According to the Wall Street Journal, we should all be stockpiling foods to ensure that we won’t run out when store shelves become empty.  They claim that stockpiling food is a smart economical move in the event of lean times ahead. 

Food prices are already rising here much faster than the returns you are likely to get from keeping your money in a bank or money-market fund. And there are very good reasons to believe prices on the shelves are about to start rising a lot faster. Source

But for those who are accustomed to only buying what you need when you need it, how do you know what kinds of foods to stockpile? And exactly how much should you purchase?

If you own a chest freezer (and if you don’t you should), then you'll want to consider purchasing meat in bulk from local farms. 

You can purchase ¼ cow that is cut and packaged into individual meals by the farmer or local butcher. 

You can also go to the local poultry plant and purchase chicken in convenient shrink-wrap packages. 

If purchasing a case of chicken or a side of beef sounds like too much to stomach, consider splitting the purchase between a few friends or family members. 

I am used to high-pressure sales.  I actually enjoy resisting them. 

In fact, I have a sure-fire list of rules that I use whenever I purchase appliances, furnishings, or cars so that I can avoid high-pressure sales tactics.

However, what's a shopper to do when they are confronted with high-pressure sales in the supermarket of all places?

Subtitled: "How To Serve 35 Guests Party Food On A Budget"

I tend to be a bit more generous with my food budget when I am entertaining or serving others.  I go to the best supermarket in the area to make sure I am serving the freshest foods.  I purchase the best cuts of meat, even asking for the butcher’s advice.  I splurge on restaurant-brand condiments instead of store-brand.  Presenting the best foods to friends and family doesn't necessarily mean being wasteful. 

But, one thing I don't do is buy store-bought food platters anymore. Here's why...

Sometimes it is well worth it to have two incomes in a household.  Sometimes it is financially draining. 

In my life, I have realized something about time and money.  The fact is that sometimes time is more valuable than money. 

Here are some things you can do with your time that are more valuable than working a low-wage job. 

The term BOGO is used by grocery and retail stores to describe a buy-one get-one-free sale.  This means, if you purchase one item at retail price, the second item (usually identical) is FREE. 

Sounds great, right?

Well, BOGO sales are typically used to lure customers into stores to get them to purchase not only the advertised sale price items but also other items while they are there.  Therefore, while BOGO's would appear to be excellent deals, they can also cost you in several ways.

Here are 3 reasons BOGO might not necessarily be a good thing...

I always knew that the bottom shelf of supermarkets held the best prices, but that fact was driven home in my weekly shopping trip this morning.

Could there be a a correlation between the current state of the economy and our waistlines?

They call times of financial recession lean times for a reason, you know.  People tend to eat less because of the high price of food. 

I had this happen to me the other day...

The article I wrote about Freegans who dumpster dive for food, brought to mind my habit of purchasing day old groceries.   

You see, I regularly purchase day old groceries. 

Did you know that the average produce travels 1,500 miles from the farm to the typical U.S. table? 

This means that when you buy produce at the grocery store, in addition to the cost of the farmer growing and harvesting the produce, you are also paying the cost to ship the item as well.

According to a recent ABC Nightly News Story, food companies are shrinking the size of food packages, putting less food in the boxes, and making the size of popular snacks smaller. 

Whether you call it a discount card, a loyalty card, or a store card, the CVS Extra Care Card can reap you generous rewards, if you use it right.

The Extra Care program allows the customer to purchase items and receive rebate coupons for later purchases printed on a receipt-like coupon. These coupons are called "Extra Bucks Rewards".

Using store circulars, grocery coupons, and your CVS Extra Care Card, you can get items for free or at least at deep discounts on a regular basis. They work very much in the same way that store rebates work, only you do not have to wait as long to get your money back.

I don't know if you have an ALDI Grocery Store in your neighborhood, but there is a good chance you do.  ALDI grocery stores were first introduced to US consumers in 1976 in southeastern Iowa. Now there are over 850 store in the United States (5000 internationally) and the store is ranked 24th in gross sales for grocery stores in the nation.

Shopping at ALDI is an interesting experience.

It was recently announced that the Kroger grocery store is partnering with several consumer-goods companies to deliver coupons via the cell phone.

My first thought was "how do you clip mobile coupons?"

I recently came across a story about a coupon train. A coupon train happens when a group of people gets together in an effort to share coupons.

The first person (the conductor) cuts all coupons from the paper and takes what they need. They pass the other unwanted coupons to the second person who takes what they need from the coupons and then adds their unwanted coupons to the pack.

Each consecutive person does the same thing, discarding any expired coupons along the way. Coupon trains are usually limited to a group of 10 or so people, and each person pledges to keep the train going. The group may re-start the train with the beginning person, and add or drop members at the end of each train.

I went to the grocery store this morning for muffins and cat food. I usually spend $20 on every quick run to the grocery store (not including bi-weekly shopping trips). Seeing the elevated prices in the store this morning, I could not force myself to pick up anything, and I left having only spent $17.

You might think that is great that I saved $3 -- or that I had no business spending over $5 in the first place -- but the extra money I usually spend at the grocery store buys my bulk sale items. (Link to previous article about buying in bulk) Unfortunately the sales were few and far apart today.

I stopped clipping coupons a few years ago when I left New York. In New York, where most people's housing expenses topped half of their income, coupons were a necessity. Stores catered to coupon shoppers with double coupons and no cap on the amount. This meant that you could have a coupon of $1.50 and save $3.00 on the item when it only cost $2.97. Yes, you could make money at the grocery store!

However, when I moved south, where housing was much more reasonable, I found that the grocery stores were less accommodating to coupon shoppers. Few stores offer double coupons and most put a $1.00 cap on savings.

However, considering the condition of the current housing market, it may be time for me to break out some of that brightly colored money in the form of coupons.

If you have a typical American family, like me, then there are some bad habits you may not even be aware of that are costing you serious money.

Here are 5 bad habits that you should break to recoup some of your household budget...

I am a big fan of buying in bulk, yet I do not own a membership to a shopping warehouse club.

Instead, I have found that if I keep a careful eye on sale, I can easily stock up on sale items at the grocery store and keep my pantry perpetually full.

I think one of the best things I ever did to save money was to buy a chest freezer.

It might sound a bit crazy to suggest spending $200-$500.00 on a chest freezer in order to save money on food.  After all, your refrigerator already has a freezer; why do you need a second one? 

The answer is simple: You can purchase frozen foods in bulk, and you can also purchase a large quantity of items that you find are on sale. 

I like my chest freezer because not only does it allow me to purchase sale items in large quantities, but it also helps to ensure that there is always something in the house to eat.

I purchased mine 11 years ago, and have never once regretted it.  Here are some tips you can use to make the most of your chest freezer.

If you're anything like me, then every time you go to the grocery store you always end up getting more and SPENDING more than you thought you would.

I've compiled a few tips I've learned over the years to make sure I don't spend more than I need to.

Interested in saving some money? What about saving time?

Check out these quick tips for saving time & money.

Just about everything under the sun is covered here...