Thankful for my stockpile

 Aah, here we go again. That method to my madness business. Pre pandemic, I had a decent stockpile. Once restrictions were lifted here (our state was one of the first to lock down when pandemic started), I decided to go hard about stocking up on just about everything we need. Then came shortages & inflation and I continued to add to the stockpile. I was in survival mode last year. I didn't care about grocery coupons. I just wanted to make sure we have everything we need. That hard work is paying off in spades now. 

We have a good amount of canned goods (I usually prefer fresh produce, but during these uncertain times it's best to be stocked on non-perishables). I haven't been able to find canned mushrooms at Walmart for a few weeks now. When I stopped by earlier this week, I saw a few of the small 4 oz cans. Now I do have a bunch of the 8 oz cans in my stockpile, but we eat lots of mushrooms. Well s(*^&t (please excuse my french), but when I saw the shelf price, I had a sense of humor failure. The 4 oz cans now cost $1.18!!!! I used to pay $1.13 for the 8 oz cans in 2020. Boy oh boy, did I thank my lucky stars for stocking up on those big cans when they were available. So now select food items are costing twice as much. When will this madness end? I did buy 3 of the small cans, even though I hated paying that much. I figured I might as well buy it now, before the price increases yet again. I've also noticed that the other Walmart brand canned veggies now cost 12c more. It used to be 50c each, but now cost 62c. 

Even Meijer had empty shelves this week. I was shocked. I couldn't find fresh carrots and a few other things. There were signs that mentioned supply chain issues. I also noticed that the big Softsoap hand soap refills now cost $6!!! What on earth? I actually just opened a bottle that I bought a year before the pandemic started. I remember that I paid $1.06 total for 3 big bottles and thinking to myself  'why am I buying more soap, when we still have a sealed bottle in the stockpile?'. Thankful for my instincts, cause those bottles came in very handy. Well Wags has the small bottles on sale this week if anyone needs to stock up. I'll do a Wags run tomorrow and post the details. 

My advice is to stock up on things you use regularly, if and when you find a good sale on it. Even if there's no sale, just stock up, because prices keep increasing. Sales are also non-existent these days, but we can still make it work. I'm not saying that anyone should panic or go clear shelves. Just add 2-3 of whatever items you use regularly to help with your stockpile. I don't think we've seen the end of all these price increases yet. 

Don't just stop at groceries. If there's anything that you need to keep in stock, be sure to search for the best price at your local stores and stock up. I'm actually gonna go get more light bulbs at Home Depot. 

I'm just thankful that we are in good shape. I'm still adding to my stockpile - just replacing food items we've used.