Who hoards food?

[LAJ]

I think you have alot of diapers but they are neatly stored. (Not what I would call a hoarder). My pantry is very very full of canned and bottled and boxed items. My fridge is full and my freezer is loaded. I am prepared for any type of food I care to cook. I love to go to the pantry when I decide to make a cheesecake or some Cuban steak or other homemade items. No trips to the store. Makes it fun and not a pain to rush out to cook for company too. When I travel, I pick up food items not available in my area. My pantry reflects that. Dukes Mayonnaise, Goya products for Cuban cooking and White Lily flour. (I cant find those items around here.) Nothing is outdated and that preparedness allows me to create whatever I am in the mood for in the kitchen.

 

[chopper]

I have to tell you, this was a fun thread to read. I have a pantry in the kitchen, but had to build a pantry in the basement under the stairs so that I could buy in bulk at Sams. I also baught a freezer for the same reason, and that is in the basement. My camping gear (with camp stove, etc.) is also in the basement as is my spare bedroom suite. My guests say that they could live down there, but no, I am not a hoarder.

By the way, love2cook11, you are not a hoarder because your things are too neatly stored. Have you seen those TV shows about hoarders???

 

[retiredguy]

By the way, love2cook11, you are not a hoarder because your things are too neatly stored. Have you seen those TV shows about hoarders???

That's exactly how I feel about it too.

 

[megamark]

I think the only thing I hoard is beans and rice. I see them at whole foods and I always say that I will use them to make an awesome, nutritious dish. I never have time, therefore I have rice and beans all the time.

 

[Claire]

OK, I think I've looked enough to be sure that I haven't answered this before. Now, when I lived in Florida, I was near 3 sisters, their husbands, my parents, and the children. The married sisters had in-laws. All were inclined to show up for a Sunday or holiday dinner without notice. I kept a full-closet pantry and one wall of a two car garage (Looked much like the photgraphed one, except instead of bottles and jars of stuff, there were a lot of bags and sealed cannisters of things), and I had a chest freezer of meat that I'd bought on sale. Now there are only two of us, and I no longer have a chest freezer, it is just the top of the fridge. But still, hubby needs me to help him if he needs to go there. You can take out one tray of ice cubes or one portion of a frozen meal, and ..... DUCK! My husband, though, is in charge of the pantry. It is a cabinet that is 13" deep, 55" high, and 40" wide, and partially built into the ground. In the winter it is literally refridgerator-cold. The bottom few shelves have canned and other packaged goods, the top shelf holds our Chinese rice china set. When we have wine, it gets a half-shelf. But, 'though I've never done it, I could safely use it as a fridge annex. I can't store peanut or olive oil in it during the winter months, they solidify.

Although I don't have as much food stockpiled as I did when I lived near my relatives, I'm still pretty well stocked. I don't think I qualify as being an LDS person, we could, if we had to, feed ourselves for several months, and maybe help out a neighbor or three.

For some reason I hate it when I go to make a meal, and have to get in the car to get an ingredient. So I try to keep a good selections of the basics on hand: Frozen beef, chicken, fish, pork. Cans of the stuff I consider basic. Various types of pasta, both European and Asian. A few sauces, relishes, etc. I'm fortunate to have friends who can, and have several jars of relishes and sauces. If my entire family descended upon me right now, I could feed them (and that's a lot of people). My husband loves the luxury of being able to say, gee, Claire, I don't feel like eating this, can we have that? I like the luxury of telling him in the morning, you have X, Y, Z choices for dinner tonight, what will it be? all of this without having to get in the car, something I really don't like to do!

 

[SherryDAmore]

anyone here buys and hoards food in preparation for an event or just trying to outpace inflation. also curious as to what kinds of foods you might be hoarding.

Y E S, but not because of inflation or in preparation for an event; because I'm thrifty, because I live in the country, and it's a drive to the nearest store, because gas is expensive.

I don't have the stockpile that some of you do, but I rarely run out of anything, and I always stock up on paper products. The extra goes to the food pantry.

 

[hamm4]

I call it being thrifty. I buy when things are on sale. I shop for meat and fresh veg every day, but I like not having to pick the extras to cook with. I just go to the pantry and bam I can make a meal.

 

[Hammster]

We don't hoard food. However, DW just brought home 6 lbs of cranberries from Costco. Not so much to beat inflation or possible shortages or any kind of event, but because they are a great price, and have a limited availability, so I break them down into 8 oz packages to enjoy throughout the year in various recipes.

 

[Timothy]

I call it being thrifty. I buy when things are on sale. I shop for meat and fresh veg every day, but I like not having to pick the extras to cook with. I just go to the pantry and bam I can make a meal.

That's what I'm saying! My pantry is always fully loaded. You name it, it's in there somewhere! I can find it!

 

[Robo410]

repper, hoarder, stockpiler? no But, I do by certain staples at BJs and Coscos and there are only two of us in the house. So I do have well stocked shelves. I buy meat for the freezer if I can use it within 4 months. I make my own stock and tomato sauce (because I like to and I like the results!)so that is also in a freezer.

I have friends who have a family of 6 (all teens now) and they have a basement full of big box buys. It's the only way they can make ends meet.

 

[97guns]

i just topped off my peanut butter reserves, better stock up before prices go through the roof.

we are entering a possible hyper-inflation scenario where a loaf of bread will be $10 as well as a gallon of gas.

for me im ready for prices to go hyper, i have a good 3 years supply of food on hand as well as a nice garden for veggies.

whenever i see something cheap i stack it deep, im just now running out of $1 a jar mayonaise and im on the hunt for some on the cheap.

 

[Timothy]

i just topped off my peanut butter reserves, better stock up before prices go through the roof.

we are entering a possible hyper-inflation scenario where a loaf of bread will be $10 as well as a gallon of gas.

for me im ready for prices to go hyper, i have a good 3 years supply of food on hand as well as a nice garden for veggies.

whenever i see something cheap i stack it deep, im just now running out of $1 a jar mayonaise and im on the hunt for some on the cheap.

I hear ya, 97guns! I love my Pantry! I don't have the stockpile you do, but I could last an easy 3 months on what I have on hand right now.

We'll see if our lazy leaders get off their collective butts and start earning all that money they make. I think things might start looking better next year. Nothing like an election to get them to actually DO something!

 

[buckytom]

i don't know about $10 bread ($4 is too high imo), but i just read an article that said food prices are up %13 to %15 from last year for thanksgiving type stuff. biggest one year jump in a long time.

 

[joesfolk]

I sincerely doubt that we will see bread at $10.00 a loaf any time soon, especially with an election coming up (the politicians would subsidize the price until after the election). But I do stock up in the fall when the stores have their harvest sales or when ever there is an especially good price on something. It's called being a good steward. If I am asked to donate a meal or if unexpected company drops by, or even if sudden expenses result in less money to buy groceries I don't worry, I know I can always put something together. It only makes sense.

 

[jennyema]

Hoarding food (or anything) is symptomatic of a mental condition that deserves treatment.

 

[PattY1]

I sincerely doubt that we will see bread at $10.00 a loaf any time soon, especially with an election coming up (the politicians would subsidize the price until after the election). But I do stock up in the fall when the stores have their harvest sales or when ever there is an especially good price on something. It's called being a good steward. If I am asked to donate a meal or if unexpected company drops by, or even if sudden expenses result in less money to buy groceries I don't worry, I know I can always put something together. It only makes sense.

That is what I do. Last year when I knew that I was going to be laid off I stocked up on canned SALT FREE veggies and broth. Along with rice, dried and canned beans, sugar, flour ect. IMHO it its just an intelligent thing to do.

 

[Aunt Bea]

I tend to shop the dips and maintain a small supply of items to get me from one sale to the next.

Some of the posts remind me of when I was little. We lived on a farm and in the fall we stored produce for the winter. People tend to think that farmers always have the best of everything but that is not true. We were always sorting produce and using the items that were about to spoil.

 

[97guns]

i just topped off my peanut butter reserves, better stock up before prices go through the roof.

we are entering a possible hyper-inflation scenario where a loaf of bread will be $10 as well as a gallon of gas.

for me im ready for prices to go hyper, i have a good 3 years supply of food on hand as well as a nice garden for veggies.

whenever i see something cheap i stack it deep, im just now running out of $1 a jar mayonaise and im on the hunt for some on the cheap.

have you guys bought peanut butter lately?

 

[Greg Who Cooks]

My stockpile was about one of these shelf units, before I moved to temporary quarters (between houses).

I don't hoard, and it doesn't have anything to do savings or prices or inflation. I just don't like running out of things and I hate to buy one bottle or one can of something. It makes my shopping list longer and takes more time to find each item at the store. I like to get several of any item I repeatedly use, and then I can just go to my stockpile when I need that instead of driving to the market. When I get low I make a note to pick up several more on my next shopping trip.

That changes the character of my market trips to buying fresh or fish and fresh vegetables. The rest of the stuff is already in my stock and my market trips are brief. I guess I stockpile for convenience and to save time.


By the way, I use a first in first out (FIFO) system. When I purchase items having a shelf life I write the month and year on the bottle, box or can (e.g. 0112 for Jan 2012) using a permanent marker, and then put the new items at the back of the shelf. This ensures that the oldest inventory gets used first.

 

[buckytom]

greg, have you ever checked the expiration dates on all of that stuff?