Talk about $5 gallons of gas and rising food prices have some consumers filling up their shopping carts.

This Smart Money article on stockpiling, in response to higher food prices, discusses the pros and cons of buying in bulk. It tells one anecdote of a mom who bought 50 boxes of pasta for 16 cents each. When I read that, I didn't think "Oh, how weird." I thought "Where did she get such a good price?"

I am a shopping stockpiler, with or without rising prices, and have been since my third kid started stuffing his face.

When the jumbo sized peanut butters went on sale for the price of the small ones, I bought six (I would have purchased more, but I believe in the bargain hunter code to not wipe out an entire store shelf). We can have pasta night every night for probably three weeks, a result of a couple of killer sales. And my kids are slowly eating their way through 25 bags of Goldfish.

Or are they eating through them more quickly? That's one of the arguments against stockpiling - that you'll end up eating the snacks from your pantry faster if there is an endless supply. But even my two-year-old tires of cheesy snacks. And I find that having food on hand prevents us from going out to eat more than we already do (usually about once per week).

So how do I decide what to stockpile? First, I have a pretty good mental price list of common household staples and when I come across a great deal, I'll stock up. This is especially the case when I have a coupon for the items. I haven't gone so far as to start begging coupons off friends or using coupon clipping services to get more, but the thought has crossed my mind lately. I should also put my mental price list onto paper in order to be more precise.

Next, I try to think seasonally, even more so since I interviewed Carrie Rocha of www.pocketyourdollars.com. During that interview, for a column about common coupon mistakes, she told me that packaged goods and coupons promoting them have seasons:

How about you? What products to you stock up on and when? Are there certain stores that have better deals on certain items? Do share.

As for stockpiling gas? Experts say that's a fire waiting to happen. A Slate article looked into the idea of buying gas when it's cheap the last time gas prices rose close to $4.00 a gallon, in 2008.