Thursday, February 17, 2011

Keeping the Pantry Stocked

I went grocery shopping yesterday, for the first time in about a month. Thankfully I have a wonderful husband who doesn't mind stopping on the way home from work and picking up a thing or two when I ask him to.  There just aren't many things we need badly enough for me to make a special trip to go get them, but since he's going right by the stores anyway...

When I do shop, I take a long list and my coupons, and I stock up on everything that has started running low since the last time I went.  I try to keep a running list between shopping trips, jotting down things we're going to need as I think of them.  Needless to say, when I finally get to the store, it's not a quick trip.  I think I've done that a time or two, made a quick trip to the store, but usually it takes a while.  I heard somewhere that the average American goes to the grocery store 2 or 3 times a week, but I'm thinking those quick trips all add up, and I'm actually spending less time in the store, even if it takes me all afternoon - because I don't have to do it again for 2 or 3 or 4 weeks.

Except for the basics like milk, which we don't go through quite as fast now that the boy isn't living at home, we could probably go even longer than that.  I was thinking about trying to use up a lot of the food we have around here, in the pantry and the freezer, before buying much more, but then I heard that grocery prices are on the rise, and I decided maybe now wasn't the best time to do that.  I'd rather keep my freezer and pantry stocked by buying items now, when I can find good prices, than run out and have no choice but to spend much more.  Hopefully grocery prices won't rise so much that people will have to take out payday advance loans just to feed their families.  In the meantime, I don't think it hurts to keep the freezer and pantry well stocked while I can.  If grocery prices go through the roof, if we get snowed in for a week, if things just get crazy and I can't get to the store for a while, we can still eat.

But I'm still not going to shop more than once every 2 or 3 weeks.

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