Keeping a Stocked Pantry

Frugal stockpiling. Those two words don’t even sound like they go together. How can buying more than you need be frugal? It can when buying 4 on sale costs the same as buying 1 regular priced. The best way to stock-up is buying loss leaders and paying pennies on the dollar of regular costs. As loss leaders headline savings in your neighborhood store, commit to only buying these. Of course, pairing sales with coupons makes better deals. Say, the price is now only a fourth of the regular, I would buy 4 times or more. This doesn’t mean that we’ll eat it everyday or every week. But I would buy as much as we would normally eat in 3-6 months. I just know that, for a really long time, I will never have to pay 4 times more (which is the regular price) than what I paid for it on sale.

Here's a simple pantry meal for $2. This tuna from CVS was only $0.30 each!
Start with this Buy Price List from Southern Savers. Every week, you'll watch the grocery sales by spending a few minutes perusing the store websites. Then in a month or so you'll get a good feel for what prices to stock-up on and you can create your own price list. Every week, I find something to stock-up that is FREE or less than $0.50 each. It can be something as small as 8 oz cans of tomato sauce or boxes of Puffs tissue or $0.60/box of Kashi snack bars. You may be thinking that it's crazy to get FREE stuff that often. I did too, in the beginning. But God is so faithful. Pray and ask for the specific needs of your family. Then watch Him bless you every week.

Your pantry will be a storehouse. My friend Misty shared this insight from the story of Joseph and the famine in Egypt. God warned Pharoah through Joseph of the approaching famine 7 years down the road. Through a bit of stockpiling, not only did Egypt have food through the famine (they ate lots of carbs!), but also other nations, including Joseph's own family. So when you can, and it's close to free anyway, learn to stockpile. Not only for your family but to be a blessing to others. Then everytime you begin to doubt that God cares, open your pantry and see the tangible evidence of answered prayers.

"Taste and see that the LORD is good;
blessed is the man who takes refuge in him." -Psalm 34:8