Pantry — half price deals

Buying pantry on special

Pantry staples — pasta, rice, sauces, tinned goods, oils, baking supplies — usually carry lower prices to begin with, so the dollar saving on any one item is small. The value is in volume: if you cook the same six meals most weeks, buying the components of those meals whenever they hit half price will quietly take a meaningful amount off your annual grocery bill.

Tinned tomatoes, chickpeas, beans, coconut milk, stock and pasta all have shelf lives measured in years, so there is no real downside to buying ahead. Olive oil is the exception worth naming: it degrades with light and heat and is best used within a year of opening, so buying six bottles because they are cheap is a false economy unless you cook a lot.

Related reading: how to check a half price deal is really a deal and what is actually worth stockpiling.