Dithering - shall I keep a store cupboard?

debtfreein4years

Im early 20's and i have a huge stockpile of food and could probably go 2 months possibly 3 with what i have in the cupboards. I stockpile more when oh isnt here as it works out much cheaper for us to buy the things he likes when they are on offer. i shop a fair bit at costco so have to buy things in bulk to get the best value.

i probably dont need to stockpile food but i like knowing that if the fridge is bare (it most often is when its just me) that i can sort myself out a decent meal with whats in the cupboards and freezer.

i dont know why i stockpile as we had plenty when growing up i think its just become habit and i like knowing that ive got plenty to keep us going if times ever got dire.

Athome1

It's so nice to read replies from like minded people! I love my stores and it certainly does give me a feeling of security. As a child there was never any money for treats and like one or two other posters my mother was a very poor and unimaginative cook - I suppose I should be grateful as it has made me be the exact opposite!!

I'm off for a op on my mouth tomorrow :eek:and I've pre-warned the family that they may have to eat plated meals until I'm ready to return to the kitchen:D

Hope everyone is having a lovely Sunday.:beer:

LittleMissAspie

My parents stockpile, I blame the fact they grew up during rationing. Their cupboards are all full to the brim, fridge freezer is full to the brim (don't take anything out of the fridge because you'll never work out how to fit it back in) and they even have a tall freezer, also completely full. In addition there are bowls on the worktops with fruit or veg in them. I don't know how they aren't fat, the amount of food they buy.

I couldn't stand for my house to be like that. I try to only buy what we need. We do a monthly shop for non-fridge items then get veg or dairy as we need it. I will only buy more than one month's worth if it works out a LOT cheaper than usual. I don't like cluttered cupboards.

Barneysmom

I've got a stockpile. My hubby thought I'd lost the plot when I'd got loads bottles of Fairy liquid, I bought them when they were 3 for £2. Now they're 95p each I'm glad I did.
And Napolina tinned tomatoes are outragiously overpriced. I got loads when they were 8 for £2, now they're 4 for £2.
It does work if you're canny and if one of the aims is to beat the supermakrets at their own game.
If we stall on buying the stuff such as Kenco and Yorkshire tea bags, really hold back, they'll have to drop the price, it'll get close to the use by date. Then we go in and make a killing.
I'm pretty ruthless now when it comes to shopping, I want to buy stuff at a fair price and just won't pay if I think it's over the odds. I've been so broke in the past I've had to live on Cornflakes.
It's not all about saving money for me, it's the challenge of beating the big boys and trying to be one step ahead of them :cool:

[Deleted User]

tori.k wrote: »

, as ive challenged my mum to run her store down i think she still shops for five even tho we all long flew the coup

add me to the list. :rotfl: I came through the 70s 80s and 90s with a well stocked storecupboard but I can`t get it out of my system either. I have packages and tins stashed away, enough to feed us for a good few months. It really is like sitting on a cash pile and I have got to STOP. I mean, do 2 of us really need 12 tins of chopped tomatoes just because they were on special offer

Its an addiction and I need to be weaned off it

well maybe after the flu scare oh and then its winter and we might be snowed in

juliapenguin

I've always stored lots of food, but recently I've moved to a small apartment in the city centre and there is very, very little storage space in the kitchen area (what there is is super trendy and gorgeous, but it's ridiculously small!). I've had to give up my old habits and just buy small quantities of food, as and when we need it.

I've not exactly worked it out yet, but I don't think we're spending much more, as there is zero waste. By waste, I don't just mean throwing food away, I also mean eating something up when I'm not genuinely hungry just because it's there and needs using up, as I have more than enough 'waste' on my body as it is....if you know what I mean!

Anyway, I'm feeling pleased with myself today because the Tesco 'eat for 2 for £9' offer thingy included their Finest Moussaka, which is absolutely gorgeous, as well as as a £10.99 bottle of sparkling wine. I'm writing my final dissertation for my MA at the moment, and had been planning to crack open a bottle of champagne-type wine to celebrate when I finish - sorted!

Ches

juliapenguin wrote: »

I've always stored lots of food, but recently I've moved to a small apartment in the city centre and there is very, very little storage space in the kitchen area (what there is is super trendy and gorgeous, but it's ridiculously small!). I've had to give up my old habits and just buy small quantities of food, as and when we need it.

I've not exactly worked it out yet, but I don't think we're spending much more, as there is zero waste. By waste, I don't just mean throwing food away, I also mean eating something up when I'm not genuinely hungry just because it's there and needs using up, as I have more than enough 'waste' on my body as it is....if you know what I mean!

QUOTE]


This is exactly what I meant when I started this thread. If you are not spending more than you were when stockpiling then it does seem the way to go. For me anyway. Stocks don't have to go to zero but can be reduced. Having the same housekeeping money every week would restrict the bulk buying of things just because they are on offer and surely this would be money saving because you would automatically stretch whatever is left to make it to the next housekeeping payment day. With bulk stocks you do not have to do this.

Bennifred

milliemonster wrote: »

I have a huge walk in pantry/larder that is overflowing! but yes I blame my food hoarding on my late mother bless her, I was born in the seventies but we never had a lot of money growing up and my mum was very thrifty!, she would only shop once a week, would not deviate from her shopping list, we had the same meals on the same day week in week out (so Mondays would be chicken pie, tuesday bacon and eggs etc), she would only buy 1 box of cereal each week and we wouldn't be allowed any other until this was completely eaten (so we never had a choice)

So yes I blame her for the fact I must have every kind of cereal known to man in my storecupboard and probably have enough food to last me 6 months if our lives depended on it lol!!!

You have just given me a huge insight into why I hoard groceries, lol! Not just that - my medicines/first aid cupboard could pass for a very small branch of Boots, etc, etc. I always have loads of stationery, too...

aliasojo

Bennifred wrote: »

Not just that - my medicines/first aid cupboard could pass for a very small branch of Boots, etc, etc. I always have loads of stationery, too...

Oh my...you are me. :rotfl:I bulk bought every size of envelope when PC World had a special clearance thing on, along with pens, pencils, highlighters, staplers (how many staplers does a normal person need? :rolleyes:) and folders, etc etc etc.

I could also cover any cut, graze, bee sting, headache or any other medical 'emergency'. :rotfl:

My Mother was a 'Blue Peter Sticky Back Plastic' crafty type of person and my Father was in the Ambulance Service. I didn't stand a chance.

ChocClare

My MIL was evacuated from Paris during the war to her aunt's house in Normandy. She has memories of being strafed by German planes as she was walking down the road as a girl of 12 and of there being absolutely no food - and yes, OF COURSE, she hoarded absolutely everything as a result. I can remember her opening a jar of mussels in sauce and my DH saying, Mum, this says best before end 1999. She took it off him with a tutting noise, looked at it, said, that's not 1999, it's 1997. Needless to say, we weren't as keen as she was to eat it.

I do have a store cupboard and wouldn't be without it. DH inherited his siege mentality from his mum, so we have to have one. However, you're right to say that things go round. I shop from Mr T online, and regularly go through my old receipts so I can spot when offers are due. I ONLY buy tea when it is on special offer, for example - and everyone in the family knows that the world would come to an end if mum was without her tea. I usually start by clicking the "All your favourites on special offer" button, and choose the week's recipes to incorporate some of those. That way, if something is on BOGOF, we might as well include that in the meals that week, and then we have a freebie for the storecupboard as well. It doesn't cost any more. Also, we always have to have at least one meal every week that is made using only storecupboard ingredients, so the stuff gets rotated regularly.

I picked up loads of tips for doing this from the Tightwad Gazette, and it means that, while I know I spend exactly the same amount of money as my friend on food, my cupboards are full whereas hers are bare.:rolleyes:

I often visit LDS sites - Yahoo groups etc. I am not a Mormon, but their teaching is that everyone should have a year's supply of everything - food, money, clothing, water, medicines etc. etc. I'm not sure that I could really go with their ideas about eating rice and wheat and beans ad infinitem, but some of their ideas are pretty good - and are designed to help for hard times, so that if you lost your job tomorrow, or there was a natural disaster (which they seem to have far more of in the States) or a pandemic (like Swine Flu) then you'd be OK. Their teaching is that you start with a month's supply and then build up gradually. I'm quite happy with a month's supply, I think!

The only thing that worries me is that, when there was a petrol strike about five years ago(?) it was amazing how things absolutely DISAPPEARED from the supermarket shelves. Supermarkets operate on a just in time system, where deliveries need to be daily for the shelves to stay full - if we do have this much-vaunted pandemic hitting us in the Autumn, then I know I'd feel safer knowing I can live out of my storecupboard for a while...:eek: