Scoring big with a stock up fund

One of the best ways I have found to save on groceries is to have a stock-up fund. It can either be part of your grocery budget that you accrue towards stocking up on items when there's a great deal or a separate fund you save just for these special sales. We live in a smaller town, and I am blessed to have a sister in Kalispell, who is happy to pick things up for me if I can't get up there for a certain sale. Part of my Wednesday morning routine is to check out the grocery store's ads online.

In September they had some good baking sales up in Kalispell at Smith's. They had their Quaker Oats on sale. The 42 ounce containers were on sale for $1.50 (regularly $4.00). I bought 30 containers of oatmeal. I bought 20 of the old fashioned oats because I like to make my own granola. I bought 10 of the quick oats because I make lots of oatmeal cookies.

In September at Albertson's they had their Hershey chocolate chips on sale for 80 cents each when you bought them in groups of 10 ($1 each and then $2 off if you buy 10). I bought 10 packages of chocolate chips. It has been wonderful to have them on hand as I made Christmas cookies.

Sometimes you just happen on sales. In November I was at Walmart and the cashier mentioned that they had eggs and butter on sale for a $1. I thought it must be the 8 ounce packages of butter, but it wasn't, it was the 1 pound packages. Because Christmas was coming and it freezes great, I stocked up and bought 72 pounds of butter. Check Walmart out when there is other baking sales in town, because they will mark down their eggs, milk and butter to match their competitors prices. This particular purchase would have blown my grocery budget if I hadn't had a stock up fund.

In November I also stocked up on celery. As part of the Thanksgiving specials they had celery on sale for $.28 a pound. I bought 3 stalks of celery. I chopped up the ones I couldn't use right away and froze them in 1 cup portions to use in soup later.

So take advantage of those sales, and if you find a great bargain, stock up!