Stockpiling stuff from Tesco to beat price rises

[FreeLatte]

Is anyone else doing this?

Now I do have a bit of a stockpile of tins, long life milk etc as a just in case kind of thing. (bad weather, civil war, me getting sick).

However I am starting to stock up on stuff that I know I will use on the assumption the price will be higher in 6 months or 3 months or probably next week.

So just things like toilet rolls, washing powder, dishwash tabs, anything on special that can be frozen. I'm also doing it with things like hair dye - buying 6 boxes rather than 1.

Since prices are just going one way I thought this couldn't hurt.

Now there is a cost of this of course - your house being more cluttered for one and two no point doing it if you end up paying credit card interest so cash only. Even then of course you are losing interest on your savings but I still reckon it's worth it.

I am just getting so mad seeing prices go up and up. So Lindt 90 chocolate. Used to be under £3. Now it's £3.5 but on special in Tesco for £2.75 so I have 9 bars in my cupboard which will last a while.

I just wondered if anyone else is doing similar?

Good idea. I however, would entirely forget they were there and find them 20 years later 😅

Not to try to save money no, but I do have a stockpile in the loft. Where i live often gets snowed in in the winter and we also get power cuts so I've got kit for power cuts - camping stove, batteries etc.
I have some bottled water, some of those pills that purify water, first aid stuff etc. Plus food and toiletries.

Basically, enough to manage if we were cut off for a month.

Most we've ever been snowed in for was about 2 weeks, but its good to have a bit of wiggle room.

Also, its good to have enough put by that if suddenly we had no access to money for whatever reason, we wouldn't go hungry.

Im not taking usa prepper levels or anything. Just a month of everything.

I've had moments of this OP but I'm not as organised as you, besides, I'd forget I'd stocked up and end up buying more anyway 😅 I'm definitely not organised enough for spreadsheets!

I make myself feel a bit better by reminding myself that whilst I could have stockpiled more things that were on offer and potentially save money, instead my money is (hopefully) compounding in stocks and shares ISAs. 🤞🏻 Swings and roundabouts?

I do religiously check prices per kg instead of just the price. And as for cleaning stuff, I only EVER use diluted white vinegar (dirt cheap) for surfaces and cleaning windows, never those awful toxic sprays. I bought a 5litre botte of loo cleaner on Amazon. I never buy air freshener, polish or candles. I buy Aldi or Lidl washing powder and dishwasher tabs and never buy fabric conditioner.

I buy lots of staple stuff using Amazon Subscribe and Save, always checking prices before they are dispatched.

Our costly things are mainly my husband's coffee habit - I do now think a gold plated coffee machine would be better value and Extra Virgin Olive Oil - prices have skyrocketed in the last 12 months.

Hope this thread hangs around as it might be useful for tips!

I sometimes buy more than I need if something is on offer or cheaper than usual. Always have.

Don't see the point in stockpiling. If disaster strikes people quickly work out where the people like the OP live, break in, kill them, and steal all their stuff. Only really works if you think you can fight off the starving hordes.

I had about 20 stamps when the barcode came in. I sent them off and got them replaced.

We will usually buy extra of things while it is on offer mostly to take advantage of the cheaper price on the better brands we prefer. It just means we aren't flinching at the cost of the nice pasta or cheese for example. There is a limit to what we can store though. In an ideal world I'd like a basement with more storage and a big chest freezer (mainly for batch cooking) but you can't prep against price rises forever.

I might get an extra pack of say toilet paper if on offer. But I don’t have room to store loads of stuff. I could still probably eat out of my cupboards for a week though - it would be fairly boring but I wouldn’t starve!

No, prices will be higher in 6 months but so will my wages. Inflation will never go away.

Money saving tip, melt down 90% chocolate and dilute it, you can get up to ten times as much!

If You’re a ‘value shopper’, then no. But for (most) branded items, yes. It’s especially good for things like washing powder, cleaning stuff, toilet rolls etc . If you google ‘Costco’ , there’s plenty of threads on mn discussing what to buy.

Sorry but this is so fascinating it needs it's own thread. Can you do an AMA?

So prices haven't gone one way then, because the most recent items worked out less expensive that the ones you'd bought earlier.

you actually lost money by stock piling because you bought a load of washing powder at £7 when you could have saved 25p per pack.

There's some logic to what you're doing but you have to be careful you don't take it too far and stockpile stuff you'll never use before it goes out of date. Similarly you're talking of quite minor savings -25p here, 30p there. If you bought a basket of stuff a year ago and a basket now how much would the difference actually be? £3?£4 per every £100? Whereas if you saved it in a high interest account (currently the highest stand alone according to MSE is 4.5% but there are also linked bak accounts for regular savers that are up to 7%) you'd have made that much or more in interest anyway.

Also if its worth it if having piles of stuff everywhere is reducing your pleasure in your home.

Basically if
A) you've already maxed your savings
B) have somewhere to store it all
C) aren't buying so much stuff you'll never use it
Then crack on.

Personally I think it's a good idea (and even the government recommends) having fully stocked Cupboards if you can afford it just in case of adverse weather, disruption etc - but to me that means one back up of commonly used products, not 6!

Also I like a bit of variety so if the price of, say ribena went up one week but Vimto was on offer I'd just buy vimto that week rather than buying 20 bottles of ribena when it was cheaper!

Who could be bothered to keep removing their kickboard. Nuts !

I don't stock pile but I do tend to have a spare of most things. E.g. if i open a new ketchup / wash powder / dish washer tablets, I buy a new one in. I probably don't do it as much with food but always have a couple in of beans, tinned tomato, custard. Pretty sure the meals would be weird but we could feed ourselves for a few weeks if we had too!

No. There is no need to spend money today and have stuff in storage

My dream is a pantry in the garage with rotating shelving stacked by date, stocked up with all the long life stuff I could possibly need. Shopping once a year or so, except for fruit, veg and milk.

Freezer also stacked with all the extras we could possibly want.

We probably have enough food for a week or two, even if it got a bit weird.

I can't be bothered with stockpiling though. We'd get food somehow, or die in a civil war/earthquake/nuclear strike and have no need of it.

I have a big pantry and do stock up on everything, especially the things that are regularly on offer - I've got 9 jars of my favourite mayonnaise, for example. I do save quite a bit on those items. But also I like to have at least one spare of absolutely everything.

Wasn’t there a date you had to do that by? I remember swapping mine out and panicking I would miss the deadline. I might have misread it and it was just the date the change was happening.

I always said first class stamps are a good investment, I think the previous poster was very sensible. They could sell the stamps now, maybe even slightly below face value, and would have made several thousand pounds.

I don’t deliberately stock pile, but I will get extra of things when on a good offer - do the 4 for 3 at Tesco I often try to get spares on things. I use subscribe & save on Amazon for things like toilet roll, dishwasher tablets, etc - it definitely saves me money!

No, it's still fine to do it:

When does the Stamp Swap Out Scheme end / when do I need to swap out my non-barcoded stamps by?

Regular stamps without a barcode are no longer valid for postage. There is currently no end date as to when you need to swap out your non-barcoded stamps by.

I think you did probably misread the date of not using the stamps with the date of the scheme ending (I have made that mistake several times!)

The poster was indeed very sensible, it was a genius move!

I have enough washing detergent liquid for at least 3 years ( live alone ) , bought when on a great deal , half price and then got staff discount where I used to work so I bought 20 bottles , stored in my garage at mo .
I also have a bit of a toiletry addiction so have shampoo , shower gel, toothpaste for the next year at very least , using boots recycle ( spend £10 , get £5 advantage card points ) , I keep thinking they will stop the deal soon or at least up the spend so every time I go in I spend another £10 , my points pay for Christmas presents, last year had almost £300 worth !

Laundry liquid shelf life is 12-18 months apparently

bloody hell that's a dismal thought.

I don't know if they would break in for washing powder and dishwasher tabs though.

Also how would they know I had lots of food in my house.

Surely they are more likely to follow someone back from the supermarket or whatever and try and steal their food.

They would be no more likely to break into my house than anyone else's without any further knowledge (off to buy gun though!)

you're right you can't prep against the prices forever as it's a moving target. I hope this helps a little bit. Can't really stock enough for next 5 years. That might be a bit extreme.