Should You Be Stockpiling Food?

With major warehouse clubs like Sam's and Costco rationing the amount of rice customers can buy, many folks are wondering if they should be stockpiling food.

Brett Arends, a columnist for WSJ.com, said on the Fox Business show "Cavuto" that it might make financial sense to stockpile food. He points out that if your money is earning 3 percent in a savings account, but food prices are increasing 5 to 15 percent, it may make more sense to stock up on some of those goods.

He cautioned people not to go "panic buying" but instead do "shrewd buying."

I already do "shrewd buying." I've been stockpiling food and other goods since I first got bitten by the frugality bug 7 years ago (and no, I don't have food that old in my pantry!). I do what author Mary Hunt calls "Reserve Shopping." When I see a great sale on a product I normally would buy, I combine that sale with coupons and stock up on it. This reserve of food, toiletries and other household items, has gotten us through some lean times (as well as a snow storm or two). And it's also saved us a lot of money. We rarely pay full price for any of these things because we buy enough to last us until the next great sale. As Annette and Steve Economides say in "America's Cheapest Family," think of food as a commodity... you want to buy when prices are low. A well-stocked pantry can become a secondary emergency fund of sorts, if you buy wisely.

I'm not worried about running out of food any time soon. I can ride out this "shortage."

The segment on the Cavuto show made me smile. When I first started living frugally, there were people that scoffed at it. Now they want to know how to do it. Interesting.