Stock cupboards do you stock up?

I have always had well stocked cupboards. No idea why as in my childhood my mother purchased fresh stuff daily and we were well off working class so never lacked good food.
I replace items in my store cupboard constantly. It's just the way I am.

Living where i lives means you have to make sure you have stocks of everything, from toilet rolls to candles and coal to bread mix.

I’ve always kept a tinned store cupboard…. my mother did as well. It’s a little fuller than it used to be but not ‘full’. I won’t be made to feel guilty over something I’ve always done.

I have always had a stock cupboard with tinned food, cat food, extra vinegar, mustard, flour, sugar, rice, pasta, dried yeast, cleaning agents, soap, toilet paper and home made jams and marmelade.

Last year we increased the amounts when lockdown started, and again just before the Danish-German border was closed.

I would never contemplate doing without it as in the autumn or winter it is not funny simply having to go shopping in pouring rain when you don't own a car.

About 10 years ago my ,now deceased , father looked in my cupboard and asked if I was expecting a siege ??? Little did he know and, thankfully, did not experience the pandemic! I have always got enough in the freezer, cupboard etc to see us through at least a week ! I refuse to be cold or hungry and will restock when I use up things ! I think it was instilled in me as a young person that keep yourself healthy by being prepared for all eventualities and I have stuck by this mantra plus passed it on to my daughter !

I stock about a month's load ahead plus extras for the freezer, but it tends to be special offers, eg. Meat is currently reduced in one of the major supermarkets so I've popped6 joints in the freezer.

I enjoy playing food especially with our DGC, we are focusing on WWII meals at the moment and have been using powdered egg (yuck), and lots of dried pulses and veggies. It is fascinating to a) eat far less seasoned foods, and b) bring history to life, but does need a degree of stockpiling.

I've been finding some mainstream foodstuffs hard to find (eg pearl barley), but can't make up my mind if this is Covid related or just no longer in vogue. If I manage to find some I will by several packs

When I was a young mum I couldnt afford to buy more than we needed on a day to day basis and couldn,t buy special offers buy 2 get 1 free etc. I can afford them now but still think it,s unfair that the better off can pay less as they buy more of the same product.

I certainly do keep a store cupboard topped up and as well as food and drink also candles, oil for our lamps, matches and butane cartridges for our tabletop gas ring.

My DH and I grew up in households were having a store cupboard could not happen everything was earmarked for meals . So both of us have things we have to have a stock of him, butter 8packs in second fridge, tea, good bread, me , soft loo roll dad was school caretaker, and choice in freezer of bached cooked meals, meat or fish that I can choose on the day . Been baking all morning so used up to many of my spoons DH in charge as big oven on jacket potatoes on menu

I do as kittylester describes, although with Christmas ahead, I have been buying Christmas food well ahead. Things like icing sugar, marzipan, cranbury sauce. I suspect that after Christmas, I will not need to shop until early February.

I have always kept a good supply of tinned / dry goods in stock even though my family say don’t need it all but where do they come if they run out /or can’t got items needed ?also well stocked freezer

My gran always had plenty of tins and dried stuff in the cupboard.
Her policy was that this stuff didn't go off (within a week or so) and it didn't cost anything to keep (didn't need feeding), it just needs a space.
I've added an element to it, I buy in bulk when these things are on special offer, so I've always got plenty in the cupboards and freezer.
There are a couple of stock cupboard staples I only buy once or twice at year because I don't use them all the time and right now I need Pearl Barley for my stews (not quite enough for 1 stew in my jar) and I've been to no less than 15 supermarkets in the last month and can't find any!
#startingtopanicnow ?

We don't stock up on anything excessively but have always kept a spare of all dried items and a new one gets bought when the last one is started. The small freezer is kept full, mainly from batch cooking so we always have some pasta sauces, chillis, beef and mushrooms, etc to go with pasta, rice, suet puddings or jacket potatoes. Fresh stuff is bought to last a few days at a time.

Our shopping habits haven't changed at all over the last 40 years, apart from maybe eating things that are slightly more expensive than we could afford 40 years ago.

I’ve always had a well stocked larder for 40 plus years, following in the footsteps of my mum, aunts and grandparents. We have many cans of beans, soup, fruit, jars of sauces, rice, tinned tomatoes, pasta, breakfast cereals, ketchup, mustard, jams and that’s without all my homemade soups, sauces, jams, marmalade on top. I have three freezers and use them all. I’m starting to think I might be a bit unusual going by other posters. Trouble is, it’s an ingrained habit from family that I have adopted and kept to.

Michael12

In view of the ever changing covid situ , have you built up a stock tinned food , meals or other just in case ?
I think that I have followed a thing which my mother used to do as to it ,and with the covid lockdowns it also grew , better to have a reserve than panic .
Mick

We don't have much storage so never used to keep much in at least not compared to what my late Mum used to consider normal stocks!! (And also the in laws as they buy some things in bulk). But we have increased things since Covid started in case we have to isolate. We wouldn't starve but there would be some very odd meals I think!!

Yes yes and yes! My 1 st spouse kept me so short of funds I rarely had enough to manage a meal at a time and didn't buy one single item of clothing for me or our 2 DS in 18 years of a rubbish coupling ! My absolute #1 current DH makes sure we have everything we need and some! I have 3 full freezers of home made dinns and self prepared veg emergency fish fingers /IKEA meatballs etc! And tins a -go-go as they are best way to keep grub for years! Always enough to feed six + if I have to. A far cry from 2sausage rolls and 4 potato alphabet waffles then some cheap ice cream I served up to my poor kids.........when their father was buying£1500 worth camera lenses for his "hobby".........

I never used to stock up on food items and probably still wouldn't if my level-headed DH hadn't made me see sense at the start of the pandemic. We now have a designated space in our garage (it's too small for a car anyway) for enough tins, Pasta, etc etc that we could use if we were unable to get to the shops for any reason. I also now make sure I replace anything that gets used.
I did have a panic when I ran out of one of my favourite things - Pataks aubergine pickle - and the only shop that I knew that sold it had closed down. I eventually found another shop selling it and must confess to bulk buying several jars at once.
Like others, I have been hunting for pearl barley in recent weeks but I've not found any yet.

I’ve always kept a good stick of tin foods, soups, beans etc and rice/pasta, tinned fruit, all sorts really. I’ve come to the conclusion recently we don’t really need to keep so much and with the huge increase in shopping prices I’m shopping for little and often so we don’t waste anything.

I stock up when I see things at bargain prices. Over a year it must save me a fair amount. With some improvisation I would have enough food in to keep me going for about a month, if I couldn't get to the shops.
I remember my mum trying to eke out the 'rations'' when I was small. Now that really must have been difficult. No chance of stocking up, unless you bought illegally on the Black Market, and only well-off people could afford to do it.

i have 1 packet of pasta and a few tins of soup and freezer almost empty so not stocked up, i usually keep a box of eggs and some bread as a meal and an extra packet of loo rolls for medical reasons.

We've always kept stocked up most of our married life except for the early years when we couldn't afford to. I remember my Gran showing me her store cupboards when she was not much younger than I am now. I was so impressed. She had brought up 5 children through the depression and then WW2.

I would actually love to eat my way down to the bottom of my store cupboard and indeed freezer. I love finishing things off, but find it hard to resist buying a replacement or top-up “just in case”
Lockdown and the difficulty of getting shopping slots only served to vindicate my squirrel habits.
#hopelesscase

My DGS used to love tinned mandarin oranges. So during lockdown, I always added a few tins to the grocery order. I've now got them in underbed storage boxes. He'll be eating them when he's 18 at this rate. Although he isn't eating them at all at the moment! Good job I like them.

Yes, in view of my age and the fact that I live in the countryside I keep a few extras just in case. And recently I have deliberately been buying a few more items, tinned or packets, in case of a new lockdown due to omicron.
I've just read on my phone that there is apparently a secret plan for another lockdown, possibly, - only possibly...... but..

I have a small stock cupboard, with the usual basics, tinned tomatoes, beans, soup, rice, pasta, passata, long life milk, tuna, etc. I find I end up throwing flour away as I rarely bake now. For the last few months I have had Hello-fresh meals delivered so have hardly used anything from my cupboards, they all need a good sort out, that’s a job for after Christmas.
I would love a big old fashioned pantry like my mum and Grandma had. My grandma used to stock pile packets of sugar and loose tea but otherwise just had a few basics on the shelves, she shopped daily for what she needed.