There's been a lot of talk locally about preparing for the big changeover to Universal credit. With delays of up to 12 weeks between applying and receiving money being reported, the local food book is recommending families start putting aside savings and building food stores.
It sounds like great advice to me. We already save regularly but we are lacking an organised food store.
This needs to change! And now!
I'm planning to tackle the food issue one meal at a time, starting with breakfast.
After a morning of comparing supermarket prices and calculating portions per carton/packet, I have come up with the following plan.
12 x 1kg porridge oats - we all eat porridge and over night oats. Plus I add oats to bulk out meat based meals like Bolognese. Everyone eats flapjacks to so any surplus will be easily used.
6 x Smart price Corn flakes - a 500gm packet equals 16 portions. I use a scoop to make sure we stick to portion control. There's also the option of making cornflake cakes and cornflakes tart if there's surplus.
6 x 24 pack Wheat Biscuits - a 24 pack equals 12 portions, however the two smallest share a portion of 1 biscuit each. I have a good wheatabix cake recipe for using any surplus.
So how much will a 12 week supply cost?
£15.54 which isn't a huge amount when you consider the amount of food that includes (35 breakfast plus extra for snacking and baking)
I could go out a buy it today that might leave me with a use by date issue. You DO NOT want your food stores all reaching use by dates at once!
So o my next food shop I will by just 4 weeks supply. (4 x porridge 2x wheat biscuit 2x cornflakes) each time we use a packet I will replace it with 2 of the same, until we are up to a 3 month supply. Then it's just a case of maintaining the stock. 1 in, 1 out.
That should stagger the dates a little and spread the cost of restocking over a few weeks.
Anyone else stockpiling to beat Universal Credits or uncertain finances? Any tips would be welcome
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You've obviously thought it out well and are very organised, well done! We do have a store of things but my way of doing things is more haphazard than yours. Whenever we go shopping I always make a point of looking to see whether any tins/jars/packets etc of things we normally buy anyway, are on a very good special offer. If they are, then I'll buy several of them at once (unless we already have lots in store), provided I have the money of course. I'm fortunate in that I have a large utility room to store everything. The one big tip I'd give is to make sure that whoever puts the shopping away, puts new stuff at the back and pulls the old stuff forward. As you're already aware, stock rotation is important if you keep large stores. A certain person in my household (there's only me and OH, and it isn't me!!) has a tendency not to observe the rules! Grrr.
ReplyDeletemy family always laughed about the amount of food i stockpile , after the worse year of our lives thyre not laughing now. we have been without help since june and then next year in july we get full universal credit , cant wait . Although in theory we may actually get paid once they make the change , or when we get a tribunal date .
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