Because of cost, for awhile, I cut back a bit on my stocking up; tomorrow I'll replenish.
I have been watching sales, loss leaders, coupons, even gasoline discounts. When something is on sale, it's time to load up. Over time, those sales shift around, and you end up with a pretty decent balance. I hit the canned goods a couple years ago, coming home with a couple carts full of cases of canned items we use, cleared out the racks in the pantry, ditched anything out of date, and re filled them. Since then, some of those items have gone up 50%, so it was a good move. I'm watching for sales on meat, now, having spent the summer fishing and loading the freezer (legal limits on a good day) with walleye fillets.
So far, so good. It is a marathon, not a sprint, and involves checking ads on a weekly basis, looking for specific items and getting those when they come up, but buying a dozen, not just one or two. The other part is to stick to the list, otherwise it's easy to spend a lot on things you don't really need.
