Grocery Budget Tips: Tip 19 – Keep an Inventory

Welcome back to the grocery budget series I am almost done writing.  In this series, I will share the top 20 ways that I can think of that our large family uses to keep the grocery budget from getting out of line.  To learn more, visit our introduction.

Previously in our tip series I had mentioned that we like to stock up on nonperishable food.  It stores well for a long time and is affordable enough that I can buy a little extra some months and put them away for the next dip in life.  Some months we may need to put a little more money toward an unexpected expense and the first place I look to cut corners is my grocery budget.  I like to think we eat well, and when we have the money to eat with variety, we do.  We also stock up on nonperishable items that I may not always have the ingredients on hand to make (if we are in a tough spot and our chickens aren’t laying enough eggs and I don’t have enough oil on hand to make mayo, it sure is nice to have already spent a few bucks on a jar of mayo and have it available if we want it) or items that I haven’t yet perfected the recipe for.  For our family, this includes mayonnaise (I do make mayo, but there may be times that I don’t have eggs or oil on hand reliably – for those reasons, you will find mayo on my shelf), ketchup (I didn’t can enough the last time I made it, so until we have another huge crop of tomatoes – we buy it), soy sauce (haven’t perfected this recipe yet, we prefer storebought), dressing (I do make salad dressings sometimes, but I may not reliably have on hand the ingredients I need to make it from scratch), etc.  By stocking up on nonperishable food, I am left just having to worry about buying meat, milk and cheese for the most part – and even those things can be slimmed down as needed if we are in an emergency situation and need to reduce our grocery bill drastically.

When I am shopping and continually adding things to food storage, it’s helpful to know what I already have on hand and what I am running low on, so I can buy accordingly.  I don’t want to buy 10 soy sauces when I am low on lemon juice and hot sauce.   I realized recently I am low on rice.  Rice!  I had close to 500lbs at one point (we lived near a Mormom cannery and could obtain nonperishable items very affordably).  I hadn’t purchased rice in so long because I felt we were covered for quite a while.  Well, we were.  But I kept using and not replacing, and never updated my records.  I haven’t even been tracking prices on rice because it has been so long since I purchased it.  Now we will begin replacing it, but prices on rice have gone up over recent years.  If I had been paying better attention, I could have continued purchasing rice as we used it when prices were low, so that I could use our rice now in hopes that the cost would go back down by the time we were ready to stock up again.

There are many helpful forms online that you can use to track the inventory of your food stock.  I prefer making a list, organized by category, with like items listed  on a sheet of paper.  After the ingredient has been written down, I draw boxes (or make this list on graph paper or I’ve even made these forms on the computer) for each item you have on hand.  If you have different sizes, they each get their own line.  Then each time you bring one out of storage, mark it off your list.  If you are using a generic form that has a line of boxes already drawn out for you, I like to highlight how many I have on hand, then cross off a box when I bring that item out of storage.  This way I can easily add to my list by highlighting the next boxes when I buy more.  When a line has been filled and marked off, begin a new line at the bottom of the list, keeping all of your items in like categories.  This will be a work in progress that you make consult as much as daily, as keep it in a place that is easy to access.

27 comments to Grocery Budget Tips: Tip 19 – Keep an Inventory

  • I have read several just right stuff here. Definitely price
    bookmarking for revisiting. I surprise how much effort you place to create this sort of wonderful informative
    website.

  • Asking questions are actually fastidious thing if you are not understanding something entirely,
    but this post provides pleasant understanding yet.

  • Hi everyone, it’s my first pay a visit at this web site, and paragraph is genuinely
    fruitful in favor of me, keep up posting these articles.

  • Can I just say what a comfort to find an individual who truly knows what they’re discussing on the
    net. You certainly understand how to bring a problem to light and
    make it important. More people must read this and understand this side of your story.

    It’s surprising you’re not more popular since
    you most certainly possess the gift.

  • Hi there! Do you use Twitter? I’d like to follow you if that would
    be ok. I’m absolutely enjoying your blog and look forward to new
    posts.

  • It’s in point of fact a nice and helpful piece of information. I am happy that you just shared
    this helpful information with us. Please stay us up to date like this.
    Thank you for sharing.

  • With havin so much written content do you ever run into any problems of plagorism or copyright violation? My blog has a lot of unique content I’ve either authored
    myself or outsourced but it seems a lot of it is popping
    it up all over the internet without my authorization.
    Do you know any techniques to help stop content
    from being stolen? I’d certainly appreciate it.

  • I have fun with, cause I found exactly what I used to
    be looking for. You’ve ended my four day long hunt! God
    Bless you man. Have a great day. Bye

  • May I simply say what a comfort to discover somebody who actually understands what
    they’re discussing on the internet. You certainly understand how
    to bring a problem to light and make it important.
    More and more people have to check this out and understand this side of the story.
    I can’t believe you aren’t more popular given that you surely possess the gift.

  • Hello there, just became aware of your blog through Google, and found that it’s really informative.
    I’m going to watch out for brussels. I’ll be grateful if you continue this in future.
    A lot of people will be benefited from your writing. Cheers!

  • Hmm it appears like your site ate my first comment (it was super long) so I guess I’ll
    just sum it up what I submitted and say, I’m
    thoroughly enjoying your blog. I too am an aspiring blog
    writer but I’m still new to the whole thing.

    Do you have any suggestions for beginner blog writers?

    I’d really appreciate it.

  • Hi there, just became alert to your blog through Google, and found that it is
    really informative. I’m gonna watch out for brussels.
    I will appreciate if you continue this in future.
    Lots of people will be benefited from your writing.
    Cheers!

  • Chi

    It’s genuinely very complicated in this full of activity life to listen news on TV, thus I only use world wide web for that purpose, and obtain the most up-to-date
    news.

  • Great info. Lucky me I discovered your website by chance (stumbleupon). I’ve book-marked it for later!

  • This is a topic that is near to my heart… Thank you! Exactly where are your contact details though?

  • If you want to increase your knowledge just
    keep visiting this web page and be updated with the most recent
    gossip posted here.

  • When I initially commented I appear to have clicked on the -Notify me when new comments are added- checkbox and now
    every time a comment is added I recieve 4 emails with the exact same comment.

    Perhaps there is an easy method you can remove me from that service?

    Thanks!

  • Please let me know if you’re looking for a article author
    for your site. You have some really great posts and I feel
    I would be a good asset. If you ever want to take some of the load
    off, I’d love to write some articles for your blog in exchange for a link back to mine.
    Please send me an email if interested. Cheers!

  • Hola! I’ve been reading your website for a long time now and finally got the bravery to go ahead and give you a shout out from Huffman Tx!

    Just wanted to say keep up the fantastic job!

  • Hiya very cool site!! Guy .. Excellent .. Superb .. I will bookmark your site and take the feeds also?
    I am happy to search out numerous helpful information here within the put up, we want
    work out more strategies in this regard, thanks for
    sharing. . . . . .

  • Good post. I certainly love this website. Stick with it!

  • You are so awesome! I don’t suppose I’ve truly read something like
    that before. So good to find somebody with some original thoughts on this issue.
    Really.. thanks for starting this up. This website is something that’s needed on the web, someone with some originality!

  • Hi! Do you know if they make any plugins to assist with
    SEO? I’m trying to get my blog to rank for some targeted keywords but I’m not seeing very good success.
    If you know of any please share. Thanks!

  • Awesome things here. I am very satisfied to see your post.
    Thanks a lot and I am having a look forward to touch you.
    Will you kindly drop me a mail?

  • Van

    I got this site from my pal who told me regarding this web page and
    now this time I am visiting this web page and reading very
    informative content here.

  • The rehab centers have the expertise to make the addict
    strong enough to resist addiction in any sort of situation. Tinnitus is also a primary symptom of Meniere’s disease, an inside-ear disorder marked by loss of equilibrium.

  • Thanks a lot for the blog post.Really looking forward to read more. Will read on…

Leave a Reply

You can use these HTML tags

<a href="" title=""> <abbr title=""> <acronym title=""> <b> <blockquote cite=""> <cite> <code> <del datetime=""> <em> <i> <q cite=""> <s> <strike> <strong>