Using Seasonal Sales to Stock Up

As you progress through your journey in preparedness, there are many items you’ll want to stock up on, such as food, batteries, tools, and other goods.  If you consult any list of suggested supplies, it can certainly seem daunting, especially when you are just starting out.  However, by taking advantage of seasonal sales and paying attention to sale ads, you can considerably lessen the dings to your wallet.  Here are some examples:

Batteries: You’ll be hard pressed to find better prices on batteries than during the annual Black Friday sales the day after Thanksgiving.  Of course, this will necessitate you going out early that morning and fighting through crowds.  But, quite often the deals to be had are worth the hassle.  Other items you’ll find marked down very cheap on the busiest shopping day of the year are blankets, cookware, and of course toys for the kids.

Baking staples: Before Thanksgiving, Christmas, and to a lesser extent Easter, you’ll find things like sugar, flour, baking powder, and other things along those lines going for pennies on the dollar.  These are called “loss leaders” and are put on sale that cheap to entice customers to go into the store, where the store owner hopes they’ll pick up other things as well.

Tools: Father’s Day sales are great for picking up tool sets, as well as knives and hunting gear.

Canned veggies: Great prices can be found on these right before any of the “feast” holidays like Thanksgiving.

Meat: At the time I’m writing this, we’re less than a week from Easter and hams of all sizes can be had pretty darn cheap.  Before Thanksgiving, it’ll be turkeys, of course.  Pick up a few of these when they’re on sale and toss ’em in the freezer.  Throughout the year you can pull them out and make a nice meal, eating on the cheap.  Or do what many preppers do and can most or all of it right away.

Sweets: Valentine’s Day, Easter, Halloween, and Christmas are all “candy holidays.”  Hit the clearance shelves the day after and stock up on chocolate and other candy.  Comfort foods like these are great to have on hand during an extended power outage and other disasters of that magnitude.

Fruit trees and other plants:  Hit the clearance sales at garden centers around mid-August.  We’ve purchased several trees and shrubs at very discounted prices.  For the most part, they look pretty ragged and half-dead but with just a little loving care, they come back strong.

Camping supplies: These items often go on sale at the beginning of the season (mid-Spring or so) as well as just before Memorial Day and Labor Day.  Same with grilling supplies like charcoal, though the best prices on the latter will be after the season has ended, just after Labor Day.

Even if you’re not in need of some of these things right now, pay attention and watch your sale ads to see when the best prices hit in your area.  This will help you to plan ahead and stock up when the price is right!