Tips when going Grocery Shopping

Have you ever come across a great deal on something at the store, stock up price, and you go in and buy, buy, buy, not thinking twice? This has happened to me numerous times, whether it's buying just 2 boxes of cake mix, or 26 boxes of mac and cheese. I get home, all excited about the great deal that I just got and then guess what...I see that the product is expired. It's a terrible situation to have, especially if you went to a store out of town, but there are ways to avoid this terrible ordeal from ever happening.

The best thing to do when you are at a store, purchasing any items that are perishable, is search the back of the shelf. More often than not, if the stocker has done his/her job properly, the product with the expiration date farthest from today's date will be in the very back.

Another great tip, if you are building your own stock pile, is to rotate your stock at home as well. Something that I actually do, is I take a permanent marker and write the expiration date on the top of the items. Syrup, ketchup, pickles, cake mix, no matter what, because I don't want anyone in my house eating expired foods. I look through my back stock periodically and when it's getting within a few months of an item and I realize our family won't be able to get to it before the date, I take it to the food pantry.
Never let anything go to waste. :)