One of the concepts that I repeat time and again is that of creating a grocery stock pile. As I’ve said before, a stock pile does not need to be a thing of epic proportions, just a few extra of the things you use the most. Having these items on hand, and purchasing them when their price is at its lowest, will save you money in the long run.

A couple of important things to remember about creating a stockpile:

– Sales run in cycles, close to every three or four months. These items WILL go on sale again. Keeping a price book will help you to keep track of prices on your most purchased products.
– Only buy what your family can use. See above: you can get more when the next sale comes around.
– Even if you only buy ONE extra of a sale item that you will certainly use down the road, you have saved yourself money.
– Create a cushion within your weekly budget: $5, $10 …and set it aside to specifically spend on those deeply discounted items you would like to stockpile. No good sales/deals that week? Carry it over or use that opportunity to stock items you can store or freeze like dried beans. Or use it to buy a little extra in season produce and give freezing, canning or even dehydrating a try.

Here are a couple of items on sale this week to get you started:

Dillons

Welch’s Grape Jelly 2 for $4 Use $0.55/1 in this week’s Red Plum and get them for $1 each.

SoDelicious Coconut Yogurt is often 10/$10 Print this $0.55 off on NEW Almond Plus almond milk or any SoDelicious product coupon to get them for darn near free. While you can’t stock pile perishable items, this is a great deal, especially for people struggling with dairy allergies or intolerance. My kids love this yogurt but it is so expensive that it is more of a treat than a staple.

HyVee:

There is a General Mills sale running again through Tuesday. With the in-ad coupon you can get a variety of cereals for $2 or less. There are a number of General Mills manufacturer coupons from the 1-08 GM insert that can be matched with this sale to reduce the price up to $1/ea. You can also use the following printable coupons:

$0.75 off Dulce de Leche Cheerios cereal

$1.00 off Multi Grain Cheerios Peanut Butter

50¢ off when you buy ONE BOX Honey Nut Cheerios cereal

80¢ off when you buy ONE BOX Multi Grain Cheerios® Peanut Butter cereal

There are numerous other deals at the stores right now and be sure to keep track of your coupons: March is National Frozen Foods Month and there will be a lot of sales that could benefit your stock pile!