Can you be Frugal in Times of Crisis?

pcmich

I was planning on talking about budgeting this week. But here I sit trying to grocery shop for the week and finding myself purchasing more than usual and no meal plan. I have no idea what will be available at the stores. Because of COVID-19 people are hoarding food, leaving the supply chain struggling to keep up. These are unprecedented times most of us haven’t lived through anything similar.

This got me thinking can you be frugal in times like this?

Yes you can!

Yes, is the short answer. The long answer is it takes planning you need to make sure that you have well stocked pantry shelves. Right now the grocery stores are empty and it causes people to panic and buy more than what they need. So to be able to just go to the store or order online is becoming an impossible task.

In order to be frugal during a pandemic like this or any other emergency the key is to buy ahead of time make sure you have a pantry that is well-stocked for at least three months and you don’t do that overnight. You do it by shopping over a period of time.

How Do You Stock a Pantry

Creating a stocked pantry you want to shop when items are on sale and buying food that your family will actually eat.

First decide what type of meals your family likes.

In my family we like Chili, pastas and soups. We also enjoy fruits and vegetable and having fresh on hand is a little more difficult.

Second decide how big of pantry you want. I usually buy groceries for two weeks, planning out each meal and shopping from my pantry first. This isn’t working out to well now as even the basic food items aren’t in stores. Can you stock for a year?, go for it. If not start out with a three-month stock.

Tips for stocking up

  1. Organize your pantry: You need a place in your house where you can store food that is temperature controlled and easy to get to. Using bins and baskets that are clear or labeled so you can easily tell what you have.
  2. Make sure to rotate food: You will be using this food not just storing and forgetting about. Have a system to move older food to the front after each shopping trip.
  3. Take inventory: You will want to keep track of items and expiration dates. If you’re a bit OCD like me you may want a chart next to your pantry listing all items (or a spreadsheet on your computer)
  4. Stock the freezer with meals: If you are lucky enough to have a large freezer like I do, start creating freezer meals. These will need labels with dates so that you can rotate and use meals before they expire.
  5. Consider starting a garden: If you have the space start growing your own fruits and vegetables.
  6. Don’t forget the refrigerator/freezer: It is a little harder to have a three-month supply of milk (I freeze mine), but you can stock up on butter, eggs (did you know you can freeze eggs too), bacon, cheese, frozen fruits and vegetable. Again make sure to label and rotate food.
  7. Consider purchasing dried bean, whole oats, flour, and yeast. Buying canned or pre-made items usually cost more.

Have any other ideas of being frugal creating a stock of foods, anything to add to the list? Tell us your ideas below.

Published by pcmich

Hello all I’m Michelle and I started my Frugal and Healthy blog because as I get older I realize that my body doesn’t want to do what it is suppose to do and I have had to deal with high cholesterol and high glucose levels. I have been pre-diabetic since I was a child and always managed my levels by eating balanced meals. After many years of letting myself go I had gained weight and woke up one morning determined that it was time to look out for myself as my kids are adults and can take care of themselves. I found the 100 Days of Real Food website and decided it was time to cut out processed foods. This was followed by multiple doctor’s visits and blood work to determine that I still had high glucose levels and that my cholesterol level was slightly elevated. Wanting to avoid medication I changed my diet even further, eating ever more healthy foods and instead of my levels getting better, they went through the roof. I embarked on a journey that lead to hours, days and weeks of researching the perfect diet that would level out my numbers. Guess what? The perfect diet doesn’t exist and I found out that any diet was going to cost me more money then I wanted to spend. Not being a dietician or financial advisor I sought out advice online and found so many sites that offered the same advice some that worked and most that didn’t. I want to share my journey the ups and downs and hopefully help some you too along the way.