I have a pretty well stocked food pantry. While I have a lot of items to cook meals, I have a lot of quick, easy vegan meal packs that I picked up at discount overstock sites, or at my local Mennonite discount store. All of this comes from vegan brands like Tasty Bite, Loma Linda, Wild Garden, Plant Strong, Maya Kaimal, Dr McDougall, etc. 75% off, and I have a 5 minute meal for a $1.50. Just picked up 40 cans of Well Yes plant based Chick'n and Rice for $.69 each. Lundbergh rice for $2.49 bag. I snagged it.
These savings come at a price of my time. Most of this stuff (except for the canned goods) is date sensitive. Almost all of this food is very close date sensitive, which means that I have to go through my pantry regularly. This food usually has between 2-4 months best buy date, and I figure a couple of months after. Stores don't want it because they don't think they can sell it in two months, but most families can finish it off pretty quickly.
Which means that every 3 or 4 weeks everything comes out of the pantry. The close dated Moroccan Tangine comes to the front of the pantry, and stares at me until I eat it. The close dated bag of rice is cooked up, placed in 1 cup containers, and then goes in the freezer. Those packets of sauces sit on the counter to make sure I know to eat them quickly.
I have to do this with my freezer and refrigerator. You can save a lot of money with the salvage food lifestyle, but you can waste a lot if you don't keep an eye on those dates. Those graham crackers don't stay fresh forever, I make sure they are sitting in the eat now bin.
These savings come at a price of my time. Most of this stuff (except for the canned goods) is date sensitive. Almost all of this food is very close date sensitive, which means that I have to go through my pantry regularly. This food usually has between 2-4 months best buy date, and I figure a couple of months after. Stores don't want it because they don't think they can sell it in two months, but most families can finish it off pretty quickly.
Which means that every 3 or 4 weeks everything comes out of the pantry. The close dated Moroccan Tangine comes to the front of the pantry, and stares at me until I eat it. The close dated bag of rice is cooked up, placed in 1 cup containers, and then goes in the freezer. Those packets of sauces sit on the counter to make sure I know to eat them quickly.
I have to do this with my freezer and refrigerator. You can save a lot of money with the salvage food lifestyle, but you can waste a lot if you don't keep an eye on those dates. Those graham crackers don't stay fresh forever, I make sure they are sitting in the eat now bin.
