Tuesday Tip - Menu Making with Your Stockpile

If you have attended a Savvy Saving Class, you will have learned the importance of having what I call a "Stockpile". By "Stockpile" I don't mean hoards of food that are piled up all over your house. I only have a small pantry and a chest freezer and that works fine for me.













(My pantry)

There are many good reasons for having extra food on hand, but I am not going to go into all the reasons for stockpiling in this article. Instead I want to talk about how to use your stockpile in menu preparation and how it can save you a lot of money.

When I grocery shop each week, my goal is to get the most bang for my buck. In- other-words, I want to get the most possible meals out of my weekly budget. This is how I do this:

The first thing I do, before I make my weekly grocery list, is make a menu. I generally make a menu for the whole month.




















(My monthly menu planner and schedule)

By planning ahead, I can see how many meals that I need to get yet for the month (and then I buy sale items for those meals.) Usually, I have enough stock in my freezer and pantry to plan out the meals for the month and only need to purchase a few fill in items.

About 1/3 to 1/2 of my grocery money is used each week to buy fresh items that I cannot stockpile. These item would include fruit, fresh vegetables, eggs, milk and yogurt.

Because my meals are planned out of my stockpile, I have extra money leftover in my grocery budget. I then use this remaining grocery money to restock my pantry and freezer with what happens to be a really good deal that week. This gives me that more bang for the buck, because I can choose how the money is spent, my menu is not dictating the spending.

When you have a stockpile, it puts you in the drivers seat. You have the freedom to wait until an item you use is at a very good price and then stock-up.

If you only have the groceries on hand to get through a week or two, you are much more likely to have to purchase items at full retail price, increasing your grocery bill drastically.

If you don't have a stockpile, you can start one by buying extra items that your family uses, when they are at a really good price. I look for items that are at least 50% off the regular price.

I stock-up on certain items when they hit or go below my target price. For example, here are my target prices for these items:
Cereal: $1.00/box
Meat: $1.00/lb for beef, chicken
Yogurt: $.25 per serving

I also use the Internet to look for free items, keep an eye on The Grocery Get-Together for good grocery deals. I also like to check out Money Saving Mom.

You can check out my blog list in the left side column near the bottom.

So, I would encourage you to:

#1 Have a "Stockpile" (1 month + of food on hand)
#2 Plan your menu from the stockpile
#3 Take a portion of your grocery $ to keep and build that stockpile with low cost and sometimes even free items!