We all know that stockpiling can be a great way of saving on your grocery bill. Even still I'm sure we all have a story of one time (though I have more than one) where stockpiling goes wrong.

I have two stories! Though one isn't mine.

1st story - Whe I was in the 3rd grade our house burnt down. Part of the house and the garage had been saved, kind of, by our neighbor driving his cat (large tractor) into the house and putting out part of the fire. It saved our pictures (though they were all melted together), the garage, and a small part of the basement. My mother, in our basement, had several cases of canned corn. A few days later, while my father and a friend were out going through the remains of the house, they heard an explosion, kind of like a gunshot. Those cans of corn, heated by the fire, started to explode and were flying through the air! They had to hide out in the garage for about an hour until they all stopped!

2nd story - When my husband and I started living together, we came across the sale of Captain Church Peanut Butter cereal. A pretty good one too! And this was before I realized just how OCD my husband can sometimes be. He assured me this was his favorite all time cereal and we bought like 30 boxes of the stuff. You can guess what happened ... he ate probably three boxes worth and never touched the stuff again. I finally tossed it all out! And learned an important lesson about my husband -- his favorite foods come and go!

Anyone else?

- this is a great topic!

I have the same issue with my DH like you do! He liked a few different kinds of Hamburger helper and I had coupons for it and there was a great sale on it (I think it was 10 for $10 and I had 75 cents off 2 boxes- of course I had a ton of those coupons). You guessed what happened- he got tired of eating it and we kind of "forgot" about it. One day he decided he wanted some and of course we started to make it and low and behold- there was worms in it - it was only 1 week after the expiration! Now I go through my stockpile once a week to rotate and make sure nothing is getting too close to expiring!

I try to now only stockpile toiletries and cleaners for the reason above - worms!! Yuck, although I think we have all been there at one time or another!

I can not think of anything right now but I am sure it is bound to happen. My biggest worry is something happen to my freezer and I loose everything in there. For the last few months, I have been stocking up on meat for this winter. I probably have 2-300.00 worth of meat alone in there.

For the dry foods, like the cereal and anything that is in a box, I have thrown them in the freezer and they are fine. It also prevents the worms.

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~~Sharon~~

check with your insurance company. I work for nationwide, and there is an endorsement in nc for just that reason. after a $100 deductible, they'll replace up to $500 worth of food in a freezer or fridge in case of power outage or mechanical breakdown. here in nc it only costs about $15 a year to add that to your homeowners policy