How do you manage your store cupboard?

GreyQueen

Nah, grocery-wrangling in threes is fine. I am OK with numbers up to 10, thereafter it gets embarrassing as I have to take my socks off (think about it).

YORKSHIRELASS

Hi

I dont keep a store cupboard, or for that matter extra food in the freezer. I mealplan and buy exactly what I need so yes in some sort of disaster situation I would be stuffed.

I used to have a cupboard overflowing with tins and packets. I could never find what I wanted, had no idea what I had and it irked me that all that food was just wasted money sitting there.

The exception is my little herbs and spices cupboard which is very full as I do like cooking from scratch.

thriftwizard

I have seven adults and a number of pets & livestock to feed & cater for; even though I live a short walk from a supermarket, a store cupboard is a necessity as otherwise we'd be up & down the road like a fiddler's elbow! There's always something just about to run out, or someone suddenly decides they can't eat something/have become vegetarian/gone paleo/need 2Kg of protein a day and have to go out & play football or guitar or dance right now or let the rest of the team/band/troupe down....

So I can just refer them to the store cupboard; there's always tuna/lentils/crispbread/tomatos/beans/corned beef. Not that I wouldn't send them to the supermarket! But I'd rather keep some sensible stores & keep our money at home where it can be deployed to better, well-planned use - food shopping needs to be carefully planned & executed to get the best value, and storage is an important part of that! There were always times when they were younger when I couldn't get out to the shops, if I had some down sick, so I had to build up supplies to see us through those times, and it worked so well that I've kept it going.

So I buy when things are on offer, or likely to be best value, and store stuff carefully. The Offspring laugh when I haul everything out of the cupboards to put the newest stuff at the back, and older stuff moves forward, but it works & I hardly ever have to throw anything out. I can cater for unexpected guests at the drop of a hat, and stretch meals with no effort - add a can of butter beans or chick peas to a curry, for example, or throw some flour & bits into the bread maker for home-made naans.

For us it's a necessity, but it even makes sense for my elderly mother, living on her own in a retirement flat next to a big co-op, to have a store cupboard; she may not feel like going out on any given day, and snow or ice could make it unsafe for her to do so, so she always keeps some stuff in the bottom of her wardrobe. It also allows her to fish out biscuits etc. when people pop in unexpectedly, which somehow makes them more likely to do so again!

bexster1975

I think it's all covered above ( old stylerrs do love a good store cupboard so you found kindred spirits ).
I think the if you are unwell thing is my main reason for a store cupboard. That and there must be nothing worse than getting caught out with the last bit of toilet roll/empty deodorant can/no de-icer/sanitary products and no more in the house! I only keep a bit of dried food or tins/ packets. I agree main reason is buying on offer.
Can I confess GQ I have more than ten loo rolls in here at present
I think if you have some freezer room and you see things available for a limited time/ YS'd / on a deal then it's certainly worth buying. There are lots of things you can freeze that people don't realise is quite safe.

Bexster

GreyQueen

I'm running the TP mountain down, and am on the last of the 12-packs which was stored in the bedroom. I have the emergency stash of 4 x 12 packs in the bike shed, in a black sack on an above-head-height shelf, where they are almost invisible.

To my delight, this product is now reduced to a 6 pack of double-wound rolls, with the same area at the same price (and I checked carefully to see it wasn't a swizz) so I shall be using the 12-packs up and replacing them with the 6-packs which will take up half the space. Winning!

Despite running a large inventory, my monthly average spend on food, which includes non-food items like TP, cleaning materials etc in 2014 was £42.60 for my singleton household. It has gone as low as £26.75 this April. My mission, if I choose to accept it, is never to pay full price for anything.:rotfl:

PenniesMake£s

Loads of supplies of food and other groceries feels like clutter to me so I don't stockpile. I'm not tidy enough to keep a cupboard full of tins etc organised. It would all look like a messy jumble and I'd forget what I had in there. When we had a really heavy snowfall a few years ago I couldn't take the car out and the supermarkets weren't doing their deliveries. I had to take the kids sledge round to to co-op everyday to get a few things as their stocks were really low of fresh bread etc because their vans couldn't get in. I enjoyed it though, nice community feel to it all with people picking up bread for elderly neighbours and having to think outside the box for meals. It was only for a couple of weeks though. I have spices and condiments but I buy tins of tomatoes, beans, tuna, chickpeas, boxes of oats/cereal and frozen food such as fish fingers, and so on every week as I think I'll need them.

Linda32

BEAT_THE_DEBT wrote: »

Thanks for all the replies. I think I will just store and extra chicken and mince, and then just stick to tinned and dried goods

So long as you will use that of course. It depends on what you use.

We never have hot dinners if its light nights so pretty much from mid April to end October. Unless you count burger in a bun or hot dogs. So I'd never store mince. We do have chicken cold during the summer months and hot during the winter, so there is usually cooked chicken in the freezer.

I'm with Penniesmake£s and Yorkshirelass on this, I don't store a lot of food either. I prefer to keep the money in the bank (perfect user name - Pennies)

I just buy what we usually eat during the week.

I will say that not one size fits all, of course. It depends on your situation, if the nearest shop is ten miles away and you run out of milk well of course that needs to be planned for.

HTH

flipper_72

I keep a stock of tins, jars etc that are either bought on offer or on a monthly-ish tins shop so i can get the heavy stuff done. I buy 10kg sacks of rice and flour and 3kg pasta. I keep mine in the utility and re-stock the small wall cupboard from that and top up the utility when it runs down again. My freezer isn't really used as stock, but if i see any great offers I will buy and store them until I can plan them into a meal.

Due to other things happening I didn't manage to go food shopping last week (normally Thursday) and have managed to feed us all proper meals out of the cupboards (which is the goal for the stock really), I had to ask DH to pick up some bread and have defrosted some milk (from over buying one week) and we are very short of fresh fruit other than strawberries which we grow but we have dried fruit in the cupboards and some frozen too.

My store cupboard has worked for this time, I will need to re-stock it over the next week or 3 but I am so pleased I had it.

Pollycat

My store cupbaord is in my garage (it's accessible from the hall).
I have 4 x 5 foot high shelf units that are full of tins (chopped/whole tomatoes, tuna, corned beef, beans of all types etc), soup and jars of pickles/mustard/olives, dried pasta, rice as well as washing liquid, fabric softener, wasing up liquid, kitchen roll & loo rolls.

I am meticulous about rotating stock.

I've not paid full price for anything, all BOGOF or half price.

I buy high meat content sausage, mince, chops etc when on offer or 'yellow stickered' and batch cook shepherds pie bases, bolognaise, chilli etc.

We eat very well for not a lot of money.

suki1964

I have stores. Not too much as I'm not a hoarder but I buy on rotation when things I use are on special offer. Never ever pay full price for soap, shampoo, loo roll, tissue, dish washing tabs , deodorant etc.

Tinned goods like toms, beans, tuna,sardines I keep a stock of six in, once again topping up when the prices are what I'm willing to pay. If I do run out and the prices are high, it gets left

Rice, pasta, always buy the biggest bag I can get. When the last of the bag is decanted into its container in the larder, then it's time to restock

Always have two bags of flour, one open, one to be,sugar, tea bags etc

The only things I always have to replace as soon as used are spices and herbs

Most weeks food shopping is fresh food only