My Stockpiling List

A few weeks ago I wrote about completing a pantry clean-out and inventory so that I have a better idea of what I have on hand, as well as what I items would be good to stockpile. Well, I finally completed my pantry clean-out and inventory list! I know these photos aren't cute pictures of Ella, but I'm so proud of my organized pantry, I had to show at least a few of these photos off.

I'm not going to bore you with my entire food inventory list. Instead, I'm listing the items that I will be considering for stockpiling. As I mentioned in my food inventory post, when I talk about stockpiling, I'm talking about purchasing multiples of items that I commonly use when they are at a low price, I have a coupon for them, or, ideally, they are at a low price AND I have a coupon for them. To me, for an item to be a good target for stockpiling, it must meet several criteria.

1. We must use the item fairly often. What good does it do for me to stockpile something that we don't eat often? I'd just be filling my pantry up with items to collect dust.
2. The item (if food) must remain fresh/good quality/safe-to-eat with the period of time within we'd get to using it in our stockpile. This seems like common sense, but it really is something to consider. For example, we use tons of spices in our cooking, but I don't use many spices frequently enough (point #1) for these spices to still be fresh when I'd finally be able to use them. There are a few spices that we use frequently enough that they are on my stockpiling list (and I'll mention them below), but the majority of the spices in my pantry would not be good targets for stockpiling. With all that said, if I know that I'm getting low on something, I can watch for several weeks to grab the best price, even if I'm not stockpiling the item.
3. We must be able to store the item in a reasonable space. My pantry is a decent size, but it certainly not large. I don't have tons of extra space to store items, especially large ones. This rule comes into play more with household items, like toilet paper and diapers.

There are probably more criteria, but these are the ones I can think of right at the moment. So, here's my list of items that I'm going to target for stockpiling. I've included all the food pantry items, as well as household goods. This list doesn't include items that would go in my freezer . . . I'm still working to get that list together.

• Household goods
• Paper towels
• Toilet paper
• Paper plates
• Dishwasher Detergent
• Laundry Detergent
• Baby goods
• Diapers (Diapers can be tricky, because I have to guess what size she'll be if I'm going to buy a lot. This was harder when she was younger and changing sizes more quickly. Although, I figure if we have extra of a size she outgrows that's OK, since we plan to have more children in the future. I don't want to have lots of extra diapers lying around, but if I do have a few, I don't see it as a big deal.)
• Formula (although, not for much longer!)
• Wipes
• Canned goods
• Green beans
• Corn
• Pinto beans
• Black-eyed peas
• Canned tomatoes (great for salsa!)
• Chicken noodle soup
• Harry and David dry soup mixes (I haven't seen them at our grocery store, but we have a Harry and David outlet store near us. These soups are great!)
• Tomato sauce
• Diet cokes (That's a canned good, right??)
• Snacks
• Popcorn (I really like the 100 calorie bags, and they are EXPENSIVE)
• Chips
• Granola bars
• Nuts (peanuts and almonds, especially)
• Spices, etc. 
• Onion powder
• Garlic powder
• Cinnamon
• Chicken buillon cubes
• Beef buillon cubes
• Dry goods
• Brown rice
• White rice
• Pasta
• Dry beans (I've yet to master cooking these, but I'm working on it.)
• Breakfast items
• Cereal
• Nutrigrain bars

I've probably missed a few items, and as I think of them, I'll add them to my list. But that's all for now!

On a very exciting side note, I got my $5.00 rebate check in the mail on Friday from my Glade candle purchase!