Food Storage on a Budget

One of the reasons we have a hard time getting our food storage built up is MONEY. Right? And all of us are on a budget, so it is always nice to be able to find ways to buy food for less.

Another problem is organization, whether you're dealing with how to organize the food and supplies you have or when you are deciding in what order to purchase items.

I recently came across a blog post that has a list of items you can buy every week for about $5 to help you to have good amount of food by the end of a year. For example, there are 10 weeks that you are supposed to buy 10 lbs. of flour so by the end of the year you will have 100 lbs. of flour. Wow!

Click HERE to see the post and printable list.

Another method you could used is to buy double the non-perishable items on your normal shopping list every week. For example, if you have tuna on the menu for the week and you need 3 cans, you will purchase 6 cans and add the extra 3 to your food storage. Not hard.

When you have food storage that you need to rotate, it is a good idea to purchase what you have used that week so that your storage doesn't get low. So if you used 3 cans of tuna from your storage, you purchase 3 cans to add back into your storage. That's easy.

Now, let me tell you a secret...I don't do these things.

I think they are great ideas and work for lots of people, but not me. Because I am a CHEAP SKATE! I am not going to by a can of olives, for example for $1.18 or whatever they are regularly when I know that I can find them for $.99 at least 3 times a year. (Super nerdy, I know!)

So what do I do? I buy lots of the particular items when it is on sale. Where I live we have Case Lot Sales at least twice a year where the store sells canned items and a few other things by the case at a lower price than buying the items individually. I budget money specifically for these sales and we use the food throughout the year. This helps me to keep my shopping times to a minimum because I am mainly shopping for perishables like milk and eggs. It also helps to keep my regular monthly grocery budget low.

Besides Case Lots, I buy in bulk. Instead of buying the 10 lbs. of flour 10 times in one year, I buy 40-50 lbs. twice a year. I have a big family, so this works for me.

Also, I watch for deals. During the holidays LOTS of food items are marked down. This year I saw 2 lbs. bags of brown sugar for $.99, canned cranberries for $.75, one pound bags of frozen veggies for $.79 and more! The holidays is a great time to get great deals, although it is usually not the best time for our wallets.

Really, any items you need is on sale at some point and I like to get several of something when it is on sale. For some reason I usually buy 6 of an items, so I'll have my regular groceries and 6 cans or boxes of olives or tuna or ketchup to put into my storage. The key to this is knowing what is a good price and that takes time and maybe a small notebook in your purse with price lists. :)