Irrational fear of empty cupboards

rosieben

newlywed wrote: »

I... Then with meal planning I forced myself to only buy what I needed for the week (and didn't already have). Every time I panicked about the cupboard I'd read my meal plan and realise I had all the food we needed for the week ...

This is so true. I've found meal planning is a big help in keeping a useful store cupboard.

For a while after my kids left home I continued to shop as I had before. Then I realised that I dont actually like mayonnaise, or brown sauce, or xxx, so I revamped my shopping lists and now I buy what I will eat; since I started meal planning I tend to eat more simply anyway (not sure why this is?) so the range of items I have in the cupboard is actually very small. I tend to meal plan for a month at a time, so in bad weather or emergency I could cope for at least 2 or 3 weeks.

miserly_mum

rosieben wrote: »

For a while after my kids left home I continued to shop as I had before.

I can relate to that.My 2 older daughters and baby grandaughter moved into a house of their own in July and it's taken me until now to finally stop buying for 8 instead of 5.

OH thinks we should get rid of the 2nd freezer now but i'm hanging on to it. The thought of being somewhere and seeing a real bargain and not having enough freezer space to store it would kill me.
"
I also like the idea of having plenty of "spare" food in the house incase me or the kids are ill and I can't get out to the shops so easily. Or even if I take a lazy fit and can't be bothered trailing round the shops. I know theres enough basics to do us the best part of 10 days

lynzpower

Wouldn't it be nice if they encouraged us all to eat better with those sort of offers on unprocessed and fresh produce? I'm not knocking processed here, I just don't think we need encouraging to eat more junk!

they wont, as they want us all to have a dependency of this carp. I must admit, I certainly do. Regardless of how OS i am, If i dont have a multibag of crisps or a packet of biscuits in the house I feel like ive got "nothing in" when I so patently have loads.

EWeve managed to shop on 25-30 a week and one week in say 7-8 I can get away with buying nothing. apart from biscuits & crisps

TAG

Asda are doing their own brand washing liquid on a buy 2 for £3 at the moment. They're normally £2.48 each.

Guess who's got 9 x 1.5 litre bottles of the stuff ?:o Will be 11 tomorrow........:rolleyes:

Nanaof2

I'm another cupboard hoarder. I try sometimes to cut down but can't when it comes to tuna, tomatoes baked beans etc. My habit comes from my Mum who could hoard for England. When she moved in 1980 there were packets of lemon meringue pie mix with the dual pre decimal price labels on them (circa 1970/71).

My worst was probably after9/11. I went to Teso & stocked up on about 30 pounds of cheap tinned staples in case of terrorist attacks. (so far haven't happened in deepest Cheshire) It took me me about 3 years to get through it. Also bought tins of lighter fuel to fill my gas lighter to light candles in case public services failed at the millenium & had to use candles. Lukily now have a partner who is gallantly getting through it filling his pipe lighter. He should have used it up in another 2-3 years'
My thoughts on this are "better safe than sorry" You never know what's round the corner

vij

Ive decided as much asthe other half thinks it mad - its not a bad thing, I am organised, i rotate stock - empty and clean cupboards every 3 months, pay cash and he rarely opens a cupboard in the kitchen - so Im going to keep my stock piles -
go assertive me!!!!

beetrootjuicer

vij wrote: »

Ive decided as much asthe other half thinks it mad - its not a bad thing, I am organised, i rotate stock - empty and clean cupboards every 3 months, pay cash and he rarely opens a cupboard in the kitchen - so Im going to keep my stock piles -
go assertive me!!!!

Good for you, Vij. When you first posted I couldn't really see any problem with your storecupboard. I think things only become a problem if it's becoming a serious obsession, you're getting into debt over it or perhaps it's having a negative effect on your relationship none of which seem to apply. After all what we're talking about here is what our clever thrifty grannies and great-grannies did as routine or tried to do - making the best of our incomes and resources. (One of my grannies brought up 6 children with only ever enough money to buy that day's food, and sometimes not even that, and nothing in the way of a storecupboard. This was back in the hungry depression days of the 30s and dreadful unemployment. God knows how she managed! What we've got in our cupboards would have been an undreamt of luxury to her!). So, where's our problem? To me a properly managed storecupboard is an asset so let's all enjoy our storecupboards and the money they save us.

chardonnay_2

tesco extra points coupons are my downfall - (we're saving for a holiday)so it seems a waste to not buy the items with extra points.:o

must admit we do use the stuff we buy.

i love bogofs but don't go mad and only buy what we normally use - although we will switch to a brand if it is on bogof.