Stocking up on items that your family uses regularly is an essential part of stretching your food dollar.  With a little planning and attention to sales and coupons, you can avoid paying full price for quite a few non-perishables.  Even with perishable items like produce, you can still buy the types that are on sale that week.

Experts say that sales are usually on a 12-week cycle.  That’s an average though…some items go on sale more often, some less often.  Once you’ve been stockpiling for about a year, you should have a pretty good idea of how much you need to buy to get you through to the next sale.  Once you know that, you should be able to avoid paying full price for many products you use regularly.

Keep in mind that just because something is on sale doesn’t necessarily mean it’s a good price.  To determine if it’s a deal worth stocking up on, I compare it to the price I would pay at Aldi (or Walmart, if Aldi doesn’t carry that item).

Here are some items that I never pay full price for.  I’m also including my cut-off price and how much I buy each time it’s on sale.  This is for a family of 2 adults and 2 children under 2.5 years.

1. Butter. I usually pay around $1.50 for a 4-stick (1 lb) box.  Every time it goes on sale, I buy 4-5 boxes and put them in the freezer.  I always have more than enough to last until the next sale.
2. Cereal. We get 4 boxes of cereal free from WIC every month, so there’s really no need for us to pay full price for it.  The varieties that we can get from WIC are a bit limited, so I buy other kinds when they’re below $1.60 a box (usually about 5 boxes at a time).
3. Soda. We like to have soda every now and then, but it definitely is not a necessity.  I stock up on it when there’s a sale (under $1 for a 2-Liter bottle or around $3 for a 12-pack), but I never pay full price.
4. Shredded cheese. It’s convenient to have some shredded cheese in the refrigerator, so I buy several bags every time it’s on sale for around $1.66 (I store them in the freezer until I need them).  However, I get two 1-lb blocks of cheese from WIC every month, so it’s not hard to shred them up in the food processor and put them in the freezer in 2-cup portions.  We always have more than enough anyway.
5. Diapers. I cloth-diaper so the only time I use disposables is when we’re going to be out of the house for more than half a day.  I’m sure someone who exclusively disposable-diapers might have to pay full-price sometimes, but I buy a few jumbo packs every time there’s a smoking hot sale and that gets me through to the next sale.  I can typically get a jumbo pack (30-40 count) of brand-name diapers  for about $7 or less.
6. All toiletries and cosmetic items. Especially toothpaste, razors and shampoo/conditioner.  You can get these for free/almost free so often that there’s never any excuse to pay full price.
7. Yogurt. You can’t really stock up on more than a week or two’s worth of yogurt, but there are so many coupons and sales on single-serve cups, that I can always get them for less-than-full-price.  I usually pay less than $0.40 per cup.
8. Meat. I never pay more than $1.99/lb for ground beef  or for boneless skinless chicken breasts.  When it goes on sale, I usually buy about 5-10 pounds, stick it in the freezer and another sale always comes along before we use it up.  I don’t really have a cut-off price for things like roasts, steak and stew meat, but I only buy it when there’s a sale (and buy extra for the freezer, of course!).  And don’t overlook marked-down meat.  There’s nothing wrong with it, as long as you put it in the freezer or cook it soon after you get it home.

There’s my list!  Of course, I stock up on other items, too, but these are the ones that are super-easy to get good deals on.

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