In a world where inflation seems to be the new norm and the cost of groceries is steadily rising, it’s no wonder that many of us are feeling the pinch in our wallets. The idea of stocking a pantry with all the essentials might seem like an elusive dream, especially when it feels like we’re constantly fighting a battle against high prices.
You may have heard advice about buying in bulk and filling your pantry, but let’s face it – that’s easier said than done when you’re on a tight budget. I want to let you know that it is absolutely possible to fill your pantry without breaking your budget. You don’t need to figure out how to cover a massive up-front expense to ensure your shelves are well-stocked with essentials. In fact, with a little strategic planning and some smart shopping and stocking, you can begin building a pantry and saving money on your groceries, even in these challenging times.
Groceries are the most malleable variable in a household budget. It’s influenced by preferences, marketing, and convenience. Even the way grocery store shelves are stocked is a silent commercial. Items that are eye level and easy to find are the products “we want to buy”.
1. Set a Budget and Stick to It
The first step in cost-effective pantry stocking is setting a clear mindset and budget. Determine how much you have to allocate for pantry items, and then stick to it. If this is your first roadblock because you feel like you’re already stretched to the limit with your overall grocery budget, it’s time to get creative and find some money in other areas of your budget that you can use.
- Sell unwanted items.
- Sell gift cards you don’t need.
- Deliver take out food or groceries one day a week.
- Sell a crafty thing online through etsy or ebay.
In my house we implement “no spend” months where we challenge ourselves to spend as little money as possible on anything for the whole month. We don’t eat out, we don’t buy any junk food, no drive-thru coffees, we cancel streaming services for a month, no thrift store trips, and we get just enough groceries to get by. It’s surprising how much a little money here and there really adds up.
We also cook 98% of our meals at home. Even buying convenience foods at the grocery store will cost less than grabbing something from the drive thru, and cooking from scratch will save even more. Think of something your family eats on a regular basis and start making that from scratch instead. It started with bread for us.
Bread was an easy place to start because it was inconvenient to store long term. I like to keep three months of food stock, and just to have enough bread for one month requires a fair amount of freezer space. It just wasn’t very practical.
I started baking bread instead of buying it over a year ago. In the beginning it was a little rough. My loaves were dense…more like a dinner roll consistency, but we ate it. Making good bread is a skill and it takes learning how the dough should look and behave to get it right. Fortunately, the bread you make while learning how to make better bread is delicious…and the consistency gets better and better every time.
After baking my own bread, things snowballed into making other things from scratch and the money we save on stuff we used to buy allows us to spend our grocery money differently.
2. Prioritize Essentials and Set a Goal
Not all pantry items are created equal. Prioritize the essentials first. These are the items you use regularly and are the building blocks of most meals. Rice, pasta, canned tomatoes, sugar, flour, and basic spices are common pantry essentials. Once you’ve secured your stock of essentials, you can start adding meal-specific items.
How much food would you like to have on hand in terms of time? One month? Three months? How much space do you have to store food? Think outside the box. A catch-all closet in the hall could be your overflow pantry area where you keep all the extra stuff that doesn’t fit in your kitchen cabinets. Get inexpensive risers for your bed and store extra items in totes under there. Cabinets that are hard to reach for everyday items are perfect for storing extra food.
3. Buy in Bulk (Strategically)
Buying in bulk can be a fantastic money-saving strategy, but it requires careful planning and storing things properly. Look for non-perishable items that you already eat that have a long shelf life, such as rice, pasta, canned goods, and dried beans. Purchasing these items in larger quantities often comes with a lower per-unit cost, and that can reduce your overall expenses when you look at the big picture.
There will be some up-front cost and planning involved. You’ll need to understand the best way to store your items, and if you’re new to storing bulk foods it’s likely you’ll need to buy storage containers like 5 gallon buckets with gamma lids, possibly shelving, but your setup will get better over time. Start with the essentials. You don’t need to have a shelf to put a bucket of rice on, but you DO need the bucket.
Look for a fridge or freezer second hand for the garage and use it to store bulk refrigerated and frozen foods like meat, eggs, cheese, and butter along with seasonal produce that keeps well and for a long time like carrots, cabbage, and apples (usually a couple months or more if stored properly in the fridge)
4. Utilize Sales and Coupons
Keep an eye out for sales and discounts at your local grocery stores. Many items go on sale regularly, and you can save significantly by timing your purchases to coincide with these sales. Additionally, you can use coupons and take advantage of loyalty programs offered by stores.
5. Embrace Store Brands
Store-brand and generic products are often more budget-friendly than their name-brand counterparts, and they can be just as good in terms of quality. Compare prices and give store brands a try; you might be pleasantly surprised.
6. Plan Meals Around Sales and Seasons
Take advantage of discounted items by planning your meals accordingly. If chicken is on sale when you go to the store, stock up and plan some chicken-based meals for the week. This way, you can stock up on ingredients when they’re cheaper and use them now and later.
Buying produce seasonally (local if you can) and preserving it can save you money as well. It’s going to be readily available, taste better, and cost less due to abundance. Here are some fruits and vegetables categorized by season:
- Spring: broccoli, cauliflower, carrots, celery, spinach, cabbage, lettuce, herbs
- Summer: zucchini, berries, cucumbers, tomatoes, peppers, garlic, potatoes, green beans, peaches, onions
- Fall: winter squash like butternut and acorn, broccoli, cauliflower, carrots, celery, spinach, cabbage, lettuce, apples
- Winter: citrus, pineapple
7. Explore Alternative Shopping Options
Consider exploring alternative shopping options, such as local farmers’ markets, online retailers, or buying pantry staples from wholesale stores. These avenues may offer competitive prices and unique bulk-buying opportunities. When deciding whether or not an alternative shopping option is cost effective for your budget, factor in the cost of membership (if applicable). If the items save you money, but the cost of the privilege to shop there actually makes the items the same price or more, you might be wasting time and money shopping there.
- Buy Local
I live in a rural community and have a lot of local farm stand options. There are farmers’ markets in the cities nearest to me, and if you live in or around a city, chances are good that you can find a farmers’ market and take advantage of locally grown produce even if you don’t live in a rural area.
I pick my own strawberries for the year every June at a berry farm near me, I recently discovered a blueberry farm where I can pick my own blueberries next year, a local farmer grows the best sweet corn and I buy enough for the year, and I have an apple orchard close where I buy 2 bushels of apples that we eat all winter. I’ve connected with several bee keepers over the years and buy a year’s worth of local honey every fall.
I also shop at Costco, Thrive Market, Butcher Box, and Misfits Market in addition to my local grocery stores like Aldi, Trader Joe’s, and Kroger.
Here’s why:
- Costco
The money I save on cheese alone pays for my membership and then some. Thanks to Costco’s rewards, I shop there enough to get roughly $50 or more back every year that goes towards a future purchase. I shop there monthly and have a set list of items, so having a $50+ coupon once a year saves me money on things I would be buying anyway.
- Thrive Market
There is a yearly membership fee and a minimum order dollar amount. I buy organic flours and Einkorn flour, and Thrive Market has the cheapest price on organic flours. The money I save on flour makes the cost of my subscription worth it, and I’ve found other items I really like to buy from them that are also cheaper than elsewhere like organic tortilla chips, “canned” tomatoes in glass jars, and my favorite cashew coconut granola.
- Butcher Box
They had me at “ships to your door”-who doesn’t want a box of high-quality meat delivered? We’ve had a subscription for over three years now and love it. Is it cheaper per cut than grocery store selections? No. Not even close. But we want to buy organic grass fed meat, and love the convenience and selection Butcher Box provides. There are 2 box sizes, you sign up for an auto-delivery at the cadence of your choosing, you can customize your boxes, add extra cuts, and they always have a page of deals you can choose from to throw in your box. You can skip a box at any time, and if you do nothing, they send you a box of meat based on your previous box settings (minus the deals-those are for a limited time and don’t carry over like add-ons). They have seasonal items like whole turkeys and spiral hams in the fall and winter, seafood all the time, and if you’re looking for pre-cooked meats like pulled pork or other convenience foods like frozen chicken nuggets and hotdogs, they have those items from humanely raised, organic animals. We’ve also found a local farmer who raises grass fed organic beef and pork and sells it in bulk and cuts, and we raise our own chicken, but we still get a Butcher Box every few months for things like salmon, seasonal selections, and sales.
- Misfits Market
We’ve been getting Misfits Market boxes for years and it’s such a great thing to get a box of produce delivered right to your door. The quality and selection are great.
They pack the boxes with care, and customer service is amazing. I love their mission, and you’ve probably gathered by now that I really like to shop for groceries from my couch.
If you’re interested in any of these alternative shopping options, you can save a little money by following my links and I get a small commission at no extra cost to you.
These are my personal Discount Codes, I am not affiliated with these companies:
Thrive Market: Save 40% on your first order with my link.
Butcher Box: Save $50 on your first box with my link.
Misfits Market: Save $10 on your first box with my link.
If you sign up with any of these, you will have access to your own discount code to share with friends and family and earn free food if they sign up. Free food tastes really good.
8. Reduce Food Waste
In the beginning it can be hard to predict how much of each thing you need. As you build your pantry, pay attention to your consumption. A trick I learned early on was to write the date on things when you open them. When it’s time to replace that item, you’ll know how long the previous one lasted.
Keep a close eye on expiration dates, and practice the “first in, first out” method to make sure older items are used before newer ones. Get creative with leftovers, and don’t be afraid to incorporate them into new dishes. Leftovers have a bad reputation. When planning and preparing meals, think of ways you can use parts of the meal in another one. Yesterday’s roasted vegetables can become today’s frittata, and last night’s chicken can be chicken salad for lunch. If you allocate your leftovers for another meal, they’re less likely to sit in the fridge.
9. DIY Pantry Staples
Certain pantry staples can be made at home for a fraction of the cost of store-bought versions. For example, making your own seasoning blends, salad dressings, and marinades can save you money and allow you to control the ingredients. Keeping granulated sugar and some molasses on hand will allow you to make brown sugar and powdered sugar while keeping you stocked up on regular sugar too. Heavy cream can thicken sauces and be made into whipped cream. Some alcohol and a few vanilla beans will provide so much vanilla for baking at a fraction of the cost.
10. Keep an Eye on Your Pantry Inventory
Knowing exactly what’s in your pantry can prevent you from accidentally purchasing duplicate items. Keeping your pantry organized will help you see at a glance what you have and what you need. When you make your grocery list, go to your stock and check your items. This will give you a current look at what you need to buy and what you have plenty of already.
Keep like items together. If you have pasta in the kitchen cupboard and also some in the pantry, it’s more to keep track of. You have to check the cupboard, then check the pantry. Grab some pasta for dinner-ope, the cupboard is empty, you go to the pantry to grab stock to fill the cupboard…and so it goes in circles. If you can’t fit all of your pasta in the cupboard, keep it all in the pantry and put all of something else in the cupboard. Need pasta? Go grab a box out of the pantry. Making your grocery list? How much pasta do you need? Check it once.
The Ultimate Goal: Shop From Your Pantry
Keeping a stocked pantry allows you to shop from your inventory and replenish what you use instead of shopping for what you need right now.
Stay out of the store. Utilizing grocery pick up will save you time and money because you won’t be tempted by impulse purchases.
If it’s not on the list, don’t buy it-and this is easier if you’re just picking up. You are literally going to the store to only get what’s on your list because you made the list and ordered the groceries. You aren’t going to see something you forgot-and chances are you can live without it until the next trip-especially if you are shopping to replenish your pantry.
Over time you will stop grocery shopping every week, and that alone will save you money.
Buy when things are on sale so you don’t have to buy them when you need them at a higher price
Buy in bulk. It will be easier to do so when you have a month’s grocery budget to allocate because you’re dealing with a larger chunk of money. When you’re living grocery trip to grocery trip, you have essentials you need every week, so that doesn’t allow for extra money on a weekly basis to buy in bulk, but if you are pulling from a monthly budget, you can buy something in bulk this week and it won’t impose on your meal planning.
Stocking your pantry doesn’t have to drain your bank account. With these money-saving pantry hacks and strategies, you can create a well-stocked pantry over time while staying within your budget. By planning your purchases and shopping out of your pantry, you’ll not only save money but also enjoy the convenience of having a pantry filled with your family’s essentials to make cooking and meal planning so much easier. So go ahead, stock up without splurging, and let me know your tips for building a pantry on a budget in the comments below.
