Stockpiling vs. Conserving (pt. I)

I've been giving this post a lot of thought. Let me begin with some definitions.

Stockpile = accumulate a large stock of goods and/or materials

Conserve = prevent the wasteful or harmful overuse of a resource

The context you ask? Food, namely grocery shopping. Over the past few weeks many of my friends have been highly praising The Grocery Game. Ever heard of it? Basically, you pay to get a list of all the sale items along with coupons in order to save money buying groceries. It sounds great. Who doesn't want to save money? Plus, all of the women who've told me about it have saved up to $100. So, I decided to do some more research into it.

The idea is to buy more than you need while the items on the list are at the lowest price they will ever be in a 12 week period. They call this stockpiling. That way when you need a can of peas, you'll have 10 cans in your pantry. Over time you'll have a whole pantry and freezer full of food that you'll only spend money on fresh produce and other items that you wouldn't want to buy in bulk. Like I said before this all sounds really good. Especially for larger families.

But, I question whether it is necessarily the best way to shop and if, in the long run, you really do save more money. The answers to these questions will be different for each family. For me personally, I believe fully in conserving when it comes to food and groceries. Food is a precious commodity. Maybe not for us in America, but for millions of people around the world and I feel it is my social responsibility to be a good steward of what my family and I consume.

So, does it really save more money to buy in bulk while items are at their cheapest? My answer would be: it depends. It depends on whether you already buy the item or if you are just buying the item because it's cheap. When I plan my meals for the week I usually look at the weekly specials to see if anything on my list is on sale or if I can plan any meals around what is on sale. I have found that I am more apt to buy something just because it's on sale. For example, if ice cream is buy one, get one free, I will buy ice cream. This is relevant because I don't usually buy ice cream, it's one of those items that I try to stay away from, but indulge in every once in a while. So, even though I only pay $5 instead of $10 for two quarts on ice cream, that is $5 that I wouldn't have even spent if it wasn't on sale.

I've looked at the items on the list of the grocery game and have found that I don't buy most of the items on it. For us, it wouldn't make sense to spend $5 a month plus the few dollars it would cost to get the coupons needed to get the best deals from the list. We would end up changing our diets, consuming less nutritious foods, spending more money up front and overloading our pantry and freezer. So, how do I plan, shop and prepare food with food conservation in mind, while keeping our monthly food budget below $300 a month? Look for part II coming soon....

What do you think of stockpiling and conserving? I would love to know your thoughts.