Who hoards food?

[Mad Cook]

i am a prepper and the way things are going right now in the world ive been extemly active lately. i have lots of grains, pastas, beans, canned veggies and meats. i also have a garden that does pretty well, just wondering if 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.

I could probably feed the entire street for a year if there was ever a famine!

I do tend to hoard food although I do rotate what I have. I always start out with a list when I go shopping but it tends to get waylaid when I see something I hadn't thought of when list-making, or at a good price. I'm a sucker for three-fers and bogofs but only if it's a product I use.

I go for things with a long 'fridge or shelf life, or cans (I have more cans of tomatoes and passata than Sainsbury's!) and stuff I can freeze either as is or after cooking..

I only use supermarkets for staples like sugar, flour, butter, cleaning products (yes, I horde them too - I was brought up on horror stories of wartime shortages of soap!) and go to the "proper" butchers for meat, the fishmonger for fresh fish and the greengrocer for fruit and veg. They may be more expensive than supermarkets but the quality is better and you get advice as well. You can't ask a supermarket display cabinet how to cook a cut of meat or how much you'll need to serve 10 guests! And when you're a regular customer you often get an extra apple or a discount on a steak or the shop keeper will suggest what is good this week.

 

[Mad Cook]

how long will they keep? what about lentils?

Go by the "use by" date on the package or if you buy them loose the general advice is to use them before the new seasons pulses (beans, peas, lentils) come onto the market ie not more than a year at the absolute outside.

 

[Mad Cook]

Lol I rather refer to it as stockpiling.

I use coupons religiously so when I come across a good deal, I stock up. I mostly keep processed foods that I normally wouldn't pay for and stock up when I can get them for free. Right now I have chips (~8 bags), candy (~15-20), canned soups and veggies (15), hot cocoa (7), organic peanut butter (5), jelly (5), cereal (6), gatorade (~40) rice, bbq sauces, ketchup, salad dressings and a few other randoms (toothpaste, toothbrushes, deodorant, tampons) I get free after coupons so I do have a drawer full of each.

I don't overdue it only because only 2 people in my household. Although I must admit, when my family expands stockpiling like this makes more and more sen$e:

at one point I did have about 70 cans of cat food but lol Wellness is expensive and after coupons I was getting them for .25 a can...normally $1.25 so had to stock up!! When I can get cat treats and Tidy Cat free, I buy as many bags as possible so I guess I stockpile that too.

It saves me a lot of money *shrug*

Heavens to Murgatroyd...and I thought I was bad!

 

[Mad Cook]

my travel trailer we call the escape pod.I can have it loaded and on the road in an hour.

But where would you go if it was the sort of disaster/world war/end of the world scenario?

When we cleared out my grandmother's house in the 1980s we found the emergency stash of canned food she'd put in the cellar at the time of the Munich crisis in 1938. Apparently she would never allow any of it to be used, "just in case", throughout the war and even in the extended period of rationing after the end of the war it had to be kept.

Now THAT was hoarding!

 

[Kylie1969]

Wow, that is a lot of hoarding there

If things are on a really good special, I will buy 2 or 3 of them, as long as I know we will eat them or use them by the use by dates

 

[97guns]

that is an impressive pantry!!!, maybe a little heavy on salad dressing


boneless pork but was on sale this week so i added 50#, had a $5 off a $30 purchase coupon that i used 2X which brought the price down to $1.25/lb


been noticing potatoes have been pretty high, ive gone without for a month or so now. next time i see 10# for $1 im gonna try dehydrating some

 

[joesfolk]

Recent changes in trucking industry regulations may significantly increase the price of everything but especially food because it is heavy and often time sensitive to ship. Not even the lawmakers are sure how these changes will affect the industry because there are so many different kinds of trucking. But I have to believe that stocking up can't be a bad thing. If price increases don't come to pass (and what are the chances of that?) then we will be well prepared to stay indoors well fed and warm this winter. If prices do increase we will save some money eating out of our rotated stores. Win-win.

 

[CarolPa]

I tend to shop by what's on sale rather than what I'm going to use for the week. So I have a pantry in the basement that is pretty well stocked but no where near the picture shown! I read the store ads the day they come out and make a list for each store. I will go to one store on one day and the other store another day stocking up on the specials. While I'm there, I also buy the normal things I need to buy weekly such as bread and milk, or something I'm actually out of and can't wait for a sale.

When my step-children lived here, I made up a menu for the week and bought only the foods and amounts I needed for that menu. Cooking for a family I could not afford to stock up.

 

[cave76]

Just found this thread! I prefer to think that I'm 'prepared' rather than hoarding.

My preparedness (ahem) started when we lived on a very remote ranch and going into town for a quart of milk involved a lot of driving on dirt roads, opening and shutting of ranch gates and I was able to have storage space and an extra fridge and a very large freezer.

After moving from the ranch and into an urban area I became very ill with a chronic illness and keeping extra stuff around was de rigueur because I never knew when I would feel good enough to get to the grocery. (living alone).

But I do have to admit that I've probably carried it a bit too far! Being a pack rat comes naturally to me. I just wish I could keep things as neat as love2cook! My small pantry and storage areas are a mess!

 

[SherryDAmore]

I also live in the country, and driving to get something I'm out of or need, is out of the question, especially with the price of gas. I have two poly-type pantry cupboards in the basement and they are stuffed, I have a stand up freezer that is full and wire shelving where I store toilet paper, Puffs with Lotion and paper towels. I also have aluminum foil, parchment, sandwich, and storage bags.

I match coupons with the specials, and get what is on sale. Try to keep extra butter, bacon, meat, chicken, fish, veal, lamb and pork and vegetables, also sugar and flour, and pasta.

 

[CarolPa]

I also live in the country, and driving to get something I'm out of or need, is out of the question, especially with the price of gas. I have two poly-type pantry cupboards in the basement and they are stuffed, I have a stand up freezer that is full and wire shelving where I store toilet paper, Puffs with Lotion and paper towels. I also have aluminum foil, parchment, sandwich, and storage bags.

I match coupons with the specials, and get what is on sale. Try to keep extra butter, bacon, meat, chicken, fish, veal, lamb and pork and vegetables, also sugar and flour, and pasta.

We have extra of the staples, but we still have to get things like bread and milk about every 5 days. We don't use enough to buy extra. Of course, we can get bread and milk at the gas station mini mart 2 blocks from our home if necessary. Otherwise, the grocery store is about a mile from my home. I have never lived rural. My DIL usually does her shopping on the way home from work so she doesn't have to go back out to the store. They live out a bit from civilization. LOL

 

[CWS4322]

I also live rural. I tend to have staples on hand. I make bread if I want bread. I rarely have milk in the house because I don't drink it and don't make "cream" sauces. I do, however, have a well-stocked freezer and have flours, yeast, dried beans, rices, etc. on hand. I buy yeast in 1 lb packages, flour in 25 lb bags, and beans and rice in as large of bags as I can find (usually 8-10 lb). I could probably not go to the grocery store for at least a month just eating what is on hand in the freezers and pantry. And, the girls provide fresh eggs every day.

 

[CarolPa]

I also live rural. I tend to have staples on hand. I make bread if I want bread. I rarely have milk in the house because I don't drink it and don't make "cream" sauces. I do, however, have a well-stocked freezer and have flours, yeast, dried beans, rices, etc. on hand. I buy yeast in 1 lb packages, flour in 25 lb bags, and beans and rice in as large of bags as I can find (usually 8-10 lb). I could probably not go to the grocery store for at least a month just eating what is on hand in the freezers and pantry. And, the girls provide fresh eggs every day.

My DIL does not bake bread. In fact, she gets home so late from work that my step-son actually does the cooking. I grew up in the city, but my mother made everything home made since she was a stay at home Mom. My father was sick and was on disability so our income was just a once-a-month check. She bought all the groceries at the beginning of the month to make sure we had food all month. We didn't even buy milk. She got powdered milk from the government program for low income families, so that is all the milk we ever had. So she stocked up every month like you do, even though the store was in our town. I can relate to what you do.

 

[CWS4322]

I don't stock up every month. With the garden, in the summer I eat mostly vegetarian because there is so much to eat.

Often I just need a couple of things (fresh limes and lemons are most often on my list) so if I have to go into town, I will stop and get those. Usually I walk out of the store having spent less than $10.

I also stockpile vinegars and oils when they are on special. I use a lot of both.

 

[chrismcphee]

We started checking the flyers when my wife got let go a few years back and were amazed by how much money we saved by just shopping around. When she got back to work we carried on the same way. There are half a dozen supermarkets within a 5km radius of us, so Saturday morning is flyer & food time.

 

[CWS4322]

We started checking the flyers when my wife got let go a few years back and were amazed by how much money we saved by just shopping around. When she got back to work we carried on the same way. There are half a dozen supermarkets within a 5km radius of us, so Saturday morning is flyer & food time.

When the market slowed down in 2008, my monthly income dropped substantially. I plan what I eat based on what is on special and watch for specials on turkey, pork, etc. at certain times of the year. Around Canadian T'giving, turkeys are on the list and put in the freezer (we eat a turkey a month from October until April/May). Pork usually goes on special in the fall and January, so we stock up then.

 

[Rocket_J_Dawg]

For us, it's impossible to hoard in a 900 sq ft condo. The only things we buy from the grocery stores are things like toilet paper, foil wrap, milk, things like that. Fruits and veg we get at the local Saturday morning farmers market and meat we get from a local farm. It may cost a bit more but the quality is better and we know what we're getting. Plus, we are supporting our local farmers.

 

[CarolPa]

We started checking the flyers when my wife got let go a few years back and were amazed by how much money we saved by just shopping around. When she got back to work we carried on the same way. There are half a dozen supermarkets within a 5km radius of us, so Saturday morning is flyer & food time.

That's why we check the flyers, too. And I started going to Aldi's, a discount grocery that sells mostly off brands. By trial and error, you find out which things are the same as the name brands and which aren't. My husband eats a lot of oatmeal and says their off brand oatmeal is better than Quaker. There are certain things that I always buy there. For example, eggs, butter and sugar are $1 less there than at the regular grocer. Also, they have great prices on fresh produce. All these stores are within 2 miles from my home. I think when you have lived rural all your lives you are used to shopping in such a way that you don't have to go very often. Since I have always lived in the city, or in the suburbs, I am accustomed to having everything nearby. I can be in the middle of making something and send my husband to the store for something I'm missing. He's back in 15 minutes or less. It's all in what you are used to.

 

[Greg Who Cooks]

I don't "hoard" out of any necessity like the rurals. I have Ralphs, Von's, Albertson's, Walmart, Trader Joe's and Whole Foods Market within short driving distance (all but the last two within 5 minutes drive).

I just like hanging around home. I see no reason to have to dress up and go out in public (even for 20 minutes) just to buy food. If I see a good buy on something I stock up. If it's something I use often I stock up. (If there was a shortage of toilet paper I'm good until at least mid October.)

I figure if it's something you use all the time, buy a bunch and put it on the shelf or in the pantry, so that you don't have to keep putting it on the shopping list and buying it again and again and over and over.

If it adds 1 minute to my shopping trip to buy 1 package of toilet paper, it takes 1 minute to buy 10 packages of toilet paper. Multiply that over all the repeat stuff you buy and I spend a whole lot less time in the supermarket than ordinary people.

Who likes shopping in supermarkets? My goal is to minimize my time spent buying food. Plus it's convenient and allows a lot of flexibility if you can just cook dinners out of your stores rather than having to drive to the store.

 

[GotGarlic]

Ordinary people? lol

I also stock up on good buys, but I don't hoard.