Tuesday, December 13, 2011

Food Storage Blues

When you have nine shelving units stacked full of food, supplies and medications it is hard to see any improvements when you go grocery shopping.

Last weekend the wife and I made our bi-monthly food run to as many as half a dozen stores. Where we go all depended on what is on sell and what I have coupons for.
You may laugh at this point picturing me sitting at the kitchen table on a Friday night clipping coupons and planning out the next mornings market run. A far cry from my younger years where Friday nights you would find me in........ well, we all have been there I'm sure.

With the coupons and savings cards we saved right at $100.00 on food. I know that is nothing compared to the extreme couponers saving up in the thousands but it is great for our needs and our budget.
I kinda have a growing problem with the store's savings card and the government tracking our purchases but the little bit I spend at each store, I would not think it would raise a red flag.

We brought home $400 dollars worth of food for $297.00
Once back at home our ritual is, I back the truck up to the front porch, one kid jumps in the back and the other, the wife and myself start a train to the pantry room until all bags are safely behind closed doors.
Being I am the one with OCD, I am the only one that stocks the shelves, anyone else will not do it right, so they tell me.

The downer is, after all the food is put up, the wife will every single time come in and say the same thing, "Wow, did we even get anything, I can't tell"

I hang my head in disgust because I know she is right. Having that much food in storage, a couple of hundred dollars worth disappears within the monster.

My food storage is different than what I read about and how others do, it is also our pantry. I started it all with a very detailed inventory list but that is long gone. Now, I have moved to a more high tech method. I downloaded an app on my phone and on Friday night I go into the pantry and scan the bar codes of each item I need and then enter a number of how many needed. I know the max amount is 3 stacks of 10 on the caned goods. The max number is different for the condiments, box foods and others. All that is wrote down.  So if there is only 20 of that canned item, I scan the bar code and enter 10. Now I have my shopping list with me when I go through the coupons and sale flyers. Pretty simple now hu? If that said item is not on sell, or the budget only allows a purchase of 5 of that item then that is what it is. 5 more will be added to the list in two weeks.

By the way, the oldest girl BlueEyedBaby is back home for a month. I welcome the worry free sleep I will now experience. One of the first things she said to me was "I want to build something cool dad"
I know just the right project I am going to stick her on too.

16 comments:

  1. Family time again!

    We have a very modest inventory ourselves but it will do for us for now. It is also an extention of our pantry but it is house in the garage. Anything they mice can get into is in the house. Can goods are in the garage. It has worked well for us. I am the OCD one of the family. It is all or nothing with me. I get really frustrated when Harriet puts a non food item on my food shelves. I must make her a shelf of her own. - Genevieve

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  2. Your food storage system sounds fine, the fact that it works for you makes it fine. Since we only have dumb phones as opposed to smart phones (ours only call in/out, no fancy nuthin') we have to maintain our spreadsheet but that works for us.

    Glad BEB is home for a while. Enjoy your holidays!

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  3. MDR - pleeeez tell me that is a pic of someone else's pantry and not yours! if that is a pic of your pantry i am jealous as oh heck!

    your system sounds great to me and everyone has their own system that works for them. i have read so many blogs where people harp about "you have to do it this way" or "you have to do it that way" and it drives me batty because we do it our own way. we have incorporated ideas from many other people's way...but at the end of the day - it is OUR food storage and we will do it the way we please!

    so glad BEB is home. can't wait to see what projects you are going to get her help with!

    your friend,
    kymber

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  4. I've stored packaged stuff in drywall compound buckets, so I could put them in the basement or attic if needed. They're basically water-proof and fairly rodent resistant.

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  5. You just gave me an idea for my next posting. I bet you put BEB on the solar bath house??

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  6. G - I thought about having a shelf just for everyone else but it would end up with me going through it and organizing it as well.
    Do you heat and cool your garage?

    HB - If it was not for you then I would not have gotten as far as we have. Your system started me off on the right track. Thank you for sharing it with me.
    My phone my be smart but the dummy operating it sure could lean a thing or two.

    Kumber - Yes that is a pic of two of the shelving units in my pantry. There are seven more that look close to the same but with different stuff on them. Almost one whole unit has all the soups and stews on it, another has breads and snacks, another has all the pasta products and so on.
    Doing it your own way is the right way no matter what other say.

    Gorges - That's an idea. I use 2 1/2 gallon frosting buckets from the bakery. They have a gasket lid and easy to open. Plus a five gallon bucket it too heavy for the wife to grab if we need to go. I mix different staples in vacuum bags in a couple so if a friend or family member needs a couple weeks forth of food, I can just give them the whole bucket.

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  7. Rob - What was the idea?
    Nope probably the framed structure for the Fresnel Lens.

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  8. Oh on how we do our food storage. We have a small place.

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  9. I was lucky enough to have a full big bedroom open up when the oldest girl went to college. The day after she left I lined the walls with shelves and also put a row down the middle. The girls say it is like going grocery shopping but at home.
    what I want to get is the bar code stickers and put them on the shelves. That way I can just scan the shelf but I rearange so much it would not work.
    I wished I had system like walmart and have a barcode scanner at the door. That way when someone leaves or comes in the room the item is scanned and it automaticly takes it out or puts it in inventory. That way when I go grocery shopping, all I need to do is print out the report and it will tell me what is needed.
    Ok, maybe I have now overdone it just a little.

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  10. yep - buddy - that OCD is going into overload! but i love your idea about the scanner at the door!

    time to get BEB and the other 3 back to work on the bathouse - we NEEEEED an update!

    your friend,
    kymber

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  11. You have no idea how well I understand that statement. - Genevieve

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  12. I know it is Kymber but it would be nice.

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  13. We have a spare bedroom that is currently referred to as "the cats' room" because it's where their food, water and litter box are, and are contemplating turning it into food storage. The only other thing in the room is a dresser used for storage and an old chair. All our closets are packed with prepping of some sort or another and there's always more to be done, eh?

    Are you using any couponing websites? If you're interested, let me know and I'll send you a few. My favorite ones are run by local Okies and mostly pertain to stores/sales in this area, but it will give you an idea of what to look for in a website geared toward where you live.

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  14. Kris - Go ahead and send me the websites please. I looked into them but the ones I found wanted me to download to much stuff and cost a fortune.
    I did have all my stuff scattered for a while but when the oldest moved out I put it all together. It is so much easier that way.

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  15. Okay, I emailed them to you.

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