Stocking up on Food. Do You Do It? and How to Manage It

• 1
• 2

• • 

    PJC on 26/09/2018 - 21:33

    My stepdaughter's experience echoes that.

  • 

    mysterytal on 26/09/2018 - 21:38

    +1 It might be economic if you have a large family and can therefore buy something like half a lamb for half the price of buying lamb portions every week. Then again lamb is expensive so not really a bargain.

• 

  garetz on 26/09/2018 - 22:19

  I only stock up on things that last a long time, like rice, olive oil, honey and canned tuna.

• 

  Bills22 on 27/09/2018 - 00:04

  Brown rice and Jasmine rice, olive oil, vegetable oil, passata, canned tuna…
  End up buying 1kg worth of garlic, mince or slice them and soak them in oil and fridge for future use.
  My favorite is Pasta when it's on special.

• 

  [Deactivated] on 27/09/2018 - 00:08

  +4

  I stock up on beef.

  I have ~100kg in the freezer.

  I also have 800kg I store in open air without an expiration sticker on them. They get a use by date but needs to be stored frozen once opened.

  • 

    [Deactivated] on 27/09/2018 - 06:05

    Dexter?

    • 

      [Deactivated] on 27/09/2018 - 12:43

      +1

      Dee Dee

• 

  FunkyHoratio on 27/09/2018 - 06:55

  +4

  We have a large pantry, and live rurally, so it's not convenient to just go to the shop if i forget to buy something. We keep good stock of long life stuff like pasta, flour, rice, cereals etc (a few packets of each, stored under bottom shelf). Tins of veg and jars of sauces we use. And a few big bags of coffee beans (we go through one every 2 weeks or so). We also shop at Costco for the toiletries, but stopped buying fresh from there as the portions were too big and often got wasted. We usually buy big on the weekends, cook up on Sunday and have lunches and dinners largely ready for the week days. You do have to get systematic about rotating food whenever you stock up though, and make sure you keep track of what you have when to go to shops; nothing worse than getting a bargain on something to realise you already had a glut at home, and will now be eating it every day for the next few weeks!

  • 

    outlander on 29/09/2018 - 12:50

    Thats interesting. I think rural people are a more prepared bunch when it comes to food.
    Did you build the pantry yourself?

    • 

      FunkyHoratio on 01/10/2018 - 07:31

      +1

      Thankfully it was in the house already. It had some crappy cupboards in it which largely just took up space. I replaced those with cheap adjustable shelving from Bunnings which increased storage space massively.
      Yeah, living rurally has made us be a lot more planned with our food. We usually do meal plans each week, shop once each week, and then cook all day Sunday to feed us for the week. We bake our own bread and have just started making our own pasta with a machine. Take lunches to work etc. It all saves money, and it's better for you.

• 

  TheOtherLeft on 27/09/2018 - 07:57

  -1

  I buy my toilet paper one roll at a time.

  • 

    [Deactivated] on 28/09/2018 - 10:13

    roll? why not by the sheet?

• 

  giftcardinspector on 27/09/2018 - 09:02

  +3

  My wife eats the same granola for breakfast every day, full price at Coles is $8, I buy 10 or more boxes at a time when it is half price.
  She also eats the same yoghurt every day, I buy 24 when they're on special.
  I use the same shower gel all the time, so I buy 20 odd every time they're half price.
  I buy my favourite beer when it is on special (check out Boozle) it's not uncommon for me to have a few cartons in the garage at one time.
  always buy a big bag of brown rice, tins of Olive oil, Our dog's food etc etc
  Stuff that we're definitely going to use and it isn't going to spoil, if you have the space you're mad to not buy it when it's cheap.

  I have a big old bookshelf in the garage I just chuck everything on.

  • 

    ihbh on 27/09/2018 - 12:01

    +2

    Dont over buy the EVOO - they'll go rancid.

• 

  IMFrugl on 27/09/2018 - 14:33

  +2

  From experience:
  Dry foods store well for a long time, but still needs to be insect free.
  Nuts and foods containing nuts go rancid after 2-4 years. Certain types of nuts go rancid even earlier.
  Surprisingly some peanut butter lasted really long while some newer peanut butter+cinnamon spread went rancid.
  Sugar stores forever. Honey stores but crystallizes.
  Canned food store well, but beans in a can occasionally go off with a bang.
  Most pastes stored well. Some powder mixes go clumpy.
  Meats in a chest freezer do well, but gets really hard to keep track of.

  Conclusion:
  Some foods are not worth buying in large qty as we get tired of it, or just don't have the time to prepare especially for new or novelty items. Stick to the everyday basics and you won't go wrong.

  When peanut butter is $0.10 a tub, don't say no!

• 

  Avacardooo Rayy Mee on 27/09/2018 - 19:05

  I come from a massive Italian family, and when you don't want to make tomato sauce this year, you just buy 1000 bottles instead.

• 

  LlamaOfDoom on 27/09/2018 - 23:27

  +1

  We definitely stock up.
  Woolies one week, coles the next.
  Tuesday buy 1/2 price specials for Thursday pickup.
  Wednesday but 1/2 price specials (new catalogue week) for same pickup time Thursday.
  Alternate supermarkets next week.
  Only non-perishable items obviously.

  eg this week bulk buys (2+ items)…
  Baby food
  Frozen chicken
  Frozen pies
  Frozen deserts
  Cans of coke
  Nappies
  Corn chips for nachos
  Tinned veg
  Tinned spag/baked beans
  Diced tomato
  Frozen spring rolls
  Washing powder

• 

  Flanders on 28/09/2018 - 01:26

  You can definitely save alot on meat, by having it butchered yourself. Ie. Buy a pig or cow etc, or maybe go halves or quarters with someone else. Then have it all cut up for you appropriately.
  May need to buy an extra feeezer . Depending on what you have now.
  From what I have heard from friends, they do save heaps by doing this. Of course, if you don't eat much meat, no point really.

• 

  jli789 on 28/09/2018 - 09:17

  I tend to stockpile only the non perishable, toilet paper, laundry items, shampoos etc. Sometimes with frozen treats, lots of ice creams. And this mostly happen when coles is having their spend xx amount of dollar per week for four weeks, and get $50. We get 3 hello fresh dinner per week, fresh produce mostly bought from market.
  So Supermarkets visits are not a weekly go to. and they are only good for sweet treats, all nutritional stuff rarely are at a good price.

  I like buying the half price speacials, but when I get more items I know I couldn't use within 3-6 months, even with non perishables, I don't like the feeling. With a baby on the way, I want to do the stockpiling, but having conflicted feelings.

• 

  down-under on 28/09/2018 - 14:24

  No as I eat whatever which is half price or better.

• 

  lime111 on 28/09/2018 - 15:51

  We don't really stock up. We make meal plans each week, shop to a list and stick to it, best way to save and not waste IMHO. Meal plans may very well include catalogue sale items from the week. We maybe buy some bulk items if 50% off but not 6 months worth (unless its Aldi's El Tora Jalepenos).

• 

  [Deactivated] on 30/09/2018 - 08:39

  I also try to go through the catologues each week to buy the half price specials , but what I also do is keep records of what i buy in a year ,usually by going through the receipts.

  Eg bought 5 shampoos this financial year , 1000 ml in total, total price $20 , works out to be $2@ ml

  Keeping monthly records just lets me see what im buying more of and if its value .

• 1
• 2