Case Lot Sales

I am very fortunate to live in an area where the local grocery stores offer bi annual case lot sales.  During this particular event a store will offer special pricing on food items that are sold in large quantities. To take advantage of the cheaper pricing, you must buy the entire shrink wrapped case..  usually in quantities of 12, 24, 36, or 48. These sales also usually include large bags of flour, wheat, sugar, dried beans, oatmeal, and rice. Twenty or forty pound boxes of chicken or bacon, and #10 cans of dehydrated and freeze dried foods are sometimes also available. I love taking advantage of these sales for several reasons:

• The prices are usually as cheap or cheaper than I can find the item on sale.
• I can stock my food storage quickly.
• I can usually buy enough of things I use frequently to last my family until the next sale.
• I can supplement the foods that I don't grow or home preserve myself.
• The unopened cases can be stacked and stored easily.
• It is so nice to run downstairs to the storage room to grab ketchup, rice, or toilet paper when we run out of something in the pantry, instead of hitting panic mode and running to the grocery store.

As I have mentioned before, my food storage is just an extension of my kitchen pantry. We use it daily. When I go grocery shopping it is to replenish what I have used up or am running low on. Case lot sales make it easy to replenish those items at one time.

In order to take full advantage of these kind of sales there are a few things you should know.

• The store usually offers a case lot sale twice a year, roughly six months apart. I have three stores in my area that offer this kind of sale, and they are usually within a month or two of each other.
• If you are on a tight budget, you may need to set aside a budget to purchase all the items you need. For example, if you are buying canned pineapple for $.78 each, you are required to buy the 24 can case of pineapple to get the cheap price. In  actuality, you are paying $18.72. If you are buying numerous items it adds up quickly.
• Know your prices. Make a price list, if necessary, of the lowest price you will pay for the items you use frequently. I know I won't pay more than $1.25 for peanut butter, $.48 for mandarin oranges, and $1.99 a pound for butter. Compare your price list to the prices of the food offered at each particular sale. 
• Write down a list of items you need or use regularly. I keep a running list on my fridge of the things I am running low on, and how many of each item I will need. Think ahead if you will be using more of certain items, because of a particular time of year. I buy extra sugar during the spring sales, because I know I will be canning fruit and making jelly during the summer and fall. You may use more flour in the fall, and more ketchup in the summer.
• Certain items are always on rock bottom prices during case lot sales. Flour, sugar, dried beans, rice, oatmeal, and wheat are usually at their lowest price (even cheaper than the bulk section).
• Emergency preparedness and long term storage items are sometimes included in the sale. This is a great time to purchase water barrels, 5 gallon buckets, gamma lids (these attach to a 5 gallon bucket and have a lid that screws on and off. A must have if you store frequently used items in 5 gallon buckets), powdered and freeze dried foods.
• You may need to return to the store several times over the course of the sale to purchase all the items you want to buy. After shopping these sales for years, I have discovered that going to the store early in the morning; especially Saturday morning, is my best chance for finding well stocked displays.
• You may need to special order or ask for a rain check for certain items. If you don't find something you are looking for ask a sales associate. They can help you order thos items.

Of course, the most important thing you must do if you want to participate in these fabulous sales, is to be in the know of the forthcoming event. There are several ways you can do this. Sign up on the store website to receive emails of sales and upcoming events. If the store has a Facebook page, like it. Then you will get alerts of their promos and sales on your Facebook feed. Last, but not least, if you live in Southeast Idaho like the Prepperific facebook page (conveniently located to the right of this post). I will alert you to case lot sales, as well as hot deals on grocery items, right here in our neck of the woods. I love, love, LOVE sharing a great deal!

What's In Your Pantry?

(one of my Team Prepperific faithful members posing with my recent case lot purchases. See how uber excited he is about stockpiling!)

 

When you think about food storage, do you think about 5 gallon buckets , #10 cans, or cases of wheat, beans, rice, powdered milk, tuna, tomatoes, green beans, and oatmeal shoved in an obscure corner of the basement, collecting dust, just waiting for the end of the world. It's fabulous if that is what you have stock piled, so far, but when the Zombies come,what will you be whipping up for dinner based on what's in your food stash?  Odds are good that Peachy Tuna Surprise or Honey Wheat Chili are not going to go over well.

Approaching food storage as a collection of shelf stable consumables to be used only in case of emergency is setting yourself up for a lot of stress; at a time when you will probably already be riding the tidal wave of  " Oh no! What are we going to do now?!?". Feeding your family foods that they have never, or rarely eaten, especially in times of stress, will not be a pleasant experience. Plus, if they are not part of the families regular menu, some items may cause gastric distress (also not a pleasant experience). Another question to ask is," Will I even know how to prepare (fill in the blank here)?"

A better solution is to use The Pantry Principle to food storage. Basically, the Pantry Principle is compiling a list of food items that your family eats regularly, and use that as the master list to build a useable stash of food. In addition to building up a stockpile of items that your family will eat, you will be using those items in your regular menu. Frequently replacing the items that you have used.
I personally switched to this method years ago, after having to live out of my basement "grocery store" for several months. Let's just say, macaroni, oatmeal, and tuna played heavily into our menu.

Using the Pantry Principle provides opportunities for you to:

• Create a menu of recipes and foods that your family likes to eat.
• Rotating your stock of food by eating it regularly, avoiding stale and spoiled food.
• Get your family use to the idea of eating certain foods. Gradually introducing dried beans, wheat flour, powdered milk, canned fruit and veggies into your diet is much less traumatic than throwing your white bread loving family into the deep end, so to speak.
• Allow yourself the chance to learn how to cook with the above items. Learning new skills along the way.
• Save money on your grocery budget.  Having a stash of pantry basics will save you from running to the store to buy a "few items" to make dinner, spending much more money than you had planned on. In addition to curtailing extra trips to the store, once you have a decent amount of things stored away, you can wait to restock until the items you need are on sale.

The Prudent Homemaker's blog is a fabulous resource of how to strictly feed your family out of your food storage on a daily basis. I have used her ideas for inspiration on streamlining my own pantry. If your are confused about the basic idea of the Pantry Principle this blog gives you a great explanation of how it works. So... what's in your pantry?

How To Start Building Your Food Storage On The Cheap

 



(Excuse the halo above the canned goods. Photography is obviously no my super power!)

 



Food storage......a year's supply......a little something for a rainy day. We all know that it is important to have some basic food and household supplies stocked up for "just in case".  It is always a good idea to be prepared, but where to start? It is more than daunting to picture cases of wheat, powdered milk, flour, sugar, oil, canned fruit and vegetables stacked four high in your mind's eye. Even more so, to get that mental plan out of your head and into your basement storage room, or wherever else you can squirrel away a few items. It's enough to set a person into panic mode! Never fear! Rome wasn't built in a day......and food storage doesn't have to be, either.

Starting a stockpile is as simple as adding a few extra items to your grocery list each week. Starting small doesn't make such a huge dent in your budget. To start you should:

• Make a list of grocery items that you use on a regular basis. What  will your family eat happily? In times of stress nobody wants to experience the drama that will inevitably ensue when you serve something deemed less the palatable by the troops.
• Make a list of personal and household items you use daily. In the event that employment is lost non food items are not included in state assisted food programs. How many of each item will you need to tide you over for a few months or a year?
• Decide how much of your weekly grocery budget you can to set aside for food storage items? Even five or ten dollars worth of items will build up quickly.
• Watch for the items on your list to go on sale and then stock up. Toothpaste, soap, laundry detergent, etc. will always go on sale every three to four weeks. Take advantage and buy one or two extra.

If trying to figure this out in your head is still making you a little nervous, or you are the kind of person that likes to have things written out. The ladies at Classy Clutter have devised a great cheat sheet. They have broken down what to purchase week by week to get your food storage off to a great start. Most of the items on the list can be purchased for around $5.00. Click HERE to print out the weekly list. To make it even easier I will remind you each week on my FACEBOOK page what the must buy items are.