why do you keep a storecupboard/stocked freezer etc

slowandsteady_2

Evening all, bit of a strange question i know but im curious. Over the past few months since coming on here and since moving to a house from a flat in April with a pantry cupboard in the kitchen, i have built up a healthy store cupboard and freezers full to the brim with whoopsies.

The reason i do this is because we have in the past been very short of money and i never knew if i could afford the shopping that week, this was only just over a year ago before we gradually sorted things out. I know now that if we are short of money or the worst happens and we are both unemployed, we will be fed for a good couple of weeks at least till we have some form of income whether benefits, work etc. I also stock up on nappies and baby formula for the same reason.

My friends just dont understand and im starting to think im daft, cos even dh laughs at me!

I am very afraid of literally having no money to eat, both due to our own past financial issues and watching my parents struggle to buy food on little money when i was younge.My dad is the epitome of OS and i now listen to everything he says when it comes to saving money.

So thats my main reasons for having my stocks.

Why do you keep your stores, if you do, and am i the only one who thinks like this, while maybe sounding negative i thnk is also a positive approach iykwim?

Thanks for reading my longwinded post!

helyg

I keep stores, expecially in the winter, in case we are snowed in! My OH laughs at me, but it does happen sometimes, and with three kids I like to be prepared.

I like to have a few tins in (tomatoes, baked beans, soup, chickpeas, red kidney beans, tuna, corned beef) plus stuff like flour and pasta and rice, then in the freezer I have "emergency" bread and milk, plus some frozen veg and some sausages or similar.

I also keep an emergency pack of loo roll!

MrsCook_2

when i do a weekly shop i tend to buy a little bit extra so i either dont need so much the next week or so that i can just do 3 out of 4 shops. some of that stuff also gets carried over. its mainly stuff like baking stuff, tins, part baked rolls.

i dont think we will ever get to the point of being "snowed in" again. a day possibly but not any longer than that.petrol is going up so could be possible of going back to "petrol rations" again. if that happens we can last a couple of weeks hopefully lol

crawley_girl

Like you guys, I like to keep extra stock in the cupboards cos I can! My mum has always done it and she has an amazing walki-in larder that I am very jealous of. Always nice to know that the cupboards are stocked, incase I can't get out.

I have 24 loo rolls in my junk room place at the mo and get a little anxious if it dips below 12!!!

laurel7172

It's a natural consequence of stocking up on things when they're cheap. And I also figure that if I'm going to do an online shop then the nice man with the van and trolley can lift everything heavy for me and I make sure I have enough UHT milk, tinned tomatoes, bags of flour and lentils etc. to last me until the next one (and a bit beyond). May have overdone it a bit on the 25p bread flour, though. I lifted out the flour box earlier this evening and...my back didn't exactly go, but it creaked...:rolleyes:

[Deleted User]

Being 61 I was brought up when various foods were not available. We also lived through various recessions when this was again the case. Money was very very short and we eked out our existance on what I had in the cupboards. I am of that generation and it is mentally impossible to not have a good stockcupboard. Added on to that, now I am older and winter is approaching, there is a comfort in knowing that I don`t need to go out in order to eat well

ChocClare

My grandmother got snowed in in the very bad winter of (I think) 1948. When she moved out of her house (in 1986) my mother asked her why on EARTH she had 26 packets of jelly in her store room (note - spare bedroom effectively got turned into a larder) when there was only her in the house and she didn't even like jelly..

My mother-in-law grew up in occupied France and was another great storer for that reason. My husband has inherited her siege mentality, and he gets very worried if we don't have "spares" of everything.

We moved to The Middle Of Nowhere two years ago. I like to have stores on hand because it's such a faff to get to the shops if I run out of anything - the nearest shop is four miles away, so it's not just a case of nipping to the end of the road. Apart from that, though, when there were the petrol strikes (I know they were several years ago now), I was ASTONISHED to see how quickly everything disappeared from the supermarket shelves. And it was a self-perpetuating thing - people saw the shelves were empty (because supermarkets operate a just in time delivery system), panicked, and bought everything in sight. I never want to be in a position where I CAN'T get the things I want.

I think you're right, though, slowandsteady - it makes absolute sense to plan in case of hard times. I belong to several LDS forums on yahoo (=Latter Day Saints). I am not a Mormon myself, but their teaching is that every family should have a year's supply of food, water, money, clothing, toiletries and medicines (I think I've got this right) in case of hardship. Their forums are all about how to build up your storage without breaking the bank, by buying a bit extra every week and aiming for a month's storage to start with and then building up. Obviously, they have more natural disasters in the US (where most of these people are based) than we do here - they are far more likely to get snowed in or hit by hurricanes, wildfires or earthquakes than we are in Blighty (I hope!). But the forums are full of posts from people saying how thankful they were in xyz situation to have their storage - because of redundancy or illness primarily, but there were also loads of posts at the time of Hurricane Katrina about people who'd had to take in lots of extra family members who'd fled New Orleans, and how glad they were to be able to take them in without having to worry about cost.

So no, I think you're very sensible!

flutterbyuk25

I live in a flat on 4th floor with no lift. When I moved in 6weeks ago I did a BIG shop and had friends/family help me carry it up! So I have loads of tins and stuff like pasta and rice. My freezer is stocked cos I batch cook. It's just me so often I have leftovers even if it's not intentional.

I stock up on toilettries when they are on offer too, as I like slightly more expensive shampoo so if I buy 6 bottles on BOGOF then I have enough for 6months or so.

x

piglet6

I feel the same way as you, OP, and like to keep a well stocked freezer/storecupboard in case of "emergencies" - we have had occasions in the past where due to redundancies/illnesses, money has been tighter than usual, and on these occasions, I have always been happy to have a good stock of food to fall back on (and can honestly say that we have never been unlucky enough to have to worry about having enough to eat...).

However, I do have to say that I am now struggling with this. We are in the process of selling our house and moving 120 miles away - hopefully if all is well (and at the moment there is nothing to make me think that it is not...!), the sale will complete sometime this month, so we are now trying desperately to eat through as much of the freezer/storecupboard as possible, in order to avoid having to move food (official quotations are horrendously expensive, so we are seriously considering hiring a van and doing a DIY moving job!! ). Lovely as it is having well stocked freezer and cupboards to eat from, I had no idea just how much food it is possible to fit into them (there are only 2 of us and I think we could eat for nearer 6 months if pushed!! :rolleyes:).

On the flip side though, I know that when we get to our new house (which has a fabulous big walk in larder!!!), I will start to stockpile again. My parents have always been the same, its what I grew up with (and I am only in my mid-30s) and its what I feel comfortable with!

Piglet

dogcat_2

I always stock up on things like loo rolls/kitchen roll. Also, tins...I have loads of them...dog/cat food too. I like to have a full cupboard/freezer...makes me feel good! When I go out I always buy a couple of 'extra' things.

slummymummyof3

crawley_girl wrote: »

Like you guys, I like to keep extra stock in the cupboards cos I can! My mum has always done it and she has an amazing walki-in larder that I am very jealous of. Always nice to know that the cupboards are stocked, incase I can't get out.

I have 24 loo rolls in my junk room place at the mo and get a little anxious if it dips below 12!!!

I am afraid to say, I have 162 loo rolls - well, they were on special offer so I had to make the most of it. My DD1 was taking the mickey out of me a few months ago as I had so much clothes washing liquid (bogof in January) that I haven't bought any since - Am now on my last two bottles - so at critical levels now!!!!