I have a new challenge for those of you who are interested in stocking up on foods. So if you buy in bulk, shop once a month or cook once a month, join us in tracking expenses and plans to increase what our pantries and freezers offer!

 I'll start by outlining my plan...

I can eat from pantry and freezer for about a month not counting perishables. I am still working on getting a larger freezer and re-organising my pantry to allow for increased food storage.

One of my goals is to save up to be able to make a big shopping trip in February so this challenge will run for months unlike the other shorter ones I have trotted out. I am saving funds in a savings account, putting dollar bills and coins towards this and working on points programs that I can cash in for gift cards to put aside enough for a large amount to spend.

Besides planning for this big shopping event, I am also buying a little at a time when I see items on sale.

My goal is to eventually have a year's worth of meat, staples, canned foods and dried foods but I am aiming for three months for now. 

 I've always had a fairly well stocked pantry, having grown up and then lived in the country where you didn't just run to town whenever you ran out of something. I'm estimating I have about 3 months' of food on hand right now.

My tactic is to never pay full price for anything unless it's an absolute necessity. If you watch over the year, you'll see that certain things go on sale around the same time every year. I watch for those sales and stock up then. 

" If you watch over the year, you'll see that certain things go on sale around the same time every year."

I am hoping to find out when those are so that after I get ahead a bit with food and supplies then I can make purchases by when items are on sale rather than when I need them.

 A few that are pretty much everywhere:

Turkeys in November

Corned beef in March, just before St Patrick's Day

Canned fish a week or two before lent

Hams before Easter 

Hotdogs, ground beef around the first of July

Canned beans, BBQ sauce, etc. off and on throughout the summer, but watch for them especially around Labor Day

Flour and baking supplies around the winter holidays, but more so in December

If you like ethnic food, watch for sales near the holidays that nation/culture celebrates. Mayo de Cinco is a big deal here and there are always sales on Mexican food then. Chinese New Year brings on sales on Chinese food (authentic or not), and so on.

I bet Deb would have some thoughts for us along those lines, too.  

 I have seen some of the sales you mentioned though when pressed to bring it to mind, I can't, LOL! Thank you.

In addition to the ones you shared:  

•  In my area meat is cheapest all through lent.
• Hot dogs are on sale on the 4th like you said but also before Halloween. People like to do bonfires with roasted hot dogs and marshmallows here.

Brandy:

 I have seen some of the sales you mentioned though when pressed to bring it to mind, I can't, LOL!

Maybe you could start a time line type of list, or mark things on a calendar?

 We could feed an army out of our pantry for at least 6 months! lol  We shop for long term storage in different ways all the time.  We do shop seasonaly and preserve, but we also shop to recan, dehydrate and freeze foods.

I started by tracking everything we use, example: dried red beans.  I know we use 4 ~ 1 pound bags a year, so I buy 6, in case I find I can use then in a different way than we would normally.  I started an inventory list and marked each can, box and package that came into the house with the date it was purchased.  Before I leave home for my shopping I check my inventory list to see if any dates are coming close, if so I add the product.  I also track the sales and match them to the inventory list to track seasonal or sale prices.

Our goal is to shoot for the best quality and the largest amount at the lowest price. 

I think I'm in for this. Last week the local grocery chain had pork loins for $1.88 a pound. I bought two of them at about $18 a piece. I then had the meat department cut them up for me. So, I now have 24 1" thick pork chops, and 4 good size roasts. That should be enough to last us the entire winter as we don't really eat a lot of pork, but still a great deal. The same store also had gigantic green peppers on sale @ 3 for $1. I bout 18 peppers and kept one back for use. I chopped them all up and now have seven bags of peppers frozen in the freezer. Although I am growing green peppers I couldn't pass up this bargain.

Incidently, pork loins go on sale every summer at this time. Always the time to stock up.

Cranberries 2 weeks before Thanksgiving -- after, they rise to sky-high.  Chestnuts, too.  Stuffing mix remains cheap until stocks run out.

Mincemeat before Christmas.

"Jewish" Kosher foods like Gefilte Fish -- on sale at the Jewish New Year (Sept usually), sometimes also at Chanukah (8 days near Christmas).  They are HIGHEST in teh month before Passover (Passover generally falls in April).  Other "Jewish" Kosher foods are grape juice, egg noodles (not Kosher for Passover), potato starch, matzos, matzo meal, cake matzo meal, fruit slices candy, buckwheat groats/kasha (not Kosher for Passover), Tams crackers (not Kosher for Passover), & there are more. 

All frozen produce is cheapest when the same kind of fruit or vegetable is in season.  For example, frozen strawberies are cheaper now than they ever would be during the rest of the year.  (You still have to compare prices, as at my local Cala/Ralphs/Krogers, fresh are cheaper than the frozen anyhow.  For another example, collard greens frozen are cheapest in the months when nthey are available fresh, ie, in teh winter.

Cabbage for St Patty's Day along with that corned beef

Always be sure to buy locally (not imported from the other hemisphere) & in seasonto get the best prices on produce of any kind. 

The best coupons of the year come in Nov-Dec.  They aer fantastic in value for the baking ingredients that Pat told us about.  They are more numerous than at any other time of the year.  BTW, never look for coupons on a holiday weekend.  The coupon companies do not run them, believign sensibly that folks are too busy to shop in a restrained manner (using coupons).  March is "Frozen Foods Month," & the best coupons on frozenn foods come at the end of Feb & into March.