She's had to reduce what she had and stock what she eats. My sister and I have received all sorts of food items from my Mum and our church's charity pantry has received items too. It will take time to sort out what you want to stock and to get into a new routine. I'll be praying for you xoxo
DeleteWendy do the Lindt bunnies go off after a while? Do you store them to next Easter? I thought chocolate had a reasonably short use by date. I have always admired how you and Darren keep your home. Pretty , clean and homey.
ReplyDeleteThe Lindt bunnies last a year and in previous years we have kept some for the next Easter. Unfortunately Kmart did not have Lindt bunnies in stock this year.
DeleteThe only things I worry about running out of are milk and flour. I always have powdered milk on hand but flour was hard!
ReplyDeleteGwen, it's hard to keep enough flour for all our baking needs.
DeleteI have always prepared for a bad winter here in the UK but now I prepare all year round.
ReplyDeleteYes, I stockpile, just like you: I know my prices and know when something is a good deal. Once I realised most items are on sale in the same month every year, I kept an eye out for the good deals and bought / buy enough to last me to (at least) the next sale.
ReplyDeleteEven when I was a student, living in a studio, I had '1 in use, 1 in the pantry'. But that was more because I was afraid to run out.
I'm currently living in Belgium, where by law companies have to make a profit, so really good deals - also known as 'loss leaders' - never happen.
Siebrie, loss leaders haven't been on our supermarket shelves for years. Pretty much all our groceries I buy are basic ingredients that never come on sale.
DeleteVery wise. You can't afford not to Wendy!
ReplyDeleteAgree 100%
ReplyDeleteI don't consider myself a stockpiler,(just a calculating buyer) but one year when Son1 was visiting he opened one of the pantries and wanted to know when I was expecting the Apocalypse
ReplyDeleteHow big is your house? 15 s seems extremely small, unless your measurements are far different from the US. Our home is 1440 square feet. Is that about the same size?
ReplyDeleteHi Annette. If I've Googled correctly 15 squares is 139 metres square which is 1496 square feet. Put it this way, we live in a 3 bedroom , 2 bathroom, 2 small living area home. The measurement doesn't include our double carport. For Australia, a 15 square home is small. Most new builds now are 30 squares +.
DeleteWe live in a small home too. Currently much is out of control. When my children were at home I kept far more food. Having the buffer kept us out food poverty multiple times. I am constantly trying to improve things in within the house.
DeleteWendy,
DeleteLove your blog and your way of life. This is a wonderful post.
Our home in California is old and also quite small. 1250 square feet, but we do have a garage. We have quite a large stockpile that I started when raising our son and my husband’s income was unreliable. At one point we had 5 adults living here!
I still home can as much food as possible, but I no longer add to the long term food (freeze dried mostly). I do buy in bulk items like dry beans, popcorn, sugar, etc. I keep extra new items like underwear and sox on hand.
I keep the freezers full and rotate the foods we use regularly, as well and toiletries, cleaners, toilet tissue, etc. This allowed me to bless friends and colleagues during the shortages of the pandemic.
Living this way has allowed us to buy a retirement home (in partnership with my mom) where we spend all our vacations and mom spends about half her time there as well. That home has blessed us with a place to go and live exactly as we wish. I am still building the stockpile there. Such wonderful peace of mind with a stockpile.
It is about the size of your home, I think with a detached garage. We get hailstorms there, so a garage is a good investment.
Blessings to you all.
We have been stockpiling, as you call it, for 51 years! We use our stockpile continuously and replenish it when the price is right! Here in our part of US, we seem to be better off than many other parts of the world (or maybe I’m just blissfully ignorant!) Because I live in a large capital city, I have many options of where to buy food. I just was on a free app for discounted foods at 2 of our big grocery chains and bought 8 three pound (1.36 K) packages of 81% lean ground beef (mince) discounted to $1.60/ pound ($2.53/pound or $7.18 AU for 1.36 K packages). That’s a very good price these days for us!
ReplyDeleteBut buying up while on sale keeps us from buying when it’s not a great price!
Timely post from you, as usual!❤️
Gardenpat in Ohio
Pat, we stockpile just like you do. I will say we had to live off our stockpile more in 2019 due to our income being so low that year. When the panic buying hit in March 2020, our stockpile was a little on the low side. I did make more trips to the supermarket just to build up those basic supplies when I saw them on the shelf.
DeleteThat price for mince is amazing. Our main 2 supermarkets have been selling it for $14kg and recently it's dropped to $12kg. Still very expensive. Thankfully I bought heaps on clearance for about $2.60kg early last year and I've been rationing it out.
Thank you, Wendy. Our house is about the same size. Smallish but plenty for 2 empty nesters. We didn't borrow as much as we were qualified for, so it was easy to pay off.
ReplyDeleteYes our home is small but not too small and we use every room. None of this media room business or butler panty to put everything on display. Our home was bought in 1994 at the bottom of the market when interest rates were about 8 or 9% and went up to 11% before falling. We have been completely debt free since 2010.
DeleteMy mother-in-law taught me how to keep a deep pantry many (many) years ago. We live in the country and I can't run to the store on a whim. This winter I added 2 large metal shelves to the basement pantry for store bought items and all my home-canned jars are off the kitchen along with the items I use frequently. I probably have enough on hand for 1+ years plus our 2 freezers of meats and frozen fruit & veg. I have flour and sugar (we eat little of that anymore) for bartering and blessing others, if needed.
ReplyDelete