As I mentioned in one of my posts last week, IGA has ground chuck on sale for $1.99 a pound. Today was the last day of the sale, so I went and bought twenty pounds. This is another example of how I save money by using The Pantry Principle.
In essence, The Pantry Principle means storing commodities today for future use. Stocking up when the price is right on food and non-food items you and your family use on a regular basis. Not only is this the most economical way to shop and live, but shopping this way will provide security for you as well. When emergencies arise your family will not be found wanting with The Pantry Principle.
Amy Dacyczyn describes The Pantry Principle on pages 172-173 in her book titled, The Tightwad Gazette II. Amy states that the idea of planning meals thirty days in advance in not the most frugal way to go about planning menus for your family. She states that planning meals in advance is backward and that stick-to-your-list thinking does not allow an individual to take advantage of unadvertised deals.
The best approach that Amy suggests is what she calls The Pantry Principle which she first learned about in a book written by Barbara Salsbury and Cheri Loveless called Cut Your Food Bill in Half. Amy claims that many families do not take the concept far enough to save the maximum amount of their money.
The basic idea behind The Pantry Principle is to stockpile your pantry with food that you are able to purchase at the lowest possible price. The purpose of grocery shopping then becomes a trip to replenish your pantry, and not a trip to purchase specific ingredients for specific meals.
The lowest price I have paid for ground chuck in the past was $1.39 a pound, but that was before the Great Recession. Ground chuck today costs $2.99 a pound at the regular price, so I knew the IGA sale was a good stock up price.
