Best Way to Buy Food Storage

One of the best ways to save money is to buy food for storage.  The best ways to buy food for storage is to buy foods in bulk. There are other ways that work too.  You can buy foods that are pre-packaged for storage similar to how military rations are done.

The LDS church has a food storage program that is run like a cooperative.  Members of the coop get together at pre-planned times and prepare the foods for storage.  This can including using a special canning facility that caters to self canning.  Each member pays for their share of the food but the whole group prepares it together.

Cooperatives or Member run Buying Clubs

If you buy your food you can use a co-op. Many areas have food co-ops.  A food co-op is usually a good source of fresh fruits and vegetables as well as foods like honey and homemade jams. 

Co-ops are member run buying clubs that use the purchasing power of the group to buy items and then pass those savings on to the members.  Its similar to how a warehouse store like Costco works.  The main difference is that the cost-savings or profits are usually returned back to the members.

Warehouse Stores 

Costco, Sams Club and BJ's Warehouse as well some regional warehouse stores all offer some really good savings on foods.  They usually do this through volume.  They sell you a larger size than normal or they bundle the average size into two and three packs.  For example, you can buy 40 ounce jars of peanut butter in a 2 pack.  Or you can buy a 25 pound bag of sugar instead of the usual 5 pound size.  They also often have bulk food items such as trail mix that they sell in bigger bags.  You may want to consider repackaging some of the items into smaller containers.  For example the trail mix usually comes in a 4 to 5 pound bag. Consider dividing it into smaller portions of 2 to 8 ounces each. 

Local Sales and Coupons

Many local supermarkets are willing to sell items for a small loss in order to get you into the store.  They hope that if they draw you in with coupon or a sale for 30% off one item you will buy several other items in return and they will still have a net profit off your visit. 

If you collect the coupons and plan your trip to the store so that you resist impulse items and only buy what is on your list you can save a lot of money.  Please note this does take a little bit more effort in the way of watching for sales, clipping coupons, making a list and planning your grocery shopping trip.

Buy Pre-packaged Food Storage

if you are considering buying food storage for emergency preparedness or because you feel want to have food in long term storage for economic reasons such as a job lay off  then buying pre-packaged food storage may be for you.

For example, if you know you have $50 to $100 a month to spend on long term food storage but you don't have the time and the  knowledge to do it yourself you can buy food already prepared for putting away in your pantry.  Many of these pre-packaged foods and emergency items are sealed in vacuum packed containers and have shelf lives of up to 10 years or longer. 

If this is an option you are interested in try using our special Google search feature to find retailers who sell pre-packaged food for storage and emergency preparedness.   Keywords such as buy food storage, long term food storage, and emergency food storage are good ones to start with.