Tips to Buy Enough Food For a Year

Tips to Buy What You Need

Here are somethings I use to save money and buy enough food/supplies for year.

1. Know the cycles. Food still has cycles on when they go on sale at the store. Buy your condiments in the Summer, when they are on sale.  Buy enough for just 12 months. I get 10-12 bottles of ketchup, 6 bottles of mustard and 2 jars of relish. I might get 1 jar of mayo for the year. That is about what we go through in a year.
2. Track what you use. Do you use something every month/week? Note how many you use and buy enough for the year.  This may take a couple sales cycles to collect what you need. I made a spreadsheet to help you in Google sheets. Just simple to help you figure out what you have and what you might need to buy and watch the sales.
3. Buying Meat and fresh food is the exception.  Only buy what you can use in 3-6 months.  Food should be rotated in your freezer, not kept in there for a year.  It won’t taste right if it’s freezer burnt. Fresh fruits and veggies can only be bought as needed as they will spoil unless you are canning food.
4. Expiration dates.  Check the expiration dates on the items you are buying.  That should also be your signal of when you have to use the food by.  Is it a year, 6 months?  That should be your buy enough until then sale.
5. Pantry food – Always put the recent purchase to the back of the existing foods in your pantry.  If you buy 5 peaches. They go behind the peaches you have already.
6. Deconstructed food – We buy the ingredients of foods we like and put them together ourselves.  Instead of buying boxed mac and cheese, I go to the bulk stores and buy my pasta and portion it out so the kids can make the mac and cheese themselves. This is cheaper than $2-3 per box from the store.
7. Non-Food items – Ask yourself if you are really going to use 10 bottles of glass cleaner in a year.  How much laundry soap you go through in a month, hand soap, etc. Times that by 12. That is what you need for the year.
8. Season Shopping – During the holidays and Summer, certain things go on sale. You can buy canned goods (for example) during Thanksgiving on sale. Enough for the year. Fresh fruits go on sale, that you could freeze for later (within reason depending on how much room you have). Can the food if you are into canning.
9. Shop Discounted Food – In our area, we have an app we can use called Flash Foods. It has a list of stores that have food (usually produce an meat, but some bakery items) at 50% off. You have to pay online and go into the store and get it, and they do accept EBT. If you sign up, use code REGI3M8MB to get $5 off your first order over $10.
10. Online Shopping – When you shop online. Do you use a service like Rakuten to get rebates on your purchases? Spend $30 in your first 90 days and get $30 back with this link.