Comments on: Stockpiling food helps everyone

By: cleopatra costumes

cleopatra costumes — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 08:05:11 +0000

I agree with Dawn. I only stock-up if the item is on discounts and may buy up to 3 – 5 months of supplies. Generally I agree with most of the reasons stated here but the only constraint I have is the lack of space to store these stock up items.

By: jennifer888 @ Negtiation Board

jennifer888 @ Negtiation Board — Wed, 23 Sep 2009 17:14:57 +0000

I am typically a believer in the just-in-time(JIT) method of food storage. We live within walking distance to several grocery stores, so popping out for some milk is never an issue. Because we do live in the city, space is more of an issue, and freezing 6 gallons of milk in a chest freezer is simply not an option.
We do keep large quanities of some basics on hand like rice, pasta, flour. o I don’t think we will starve in times of emergency. BUT—I never considered keeping extra on hand to help neighbors and spread the Gospel. Thank you for this tip!

By: Best CSS Gallery

Best CSS Gallery — Wed, 23 Sep 2009 11:54:24 +0000

I try not to buy groceries with a long storage term. The longer the food can be kept, more conservants it has inside. Take care of your health.

By: Donna Freedman

Donna Freedman — Sat, 19 Sep 2009 20:49:08 +0000

I agree with your reasoning, MBH, and would like to point out another idea: The more food you have on hand the less often you need to shop, and the less often you shop the less often you’ll be tempted by impulse buys. Definite money-saver there.
My goal in the next six months (or however long it takes) is to eat everything in my cupboards. I wrote a piece for the MSN Smart Spending blog about my practice of “stealth stock-up,” i.e., getting lots of things at their absolute lowest price thanks to loss leaders, coupons and rebates. It will be interesting to see how long it takes me to empty out the place. Naturally I’ll keep shopping for fresh fruits and vegetables plus any other items that I need.
I also bought a small freezer and am absolutely loving it. When I see truly irresistible loss-leader prices on meat or plain frozen vegetables, I’ll buy a lot of things to store. I’ve also got a ton of free blackberries in there (picked them around the corner from my apartment) and some cut-up rhubarb that someone gave me. A nearby bakery outlet recently sent out a circular with a coupon for a free loaf of bread; some of my neighbors tossed these circulars in the lobby recycle bin, so I was able to obtain and freeze half a dozen loaves of whole-grain bread. I’ve got butter (as cheap as 50 cents a pound), bacon and flour frozen, too.
Here are the links to my blog posts about stealth stock-up and the purchase of the freezer:
http://blogs.moneycentral.msn.com/smartspending/archive/2008/04/16/fight-rising-food-prices-with-stealth-stock-up.aspx
http://blogs.moneycentral.msn.com/smartspending/archive/2008/09/23/i-share-my-bedroom-with-a-freezer.aspx

By: Matt Jabs

Matt Jabs — Sat, 19 Sep 2009 06:55:03 +0000

I am going to have to agree on all counts. One thing that was not mentioned was gardening… keeping one will allow you to save even more and also control the growing/soil environment, which can be a health benefit as well.

By: mbhunter

mbhunter — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 01:49:45 +0000

Right about keeping water jugs in the freezer. Water has a very high heat capacity so once it gets down to temperature, it takes a lot of heat to bring it up to 32 degrees.

By: Dawn

Dawn — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 15:11:21 +0000

For the milk -I only buy enough for two months – so no waste there.
As for the energy – we got the smallest stand up freezer that was an energy star rating — the only downside there is keeping it full enough, so I’m putting in water filled milk jugs to make sure it stays energy efficient

By: mewithoutdebt

mewithoutdebt — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 14:20:38 +0000

Dawn,

but did you calculate cost of energy to freeze it as well factor in potential loss?

By: Dawn

Dawn — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 04:56:22 +0000

For me it is about locking in a price – for instance milk is at a great price and I love milk – but I dread seeing it go back up another $2 or more – so I am freezing 6 gallons at a time.

Thanks for giving your opinion on this matter MBH

By: mewithoutdebt

mewithoutdebt — Wed, 16 Sep 2009 18:30:45 +0000

I have sort of different take on piling up food. Hope you find it interesting at

http://www.mewithoutdebt.com/2009/09/using-what-you-got.html