I can't seem to stockpile! -- Keeping family from going crazy with food?

[mommyof3]

I'm having a problem when I get a stockpile going especially on food. When I think I;m getting stocked up on our food, we end up going through it instead of keeping it. I have a family of 5 with only one income coming in, so our money is tight. But how does everyone keep from doing what I;m doing. ALso, I have a hard time with toliet tissue too. If anyone has any suggestions please help me. I would love to get a stockpile going and keep it.
Thanks Jamie

[tohimbeglory]

Locks on the cuboards! LOL Seriously, I have five kids and locks have saved our stockpile! Also, when you first start you usually are buying things you didn't before, name brand cereal and snacks, crackers, processed foods! It is understandble that everyone is excited and wants to eat all this new, cool food! At least this is how it was in our house. We have truly begun rationing the food, and hiding it from my dh. When I get a ton of soda or a snack he really likes I will put them in a box in a closet and just pull one done at a time. Hope this helps, I can't wait to see the other suggestions! Our granola bars are fading fast !

[pedspeech]

I agree with to tohimbeglory, if we can see it we eat it. This is hard on the stockpile and the diet! Hiding treats is a good idea. I also put them in places that are hard to reach, such as on top of the cabinets in the pantry or in the cabinets over the refrigerator. If I have to climb up on a chair to get down a bag of chips or box of snacks, I have time to consider whether I really want it or not. I don't know how old your kids are- my oldest is four so height keeps him out of things and like I said, it slows me down enough that I don't thoughtlessly consume. As for the toilet paper, I assume you are not using more than you need? I have a hard time stockpiling tp- I buy as much as I have coupons for when there is a good sale but never find it for free (that is just the nature of the sales/coupons in my area). I rarely run out (and pay full price) but I rarely have more than a few packs on reserve. I just try to stay ahead of that game, not worry about the fact that I can't really build it up. If it is a matter of running out when you have young children (such as my 4 yo), make sure they know how much is acceptable to use. Sounds logical, but sometimes once we teach them we assume they are sticking to that when they might be using a lot just because they see a lot there. HTH!

[cutenirish]

TP is hard to keep stock on here- we had 20 packs at one point and now are down to ONE!!!!!!!!!! There are no good sales and i've only got afew cpns.

Our food stockpile goes in waves of what we have alot of! Right now its about 65 cans of soup, lots of canned veggies and to much HAB LOL. Yet we aer low on meats and garlic bread kwim. We have NO MILK and no butter right now-- have to buy that today or tomorrow.

GOOD LUCK!

[mama22qts]

Mommof3, how long have you been couponing? There are certain times of the year that items go on better sales and yield better stockpile opportunities. There's a thread about that somewhere -- I'll try to find it and edit my post.

Think about this though -- it can take up to a year to really get a good stockpile going. As a general rule, try to figure how much you really need in your stockpile. If you know that you don't have much room in your home for stockpile, and certain items routinely go on sale in your area, don't keep as much stockpile of that item. When I first got started couponing years ago I went hog wild stockpiling and I stockpiled everything I could get for free/nearly free with coupons. Well, lots of that stuff goes bad or stale over months' time. So you really need to know how much your family will consume over time. Toilet paper, now that's a different story. Never goes bad, and you're always gonna need it, so I stockpile as much as I can. I do not have doubles here, so I have a higher per-roll price than many here do. I'm willing to pay .25/roll for double rolls. So whenever I see that price for Cottonelle (we're also brand loyal on TP) I buy as much as I have room for. We currently have about 150 rolls stored, but I'll be buying more at the next opportunity.

It just takes time and a little detective work, but you will get it down. The newness will wear off and you'll be wishing they would eat some of the stockpile down -- just so you can go buy more!

[mommyof3]

[QUOTE=mama22qts]Mommof3, how long have you been couponing? There are certain times of the year that items go on better sales and yeild better stockipile opportunities. There's a thread about that somewhere -- I'll try to find it and edit my post.

I;ve been doing this for a year but its been off and on though. I really just now starting to catch on to the couponing. My stockpile that I've starting is only like, toothpaste, deodorant, and some can goods. But I know that's a start, but I just seems like I can never find good deals here like you guys do. Maybe I need to get out there and just start searching the stores, because I usually just wait for the ads to come in.

Also, I do have a lock on our pantry door(mainly because the kids were helping themselves to whatever and they are 5, twins 3) So that helps there but they still are climbers, and try to help themselves elsewhere, but I always catch them. LOL! Anyways, thank you all for your great ideas and I'm sure I will hear more to come. THank you all!

[hotcouponmama]

What stores are in your area? Knowing that can help us help you. If you're turning an item faster than you can replace it, then I don't really consider that a stockpiled item, so I wouldn't feel too bad if I were you that it's being devoured. The whole point behind having a stockpile is so that you have enough of lots of different things that turning your home inventory becomes a process of replacing when you don't need it. You are in the accumulation phase, and it takes time to get to the point where you aren't accumulating anymore.

In the meantime, if your group is eating what you are bringing in, and you are cutting money out of things like eating out and shopping costs have gone down, then you're doing the right things - you just have to do a little more as you can afford to do it to get to the point where you have a supply on hand.

[mommyof3]

[QUOTE=hotcouponmama]What stores are in your area? Knowing that can help us help you.

The stores that I have here are:
Walmart Supercenter
Target Supercenter
Homeland
Albertsons
Wright's IGA (which doubles up to 1.00)
CVS
Walgreens
dollar tree (but of course they don;t take coupons)

[queenofthehivemomof5]

Well we have 5 kiddos too and they do snarf through the stockpile at times, but I find it goes in waves. Lets say I bring home 100 kraft puddings that I got for free (I did not that long ago, with no doubles!) well my 3 year old LOVES LOVES LOVES pudding! He will sneak out into the garage just to get them. So I had to hide some of them. But after a week or so the novelty wore off. This happens all the time. When I first started stockpiling cereal my oldest DD went hog wild with the corn pops (her fav) but it soon wore off when she realized we always have corn pops on hand.

I do have to hide things like soda and chips, but other "goodies" like Pop Tarts, Cookies, Candy, etc the novelty has worn off on these things and the family eats them in moderation.

Im at the point where I need these folks to eat some of the stuff in the freezer so I have some room! LOL

And as far as TP goes...my tip is to figure out what a years worth of TP is for your family and find the space to have that much on hand. Each brand of TP will last differently. We personaly use Scott TP because I can stockpile a years worth of TP in less space. So I can buy like 15 4 packs and have a years supply. Then I replace said TP stockpile as sales float around, and if they dont for a while I have a years worth...

[TheWoman]

but I just seems like I can never find good deals here like you guys do.

You have to realize that not everyone is getting all the good deals you see on this site. One person gets cheap TP, another found free Toothbrushes this week, and someone else found a great deal on spaghetti sauce. You have to really hunt for the deals and you may only find one thing worth stocking up on a week-- and sometimes there are no great deals.

Read the forums for the stores you shop for ideas on what deals are available. That will help more than anything.