Supermarket Secrets: Part Three

Next, I want to offer some advice on "stockpiling." Stockpiling is simply stocking up on items when they are on sale, so that you have plenty at all times. You don't have to run to the store to buy items that are full price, because you have already bought the items at the best possible deal price, that "rock bottom price" we talked about in Part One.

Stockpiling Suggestions:

One of the keys to saving a lot of money is stockpiling. As you saw in Part One, you have to buy 6 cereals at one time when they're on sale so that you can get the low price and have enough to last you until they go on sale again. For items like this that go on sale and have coupons that can be used on them, you want to buy as much as you can/need until the next sale.

When I am planning my meals each week, I almost always already have everything I need in my freezer and/or pantry. The only thing I buy each week for the meals that I don't already have is fresh produce. In the beginning, you will plan meals around what is on sale, since you don't have a stockpile yet. In the future, though, you will begin to accumulate a nice stock of items. At that point, you will simply be buying the free/cheap items each week to stock up on, and buying fresh produce and dairy for that specific week.

Meat is also something that you can stock up on. Personally, my husband and I came to a joint decision a couple of months ago that we will no longer be buying meat, due to personal conviction. I will tell you, though, that our budget hasn't changed since. We were always able to easily fit plenty of meat into our budget. You have to learn the best prices for meat, and buy it in bulk when the price is low. You can freeze meat, and simply thaw it out when you need to use it for a meal. For example, you should never buy boneless skinless chicken breasts unless they are $2.50/lb or lower. Typically, you should shoot for the rock bottom price of $1.99/lb, though.

Here are some stockpiling suggestions to help you out. You can do 1 of 3 things:

1. If you have the space (for example, an extra freezer), buy as many quantities of an item as you need for 6-8 weeks to stockpile until the next sale. This is especially true if you are very picky about the brands or specific items that you eat/drink. Keep in mind that in order to do this, you must have multiple sets of coupons to get all items that you buy at the best price with coupon match-ups. (more info here, here, and here on collecting multiple sets of coupons).

2. If you are not picky about which brand or specific item you get, and you are up for trying new things, simply buy what's on sale each week. This is what I do. There are some items that I love a lot, and I will try to buy extra of those when I have the space. For other items, I'm not too picky. I love trying new items when they are free with coupons! I stock up on what I have space for each week. I have a really nice stock of cereals, pasta, pasta sauce, condiments, soups for cooking, canned veggies, seasonings, tortillas, the list goes on and on and on. I also have a nice stock of freezer items: ice cream, pizzas, frozen meals for on-the-go, veggies, breads, fruits for smoothies, etc. I basically buy the best sale items each week. When there is a week with some great buys on my favorite foods, I get extra. When we are running out of space in our freezer or tiny pantry, I just cut back a little that week. Sooner or later, we use something up, and create space to buy more sale items the following week. I might not have 6 boxes of the exact type of cereal we LOVE, but I have 20 boxes of many different types of cereals (half of which will be going to the food bank at the end of the month)! I might not have multiples of items that we prefer, but I have more than enough of a stockpile to make meals from each week.

3. You can shop multiple stores. All of the information I have given you thus far has been assuming you will be shopping at one grocery store. Personally, I find this easiest. It's rather difficult to try to juggle multiple stores, keep track of all the sales, and drive to all of them each week. If you don't have the space to stock as much as you need, though, and you are picky about which specific items you want, you can try this method. Shopping multiple stores helps with this, because stores rotate their sales. What might be "rock bottom price" at Publix this week might be "rock bottom price" at Winn Dixie the following week, and then at Kroger the week after that. Doing this allows you to buy the sale items you want, not have to stock as much in so little space, and still save just as much.

And finally, onto the final Supermarket Secrets: Part Four...