Today we’ll start with canned goods.

Sure, cans have BPA, but they are awfully handy, and I’m sure that the ziplocs I sometimes store dried/cooked beans in the freezer probably also have BPA.  I’m not sure of a better alternative at this point, for most of these items.

After covid the knowledge that I HAD food was a comfort for sure, it did make me re-think what I was buying.

Here are the cans I keep in bulk, in this you’ll see the item, the # I keep on hand, and my target pricing for the item (I will admit pricing has really fluxuated

BTW if keeping food organizing is making stocking up hard — check out this course. It really simplifies organizing for busy families. Jump in for just a month and make your pantry easier for you!

• Garbanzo Beans (4) 80 cents
• Kidney Beans (6) 80 cents
• White Beans (17) 80 cents
• Black Beans (17) 80 cents
• Refried Beans (8) less then a dollar
• Chili (18) less then a dollar
• Pork and Beans (4) depends on the can size and the quality (some are awfully cheap, but I prefer the better varities, and those I try to go to about 1.50
• Stewed Tomatoes (5) 75 cents  (for 14 oz cans)
• Diced Tomaotes –regular (10) 75 cents
• Diced tomatoes — flavored (like rotel) (10) 75 cents
• Crushed Tomatoes (I usually buy the 28 oz cans) (6) 1.50
• Tomato sauce (20 — tiny cans) — 25 cents
• Tomato Paste (10) — I am actually not sure, I’m guessing 75 cents?
• Good soup (progresso, or the nicer campbells)) (17) — less then a dollar
• Condensed Soup (my kids still love this stuff) (11) — less then a dollar
• Sliced/Chunk Pineapple (7) — less then a dollar (I try to keep some of both the larger and the smaller cans on hand, so the price obviously varies, but less then a dollar for the larger cans)
• Crushed pineapple (10) – less then a dollar
• Pumpkin (2) — I have no idea, I just stock up at Thanksgiving
• Can berry Sauce (2) — again, just a thanksgiving thing, but I do keep it on hand
• Pie Filling (4) — depends on the type
• Mandarin Oranges (7) — no clue, I don’t actually buy very often
• Pears (7) less then a dollar
• Peaches (7) Less then a dollar
• Corn (6) 75 cents
• Creamed Corn (3) 75 cents
• Beets (3) ??
• Canned Salmon (4) — I so very rarely find this on sale I tend to just buy it when my supply is low.
• Canned Chicken (10) — I think the costco price is close to 2 dollars, and I have actually never bought it anywhere else.
• Canned Tuna (20) — 1 dollar/can
• Sliced Oilves (10) — 75 cents/can
• Whole Olives (3) — less than a dollar
• Green Chilies (12) less then 75 cents/can
• Red Enchilada Sauce (4) depends on the size… about 2 bucks for the larger can, 1 for the smaller
• Green Enchilada Sauce (2) same as above
• Chipotle Pppers (6) — not sure, don’t buy frequently
• Evaporated milk (5) I haven’t bought this for a while either, I’m guessing about 75 cents/can for the smaller cans, which tends to be what I use.
• Sweetened Condensed (2) less then 2/can — I think
• Spam (3) — not sure,
• Broth (9) I have started buying the boxed stock at Costco, but for cans I try to hit 50cents/can
• Tomato Soup (20) — 50 cents/can
• Cream of Mushroom (2) — 75 cents
• Cream of Chicken (5) — 75 cents
• Cream of Celery (5) — 75 cents

Yipes!  When you type it all out like that, it’s quite a lot!  Canned items, are probably the bulk of my food storage, and probably the easiest to stock up on.

Grab my pantry excel file to be more mindful about what you have and what you need:

Note:  Target prices are prices I am hoping to get.  I notice when I’m low and I just shoot for a price CLOSE to that price.  Do I always get it?  No, sometimes it’s a bit lower, sometimes a bit higher.  It’s just a good idea, to have a target price that’s good for items that you buy frequently.

Note on Quanities:  They are constantly being adjusted by how much we use an item, as well as how much space we have to store the item.  I used to want 20 cans of evaporated milk, but I just don’t use it much any more and I’d rathe have the space for beans.  I went through a phase where I thought I should have canned vegetables, but we NEVER used them, so it was a waste.  Anyway, you need to adjust as needed.

Is this helpful?  Would you want it for other grocery isles?

I will say my target price here is lower on many items then it was in CA.  I will say that some of the items it’s just the same, so who knows.

And yeah — stocking up is a GREAT way to do it, but make sure you’re also keeping track of what you have an need. Staying organized is key. Jump in this class before you waste another dollar on food you already have:

Of, if you’re not quite ready start with the 5 Word Organization Challenge:

The post Grocery Shopping: Buying Canned Goods appeared first on Pulling Curls.

• Make it like a grocery store.  You’ll see cans stored in rows, and when I get new cans I pull all the old ones out.
• I go through my pantry once a year (it is part of my Monday kitchen organizing routine), I clean off the shelves, and I make sure the oldest stuff is in the back and the items that should be used first are at the front.  I do throw things away, and make mental notes of things I don’t need to be buying as much of.
• I don’t label.  I really want to, but it’s pretty obvious where stuff goes, and it does fluctuate.
• I prefer to buy a bunch of one item (like chili, for instance) then just 2 or 3 at a time, just because it’s hard to rotate the stock.  I know those can organizers look like they’d be great, and I think they would be if you had an unfinished basement, but we don’t.  This way works for me, and it’s a LOT cheaper
• I put some shelf paper up, I’m not sure I am glad I did.  As a friend told me, she’d rather re-paint then put up shelf paper again.  I think she’s right (we have painted shelves, I think that might be different if you had wood shelves, or something like that).
• DO NOT GO INTO DEBT FOR FOOD STORAGE.  That’s just ludicrous.
• Don’t do what I do.  My system works for me, because it’s what we eat, you need to figure out what works for you.  My OCD comes in handy to save us money on this and I am somehow able to remember prices of stuff pretty easily, but that may not be you, so give yourself a break!

The post Storing Food in General appeared first on Pulling Curls.

It’s taken me a bit to figure out a food storage plan.  Of course, it took me a good 3 or more years at my last house, so I figure 9 months isn’t too bad!

We have a large pantry in our kitchen, and while it’s behind our table, which I don’t adore I do LOVE all the space.  The shelve aren’t super deep, but I’m learning to roll with the punches.  I mean, I would’ve DIED for this kind of space in CA, right?  It’s all about gratitude.

Someone went a little crazy when canned salmon went on sale.

ANYWHO….

I have all of our LDS cannery items on the top left shelf, but I have tried to limit that to stuff we actually use (refried beans, apples, carrots, onions, cocoa, fruit drink mix some oats — I do have oats and wheat in big bins on the floor, I don’t think you can see them, but I also have some #10 cans of wheat also, in case of emergency).  Some of it is in the super awkward corners of our kitchen, some is on top of the cupboards (although I am hoping to eliminate that, most of that is just excess, and the things I only plan to use in an emergency (canned flour, or sugar or canned dry beans) is under the guest bed.  It’s taken a while to figure that part out, but I decided there was no reason to have our real “emergency” food taking up room in our super accessible pantry.  I always want to store more then I have room for, and THAT is a fact.   I’m also hoping to can some chicken soon, and with the 9 tomato plants we’re growing I am guessing we’ll have some of those to can too.  {fingers crossed}

BUT, back to the stuff that I’m rotating through on a regular basis.

Once a month I go through and count everything.  Drew made me a fancy excel spreadsheet that makes that super easy.  It looks like this.  I’m not sure how he got it so that it adds it up for me (it takes what’s in the “want” column, minuses the “have” and the answer is in the “need” column), but I love it.  It saves a ton of time to just type in the numbers and then just see it all there.  I’m always adjusting my “want” number.  I just try to assess how much we use each item.  I think we used to use more refried beans, beans until I started using the dry ones from the cannery more, so I have decreased that number.  Some of it is just how much I have room for.

Then, I go through and highlight the ones that we are in need of.  Red are things I need to buy right now, sale or no sale. I won’t buy a lot of these items, but enough to have on hand.  I HATE to run out of stuff!  I also highlight in green things that I am NOT allowed to buy.  I have obviously over-bought on those items.  It’s kind of my e-slap-on-the-wrist.  Overbuying has been a big issue for me in the past.  for instance, I right now have 22 boxes of cereal.  It’s excessive, since I try to limit cold cereal days to once a week during the school year.

Then, I write down the items on my grocery list.

Now, I have a grocery list that lives on my fridge.

The post My Current Grocery Shopping Plan appeared first on Pulling Curls.