I do a whole lot less grocery "stockpiling" that I used to. Do you?

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
1

Wondering if this is yet another of my personal quirks or a more universal trend.

Growing up my mother had THREE pantries. One right off the kitchen, a second in the ‘unfinished’ area of the basement, and a third that basically involved nearly a third of the space in the garage. She wasn’t a hoarder, mind. She kept a meticulous inventory of what supplies she had on hand, and turned stuff over well within the goods’ “Best By” dates. It’s just that she took her job of being financially prudent with the household money seriously. She knew what a #10 can of XXX should cost, and which ‘sales’ were trivial things, and which were the “this only happens once per year Great Deals.” And with the latter she’d know “We generally go through three cans of whole kernel corn per week, so when that sale comes around I should buy up to 150 cans of it.” And she knew that info for basically everything the family regularly ate … and as a result, we had loads and loads of food. Seriously. Even though she had a big family to feed (not just her own kids, we had at various times up to three sorta-cousins living more or less permanently with us. I think we could at any point have gone easily six months without buying anything but milk and fresh fruit/vegetables.

I was trained by her, and though I never got to anywhere near her level (mainly because we were childless) the idea of having a dozen jars of spaghetti sauce or buying an entire case of kidney beans was not at all strange.

But lately, with the recent inflation of food prices, it’s like I can keep revising my idea of what a ‘proper’ price for something is. In my mind, eggs “should” cost maybe $2-3.50 a dozen. Two weeks ago I paid $8.50. Last week one brand was “on sale”, “new low price!” for $6.99.

To me, that simply wasn’t a “sale” price. I don’t care if it’s a buck fifty less than a week before, it’s still ridiculously more than they should cost! No way did I feel the slightest impulse to “take advantage” of the sale, or ‘stock up.’

And to more or less degrees, that’s true for almost everything. I can’t seem to rewrite my version of what things should cost.

And so, I find myself reluctantly buying only what I’m forced into because I’ve gradually wiped out my ‘usual’ stocks of whatever it is. If I buy salsa, it’s because I’m planning a meal that calls for it that week. And I get the single jar, not the usual “Oh, I’m low on ketchup, might as well pick up three bottles” attitude.

And my kitchen cabinets are hollowing out.

Mind you, this isn’t a problem of being able to afford the food. Yes, I could well buy a half dozen boxes of Jiffy corn muffin mix so it’ll always be there if the impulse strikes – it’s just that they should cost 79 cents each, not $1.69!

So I don’t.

Does this happen to anyone else? Last week I had to change a planned menu at the last minute because I didn’t have enough rolled oats and I hadn’t bothered to check, because how could I not have enough oatmeal???

2

The main reason I don’t is the stockpile I built up early Covid of dried/canned goods, in the cellar of our old house, was discovered by mice. Not a pretty site and the best efforts of the (rather crap) pest control people we had at the time never got rid of the little visitors who enjoyed our hospitality :angry:

That and we have had more kids since then and building up a stockpile takes more work :smiley:

3

I have no idea what things “should” cost. Anything I buy at the grocery store will be cheaper than eating at a restaurant, so I don’t pay attention.

We buy what we need for the next day or two, and no more. Maybe we’ll stock up on paper towels for something like that. We don’t stockpile food. Never have.

4

We became empty nesters last year (altho that is changing, but that’s another story) and we found no need to do a lot of Costco-type stocking of stuff. A weekly or so run to the regular grocery store now suffices, and we have less waste as well as less stuff on hand.

5

I think a lot of this depends on how close you live to the store (or how close you drive near it in routine daily activities.) Sometimes I don’t go to a grocery for two weeks or longer; and I don’t want to be limited in my menu for that long.

And a lot of the rest of it can depend on storage space; whether you produce any of your own food; and also on your personal tendency to be aware of possible glitches in the food supply and to worry about them if aware of them; as well as, of course, on finances.

I grow most of my veggies and some fruits, and stock those in season into the freezer; and over the winter, as those come out, I fill the freezer up with bread, because bread made how I like it is both hard to find around here and expensive if I can find it; so in the winter when I have more time and it’s not too hot to run the oven I bake bread and put a couple of loaves from each batch into the freezer.

Plus which, I’m not at all convinced that we’re not going to start having shortages again, for any of a number of possible reasons, some of which might occur on short notice. So most stuff that keeps, I try to buy at least somewhat ahead.

My stocks of store-bought items are a bit lower than usual due to finances. But it doesn’t actually save me money not to buy ahead as much as I can afford to do so; and I’ve got the storage space (some of it mouse-proof; I’m careful what I put anywhere that isn’t.)

6

Never had kids. At various points I did have a well-stocked pantry & fridge, but that has been a thing of the past for a few years now. Now as a single, if I want to eat something, first I go buy it. Then I eat it. I now have rather little backstock at home and question what l do have.

As a general matter, food today is far cheaper than it was in the 1950s & 1960s. The prudently pinching shopper like the OPs Mom was a significant part of normal middle class living. Not so much anymore. For sure the folks on very limited incomes have always, and probably will always, need to be very cost-conscious in what they buy and when and where.

7

I’ve been doing so from even before Trump got into office, but my efforts have definitely expanded since then, and given all that tariff nonsense and the inflation it will engender I was likely wise to have done so. No signs of pests here since I got rid of those pesky ants last year; I am now pretty much loaded for all nonperishible staple foodstuffs and nonedibles (mainly paper products). The store [Meijer’s] I shop at has regular el cheapo specials on most of my stuff which doesn’t hurt.

8

I find having backup supplies reassuring, between periods of financial strain and having experienced the supply issues of 2020. With two cats and sensible care about how things are stored, pests have not been an issue and I do pay attention to rotating stock.

My husband does have a tendency toward unpredictable food preferences, which makes life challenging.

9

I had an aunt and uncle who sort of did what your mother did - when Shoprite had a once a year can-can sale, they would buy all their canned goods for a year and they did the same when other items were on sale. But there were reasons why they could do that - they had a house with a basement (which they outfitted with shelves) , they had enough cash to buy a year’s worth of canned goods at a time and most of all, my uncle was willing to drive an hour plus each way to get to the closest Shoprite. And there were reasons why they needed to do that - they had five kids , my aunt didn’t work for pay, and my aunt didn’t drive. Which meant that if she did the grocery shopping, she would be paying the higher prices at the smaller supermarket she could walk to, not the lower prices at a larger supermarket a ten minute drive away.

As far how much I keep around, it depends. Some things I buy in warehouse club quantities, so two bottles of ketchup at a time or a giant bag of chocolate chips. Other things, I just keep some around- for example, canned soup. Fresh fruits and vegetables I buy every couple of days.

But I don’t keep that stuff around because it saves money for the most part- I keep it around so I never have to run out because there’s nothing to eat for lunch/dinner or we’re about to run out of TP or paper towels. I’d probably keep a larger supply of some things if I had a bigger kitchen and more storage space - I’d buy flour 25 lbs at a time, but I have nowhere to put it.

10

Define “used to.” I stockpile more now than in years past but that’s an artifact of living through Covid, current grocery prices (which make me want to stockpile more, not less), and my work schedule.

Much like the OP’s mom I look for sales and stock up accordingly. Regardless of what current grocery prices are they’re going to be cheaper than take-out and, since grocery prices are (likely) not coming down any time soon, I see no economic reason not to stock up. I used to plan out a monthly menu but that’s kind of gone the way of the dodo and now dinner is usually “what do I have the energy to make after being at work for 10 hours?” I still know what the household favorites are so my Costco & grocery store runs are built around those. I won’t buy 150 cans of anything because I don’t have the room for that much stock (but see below) but having ~6 weeks of groceries on hand seems prudent. We also keep on hand canned soup, cold cuts, bread, dehydrated meals, HumRats, and similar foods that don’t require prep equipment more advanced than a Coleman stove or Weber charcoal grill. We have a ~25 cu. ft. freezer that’s usually well stocked with meat. While I’m not a prepper by any means we’ve experienced extended power outages and sudden episodes of high water that have closed down the nearest grocery store several times over the years – and at least once trapped us in our home – and it’s prudent to be prepared for such eventualities.

I started stocking up after the initial Covid stay-at-home orders stared easing and all the various shortages we saw at the grocery store eased. Some of my current habits are born of simple paranoia: I will never, but never again be without a multiple-month supply of toilet paper on hand. Some of it is practical: I see cases of canned goods on sale and I’ll stock up whether we need those things right then or not because they will get used and buying a can of corn at $0.79 when bought in a case of 24 is cheaper than making a quick run to the grocery store and paying $1.99 for the single can.

We moved houses in 2021 and we actually have less pantry storage in the new place than we did in the previous one. However, we have a much bigger garage and my plan (plan, haven’t done it yet) is to dedicate a couple of shelves on the back wall to canned and similar shelf-stable goods.

The economic benefits of doing this are significant. While I’m lucky in that I have the financial luxury of being able to shop at bougie delis for just a day or two’s worth of ingredients if I wanted to do so, I’m not about to waste my money that way. Even though I live less than a mile from a decently-stocked grocery store the idea of doing a grocery shopping trip 2 or 3 times per week is absolutely soul-destroying. At the end of the day I’ve been on my feet for 7 hours, I’m tired, I’m sick of hearing human voices, and I’m ready to get home, put on some slipper and sweatpants, and play my Switch or read a book for a while. Stopping at the grocery store to fight through a crowd while listening to some self-entitled jerk complain to the whole store that there aren’t enough checkers manning the registers for their liking is the absolutely last thing I want to do. So, I do a big stock-up trip once a month or so and stop at the aforementioned store weekly or so for perishables. If the apocalypse hits the day before I plan my big monthly shopping trip we’d still have the ingredients already on hand to make several weeks’ worth of meals.

11

Right? “Hey, these ought to cost two-dickety-five!”
I have a tendency to plan exactly what we’re going to eat for the week, and buy just the ingredients for those things. If I notice a surplus of anything in the pantry, I’ll make sure it gets incorporated into the next week’s menu. Lately I’ve begun to think that stockpiling is a good idea, but it goes against my grain.

12

I’ve gone through several cycles of price increases, including the crazy 1980 one. Shirts should be $6 from Korvettes and paperback books 60 cents, unless it is fat, then 95 cents. But I have been able to adjust.
I know what good prices for groceries are and what advertised but not good ones. We do stock up on things we use, like Mac and Cheese from Costco, and soda when it is buy 2 get 3 free. We’re limited by refrigerator and freezer space from going too crazy on perishable food.
We had two girls, so never had a problem keeping ourselves in food, but our daughter has three boys and they go through food really fast.
Costco is great for stockpiling tissues and paper towels, since the cost is less important than limiting the number of times we have to schlep ungainly products home. We store stuff in the garage off the ground. Never a mouse problem.
The secret is to learn the cycles that the stores use to put things on sale, and buy enough to last to the next cycle.

13

This. It was a double-whammy: shortages PLUS not wanting to hit the store any more often than necessary. I walk an hour+ daily; store is 14 minutes from home, so pre-Covid I would walk up there at least every other day, pick up that one item or two that we semi-needed. During Covid I’d try to be way ahead and avoided the store, of course.

I still find that if I have fewer than 3 dozen eggs in the house, I feel like I should buy some–and this for two people. I now definitely understand the folks who “never got over the Depression” in terms of buying stuff!

14

I’ve never really stockpiled. I’ll buy a pack of 24 sardines to keep around as snacks until they’re gone and I reorder, and I have a few boxes of Triscuits, but that’s about it. Oh, I like to have 2-3 cans of tomatoes and beans, as well. And that’s about the extent of it.

15

Living in the tropics we have a couple reasons to stockpile

Cyclone kits are always kept stock with non-perishables including long life milk. Even if the cyclone does not come near us it can impact supplies.

Even wet season storms can knock out supply deliveries from the south and stores can easily run out and of course eggs have been a problem as our poultry farms are impacted too.

Last is partner is being penurious so looks for deals and we do have room for frozen and non-frozen “deals” that interlock with the cyclone kits. She also hates shopping …if I go out to “help” I’m too slow so best help is bringing a shop in and putting it away.
Then I’m not tempted.

My job is to survey the weekly specials and pick out those we use regularly.
Taking Ozempic since mid 2023 my weight is happily 55 lb lighter with side effects I can live with ( bit of indigestion and the occasional runs ) mostly due to not having a banana daily.
Quite incredible how much lower my appetite is and the gate for “I’m full” comes very quickly.

16

I tend to stockpile and always have, mostly because for the majority of my life I haven’t had easy access to the items I frequently use.

It was worst in Micronesia in the 1980s, when a shipload of supplies came in once a month. If you wanted to be sure you had peanut butter, canned chopped tomatoes, white flour (forget whole wheat, that wasn’t shipped in at all), or chicken to last you through the month, you had to buy a lot the first day after the ship was unloaded. Later in the month everything would be bought out, and sometimes there would be a supply chain glitch and the next month’s ship wouldn’t have any of what you wanted.

Later, living in big cities like Cairo and Jakarta, it was much easier, but only in Cairo was I able to walk down the street to a corner grocery store and find a good selection of groceries (that was heaven!) It was still a half-day production to grocery shop in in Jakarta due to traffic, and in both Jakarta and Cairo there was no guarantee I could buy all of the things I like to use (so I’d stock up in suitcases when traveling).

Now, I live a good 25 minutes one way from the closest grocery store and have a long-developed habit of stockpiling. Plus, I love to cook and if I have a sudden impulsive desire to cook some food from the New York Times that I’ve been wanting to try, I don’t want to be thwarted by a lack of miso or couscous.

So I remain a stockpiler, though maybe a little less than when I had a kid at home. And yes - I only stockpile stuff with a long shelf / freezer life, as I hate to waste food. So I do rotate stock and avoid buying more than I could possibly use before it expired.

Still, I bet we could last 6 months to a year on what we’ve got in our freezers and pantries, though we would miss the ingredients we don’t stockpile (dairy, onions, wine, carrots, and other staples that you can’t keep around for months at a time).

17

I’ve had to rewrite mine, long ago. New Levis cost $5, right? T-shirts are 3 in a pack for $5? Gas costs about 33¢ a gallon? Tuna is 3 cans for a dollar, multiple cuts of beef are under a dollar a pound?

18

If you’re a dedicated food hoarder be sure to put salt on your list. Lots of salt.

It is so useful. And you just can’t live decently without it.

Buy that salt?

19

Excess salt is very unhealthy for those with kidney problems and many others–and you can get an adequate amount of salt in all the other grocery products you buy–so there is no need to add any.

20

I’d say I do more stockpiling as time goes on. I know what I like and buy big when opportunites demand. The sting of getting to the end of a discontinued product smarts, too. I’m looking at you, Aldi & Trader Joe.

I’m currently on the hunt for lump charcoal deals and expect to buy 6 bags, about 100 pounds, when the spring sales roll in. I’m running low on coconut milk, will buy ten cans when I see a sale. I only buy contact lens solution about every other year but it’s the big two-pack when I do.