How to build your food stockpile

Building a food stockpile can really help save money in the longrun and lower your grocery shopping bill significantly. Grocery store sales are cyclical and eventually prices drop to their "rock bottom" and if you have a coupon you can get the item for free or darn close to free. You have to be able to recognize the "best deal" when you see it and keep those coupons for that particular time .

If you are lucky your local market will double or even triple manu. coupons , unfortuneately that doesn't exist here in Las Vegas ..OH well.
However , if I can get freebies with no doubles or triples then those of you fortuneate enough to be able to double and triple should have no problem building a free stockpile of food .

What to stockpile : It should be obvious that stockpiling perishables isn't a good idea unless your family is the size of the Duggars ( you know 18 kids and counting) . Some of the best stockpile items are ;
Pastas
Rice
Quick Meal Mixes
Cake and Cookie Mixes
Canned Fruit and Veggies
Cereals
Pasta sauces
Seasoning Mixes
Toilet paper and Paper Towels
Tooth paste , Shampoo, Hair styling products
If you are paying more than .50 cents for any of the above items , frankly you are paying too much IMHO ! Some items like Pasta should be around .25 cents , cereal around .39 cents, seasoning mixes .10 , canned fruit and veggies .30 , quick meal mixes .25 and personal care products .50 .


If you have a nice empty freezer you can also stockpile meat . I use this simple rule for determining how much to stockpile .
5lbs x Family member ( over the age of 5) x weeks

So If you have 4 family member x 2 lbs =8lbs
x4 weeks
________
32 lbs of meat
1 cubic foot of freezer space will store 1-1.5 lbs of meat so take tha into account before making your purchase .

A family of 4 will go through approximately 32 lbs of meat in a month's time . You dont want to stockpile more than 2 months of meat to prevent freezer damage and wasted food . The best meats to stockpile are :

Chuck Roasts ( Stockpile at .49/lb or less)
Pork Roasts (Stockpile @ .89/lb or less)
Picnic Roasts ( Stockpile @ .99/lb or less)
Tri Tip (Stockpile at .99/lb or less)
Ground Beef ( have the butcher grind your chuck roast)
Chicken Breast ( Stockpile @.89.lb or less)
Fryer Chickens ( Stockpile at .69/lb or less)
Hot Dogs ( Stockpile at .75 /package or less)
Sausage ( Stockpile at 1.25/package or less)

Frozen Food :
Sometimes you can get an excellent deal on frozen fruits and veggies , pies or pizzas . Make sure to determine you have the storage capacity in your freezer. I recommend a family of 4 have no more than 10 pizzas
14 Bags of Frozen Veggies
5 bags of frozen fruit
4 Pies
5 boxes or bags of frozen snacks
Frozen Fish or Shell Fish are your best deal over buying fresh or peviously frozen . Follow the meat stockpile formula above for frozen seafood products.

You could go 3 months or more with this stockpile , having only to purchase 5.00-10.00 a week for milk , eggs, butter, and bread ( depending on your family's consumption .

Visit Poor Mom's Pick for more Stockpile tips at Southern Savers ( http://southernsavers.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/02/buy-price-list2.pdf )






Poor Mom