My Food Storage Journey

Moving!!

2010-05-28T11:05:00.000-07:00

I haven't posted in FOREVER!! That reason is because we are moving so I haven't been stocking up on my food storage. We are trying to eat a lot of the perishable items from my fridge and freezer before we go. We're not just moving across town. We're moving out of state!!
I'm so excited to get out of California and move to a state where I will be able to have more storage for my family. I will most likely have some type of basement where we're going and have some type of storage room with lots of shelves!! I cannot wait to get settled into our new home! I also can't wait to show all my readers all the fun new places I'm going to have to store my stockpile!1 Woo hoo!! So kep checking back because soon I'll be settled in my new home with lots of pictures to share!

Shopping!!!

2010-03-24T12:46:00.000-07:00

I spent $99.00 on $323.00 worth of groceries this week. I haven't been shopping in awhile and so I needed quite a few things. My grocery store was having a sale where if you bought 8 participating products you got $4.00 off at check out. You could do this 3 times for a total of $12.00 off at check out. Well, I had my son with me and he took up my usual spot where I organize all my coupons and he was getting so grouchy. I was getting flustered and some how miscounted my items and so I missed one of the $4.00 off!! I was so bummed when I got home and looked at my receipt. I only got $8.00 taken out instead of $12.00.

I usually try not to shop with my kids. I go at night when my husband is home and I can go all by myself. I like getting out of the house by myself. It's my alone time every week. So now I know to wait till my husband gets home to watch the kids while I shop so I don't ever miss out on another good deal like that again. I was only one item off from getting another $4.00 off. Dang it!!

I Got It!!!

2010-02-23T13:27:00.000-08:00

In my previous post I mentioned that I had this space that I didn't know what to do with. I knew I wanted it to serve a purpose and not just be a simple decoration or space-sucker-upper.

So here it is......

This is a super old hope chest that was my Great Grandmother's! My Grandma is 92 years old if that gives you an idea of just how stinkin' old this thing is. I thought it was built by my great grandfather but I guess I was getting that confused with another one of my mothers antiques.

Either way I think it's pretty cool that I've ended up with it after having been passed down from my great grandmother to my grandmother to my mom and now to me.

Like I said before I will probably put paper products inside because I don't want any food items leaking into it. I'm looking forward to filling this thing up!

My next item on my list is reorganize my food storage closet as well as my pantry. They have both gotten slightly out of hand the last few months and are in need of a make over!

Hmmm.... What should I put here???

2010-02-17T22:46:00.001-08:00

I have this space.....

It's a wall in my living room and it's just a big blank space. I have been wracking my brain about what I should put there for a few months. Because I live in a small space, I need to make every inch count. Almost everything in my home has a purpose. When I buy any furniture or organize a closet, my mind isn't just thinking about how it will look but also how it will benefit me. Will it just be a big waste of space?? Can it serve another purpose?? That sort of thing.

Well.... it dawned on me that my mom has an old trunk that would fit perfectly right in that spot. When I say old.. I mean old. I think my grandfather built it (or maybe it was my great grandfather. either way... it's old!). So, I called up my mom and asked her what she was doing with the old trunk sitting in her garage. She said "Nothing, you want it??" and of course I said "YES!!!!" So as soon as I get it, I'll post some pics for you. I'm really excited. I'm thinking because this thing is so old, that I don't want to store canned goods in there. I don't want to put anything too heavy in there or anything that could possibly spill and get messy. I'm thinking some where along the lines of paper goods. Diapers, toilet paper, paper towels, that sort of thing.

So stay tuned my friends because I'll be posting pics in the next few days with an update and show off my new trunk!

Awesome!

This Week In Food Storage....

2010-01-19T14:05:00.000-08:00

So my husband and I decided that we needed to not spend any money for awhile. We own a small nuts and bolts company and with the way the economy is, things have been slow. December and January are always his slowest months of the year. We decided that we wouldn't go grocery shopping for awhile and use our food storage to feed our family. So since January 1st we have not been grocery shopping. So far so good. The only thing we decided we would purchase would be milk and meat (and diapers!!). My deep freeze some how got unplugged back in early December and we lost a lot of our meat. If it weren't for that, we wouldn't even have to buy meat right now! Anyways, I'm hoping to go at least another three or four weeks without grocery shopping. I really do enjoy grocery shopping and using my coupons though so it's going to be tough.

Creative Food Storage Options

2010-01-05T08:40:00.000-08:00

I've mentioned before that you have to be creative when you live in a small space.

Luckily I have a very handy husband.

Looks like an ordinary bed right??

But underneath is this....

Our bed sits on top of a giant storage box with seven different compartments. 6 square compartments and on long rectangular section running down the middle. He made it himself and it takes down easily if we ever move so we can take it with us!!

Each square compartment holds 4 five gallon buckets (24 total) or 32 (yep.... 32) #10 cans (192 total). I'm really looking forward to filling this thing up. The center rectangular compartment can also hold quite a bit. I will probably put #10 cans in there as well after the other sections are filled up. I'm estimating the center compartment can hold about 80 #10 cans as well.

Now I just have to make a bedskirt to match my bedding which will hang down and conceal the storage boxes.

I absolutely love my husband for being so creative and helping me to build our food storage!!

Walgreens

2009-10-20T21:48:00.000-07:00

Just got back from a Walgreens run. I am pretty happy with what I came home with. Just picked up a few things but they basically paid me to shop there so that's pretty awesome!!!
Here's what I got......
1 bag Ricola Cough Drops
2 Box Kraft Mac and Cheese
1 Gilette Fusion Razor
1 box 24 count Zantac 150
Total in groceries $31.00
Total out of pocket $14.56
BUT........ I received $15.00 in rewards to spend next time. So they just paid me 44 cents to shop at their store. AWESOME!!!

Grocery Shopping

2009-10-07T16:56:00.000-07:00

Last night I went grocery shopping. My husband has been out of town and so I hadn't been shopping in awhile. I only saved 63% but I got a lot of stuff. Here's what I got...

3 reynolds wrap foil

4 cans campbells chicken noodle soup

3 packs trident gum

2 boxes playtex feminine products

5 boxes green giant frozen veggies

3 boxes matzo ball soup mix

2 boxes barilla pasta

4 jars ragu pasta sauce

1 box corn starch

1 package white rice

1 noodle bowl

5 cans del monte veggies

2 cans campbells healthy choice chicken soup

2 dawn liquid dish soaps

2 packages 4 count mr clean magic erasers

2 packages taco seasoning

2 containers low fat litehouse caramel dip

5.28 lbs naval oranges

1.5 lbs golden delicious apples

1.12 lbs tomatoes

2.77 lbs brown onions

2.76 lbs granny smith apples

1 zone perfect meal bar

6 lbs boneless ribeye steaks

1 package tic tacs

1 Gillette fusion razor

Total $227.10

Total Spent $86.25

Total Saved $140.85/63%

Snack Attack!!!

2009-09-01T22:07:00.000-07:00

I am crazy. I haven't been doing so well at grocery shopping lately and so I decided to get back on the horse with my coupons and start stocking up. My freezer(s) are full and so I really don't need any frozen fruits, veggies or meat. I guess back to school time means lots of sales on snacks. Usually I am really good about not buying all the junk food, but when I got home today I realized that snacks/junk is just about all I bought. Oops!!! We really didn't have any grab and go type of foods around here so I guess they will come in handy. Also my husband is going on a road trip with his buddy in a few weeks and now I can look like an awesome super prepared wife sending him off with loads and loads of granola bars, fruit snacks, etc for him and his friend to share.

Here's what I got......

First, the Non-Junk-Food items......
3 packages of scunci barrettes, rubber bands and bobby pins
1 Colgate tooth brush (free)
2 boxes Hefty storage bags (free)

Now bring on the junk.....
6 packages of hamburger helper
2 packages of Betty crocker Warm Delight Mini's (free)
2 packages fiber one granola bars
2 packages chex mix bars
4 packages fruit roll ups
2 packages fruit snacks
4 packages sugar free Jell-o
1 package Quaker true delights granola Bars
4- 12 packs coke products
1 loaf bread
1 Wanchai dinner kit
1 nature valley nut clusters
1 fiber one muffin mix
2 lighthouse dressings
1 Marie's dressing

Total= $146.00
Total Paid $45.00
70% savings

Well.... I definitely got a lot of junk food. Luckily my food storage is stocked with other foods because you can't live off of granola bars and fruit roll ups!!!

Broke Down

2009-08-19T10:11:00.000-07:00

Well, I broke down and went grocery shopping. I couldn't stand to pass up the good deals any longer. I did awesome too. I got 135.00 in groceries for only 30 bucks!! Almost 80% savings. Woo Hoo!!!

My food storage is plugging along. Funny story: I was at the store last week and they were having a deal where if you bought $30.00 worth of participating products, you could receive $15.00 back to use next time at check out. Well, I was already purchasing about $14.00 worth of those participating items so I decided to throw 16 additional packages of rice in order to qualify for the $15.00 back. The rice was only $1.00 each so essentially it was like I was getting 16 packs of rice for $1.00 out of pocket. Good deal right?? Well, I was in line and I loaded all my items up on the conveyor belt. There was an older gentleman behind me and he said to me "That sure is a lot of rice!!!" I said, "Yes, they were having a good sale!" then he said "were they having a sale on peanut butter too??" I had bought 4 of those. I told him that I was one of those crazy coupon shoppers and asked him to watch my totals as the checker rang up my items. So she starts checking me out. The total was $135.00 then I handed her my savings card and they guy watched my total go down to $80.00. He was impressed. But I wasn't done. I then handed her my coupons. that brought the total down to $45.00. He was laughing by this point and asking me if I was a "professional" I told him that I wasn't done yet and to keep watching. So I pay the checker and then my $15.00 rewards print out. So I turn to the man and say "see.... now i have $15.00 for next time too". By this time, he's no longer laughing, he's asking me where I get my coupons and how much time I spend, etc. It was so funny. The guy thought I was nuts for buying so much rice but after he saw all my savings, he changed his tune!
My daughter is allergic to all sorts of startches. Rice is about the only thing she is not allergic to. We eat a lot of rice around here and it lasts forever so it's not like it will go bad. I think I did good!

Going to have to buy some stuff today!!

2009-07-27T12:31:00.001-07:00

Well, I'm running out of meat and that's not a good thing when you're on a low carb diet. So I will be heading to the store to make my first food purchase since starting this whole experiement. Ground beef is on sale for 99 cents per pound so that's what I'll be getting for now because we're all out!! I still have some chicken and cornish game hens and roasts in my deep freeze to tide me over for another week or so but it looks like i will need to buy some more meat next week as well. Of course I'll only buy what is on sale! That's the way I roll! I'll be getting some lettuce as well today for salads.

So Far So Good

2009-07-13T21:59:00.001-07:00

Well, I haven't been shopping yet so that makes me happy. I'm doing my best to not shop for 8 weeks. Keep on wishing me luck!!

A New Goal

2009-07-08T14:59:00.000-07:00

I have been so extremely busy lately with trips out of town, etc. I hadn't gotten a chance to go grocery shopping for awhile and it was actually a good thing because my fridge died and everything inside was ruined! Thank goodness for my freezer full of meat and veggies in our garage. I was able to put some of the salvageable items in there when I noticed it wasn't working but a lot of what was inside my fridge was a total loss. Today I had to restock it with a few things. I just went to Sam's club and did not do my usual coupon shopping. I spent $100.00 on Cleaners, Milk, Cheese, Fruits and Veggies, Tortillas and Frozen chicken breasts. In this past week, we have had to buy a new vacuum, a new fridge and a new battery for our car. So it's just been a peachy week! After spending so much money, I decided that I am going to use my food storage to it's fullest. That's what it's there for right??? When money's tight, I can dig in to it and still feed my family. So my goal until September 1st (yes, September 1st!!) is to use everything from my food storage for all of our meals. That's just under 8 weeks of NO grocery shopping! I talked with my husband and he is on board. So for the next 8 weeks, the ONLY thing I will be purchasing from the store is Rice Milk for my Dairy allergic daughter. I will also go to the store each week to take advantage of any FREE items that I can get with using coupons though I will need to pay the sales tax. So my goal is under $5.00 per week for the next 8 weeks. I will be reporting how I'm doing as often as possible so check back to see how well (or not so well) we are doing. Wish us luck!! NO shopping for 8 weeks!! Are we insane?? Nope.... just poor!!!

Grocery Shopping!

2009-06-17T11:29:00.000-07:00

Last night I did my usual grocery shopping. I actually haven;t been shopping for a few weeks because I have been out of town. I didn't take pictures of my loot but I made out pretty well last night. Here's what I got....
1 2 liter diet dr pepper (free)
6 packs of Knorr rice
4 wish bone salad dressings
4 kens salad dressings
2 kens spritzer salad dressings
2 wishbone salad spritzers
4 ragu pasta sauces
1 lysol cling toilette cleaner
1 lysol toilette bowl cleaner
1 6 pack jello
2 mighty dog food cans (free)
3 canisters crystal light lemonade
2 lbs grapes
1 pack lettuce mix
1 frozen kashi entree (free)
1 pack tofu
1 promax bar
5 lbs ground beef
2 pack hot dogs
2 packs loyds beef bbq tubs
1 reach toothbrush (free)
1 pack feminine products
2 packs listerine breath strips
4 nail saver sponges

Total in groceries= $175.01
Total paid= $54.31
Total Saved= $120.70/69% savings

Not too shabby!! Yes, i realize I went slightly overboard on the salad dressings, but they were such a good deal. i paid 24 cents a bottle for some and the most i paid was 64 cents per bottles. I like to marinate meat in the Italian dressing. It makes yummy chicken!!

Lagging!!

2009-05-27T09:57:00.000-07:00

Well, I have not been doing so hot on my food storage shopping. Last week I did pretty good but I didn't get a chance to take a picture and post about it. This week, I had some issues with my coupon shopping for the first time. Sometimes I print coupons online and for some reason I had quite a few online coupons to use this week. So I went to the grocery store, bought all the stuff, went way over budget (by $60.00!!!) then when I got to the check out the guy said he couldn't accept my online coupons. I guess my printer is running low on ink and it didn't print out the code for him and the bar code was too blurry to work. Bleh! So I had to talk to the manager. The manager said he couldn't use them either so I have to re-print them and take my receipt back. They said they would reimburse me for the coupons. So frustrating. It was late at night and I was tired. Plus, I just found out my daughter is allergic to a lot of foods so I've become one of those people you see in the store reading every single label. I think it took me two hours to shop last night. I also had to buy special things for her. She is allergic to wheat so I'm having to make my own bread for her out of rice flour. I had to buy some really expensive stuff called xanthum gum for the bread. I also had to buy some shortening which didn't contain soy since she is allergic to that as well. I found it and again it was about twice the price of a normal thing of shortening. So while I'm getting the hang of these allergies, my shopping experience's aren't going to be too fun.
Anyways, my food storage is about the same. I have about 3-4 months. I need more but things just haven't been working out in my budget to get extra stuff for storage. Hopefully I will be posting some exciting food storage accomplishments in the near future.

Water Storage! WOO HOO!!!

2009-04-30T14:14:00.000-07:00

Technically, water storage should be the first thing you store in case of a natural disaster and the water sources become contaminated but I didn't quite get to it until now. Over this past weekend, we filled up our new water barrels. We are now the proud owners of three 55 gallon drums. I feel so great having these!! It really is a load off my shoulders. If you're just starting out on your emergency preparedness, start with water. Don't be like me!! Get that water stored and fast!!!

A few months ago, there were some really bad fires around where we live. My dad actually had homes burning all around his. He had to be evacuated and during this time, he stayed with us. I was able to discuss with him the importance of being prepared for a disaster. In the case with the fires, his home was spared, but there were some areas in his city where the water had become contaminated due to pipes bursting from fire damage. Everyone in his neighborhood was without water for a few weeks until they could fix the problems the fires had caused. If you are ever in a situation where your water becomes contaminated, think of how nice it would be to know that you had enough water to sustain you and your family for a few weeks right there in your house/garage.

I'm really excited that we have finally gotten our water stored! YAY!!!!

Diaper Deal

2009-04-16T11:43:00.000-07:00

Last night, I went and bought 4 jumbo packs of diapers for $11.94 including tax! Woo Hoo!

I'm Baaaaaaack!

2009-04-14T22:57:00.000-07:00

Today I finally headed out to the store. I got some pretty good deals. I did really well at one store and was super excited, but my overall savings was just so-so. Here's my loot!

1 Pinesol Cleaner
1 Welches Squeezable grape jelly
3 Duncan Hines Cake Mixes
1 Betty Crocker Frosting
3 Mc Cormick Seasoning packs
1 pkg I can't believ it's not butter baking sticks
1 Barilla Marinara sauce
1 lb Brown Onion
1 Vitamin Water (FREE)
1 Chuck Roast
1 pkg Rib Eye steaks
1 Maries Salad Dressing
2 Mabeline mascaras
2 Sure deodorants
2 Dove conditioners
2 Lysol Wipes
2 Lysol Toilette cleaners
2 Lysol Bathroom cleaners
2 Walgreens Multipurpose cleaners
2 Boxes Hefty Zip bags
4 Jars Skippy Peanut Butter
1 Edge Shave Gel
1 Chocolate Chex Mix (FREE)
1Cheddar Chex Mix
1 Skintamate Shave Gel
1 Pkg Scunci Rubberbands
1 Colgate Toothbrush (FREE)
1 Scotchbrite Sponge

Total Price= $167.06
Total Paid= $58.71
Total Saved= $108.35/65%
I received $5.00 to spend on my next trip as well.

I really needed peanut butter so I was happy it was on sale. I have been scraping it out of the jar for the last few days. Also, my daughters 3rd birthday is coming up and we're having a party for her. I'm going to be making the cakes so I was pretty happy they were on sale and I had a coupon. I just need to get more icing and I'll be all set!

Sorry...

2009-03-29T18:59:00.000-07:00

I haven't posted in awhile. In March, I had a couple of parties and I had to go over my grocery budget a bit so I haven't spent any money for a few weeks. I am probably going to have a slow month in the month of April because I am cutting my budget in half for April only to make up for going over budget in March. We'll see how that goes...

Food Storage Closet

2009-03-19T23:14:00.001-07:00

Today, I updated my food storage closet. I had organized it a ew weeks ago, but it was in need of some type of shelves. I got these cheap ones at Walmart and came home and got right to work!

Weekly Grocery Shopping

2009-03-16T21:11:00.000-07:00

I'll just get to it. Here's what I got......

3 Bottles Listerine (FREE)
2 Revlon Colorsilk Hair Color
2 Hershey's Candy Bars
5 Boxes Sugarfree Jello
1 Trident Gum
1 Dry Idea Deodorant (FREE)
1 Colgate Toothpaste (FREE)
2 Six Packs Dive Bar Soap (FREE)
1 Individual Dove Bar Soap
5 Bags Quakes Rice Snacks
1 Family Pack Pudding Fat Free
1 Land O' Lakes Spread
1 Bag Large Shell Pasta
1 Bag Fettuccine
4 Boxes Betty Crocker Fruit Snacks
1 Box Curves Granola Bars
1 Box Nature Valley Granola Bars
1 Box Chex Mix Granola Bars
1 Box Fiber One Granola Bars
4 Country Crock Spreads
2 Four Count Dole Fruit Parfaits
2 Comfort Little Puffs Snacks
2 Classico Marinara Sauce
1 Package Dixie Paper Plates
1 Head Cabbage
3 lbs Tri Tip Roast
1 Package Big Red Gum (FREE)
1 Package Strawberries
1 Nail Saver Sponge
1 Betty Crocker Cake Mix
2 lb Red Delicious Apples
1 Package Deli Cuts Chicken Breast
1 Purex Laundry Detergent
1 Package Lettuce
1 Package McCormick Roast Seasoning

Total Price= $193.93
Total Paid= $64.51
Total Saved= $129.42/67%
Received $5.00 to spend next time.

Water Storage.... Oops!

2009-03-15T22:26:00.000-07:00

Water storage has been on my mind lately. I kept telling my husband that we needed to get those 55 gallon drums for storing water. All I currently have is about 12 individual gallons bought from the grocery store and a case of bottled water. Today at church they passed around a sign up sheet to order either 30 or 55 gallon drums for water storage. I decided to put my name down for a 30 gallon one with the complete set up with the pump and everything. It was offered to us at a good price and I hoped that my loving husband wouldn't be too upset when I told him that I had ordered it without consulting him first. Even though it was a discounted rate, it's still pretty pricey but I really felt the need to order at least one! On the car ride home, I was about to mention that I had signed us up for one 30 gallon drum, when he turns to me and says "Oh, Honey! I saw a sign up sheet today for water storage drums and I signed us up for three used 55 gallon drums!" Uh Oh!!! I reluctantly told him that I had also signed us up for a 30 gallon one. So it looks as if we will be getting three 55 gallon drums and one 30 gallon drum. Oops. Oh well, you can never be too prepared right??
It's recommended to have 14 gallons of drinking water stored per person in case of emergency. That's the bare minimum. Water for cooking and washing is extra. Now it loos like we will have more than enough water for drinking, cooking and washing if there is ever an emergency! 48.75 gallons per person to be exact!

2009-03-10T21:38:00.000-07:00

I got some good deals today but over all, I only saved 60%. I never thought the day would come where 60% savings would be a disappointment, but it sort of is. One super awesome deal was the three family packs of chicken shown above. They have a special rack for stuff that's about to expire in the meat department. They put orange stickers on the packs of meat and they usually say "reduced for quick sale". Well I always check it out but very rarely buy anything because it scares me. Last week they had a very grey package of sausage and I could feel the food poisoning attack just by looking at it. So normally, I don't get anything but today I noticed they had a ton of boneless skinless chicken breasts on sale for $0.99/lb. (a normal cheap price for boneless skinless chicken breasts is $1.97/lb) So I just had to ask the butcher for info on it. I walked up to him and said "HI, i see there's a lot of chicken breasts for sale. Are they going bad? Will my family DIE if i feed it to them?" He started laughing at me and said that no, we wouldn't die, that actually nothing was wrong with them. They just accidentally ordered 300 lbs of extra chicken breasts so the manager said to mark it down to get it out of there. So not only was the stuff not going bad, it was brand new!! So i picked up three family packs of chicken. That was probably my most exciting deal this week. I did get some stuff for free, but the chicken was like an extra special bonus today.

1 Glade fan starter kit (FREE)

2 Tubs Smart Balance Spread

1 Exedrin Menstrual Gelcaps (FREE)

1 Pack Extra Gum (FREE)

1 CVS Vitamin D (FREE)

1 Single Dr Pepper (FREE- was thirsty)

3 40 count Packages Huggies Gentle Care Diapers

1 Large Tub Cottage Cheese

2 Boxes Pop Tarts

1 Bag Spanish Rice

1 Bag Yellow Rice

1 Bag White Rice

2 6-packs Treetop Applesauce

1 Hormel Complete Meals (FREE)

2 6-Packs Danimals Smoothies

1 12-Pack Quilted Northern toilette paper

1 Ken's Light Salad Dressing Spray

2 6-packs Dannon Lite and Fit Yogurt

2 Mc Cormick Seasoning Packets

3.87 lbs Bananas

2.26 lbs Red Seedless Grapes

1 Bunch Green Onions

1 Bag Lettuce

13 lbs boneless Skinless Chicken Breasts

3 lbs T-bone Steak

8 Atkins Protein Bars

Total Price- $183.95
Total Paid- $73.61 110.34
Total Saved- $110.34/60%

I also received $12.99 in store credit to use next time.

Diapers

2009-03-07T18:33:00.000-08:00

I made a quick trip to CVS today to take advantage of the last day of their sale. I needed some Diapers. Long story short, I walked out of there with two jumbo packs of Pampers and Johnson's Baby Shampoo for $8.79 out of pocket and got a $5.00 ECB (like cash) to spend in their store at my next visit. Not bad!! One pack of diapers cost $12.49 all by itself but after coupons and such, I made out like a bandit. Sometimes i really feel like I'm stealing. But I'm just being smart!

Weekly Grocery Shopping

2009-03-03T21:32:00.000-08:00

I did okay this week. Saved 70%. Here's what I got....

1 Baby Wipes 80 count
2 EAS meal bars
2 Aveeno Anti-Itch Creams
1 Reach Toothbrush (FREE)
2 Revelon Eye Shadows
4 Olay Bath Soap Bars
7 Boxes Mac & Cheese (FREE)
10 Jars Baby Food (FREE)
16 Rolls Toilette Paper
5 Boxes of Lean Pockets
2 Cans Dole Pineapple Chunks
2 Loaves Bread
9 Bags Frozen Veggies
2 lbs Onion
1 lb Aparagus
1 Bag Lettuce
1 Zone Perfect Bar (FREE)
4 Atkins Meal Bars

Total Price= $121.17
Total Paid= $36.59
Total Saved= $84.58/70%

Free Dental Care

2009-03-01T16:07:00.000-08:00

Okay, not exactly, but I thought the title would get you. I have figured out doing the grocery game, that I never have to pay for toothpaste or toothbrushes ever again. In the last few months, I have gotten like 5 toothbrushes for free and 3 or 4 toothpastes for free. I love it!!! I'm getting more for free this week too!! Woo Hoo for me!! You can be just like me if you sign up for the grocery game too!!
I just received 12 weeks free in the grocery game!! If you sign up three people, you get 12 weeks free! The grocery game is so fun. My BFF just signed up and she said that she had no idea how awesome the deals are until she started doing it. She had been listening to me rant and rave about it for months and finally decided to give it a try. She thinks it's so awesome!! She's been getting great deals just like me!

Closet Under The Stairs

2009-02-25T15:53:00.000-08:00

I have a little storage area under the stairs. I have been wanting to clean it out and use it for food storage. So i did this yesterday. I had grocery bags filled with food (canned goods) shoved in random places in my house because I had no where to store them. So i cleaned it out yesterday and started putting my food storage in there. These are extras that i have on hand that i do not have room in my regular pantry for. My husband is going to build me a little shelving unit inside there so that i can organize it and stack things better. In the mean time, i will just shove my food storage items inside the small space and stack them as high as I can. Also, the three buckets to the left of the picture are pretty cool, but expensive. There is enough food in one of the buckets for one person for one full month. You just add water. there are meal bars, oatmeal, soups, powdered eggs, etc. in there. it lasts for twenty years when stored properly. We bought these a few years ago when we had some extra money. They are pricey but very convenient. You can purchase them at Sam's club or Costco for a little less than $100.00 per bucket. Like i said, kind of pricey but very convenient.

Weekly Grocery Shopping: SUPER AWESOME!!!

2009-02-23T23:06:00.000-08:00

Today I did my weekly grocery shopping. i had twenty five bucks left over in my budget. i am trying to wrap my head around how much i saved and everything and well... it's a little bit hard to explain, but I'm going to try. Walgreen's gives you rebates which you claim at the end of every month and they give you a gift card to use in the store. if you choose a gift card, they give you an additional 10% back. so technically if you only purchased the stuff that is free after coupons and rebate, they would be giving you the 10% back and they would actually be paying you to shop there! crazy i know.
CVS does what they call easy care bucks. I am currently learning the ins and outs of the ECB's. basically ECB's are like a cash coupon printed on you receipt and certain items in the store qualify for them. for instance.... today, i bought a razor that was on sale for 7.99. i had a coupon for four dollars off so the final price was 3.99 but it was an ecb qualifying item so i got back $4.00 on my receipt to use on my next purchase. it's slightly confusing but once you get the hang of it, it's super fun and you can get so many things for free. so here's my crazy shopping trip this week... I'm going to break it up by store this week and I'm not going to put how much i saved. read all the way to the end for the magic number.......

Walgreen's

1 pkg Excedrin Gel Caps
5 packets of vegetable seeds (like to plant a garden with)
2 boxes sugar free Jell-o
1 box Reynolds wrap foil
1 box of 6 Walgreen's nutritional drinks
8 rolls paper towels
Total spent: $12.49 BUT, i had a gift card from my rebates from Walgreen's' from last month so I actually spent none of my own money out of pocket for this store.

CVS

1 Gillette Fusion Razor
1 EARrinse cleaner

Total spent: 6.78. I used ecb's hat i had earned last week in the amount of 5.98 so my total cash out of pocket was 6.78 BUT, i received 11.99 in ecb's towards my next purchase.

Ralph's

3 Avocados
1.75 lbs top sirloin steak

Total Spent: 4.78

Albertson's

8 Cans Progresso Soup
2 Cans Betty Crocker Frosting

Total spent: 13.00 BUT, I received $10.00 to use on my next purchase.

So, i ended up spending $24.56 in cash out of pocket tonight. BUT, I ended up getting $25.99 to use towards other purchases in the future!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Seriously that's freaking amazing. I had to do the math like fifty seven times to make sure i was not going crazy and had my figures correct. i even used a calculator. so yep.... i spent 24.56 in cash, but got 25.99 to use next time i shop (just like cash, no minimum purchase or whatever). yeah... I'm awesome. Come pat me on the back!

Jack in the Box: Free Tacos!!

2009-02-19T11:59:00.001-08:00

Here's a link to a coupon for two free tacos on the 24th from jack in the box. YUM! http://coupon.hangintherejack.com/two-tacos.php

Weekly Grocery Shopping

2009-02-17T09:41:00.000-08:00

So last night I did my weekly grocery shopping. I did not have to get anything except pull ups and wipes for the kids so I just bought a few things that were on sale. Here's what I snagged....

1 box Totino's Pizza Rolls (55 cents)
1 Carton Cottage Cheese
1 pkg of 231 baby wipes
1 Jumbo Pack Pull ups
1 Garnier Shampoo - FREE After Rebate
3 Xtra Laundry detergents (32 loads each)- FREE
2 Tubes Colgate Toothpaste- FREE

Original Price= $43.81
Total Saved= $30.32
Total Paid= $13.49/70% Savings

That's it for this week!

Weekly Grocery Shopping

2009-02-10T21:33:00.000-08:00

I didn't need much this week and I had to make a run to Sam's club for the ever important diapers so my budget was smaller this week and I just bought some stuff that was on a good sale. Also, I am splurging on Friday and buying some lobster tails so I needed to save my money for that (i will probably go over budget a bit this month because of Valentines day and I'm cooking dinner for my dad and step mom for their birthdays, but I'm going to try to stay under budget!!). My local grocery store is having a one day sale on lobster tails on Friday for people to buy for their sweethearts on Valentines Day so we're going to get a few so we can have a special dinner on Saturday. Fun! Here's my deals for the week.....

1 Pkg Fruit Roll Ups
2 Pkgs of 4 Yo-Plus Yogurt
1 Pkg of 6 Yoplait Kids Yogurt
4.65 lbs of Peaches
2 Pkgs Menthos Gum
1 Pkg Fresh Express Lettuce (I buy this every week, sale or not)
1 Canister Windex Wipes
1 Pkg Pledge Multi-Surface Wipes
1 Canister Scrubbing Bubbles Wipes
1 Bottle Fantastik Cleaner

Original Price= $53.14
Total Saved= $38.97
Total Paid= $14.17/74% Savings

I have been trying to get a collection of cleaners in both of my bathrooms and in the kitchen so I don't have to bring all the cleaners around to each room and up and downstairs fifty times. I just need a few more things and I will have a full set of cleaners in those rooms. Hopefully I will get some good deals again soon on those items!

Weekly Grocery Shopping

2009-02-04T09:49:00.000-08:00

Last night I went to the grocery store and to Walgreens. I did pretty darn good if I do say so myself..... My grocery store was having the same sale where if you bought ten participating items, you got $5.00 off your purchase so a lot of the items I bought are repeats of last week. Here's what I purchased...

5 boxes sugar free jello
2 bottles Theraflu warming liquid - FREE after Walgreens Rebate
1 Revelon creme color lip gloss- FREE after Walgreen's Rebate
1 Revelon Age Defying foundation- FREE after Walgreens Rebate
2 Cans Hormel Chili- FREE
10 Cans Hormel Chili (only 50 cents ea.)
1 box Fiber One Granola Bars
4 boxes Kellogs Fruit snacks
2 Pace picante Salsas
1 pkg Chex Mix (only 50 cents)
1 Container Cool Whip Free
1 Windex Wipes
1 Lysol Cleaner
1 Soft Scrub Spray
1 Lysol Toilette bowl cleaner
1 pkg Fresh Express Lettuce
0.92 lb onion
2.58 lbs Red seedless grapes
1 4lb Tri Tip Roast
4 pkgs Johnsonville Sausage or Bartswurst
1 Lady Speed Stick deodorant

Total Purchased= $172.19
Total Spent= $35.90
That's 80% Savings!!!!!! Holy Mamasita! THAT BROKE MY RECORD!!!!! WOOOOO!!!!

Wow! That's all I have to say about that! Wow!!

My Pantry

2009-02-03T10:28:00.001-08:00

My pantry is getting to full!! I've got to find other places for my food storage and quick!!

The Grocery Game

2009-01-27T09:44:00.000-08:00

My local grocery store was having a fun sale this week where if you bought 10 participating items, you got $5.00 off your bill. You could get the deal up to 3 times, meaning $15.00 taken off your bill at check out. So Fun! Combine that with coupons= FOOD STORAGE!!
I saved more yesterday than I think I ever have. I usually average about 60%-65% but yesterday I saved 75% WOOO HOOO!! Here's the list from my shopping trip... Green Items were free....
8 cans hormel chili (only 50 cents per can- normally over 2.00 per can)
2 cans hormel chili- FREE
2 Curves Granola Bars
1 Nature Valley Granola Bars
1 box OR Naturals Microwave Popcorn
1 Goldfish Crackers
1 Cheerios Snack Mix
1 Franks buffalo Sauce- FREE
1 Newman's Own Marinade
1 Frenches Yellow Mustard- FREE
1 Frenches Spicy Brown Mustard- FREE
2 Pace Picante Salsa's
1 Kraft Light Mayonnaise
2 Revlon Colorsilk Hair Color (only 99 cents ea.)
3 boxes Kleenex Tissues
1 box Triscuit Crackers
2 Glade Aerosol Sprays
1 16 oz Light Sour Cream
1 box Nabisco Wheat Thins
1 Cantaloupe
1 lb Ground Turkey (only 1.99/lb)
4 Atkins Meal Bars
1 box Fiber One Granola Bars

Total Groceries= $122.00
Total Actually Spent= $31.00!!!
Total Saved= $91.00/75%

Stocking Up Using Coupons: My Method

2009-01-22T14:18:00.000-08:00

I've been sick lately and in bed, so I haven't been able to post or go shopping. I missed last weeks shopping deals and I will most likely have to wait to shop until next week for my food storage items. Now I'm a week behind in gathering my food storage- Dang it!!!

I want to share the method I use for clipping coupons. When I first started the grocery game (coupon help website: http://www.thegrocerygame.com/ ), I clipped all my coupons and put them into a folder by category. like canned goods, paper goods, etc. Well, after about one week of that, I wanted to find other ways because it took me over an hour to find my coupons and I only had one weeks worth of coupons to go through!! I couldn't imagine how long it would take me to find find them when I had months worth of coupons. And you have to calculate all that time spent cutting them all out too. NO thanks!! I went online and looked up different ways of organizing coupons and found this method. I love it! The next week, when i went to find my coupons, it took me less than 20 minutes and that's including the time I spent cutting them out. It have saved me tons of time and also saved my hands from hurting from all the cutting. Here's what I do...

STEP 1: Buy the Sunday Paper! Duh...

STEP 2: Remove all coupon inserts. Usually there are 2 inserts, a Smartsource and a Redplum. Some Sundays, you will get only one coupon insert, some times you will get more. The week after Christmas, I got five and was super happy! Last week, I received three coupon inserts. The two mentioned above and also, the P&G Saver

Step 3: Mark the front of each insert with the date.

This paper was received on Sunday, January 18th.

Step 4: Buy a large 3 ring binder and clear page protectors.
I bought one with a plastic slip on the cover so that I could keep miscellaneous items in there.
It works great to hold my Walgreen's receipts so that at the end of the month, I can redeem my cash rebates. (I will be getting $13.00 back this month from Walgreen's)

Step 5: Slide one week's worth of coupons into one page protector (all three inserts this week).
So each time I turn the page, it's for the next weeks coupons and so on.

Step 6: Buy a coupon wallet or a plastic divider envelope.
These are from the $1.00 items at Target.
I shop at two different stores each week. Walgreens and Ralphs but occasionally, I go to Von's as well. So I bought three in three different colors. One for each store. Some day I will make fancy labels for them.

Step 7: Mark your dividers into categories. What I have done, is set it up the way my store flows. Staring with condiments, canned, side dishes (like rice, pasta, etc), beverages, baking, snacks, breakfast, personal (shampoo, toothpaste, etc), household (cleaners, etc), paper goods, frozen and meat/dairy. I shop for meat, dairy and frozen last so I put those at the back of my envelope.

Step 8: Clip your coupons, put them in the proper category so you're not standing in the isles searching for them for twenty minutes and head out to the store.

This entire process takes me 20 minutes and I'm getting faster each week!!

I use the grocery game to help me with coupon shopping. This way, I am not searching ads each week and racking my brain to see if something is really good price or not.

Just a quick tutorial on how the grocery game does the work for me:

The grocery game tells me which items are on sale and when to use a coupon.

It will say something like this:

Daisy Sour Cream

orig price: $2.00

on sale: $1.50

coupon: $1.00 rp 10/19

final price $0.50

So I mark my list of the items I want to buy, print it out, sit down at the table with my coupon folder, flip to that date's insert and clip the daisy sour cream coupon out and file it into the divided envelop in the "Dairy" section. Then I repeat with other items I want to purchase.

See where it says coupon: $1.00 rp 10/19 ? that's telling me that I can find the coupon in the

redplum (rp) section of the Sunday paper that came out on 10/19 and it's for $1.00 off. Since I wait for it to go on sale before using a coupon, I am getting the item at a rock bottom price. This is a really great way to stock up on your food storage (don't forget personal items, like tooth brushes, etc). I love how I can buy things for so cheap or sometimes get them FREE and sock them away. I will rotate my storage and check expiration dates. The good thing now a days is, most packaged/canned items have a pretty long shelf life.

So stock up on them when they are at rock bottom prices!

Free Shampoo Offer

2009-01-14T10:54:00.001-08:00

From time to time, I will post offers for the FREE items that I find. Today and today only, Suave is offering a free bottle of shampoo. Click the link to get your FREE full size bottle of shampoo. www.suave.com/nomics/index.html

Being prepared isn't just about food and water. It's also about those other needs like toothpaste, soap, toothbrushes, etc.

So anytime something is free or a super awesome deal, I will post it here so that you can take advantage and stock up baby!

Welcome!

2009-01-13T14:34:00.001-08:00

Here's a new blog for a new year!
I've started this blog to show my journey into food storage. Food storage is something that the leaders of my church encourage. I am a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. Otherwise known as the LDS church or the Mormon church. I have included a statement made by the First Presidency off to the right which talks about preparedness. Please read it if you are not familiar with it. Food storage is about being prepared for the unexpected.
I have always wanted to be obedient and start my food storage, but felt overwhelmed by it all. There were the usual questions like, "Where will I store it?" "How can I afford it?" Why do I need it?" Well, lately I have seen the importance of food storage and decided to get my bootie in gear!
1st- "Where will I store it?"- My answer to this question is, anywhere it will fit! I recently did an entire clean up of my house. I got rid of a ton of things and cleared out a lot of closet space and garage space. I had a garage sale and sold so much stuff. My next goal is to organize the things that I did keep and store them more efficiently therefore providing more space for food storage. When you have a smaller home like me (1180 sqft) and no basement, storing food can be tricky. Here are some of my goals as to where to store my food. My closet down stairs is full of coats and board games. If i move the coats up to our closet in our room, and the board games to another location, I can use my entire coat closet strictly for food storage. There are also some cupboards in my kitchen that are not used in the best way. I have one cupboard that I know I can clear out and combine the items inside with another less full cupboard, freeing up the entire cupboard to store food inside. I also have space in my kids closets as well as my own closet that can be used if I just found the time to reorganize the things currently inside. My goal is to clear out these spaces and take before and after pictures to post here on this blog for all to see. I really feel like any one can have food storage. Even if you have a teeny tiny little home, you can find ways to store food. If you have found creative ways of storing your food and would like to send me pictures, I would love to post it here on my blog and show others your great ideas at making the best space of your food storage. My email address is myfoodstoragejourney@yahoo.com
#2-"How can I afford it?"- This is the one thing that has always been the number one issue of why I have not started my food storage until now. I guess I never realized that I could go slow and build up a supply over time. I always thought that if I ever got any "extra" money, I would use it on food storage. Well, ten years of marriage later I can say that all the "extra" money that I thought would be coming in never happened. Recently, my sister in law got me started on coupon shopping! I have gotten really good at finding things when they are at the best price and then using a coupon to make the price even lower. I only started coupon shopping a few months ago and have already stored at least 2 months worth of extra food. That's EXTRA food. EXTRA=FOOD STORAGE!! And, I have come in under my budget every month!! How rad is that? Coupons, buying in bulk and waiting for the sales is the best and easiest way to start your food storage. Start off slow. Clean out a space and every week, try to add a bit more to it. That's what I'm doing. I spend very little time organizing coupons. I used to think it was a huge process and I would never have the time. I use the grocery game website and it saves me a tons of time. I will also post pictures of how I organize my coupons and step by step instructions of how I get ready to shop at the store each week. If you are interested in the grocery game, Please email me and I will send you a referral!
#3-"Why do I need it?"- This is probably the one question that I always put to the back of my mind. I don't like to think about "icky" things, but let's face it, this world isn't getting any easier to live in. Times are tough financially for a lot of folks right now. Us included. Be prepared for anything. Food and water are the things we need every day to live. So why not stock up on it? You have to think of all the "what if's" when preparing for your future. What if there were a natural disaster and you could not leave the house or go to a store? What if you lost your job and could not find work? How would you feed yourself and your kids? There are so many "what if's" there's no way I could mention them all. But we have all been in situations where times were tough or something unexpected happened. How nice would it be to know "Hey, at least my kids will have food in their bellies"? What a great feeling to know that you have your own little personalized grocery store right in your home!

I hope that this website will help others get excited about food storage. You don't have to be Mormon to start your food storage. There isn't like a special food storage club or anything. I encourage all to start working on their food storage. Imagine how smart and proud of yourself you could be knowing that you are prepared! I don't know about you, but I love feeling smart and proud of myself. I hope you enjoy reading this blog. I will post pictures often of my grocery savings and my progress in getting my food storage together and organized.
Feel free to share this blog with friends and family. I'm hoping that others will be able to read it and get fun idea's and get excited about food storage! I've got the food storage bug and I'm hoping to spread it around!