Pandemic hoarding

[K_in_the_kitchen]

Our freezer is full.  We have kids, so we shop at Costco.  I never stopped masking in stores, but I may return to less frequent shopping and baking bread.

A friend of mine has COVID right now...fully vaxxed, picked it up on a van ride out with friends.  Sigh.

I still think kids will be at school, and I think CA will adjust their recommendations to say masks at all times, not just indoors, before school starts.

I'm not certain we'll see a mask mandate here in CA.  Suggestions and recommendations (as you said), yes, and certain counties or cities with mandates, but I don't think the governor will risk a mask mandate during a recall election.  Look how quickly they backpedaled on masking required for all schools for the 2021-2022 school year -- I think they announced it and then changed it within 12 hours.

I think it's time to go back to the habits and practices of my great-grandparents (and my maternal grandparents) and eliminate meals out except for the rarest of special occasions.  We did the first 4+ months of the pandemic without so much as getting takeout (and after that getting it rarely), and we can do it again.  It's just hard because as a culture people are now more likely to get together at restaurants than in homes.  Our invitations from friends and family are about 99% to go and eat at a restaurant versus their homes.

[American GenX]

What are you guys using all of these aerosol sprays for?  Asking as a person who has never owned a can of the stuff.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GLE4FKlaQwA

We spray incoming boxes that are delivered to the house, use it in the bathroom, dog beds, air freshner.

I was kind of wondering the same thing. The last study I saw showed that the risk of getting Covid through touch transmission was less than 1 in 10,000. I've never owned a can of Lysol and probably never will due to other studies showing the adverse affects they have on the respiratory system with long term exposure.

Yeah, I quit disinfecting groceries and such as I brought them home a year or more ago when it came to light there was no evidence of anyone ever getting infected that way.  I'm pretty much back to pre-pandemic mode now, just wearing a mask where it's required.  I'm not even working from home anymore.  I was vaccinated in December and am ready for a booster when it's available.

[couponvan]

We are going on a two week vacay, and our oldest is setting into an apartment and not coming back after the vacay.  We are "eating down the refrigerator and the freezer". Things we don't like include block cheese, brussel sprouts, chopped sweet potatoes, phyllo dough, stir fry veggies, and frozen cherries/berries.  We also have a variety of meats still left, but the freezer is not in any way shape or form packed.

The fridge is even more bare for us, but probably looks packed to a normal human.  Three teenagers/college students, and an unemployed husband home all day equals a LOT of food consumption.

Condiments, pickles, hotel yogurt/canned mixed fruit, hummus, and some cheeses (which will make their way to the freezer while gone-the cheeses that is, not the rest). I can't think of any actual meals that could be created out of the refrigerator except omelets.  Clearly I need to be more creative!  Celery we only eat if I get it into snack size pieces immediately.  There's a large one sitting there no on has touched.  Luckily it was only $.69, and I can load it with peanut butter and cream cheese for our 12 hour drive. We still have milk, carrots, pineapple, strawberries, eggs, and apples to eat up. Apple turnovers? Quiche?

I'm not planning any more pandemic buying trips. I still have too much food staples/random items to use up as it is. Gasp, we are on our last pack of toilet paper, and also on our last roll of paper towels.

What I did want to report was that I've been having trouble with prescription drugs lately, so that has me worried.  I tried to get a steroid eye drop for my son today, and it was all out for 48 hours.  It's a drop needed immediately, every two hours.  We had to substitute an inferior product to get us through the next two days.  Eeps.

[SunnyDays]

Thanks for the info.  Those containers look interesting.  I do use plastic bins, but they tend to be about 6" shorter than the shelves, which means that I pile stuff on top to use up the space, then when I pull the bin out, it all slides off.  So, yeah, better/taller bins would help.  I'll have to look around.

It sounds like you have an upright freezer?  I had one awhile back and found it really hard to keep it full *and* organized -- it could only be one of the other.  I had to give up space utilized in order to be able to access everything easily.  I eventually went back to the small chest freezer we already had, but that was more because of the energy costs -- it's much less expensive to run the 8 cubic foot manual defrost chest freezer than it was to run the 21 cubic foot automatic defrost upright freezer.

I can cram the chest freezer completely full, but it's a hassle to dig down to the bottom.  My solution has been to use bags and boxes, plus the two baskets it came with.  The bottom is lined with cardboard boxes to divide lower items, and the other categories of food are in reusable bags stacked side-by side on top of the lower layer.  The OEM baskets set on top sort of hanging, and I keep the foods I grab most often in those.

Yes, upright.  I had a small chest freezer many years ago and hated it, but I agree it was easier to pack full.  I’ll just have to settle for less energy efficient but more accessible with the upright.  It’s only about 8 cubic feet, which is sufficient for me along with my side by side freezer.  I just have to rein in my hoarding tendencies.

[OtherJen]

What are you guys using all of these aerosol sprays for?  Asking as a person who has never owned a can of the stuff.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GLE4FKlaQwA

We spray incoming boxes that are delivered to the house, use it in the bathroom, dog beds, air freshner.

I was kind of wondering the same thing. The last study I saw showed that the risk of getting Covid through touch transmission was less than 1 in 10,000. I've never owned a can of Lysol and probably never will due to other studies showing the adverse affects they have on the respiratory system with long term exposure.

Yeah, I quit disinfecting groceries and such as I brought them home a year or more ago when it came to light there was no evidence of anyone ever getting infected that way.  I'm pretty much back to pre-pandemic mode now, just wearing a mask where it's required.  I'm not even working from home anymore.  I was vaccinated in December and am ready for a booster when it's available.

Yeah, surface contact isn't a major transmission route for this virus. If an infected person coughed right on something right before you picked it up and then you touched your eye or nose, you might get infected. Generally, though, you're fine if you wash your hands after you get home from the store and put away your groceries.

[Dicey]

Wait...so you're an asshat if the worst thing you do is tp someone's house who specifically asked for it?

It wouldn't be so bad if they didn't get permission first?

What the hell am I missing here?

To begin with, it's wasteful as hell. We teach our kids not to litter, but then we encourage them to litter, wtf? The TP ends up all over the damn place, why is that okay?

Couple of summers ago, DH and I were coming home from something in separate vehicles late one evening. We somehow ended up with a minivan driving with no lights on in between us. We both flashed our lights, tapped the brakes, etc. to no avail. The car proceeded to pull up across the street from our house. Next, way more children than seatbelts piled out, intending to ply a neighbor kid's home with TP. DH was so incensed at her unsafe driving that he split a gasket. He is the most chill myob guy in the world, but seeing so many children exiting a car that had been driving with no lights on off set him off. (He did not yell, but he sure did tell her how irresponsible she was being). The mom called us spoilsports and said they weren't hurting anyone, but they left. After they were gone, I found a hospital bracelet where the kids had piled out of the minivan. The kind you get when you need an X-ray or other serious test done. It was dated for that day and it belonged to an eight-year-old girl. Come on! Why was that child out at 10 o'clock at night? And where were the parents of the rest of them? Did they know that "team mom" was driving so foolishly with their precious children?

Two days later, they returned and TP'd the intended house, sigh.

[Roadrunner53]

I have two upright freezers but almost bought a chest freezer for my second freezer. Here is a video showing an excellent storage idea for a small chest freezer using Ikea pails.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ydbsVS5rbSM

[jrhampt]

I'm not too worried about it but making sure I'm stocked on prescriptions, cat food, and TP just in case.  We got a small chest freezer for the basement so I'll probably put any extra frozen stuff in that, but I don't plan on stocking up on lots of canned goods and pasta this time around. 

[MudPuppy]

I have more on hand than I typically do, but mostly not “stocking up” extras just for the sake of stocking up. I have double the amount of coffee, TP, and pet food that I keep but otherwise just kind of a general more.

[Missy B]

Not stocking up anything -- all the shortages last year were from overbuying,not supply chain failure.
Since food supply chains stayed intact last year,  i have confidence there won't be any disruptions this year now that  we  are on track for majority vaccination.
There will still be another wave though. The numbers aren't high enough to prevent that.

[DaMa]

Went to Sam's Club this morning (metro Detroit).  They were handing out masks at the door and wiping carts again.

[LaineyAZ]

I'm going to review my pantry this week for boxed and canned goods that I can donate.  I did stock up last year so now these items may be close to expiring but perfectly fine for food donations.  A nearby church hands out food 2x/week so I'm hoping they will accept a few bags of food.

On the other hand, I still want to have a full pantry so I'll likely replace some of that with new stock.  In short, I think it's still prudent to have a little more than the usual amount of extra foodstuffs on hand because this pandemic is far from over.

[Dicey]

Glad to see this thread revived, as I have something to rant about add. In my area, there are many local swim clubs. The one in my neighborhood has a fondness TP-ing each other's houses, which pisses me off on so many levels. Blessedly, it stopped paused during the pandemic, but lately they're at it again. I suppose this is incontrovertible proof the Great Toilet Paper Shortage has ended.

My last pack of Costco Charmin has the odd feature of the rolls not being perforated. Every damn roll is just one continuous sheet, which is weird. Wouldn't those little fuckers love to get their hands on continuous rolls of strong toilet paper?

Instead of selling it to them, I sent an email to P&G. In return, I got an unctious letter full of corporate doublespeak, and the promise of a $10 gift card being mailed to me. We'll see.

[Roadrunner53]

In case anyone is interested, Costco now ships cold and frozen foods. Recently I bought a bunch of things and they packed both refrigerated and frozen stuff in one box. The inside of the box was kind of divided in half and frozen stuff was frozen hard and the refrigerated foods were in refrigerated condition. Was a perfect packing job and everything arrived in excellent condition. The list of cold and frozen foods is not gigantic but there is a lot to choose from. I am hoping that over time, they add to the list. I have ordered frozen meat before like burgers, steaks, salmon burgers but this list is in addition to those frozen food items and is separate. To get free shipping you have to order $100 worth of products. Easy to do! You cannot combine shelf stable things and the cold and frozen things to bring total up to $100. This is what it says: No separate delivery fee with Cold & Frozen orders of $100 or more ($100 order minimum applies to items marked as Cold & Frozen only, NOT the total order value)

I often order shelf stable things too, toilet paper, Kleenex, paper towels.

Not sure how long this cold and frozen foods shipping thing has been offered. I just stumbled upon it recently.

I try to stay out of the stores as much as possible but I cannot find a good on line source to buy sliced bread, hamburger and hot dog rolls and some fresh products.

Dicey, that is really strange no perforations in the TP! Production machines have issues sometimes. Previously, I worked around machines, and when you least expect it, something can go terribly wrong! I used to work in a department that packaged UHT milk products. More than one time our homogenizer blew a gasket and sounded like an explosion! Needless to say, our sterile product was no longer sterile and product had to be dumped, equipment cleaned, re-sterilized and had to start the whole process over again. Many, many hours lost to this disaster! Good to report bad products to manufacturer. They keep records of it and take it pretty seriously.

[TomTX]

Awesome! Thanks for the heads up on Costco cold/frozen delivery. Seems a good alternative to Instacart, though the selection is somewhat limited.

[Roadrunner53]

Yes, TomTX, the selection is a bit limited but I have also found that some of the things don't pull up on the main list. If you are looking for something, and you don't see it listed, type in the item name just to 'see' if it might pop up. I found several items that appeared. I love the option of ordering these items. Also, another thing that I do is break the packages down into more manageable sizes and freeze what I can. I bought the pastrami and the package is two lbs. I broke it into two packages and froze one. I also bought the swiss cheese and made two package out of it too.

I do hope as time goes on they will offer more items! Tell your friends! The more of us who order they will see people like it and may add more to the selection.

[GuitarStv]

during my last visit customers weren't social distancing or wearing masks, even though Florida is now the uber hotspot of the country.

It's almost like the two things are somehow related.  :P

[K_in_the_kitchen]

I took more out of our pantry today, as the young adults are headed to university and there was food in there they eat but we don't.  This spring we evaluated our eating choices based on FIRE goals, knowing we were heading into a phase of life without our kids here most of the time, making it an ideal time for change.  I am carefully considering what I might want to have on hand going into the fall and winter, but I don't want to stockpile and I don't want to hoard or buy anything we don't eat on a regular basis.  We basically are eating whole foods, unprocessed and minimally processed (and if processed, traditionally so), and avoiding all food additives at home, natural or not.  We've cut our meat consumption but aren't vegetarian or vegan -- really we don't want labels.  It's more of a simplifying to basic foods.  So no matter what happens with C19 in the fall and winter, we're going to need significant amounts of fresh produce (and we don't live in a climate where we can store roots and winter squashes), eggs, fresh dairy, etc.  The idea is to stock about 6 months of our pantry basics (wheat berries, pinto beans, corn for popping and grinding, cooking fats, salt, honey, etc.) and do grocery pick up for the rest every two weeks or so.  I'm not planning to renew my Instacart membership -- I think if we only do pick up from Sprouts we'll be better off paying their fee rather than having the full membership.

As for Costco -- we're thinking of ending our membership.  All we need to do is find a comparable dog food we can have delivered without it costing significantly more.

[SunnyDays]

@K_in_the_kitchen, if you have a Riplee’s Ranch distributor where’s you live (it’s a Canadian company), it’s great quality and they will deliver to your door.

[bryan995]

We bought a few bulk food items from costco business just prior to the last pandemic heating up. Feb 2020?

Ps the business center is fantastic if you happen to have one nearby.

Recently donated everything. 25lb box of pasta. A few canned veggies and fruits. Plastic bags. Rice. Beans.  Etc. Local church/food drive was very grateful.
May even make a habit of it. Seems more efficient that even donating $??

The pandemic also inspired us to buy a garage chest freezer. Got the smaller one from Costco for $159. Was a great buy. Now use it quite bit.

[Catbert]

For those looking to donate your excess hoard, consider a local pantry rather than a big food bank.  In my large city the well know food bank (part of Feeding America) has a multi-million dollar budget.  They much prefer cash so they can buy at a discount pallets (or truck loads) of food.  They then break it down in more manageable quantities and give to smaller pantries or direct to people at events.  While they will take your random pantry clear out, honestly it's more trouble than it's worth.  They also pay strict attention to expiration dates and won't use food close to that date.

So give it to your local church or other charity.  Where I am a nearby church has a glass fronted retail store refrigerator, shelving, and judging by the signage an old ice cream treat freezer out front.  Open 24 hours a day to donate or retrieve food.  Hyper-local.

[Pigeon]

For those looking to donate your excess hoard, consider a local pantry rather than a big food bank.  In my large city the well know food bank (part of Feeding America) has a multi-million dollar budget.  They much prefer cash so they can buy at a discount pallets (or truck loads) of food.  They then break it down in more manageable quantities and give to smaller pantries or direct to people at events.  While they will take your random pantry clear out, honestly it's more trouble than it's worth.  They also pay strict attention to expiration dates and won't use food close to that date.

So give it to your local church or other charity.  Where I am a nearby church has a glass fronted retail store refrigerator, shelving, and judging by the signage an old ice cream treat freezer out front.  Open 24 hours a day to donate or retrieve food.  Hyper-local.

I second this. I volunteer with a regional food bank and it is vastly more efficient to give them cash than to buy food to donate to them.

[Dicey]

For those looking to donate your excess hoard, consider a local pantry rather than a big food bank.  In my large city the well know food bank (part of Feeding America) has a multi-million dollar budget.  They much prefer cash so they can buy at a discount pallets (or truck loads) of food.  They then break it down in more manageable quantities and give to smaller pantries or direct to people at events.  While they will take your random pantry clear out, honestly it's more trouble than it's worth.  They also pay strict attention to expiration dates and won't use food close to that date.

So give it to your local church or other charity.  Where I am a nearby church has a glass fronted retail store refrigerator, shelving, and judging by the signage an old ice cream treat freezer out front.  Open 24 hours a day to donate or retrieve food.  Hyper-local.

I second this. I volunteer with a regional food bank and it is vastly more efficient to give them cash than to buy food to donate to them.

I run a large annual food drive in my city. We collect food and money.  The FB spends the money on basics and food drives add variety. For example, they do not buy condiments or fancy cereal, like granola. If I find a screaming deal on condiments, I buy and donate. Otherwise, I give cash. The FB can stretch a buck much further than I can, and I'm damn good at it.

[K_in_the_kitchen]

I've noticed our preferred toilet paper has gone up to $55 for 48 rolls vs. the $35 I paid several months ago.  Good thing we still have plenty.  And I was reminded I have another 12 rolls of paper towels stored up by the TP -- we're set for a long time.

My dad helps coordinate his church's food bank, and they now have access to buying pallets, USDA boxes, etc.  Managing community-donated food is difficult from a space perspective and they don't encourage it -- money is better.  But they really love when parishioners donate homegrown garden produce and he says it's the first produce to go.  My local food bank likes both: they ask for money but also regularly ask for donated food and hold food drives.

[Pigeon]

For those looking to donate your excess hoard, consider a local pantry rather than a big food bank.  In my large city the well know food bank (part of Feeding America) has a multi-million dollar budget.  They much prefer cash so they can buy at a discount pallets (or truck loads) of food.  They then break it down in more manageable quantities and give to smaller pantries or direct to people at events.  While they will take your random pantry clear out, honestly it's more trouble than it's worth.  They also pay strict attention to expiration dates and won't use food close to that date.

So give it to your local church or other charity.  Where I am a nearby church has a glass fronted retail store refrigerator, shelving, and judging by the signage an old ice cream treat freezer out front.  Open 24 hours a day to donate or retrieve food.  Hyper-local.

I second this. I volunteer with a regional food bank and it is vastly more efficient to give them cash than to buy food to donate to them.

I run a large annual food drive in my city. We collect food and money.  The FB spends the money on basics and food drives add variety. For example, they do not buy condiments or fancy cereal, like granola. If I find a screaming deal on condiments, I buy and donate. Otherwise, I give cash. The FB can stretch a buck much further than I can, and I'm damn good at it.

My food bank gets donations of all sorts of things from grocery stores and manufacturers. Yesterday I unpacked boxes of Chik-fil-a sauce, catsup, soy sauce and ranch dressing among many other things from a grocer. It then gets packed appropriately for the food pantries.

[Dicey]

For those looking to donate your excess hoard, consider a local pantry rather than a big food bank.  In my large city the well know food bank (part of Feeding America) has a multi-million dollar budget.  They much prefer cash so they can buy at a discount pallets (or truck loads) of food.  They then break it down in more manageable quantities and give to smaller pantries or direct to people at events.  While they will take your random pantry clear out, honestly it's more trouble than it's worth.  They also pay strict attention to expiration dates and won't use food close to that date.

So give it to your local church or other charity.  Where I am a nearby church has a glass fronted retail store refrigerator, shelving, and judging by the signage an old ice cream treat freezer out front.  Open 24 hours a day to donate or retrieve food.  Hyper-local.

I second this. I volunteer with a regional food bank and it is vastly more efficient to give them cash than to buy food to donate to them.

I run a large annual food drive in my city. We collect food and money.  The FB spends the money on basics and food drives add variety. For example, they do not buy condiments or fancy cereal, like granola. If I find a screaming deal on condiments, I buy and donate. Otherwise, I give cash. The FB can stretch a buck much further than I can, and I'm damn good at it.

My food bank gets donations of all sorts of things from grocery stores and manufacturers. Yesterday I unpacked boxes of Chik-fil-a sauce, catsup, soy sauce and ranch dressing among many other things from a grocer. It then gets packed appropriately for the food pantries.

That sounds quite similar to my FB. They spend their cash on basics. Anything else comes from donations. Sounds like yours hit the condiment jackpot yesterday.

[Roadrunner53]

We can only stock up so much but this article is certainly a wake up call that food prices are going up due to climate change and other factors. Very disturbing article: https://www.cnn.com/2021/08/13/business/food-prices-inflation-climate-change/index.html

I buy some of my meat from Butcher Box and just got an email yesterday that they regret having to do it, but prices are going up. The box I buy went up $10.

I also read an article on how manufacturers are trying to fool the consumers with packaging tricks. Everything is getting downsized in weight, but prices remain the same or more. https://abcnews.go.com/WN/shrinking-packages-consumers-paying-price-including-toilet-tissue/story?id=11986191

Just something to keep in mind when shopping!

[geekette]

Shrinking packaging is nothing new. I'm old enough to remember when tuna came in 6 1/2 ounce cans.  Then it was 6 1/4.  In the past few years they've gone all the way down to 5 ounces.  The incredible shrinking sandwiches...  And forget about using your mom's old recipes that called for "a can of" whatever.  They won't be the same!

[Poundwise]

I just discovered who has been hoarding the TP and paper towels... my brother! We went to visit him and half his spare room was filled with bulk packs of these items.

During the worst of the pandemic in spring 2020, I didn't change our TP/paper towel buying behavior, since we usually buy a Costco bulk pack and then rebuy when we're down to the last 18 rolls. But I was pretty mad when in summer 2020 it was still hard to find TP... fortunately our corner grocer was good enough to stock TP and sell a limit of 4 rolls per customer without price gauging.

[K_in_the_kitchen]

I buy some of my meat from Butcher Box and just got an email yesterday that they regret having to do it, but prices are going up. The box I buy went up $10.

The grass-fed ground beef I paid $6.99/# for in April 2020 is now $8.68/#.  I was watching BB for months waiting for free ground for life, and didn't see it.  They just switched from some meats and lobster tails (one time premium) to hot dogs, chicken, and burgers (also a one time premium).  I understand BB raising prices if everyone else is, but pastured meats already have a high profit built in.

We've decided to do the old Amy Dacyczyn method of reducing our consumption to the point where it doesn't work for us, and then bumping back to the minimal level that does work.  It's only the two of us for the next 4 months, so it's a perfect time to experiment.  We're starting with a meatless September challenge (not a plant based challenge -- we'll eat eggs and dairy products along with chicken stock from the freezer and animal fats).

[stoaX]

I buy some of my meat from Butcher Box and just got an email yesterday that they regret having to do it, but prices are going up. The box I buy went up $10.

The grass-fed ground beef I paid $6.99/# for in April 2020 is now $8.68/#.  I was watching BB for months waiting for free ground for life, and didn't see it.  They just switched from some meats and lobster tails (one time premium) to hot dogs, chicken, and burgers (also a one time premium).  I understand BB raising prices if everyone else is, but pastured meats already have a high profit built in.

We've decided to do the old Amy Dacyczyn method of reducing our consumption to the point where it doesn't work for us, and then bumping back to the minimal level that does work.  It's only the two of us for the next 4 months, so it's a perfect time to experiment.  We're starting with a meatless September challenge (not a plant based challenge -- we'll eat eggs and dairy products along with chicken stock from the freezer and animal fats).

Gotta love a post that mentions Amy Dacyczyn!

[Roadrunner53]

I was able to get the 'free' ground beef for life (2 one pound packages) and also I got 'free' bacon for life which is one package of bacon and it is small, maybe 10 ounces. These were offered at two separate times. Not sure if it is seasonal when they offer it.

I also buy some frozen meat from Costco and it is shipped to me. I have had good luck with that too!

[Cranky]

I was interested to notice yesterday that my Aldi had no white rice on the shelf, and they had signs up saying they were having trouble with their fresh chicken supplier although there seemed to be plenty of fresh chicken. There are still some ripples in the supply chain, I guess.

We moved to a different state at the beginning of summer, so I’m rebuilding my pantry supplies before winter. I’ve realized how convenient it is to always have a backup item!

[K_in_the_kitchen]

ButcherBox finally offered "Free Ground Beef For Life" again so I placed my first order Sunday, only to arrive home from our weekend away to a broken refrigerator.  We lost everything other than hard cheeses, butter, bacon grease, condiments, olives/pickles, and some frozen homemade baked goods.  The new refrigerator arrives Friday (fingers crossed!).  Luckily we have a fridge in our van and will be able to put the BB order in that freezer.

I'm telling myself this is an opportunity to simplify.  I'd already "de-hoarded" the pantry down to just two small shelves plus our bulk jars and buckets of grains and legumes.  We ate down most of the meat over the summer so we could unplug our chest freezer knowing it would only be the two of us now that the young adults are living at university.

[SunnyDays]

ButcherBox finally offered "Free Ground Beef For Life" again so I placed my first order Sunday, only to arrive home from our weekend away to a broken refrigerator.  We lost everything other than hard cheeses, butter, bacon grease, condiments, olives/pickles, and some frozen homemade baked goods.  The new refrigerator arrives Friday (fingers crossed!).  Luckily we have a fridge in our van and will be able to put the BB order in that freezer.

I'm telling myself this is an opportunity to simplify.  I'd already "de-hoarded" the pantry down to just two small shelves plus our bulk jars and buckets of grains and legumes.  We ate down most of the meat over the summer so we could unplug our chest freezer knowing it would only be the two of us now that the young adults are living at university.

You have a fridge in your van????  What?  Tell me more.

[K_in_the_kitchen]

You have a fridge in your van????  What?  Tell me more.

It's a campervan (I have a medical reason to need to travel with a bathroom available at all times and the campervan is a better solution than trying to carry a portable toilet in a minivan).  The van was our second vehicle when we had three drivers at home, but now it's our "daily driver" because we sent the car to university with our oldest son since he was the main driver of it anyway.  Used car prices are outrageous, and it took 2.5 years to put 10K miles on the car so we were pretty sure we could get by without it.

It's not frugal, per se, but it's the best solution for us, and we're already FI.  I'm RE, DH is working while he still enjoys it.

[SunnyDays]

Ah, a camper van.  That makes all the difference.  Condolences on whatever condition makes you need a bathroom that urgently.  Can't be fun.

[Trudie]

I have noticed massive food price increases, so am adjusting accordingly.  There have been supply chain issues as well, particularly with turkey products in our region.  I’m not hoarding anything, but am starting to soak and cook more beans, use up my garden bounty, and fix more eggs.

I’m back to using online ordering services for Target, Walmart, Costco, and occasionally my local grocery store.  I just don’t enjoy going into stores and schlepping my cart around.

[Dicey]

I found 8 oz. packages of Danish Creamery European Style Unsalted Butter for 99 cents each, so I bought 24 packages, which is 12 pounds. What I'm most proud of is that I actually had room for it all in the freezer. Bonus points because I only have 2 lbs. left from the last time I scored a major deal.

Oh, and my neighbors moved out and put their house on the market. I may have poached some unwanted sage leaves from their garden. Sauteed in butter until crispy - yum!

[MudPuppy]

Do it! Do the Herb Crimes!!

[SmartyCat]

I found 8 oz. packages of Danish Creamery European Style Unsalted Butter for 99 cents each, so I bought 24 packages, which is 12 pounds. What I'm most proud of is that I actually had room for it all in the freezer. Bonus points because I only have 2 lbs. left from the last time I scored a major deal.

Oh, and my neighbors moved out and put their house on the market. I may have poached some unwanted sage leaves from their garden. Sauteed in butter until crispy - yum!

Some compound butter with sage might be nice too. :)

Sent from my SM-G781V using Tapatalk

[K_in_the_kitchen]

I found 8 oz. packages of Danish Creamery European Style Unsalted Butter for 99 cents each, so I bought 24 packages, which is 12 pounds. What I'm most proud of is that I actually had room for it all in the freezer. Bonus points because I only have 2 lbs. left from the last time I scored a major deal.

Oh, and my neighbors moved out and put their house on the market. I may have poached some unwanted sage leaves from their garden. Sauteed in butter until crispy - yum!

That a great price for quality unsalted butter!

As we head into a second fall/winter season with C19 running rampant I'm trying to be mindful of what I bring in, and how much. So far the only thing I've ordered is another 25# of white wheat berries.  To avoid contact with unvaccinated persons I decided to have Azure Standard ship the wheat to me rather than going to the truck -- it's an extra $17 but well worth it on the rare occasion.  I hadn't planned a large bulk purchase of pinto beans but will probably fill the bucket again.

Food prices are another concern, so I'm tweaking what we eat and making even more of what I can, like tortillas, yogurt, etc..  I'm going to try my hand at pasta, although I don't want to buy durum wheat for it -- plenty of people use regular flour.  There will be fewer breakfasts with smoothies and more with whole wheat toast.  The nice thing about cooler weather is it's so easy to build meals around basic, inexpensive vegetables like broccoli, cabbage, carrots, squash, onions, and potatoes (although potato prices are up).

[kite]

ButcherBox finally offered "Free Ground Beef For Life" again so I placed my first order Sunday, only to arrive home from our weekend away to a broken refrigerator.  We lost everything other than hard cheeses, butter, bacon grease, condiments, olives/pickles, and some frozen homemade baked goods.  The new refrigerator arrives Friday (fingers crossed!).  Luckily we have a fridge in our van and will be able to put the BB order in that freezer.

I'm telling myself this is an opportunity to simplify.  I'd already "de-hoarded" the pantry down to just two small shelves plus our bulk jars and buckets of grains and legumes.  We ate down most of the meat over the summer so we could unplug our chest freezer knowing it would only be the two of us now that the young adults are living at university.

I don't bulk-buy for exactly this reason. We've had the power outages, the appliance failures and the once in a lifetime weather events that happen at least once per decade. 
In keeping with MMM's advice to "store your stuff on craigslist in full confidence that it will be there when you need it" I leave everything we can't eat fairly quickly at Aldi, letting them pay to refrigerate or freeze it.  Obviously, someone with a different household size or who can only make infrequent trips to town for provisions has a different need for having plenty on-hand.  But I get anxious if there is more in the house than we need. I feel like I'm being buried under the excess.

[Dicey]

[snip]In keeping with MMM's advice to "store your stuff on craigslist in full confidence that it will be there when you need it" I leave everything we can't eat fairly quickly at Aldi, letting them pay to refrigerate or freeze it.  Obviously, someone with a different household size or who can only make infrequent trips to town for provisions has a different need for having plenty on-hand.  But I get anxious if there is more in the house than we need. I feel like I'm being buried under the excess.

Wow, I totally take that advice for durable goods, but not for food. Having a full larder gives me a sense of security. All of my freezers (Three, if you're counting. Two small and one dedicated) have blocks of ice in them, so they'd automatically be good for several hours if the power went out. Plus, we have a generator. Better still, we're on a power grid that serves essential services, so we don't get the random rolling blackouts that PG&E loves so. I also shop at the kind of stores where you don't pay a premium for finding a specific item in a specific slot every time you go to the store. My stores are the "When you see it at a great price, buy it" places. I recently found 5# bags of flour from a trusted brand for 99 cents. Did I need flour? No. Do I have plenty of flour now? Yup.
Now, if I lived near a Winco or an Aldi, I'd probably be a lot more relaxed about it. But Safeway, Whole Foods or specialty stores are the only options in my vicinity. Oh, we have a Trader Joe's, but I find them too expensive and their parking lot's a bitch. I'm also from a large family, and a huge fan of Amy Dacyczyn's Pantry Principle.

[OtherJen]

[snip]In keeping with MMM's advice to "store your stuff on craigslist in full confidence that it will be there when you need it" I leave everything we can't eat fairly quickly at Aldi, letting them pay to refrigerate or freeze it.  Obviously, someone with a different household size or who can only make infrequent trips to town for provisions has a different need for having plenty on-hand.  But I get anxious if there is more in the house than we need. I feel like I'm being buried under the excess.

Wow, I totally take that advice for durable goods, but not for food. Having a full larder gives me a sense of security. All of my freezers (Three, if you're counting. Two small and one dedicated) have blocks of ice in them, so they'd automatically be good for several hours if the power went out. Plus, we have a generator. Better still, we're on a power grid that serves essential services, so we don't get the random rolling blackouts that PG&E loves so. I also shop at the kind of stores where you don't pay a premium for finding a specific item in a specific slot every time you go to the store. My stores are the "When you see it at a great price, buy it" places. I recently found 5# bags of flour from a trusted brand for 99 cents. Did I need flour? No. Do I have plenty of flour now? Yup.
Now, if I lived near a Winco or an Aldi, I'd probably be a lot more relaxed about it. But Safeway, Whole Foods or specialty stores are the only options in my vicinity. Oh, we have a Trader Joe's, but I find them too expensive and their parking lot's a bitch. I'm also from a large family, and a huge fan of Amy Dacyczyn's Pantry Principle.

After the headaches of trying to buy staples like pet food, gluten-free oatmeal, dried beans, peanut butter, and any kind of canned goods 18 months ago, I keep the pantry well-stocked with shelf-stable goods, even though there's an Aldi 1.5 miles from my house (their shelves were as bare as everyone else's in March 2020). This is a great reminder to stock up on those items and scan my pantry for other low stocks before my next Costco trip. Our fridge died during a July heatwave, and 2 weeks later we lost some of the food in our borrowed small fridge due to a power outage, so I'm less trusting of refrigeration units and less likely to hoard fresh/frozen meat deals.

[Roadrunner53]

[snip]In keeping with MMM's advice to "store your stuff on craigslist in full confidence that it will be there when you need it" I leave everything we can't eat fairly quickly at Aldi, letting them pay to refrigerate or freeze it.  Obviously, someone with a different household size or who can only make infrequent trips to town for provisions has a different need for having plenty on-hand.  But I get anxious if there is more in the house than we need. I feel like I'm being buried under the excess.

Wow, I totally take that advice for durable goods, but not for food. Having a full larder gives me a sense of security. All of my freezers (Three, if you're counting. Two small and one dedicated) have blocks of ice in them, so they'd automatically be good for several hours if the power went out. Plus, we have a generator. Better still, we're on a power grid that serves essential services, so we don't get the random rolling blackouts that PG&E loves so. I also shop at the kind of stores where you don't pay a premium for finding a specific item in a specific slot every time you go to the store. My stores are the "When you see it at a great price, buy it" places. I recently found 5# bags of flour from a trusted brand for 99 cents. Did I need flour? No. Do I have plenty of flour now? Yup.
Now, if I lived near a Winco or an Aldi, I'd probably be a lot more relaxed about it. But Safeway, Whole Foods or specialty stores are the only options in my vicinity. Oh, we have a Trader Joe's, but I find them too expensive and their parking lot's a bitch. I'm also from a large family, and a huge fan of Amy Dacyczyn's Pantry Principle.

Dicey, I am with you! I have two upright freezers in my garage and they are full and cabinets full of canned, jarred and other shelf stable products. At all times I have everything at my finger tips. We rarely eat out and since Covid, we never eat out now. Our treasure trove of various foods allows us to have something different every single night for dinner and never tire of the selections. I buy some things on sale and I also splurge on expensive things at times too. Last fall when rib roasts were on sale I bought around 6 of them and we had one every couple of months. I also found a sale on pot roast and bought around 6 of those too. Right now I am low on some shelf stable items so I need to stock up on that. I will get that from Costco and they will deliver it to my door. I will order enough things to get free shipping!

About two years ago one of the freezers broke down. I was afraid we would lose a lot of food but I found a place that could deliver a new freezer in two days. Perfect timing because everything stayed frozen and when the new one was delivered, we reloaded it and didn't skip a beat.

I guess another option would be to defrost the food and cook it up, eat what you could, or give some away.

[cannotWAIT]

I'm an enthusiastic user of the freezer even in normal times. I love tucking away delicious things for future me to eat! The pandemic has only made me feel more justified in my freezer-loving ways.

My freezer is in my unheated, uninsulated garage and I'm only likely to lose power in the winter anyway, so yeah, I just don't worry about it. If the freezer dies a natural death then I can relocate everything to other people's freezers. If for some reason I were to lose everything in it when it was full of the most expensive things, it would be tragic, but probably only on the order of $1,000, and I am very sure I save more than that every year through efficient use of it.

I do run pretty lean in my refrigerator, though, mostly in an effort to avoid waste.

[force majeure]

Toilet paper?

That Sh*t is expensive.
I have gone without, last few years.
Think about it... you are flushing paper down the toilet.
Whats wrong with hands, then wash with clean water?
its what half the planet is doing.

[NorthernIkigai]

Toilet paper?

That Sh*t is expensive.
I have gone without, last few years.
Think about it... you are flushing paper down the toilet.
Whats wrong with hands, then wash with clean water?
its what half the planet is doing.

Isn't your bottom still wet after that?

[Roadrunner53]

Toilet paper?

That Sh*t is expensive.
I have gone without, last few years.
Think about it... you are flushing paper down the toilet.
Whats wrong with hands, then wash with clean water?
its what half the planet is doing.

I think modern man has come a long way from using hands which is pretty darn unsanitary. There are other ways to wipe your butt without buying toilet paper. Back before disposable diapers, people used to put the dirty cloth diapers in a pail and wash them in the washer. You could set up a similar thing with clean rags and use a pail to keep the dirty rags in, then wash them. Other way is to buy a bidet. A one time expense.

https://pistachioproject.com/2016/04/why-you-should-switch-to-family-cloth.html

I will stick with expensive toilet paper. One expense I don't mind spending money on.