Saving money on groceries when you’re single is not really any more difficult than it is for a family. Try these easy suggestions just for single people!
Saving Money On Groceries When You’re Single – Meals For Single People
From: Desarae H.
I’ve found many websites about saving money and being frugal, but most of them are focused on families. I am a single working female and for me to buy in bulk or make large quantities of recipes doesn’t work. It’s just not practical for single people. Do you have any advice about how to be frugal as a single person?
Readers frequently ask about saving money on groceries when you’re single. First, let me address buying and cooking in bulk. In our Groceries on a Dime e books, one of the main points I make is that there are many different ways to save money on groceries. We tend to grab on to one aspect of saving and sometimes think of that as the only way, whether it is couponing, buying in bulk, finding clearances or something else. All of these are great ways of saving but none of them is the one “right” way.
In different seasons, circumstances and places that I have lived in my life, I have had to change my way of saving over and over. Sometimes I used all of the things I mentioned and sometimes I used totally different ones. I had to be adaptable and be willing to change my way of thinking about savings, but even though some ofthe specific strategies are different, saving money on groceries when you’re single isn’t that much different than saving for a family.
I have never done much buying and cooking in bulk but my daughter does. I save as much if not more than she does without buying in bulk. (This was true when I had kids at home and when I was single.) She still saves a lot, she just does it in different ways. (Note from Tawra: We do buy some “junk” and convenience food so I could cut another $50 to $75 per month if I wanted to, but we choose to have those things.)
I go into more detail about warehouse and bulk shopping in our Groceries on a Dime e books. Before you buy in bulk, consider whether or not you will use everything you buy or you might not really be saving at all. Here is an example:
I bought a 30 oz. jar of mayonnaise for $3.00. $1.00 for each 10 oz. There was a 10 oz. jar for $1.10. I bought the large jar because it would be $.30 cheaper.
Before it spoiled, I only used a third of the jar (a dollar’s worth) and I had to throw the rest away. I would have saved $1.90 if I had just bought the small jar instead of spending the extra money on the large jar, trying to save $.30. I know it doesn’t work that way for everything but it does on some things. If you find yourself regularly throwing away certain things like this you might consider buying smaller sizes in the future.
Saving money on groceries for singles is really no different than saving for families. You can still buy clearance items, use coupons, shop at discount grocery stores like Aldi and shop at dollar stores.
Be careful. Many of us use “Our situation is different” as an excuse for not saving. We say things like “I can’t eat healthy and save. I live in such and such a place so I can’t save. I have teens, I am single…” Not everyone who says this has a problem but it is a problem for some people. We all have unique life situations to deal with so we need to find what will work best for us in our individual situations but it is possible to save in any life situation.
The main problem I have found with being single is leftovers and having to eat the same thing for several meals to use it all. Here are some things that might help with that.
One thing that has been a life saver for me is a vacuum sealer. They are expensive but I received mine for my birthday one year and I love it. If I find meat on sale (in larger packages, too), I vacuum seal it and it lasts forever. I vacuum seal cookie dough, veggies and all kinds of other things. I especially like to cook hamburger (meatballs, patties, and ground beef) and vacuum seal individual sized packages to pop out of the freezer when I don’t feel good or when I’m in a hurry. I even put ice cubes in a bag, vacuum seal it, let it melt, refreeze it and use it in my cooler to keep things cold. I love it.
I eat out more than I would if I had a family at home. I know that sounds like it is going against everything that I teach but here’s why I do it. When I advise against eating out, I’m usually writing for families. Eating out is usually much more of an expense for families but since I am single I can go to someplace like Wendy’s and order a chicken sandwich and a glass of water for $.99. That really does end up being cheaper than if I had gone out and bought the buns, lettuce, chicken, and mayonnaise for it for just a single person. I don’t do this every night but I do once or twice a week.
Since you work, one of your greatest savings on food would be taking your lunch to work. Be careful about using the vending machines, snack bars, buying pop or bottled water, etc.
Just like families, you can watch for clearance items. I buy milk on clearance, pour half of it into a pitcher and put the other half in the freezer. If I find I am not using my milk fast enough I will make a batch of custard, pudding or something else that will help me use it faster.
I also eat a lot of things like soups. With one chicken thigh, I can make enough soup for several meals. Then I freeze part of it and eat part of it.
Here is a sample of some easy meals for single people:
Breakfast
Cereal (1 box) $2.50
Coffee (1/2 large container) $3.00
Fruit or juice ($.20 a meal) $6.00
Eggs (1 dozen) $1.00
Bread (1 loaf) $1.00
Milk (1/2 gallon) $1.70
Total- (1 month) $15.20
Lunch
2 free meals from dinner leftovers (below)
Peanut Butter sandwich with fruit (2 days)
Cottage Cheese with canned fruit (2 days)
Ingredients:
Peanut butter $.20
Bread $.20
Fruit $.50
Cottage cheese $.80
Fruit $.30
Cheese with crackers $.90
Carrot Sticks $.15
Fruit (canned) $.15
Total – 1 week of lunches = $2.30 or 1 month = $9.20
Dinner
Spaghetti (2 meals)
Chicken soup (3 meals) $1.50
Casserole (4-5 meals)
Ingredients:
Tomato soup $.50
Hamburger $.50
Noodles $.50
Meat $.50
Veggies $.50
Noodles $.50
Total – 1 week of dinners = $4.50, 1 month = $18.00
Total Meals 1 month = $42.40
I usually spent $50-$60 a month on groceries so I spend the extra $18-$28 on things like snacks (cookies, donuts, and popcorn), spices, condiments and little extras.
The prices I listed did not include coupons, Aldi prices, Wal-Mart prices, warehouse deals, bulk prices, or clearance specials. I just listed my regular grocery store prices from their store ads. Can you imagine how much more I could save if I did use all of those things? I might be able to shave $1o or more off of the amount and I usually spend. I just want to show that with just a little planning and being careful you don’t have to spend that much.
Here’s something you might make a note of that is true for everyone. I spent $15.20 on breakfast items and $9.00 of that was on coffee and juice and other items to drink. When I say that 1/3 or more of everyone’s grocery bills pay for drink items, I wasn’t joking. It really does.
Watch your money. So many people are interested in saving money on groceries when you’re single hoping to help with their income but as you can see I don’t spend that much of my income on groceries. If you are having problems living within your means you may have to look in other areas of your spending, too, to see if you could save more or to see if you are wasting it somehow.
-Jill
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Single and frugal – my biggest grocery savings come from using my freezer. I usually make 3 or 4 servings of whatever I am making and freeze 1 or 2 of the servings to take for lunches to work. If I get a great deal on veggies, I cook them up and freeze for later. Things like cottage cheese and cream cheese freeze well also, as does hard cheese altho it will crumble when you cut it later.
Another savings is unless I am having the grandkids for the weekend, I only use dry powdered milk. The grandkids have gotten use to powdered milk for cereal if I only have them for the one breakfast meal. It works well in all my recipes, is always on hand, and it never goes sour!
Grocery shop only at the discount stores and learn to use whatever they have a great deal on that month – and do stock up if it’s not perishable!
Grow a garden – it’s exercise and great eating also!
And I agree with Jill – eat out once in a while :) I always eat off the dollar menu, with a glass of water with a lemon in it. It’s a nice change of pace once a week.
I appreciate this article so much. I lost my husband about 6 months ago. We’d been married 48 years. To have peace of mind financially I feel I really need to watch where my food dollars go. Being frugal as a single is the same in many ways as for a family. In many ways its different. I look forward to more articles on living single and frugal. Thanks
Rosemary I’m sorry for your loss. Mine passed 15 months ago. I agree with you on shopping. I’ve shopped the same way since I was first married. Raised my 4 kids on a shoestring budget for everything. I love my freezer and when I’m lucky enough to have lots of potatoes I make twice baked and freeze them in small baggies. A bag of apples become apple sauce that I’m able to freeze. My freezer and microwave are my best friends.
I’ve chopped up and froze apples to use for sauce or even fried apples at a later date.
Amie here is a tip that might save you a little bit of time next time and that is when I freeze apples for applesauce I just wash the whole apple and toss it in the freezer. Then ready to use if you run them under warm water for just a couple of seconds (or place them in a bowl of warm water) then the peel slides right off which saves time peeling. Plus when I cut them into quarters to take out the seeds they are almost mushy so I don’t have to chop them much because they mash up very easily before I even cook them. Another bonus is that often the time I get a good deal on apples or can pick them it is still hot here in KS so not having to deal with them when it is hot and when I had other things from the garden to put up made it easier.
I’m single, too, and try to save as much as I can on groceries, as I’m on a disability pension. I’m also gluten free, which raises my grocery bill considerably. Here are some things I do:
I buy “club packs” of pork chops, chicken breasts, or ground beef at a discount. When I get home, I divide it into single portions, wrap each portion and put them alll into a freezer bag. Then, when I have to cook a meal, I just take out what I need for that meal. If I’m having company, I take the number of portions out that I need and proceed from there. I buy ground pork and make my own sausage patties, because the store bought ones contain wheat crumbs, and the pork is less per pound than sausage, and far, far less than gluten-free sausages! I only buy bacon or ham for breakfast when it’s on special, cook the whole pound, and freeze it for individual meals.
I don’t buy processed food, apart from boxed cereals and instant mashed potatoes. Most of them I can’t eat anyway, as they contain gluten and they’re family sized, for the most part. I bake or boil potatoes as I need them, and yes, I can go through a ten pound bag of potatoes before they spoil. I just have potatoes for breakfast with my scrambled eggs instead of toast! They’re cheaper than gluten free bread, anyway. I boil or bake extras for breakfasts, and extra mashed potatoes go into biscuits – they’re extra soft and tender when I do that. Sorry – I don’t have a recipe – I just toss “enough” into a bowl and go from there.
I usually make my own bread, and gluten-free bread uses up a lot of eggs. That being the case, I buy my eggs in “family packs” of eighteen, which are cheaper. I still go through one of those every ten days or so, but an omelette is an easy, fast, and inexpensive supper when you add in some fried potatoes and a salad.
In addition to buying flyer special for my needs, I buy a lot of my staples at the Asian grocery stores. Vegetables, fruits and meats are usually less there, as are many of the gluten-free flours and noodles I use. They’re also easier to find there.
I save enough that I can keep a couple of rolls of different kinds of icebox cookie dough in my freezer for guests (fresh cookies in a matter of minutes, while the tea brews) or to share with members of my co-op’s coffee drop in, as well desserts and hot dishes for our pot luck dinners.
The rolls of icebox cookie dough means that I can bake with whatever nieces or nephews drop in, as well. Sometimes we go through the whole start with measuring ingredients process, but kids generally want cookies NOW so we do the slice and bake thing most often.
Be well,
Carol
When I was single, I used to make turkey soup – enough for an army, it seemed. My mom would give me the leftover carcass from Thanksgiving or Christmas. With a few potatoes, an onion and the carcass, there would be enough meat to make a great soup. I’d eat on that for a week, adding a sandwich one night, fruit and toast another, sometimes I would add dumplings near the end of the week, just to change it up.
Now I know that many folks could not stand to eat the same thing over and over but it really worked for me. Nowadays, I just freeze several portions and use them over a month or so. If you don’t have a turkey, think about the $5 Friday items at the grocery (almost always some kind of chicken product). The roasted chickens go a long way and make more than one meal. After a nice dinner, pull all the meat off and freeze some, make chicken salad with some and then a good stew or homemade potpie with the store brand bisquits (sometimes 49 cents for 1 – 8 bisquit package).
The other thing I did was buy pot pies or mac and cheese for 2/$1.00. Again, with a fruit or salad, a cheap dinner and filling. Jill and Tawra’s ebooks have lots of good menu ideas and recipes for low cost, too. If you need more ideas, let me know. I love to plan easy meals that are tasty and for low cost.
I was a frugal single parent Mom for years-now they’re all grown up! I work full time, so I like a “stream-lined” life so I can do things I enjoy, such as scrap booking & quilting…When I cook brown rice, I cook extra & freeze it (3/4 cups) in individual servings. I make a large pot of vegetable soup & freeze that in individual servings, & I also like to make a vegetarian chili in large quantities & freeze several individual servings…THEN-I can have vegetable soup w/ rolls, or a baked potato, whole wheat crackers, or the brown rice; I can have the chili over tortilla chips, or a baked potato, or the brown rice (it’s kind of like an inside out stuffed green pepper!)
Sometimes I buy a 4 serving package of Vegetarian patties, which are easy to cook on the griddle, & then eat on a “thin” bun…
THANKS for all your money & time saving tips!
Oh Barb, I just love the vegetarian patties on a thin bun too. I have a very small appetite so that and a piece of fruit is a complete meal for me.
Jill and Tawra, I think this topic would make an excellent book from the two of you. My only concern is what should we do if we don’t have big freezers and don’t have room for a big box freezer? I’m sure more people would buy in bulk if they had room to store it all. What is your advice?
Jamie I don’t have an extra freezer and haven’t had for many years. I even have a smaller fridge with a small freezer and it works just fine for my needs. For me personally I have saved no more money with or with out a freezer if anything I saved more not having a freezer because it cost me between $40-$50 a month extra to run it.
For me buying in bulk just never worked and it really didn’t save me that much. I would have to struggle (and I had a 2500 sq ft house) trying to find places to store it and deal with it moving and shifting when I would buy more. The thing is my regular grocery store would have chicken, hamburger, can goods etc. on sale every couple of weeks for the same price that I would get at a warehouse place and for many things I could find it for less so it didn’t pay for me to lift, shove, haul and store huge amounts of things. I needed the storage to store other things which would help make my life easier on a daily basis so I quit buying in bulk and have never looked back.
Another thing about buying in bulk is that unless you have a huge family I have yet to find anyone who doesn’t waste much of the food they buy in bulk because they can’t use it up. I don’t know how many people who swear to me they use it all and yet when I visit them there is another container half full of something being tossed. Sometimes we really don’t see what we are doing and just assume things about our lives. There goes any savings they may have had. I did write a book on with a whole section on saving when you are single and warehouse shopping. It is called Groceries on a Dime. Many people who are new don’t know that I have written on most of these subjects in detail and have put them into one or the other of our e books.
Jill, those people who do buy in bulk, or at least want to, should probably invest in a vacuum sealing machine. You’re right, buying in bulk makes no sense if you end up throwing out even a small part of the food. If people are going to buy in bulk then they should break up the packages and vacuum seal the food in smaller sized packages. That way they will use more of the food while minimizing the waste. If I were going to buy a large quantity of foods I think I would prefer vacuum sealing over tin foil and the normal plastic bags. That way freezer burn would be held to a minimum.
My point about the freezer is that I think the normal freezers that come with standard-sized refrigerators are just too small these days, especially for single people. Single people are cooking more from frozen foods rather than fresh and they also don’t like to stand over a stove to cook after they just worked all day. I wonder if they make smaller stand up freezers. Maybe something the size of a hotel refrigerator or maybe slightly bigger. I think that would be a great product for single people, especially for those who live in apartments and just don’t have room for the large chest freezers.
Anyway, that’s just my opinion.
So true Jamie. They do make the smaller freezers like you mentioned. I know my aunt (who is single) has one and she lives in a small apt and it works really well for her. I’m not sure where she got if from but they are out there so that size would work great for many singles and in some cases I think that size would would work for smaller families too because it is easier to see what is in there and there for maybe more manageable in using everything.
I to agree on the vacuum sealer. I couldn’t live with out mine especially when I am not feeling good and can’t cook. I don’t like the taste of freezer burn or just freezer taste in my food either and vacuum sealing is the only thing I have used that has helped with that. I have used foil, plastic, freezer paper, container and sometimes double of all of those and can still taste the freezer taste in things.
I would really like to know where you can get eggs for $1.00 per dozen. I love the suggestions and although I live only with may husband its hard to break the habits of buying and cooking for a crowd of your teenagers.
Our Dillons or in some places it is King Soopers or Kroger have them quite often on sale for $1.
Walgreens if you have one has eggs for a bit more than a dollar.
Great ideas here. I too just lost my husband of 47 years at Christmas, and it is so strange to tell people I am single, after never really being single. It’s a whole new experience cooking for just one. I usually divided my ground beef and other meats because I never knew who was coming for dinner, I always had a few who popped in to see what I was cooking and its so easy to just add another half pound of ground beef when its packaged that way. Keep up the good work.
When I was single, I would take one Saturday morning a month and cook 3 meals at once–one in the oven, one in the crockpot, one on the stove. I packaged them individually, labeled them, and popped them in the freezer. Voila! 12 dinners in my freezer (ok, well, 11, I usually ate one for my supper). Looking back, I could easily have cooked 2 oven meals simultaneously. Baked chicken is a good choice because it is so versatile–you can use it in different ways and it won’t seem like the same meal.
Frozen vegetables are your friend! They don’t rot in the fridge!
Potatoes bake quickly in a microwave. Instant boil-in-a-bag rice in individual packets might make more sense for a single person.
Eggs make an excellent dinner. You can add veggies and cheese to an omelet, make whole grain toast, and have a balanced meal. French toast is also a quick meal and if you put fruit (applesauce works well) on top it’s much healthier than all that sugar.
Speaking of applesauce, it may make more sense to buy the little individual containers to avoid spoilage.
My mom makes a big batch of mashed potatoes and then divvies them up into greased muffin tins for individual serving sizes and freezes them. Then she pops them out, packages them individually, and stores them in the freezer.
Google “cooking for one or two” and I’m sure you’ll find many more suggestions.
Hope these ideas help! Even with doing all of this … I still ate out frequently as a single person …
My husband and I are (almost) empty nesters, so I’ve had to adjust how I cook. (Our grown youngest son rooms with us, but since he’s vegetarian he cooks his own meals.) I get the frozen hamburger patties when they are on sale, and get 1/4 lb servings already divided. It’s easy to adjust how many you use by how many are at dinner. I put them frozen in the pan with a little water, and they are just cooked by the time the water cooks out (needs close watching though). I buy the double packs of our favorite bread and leave one double bagged into the freezer. I’ve found if bread is double bagged it doesn’t get freezer burn. I also keep the bread I’m using in the fridge to keep longer since we don’t use it up as fast. When I was single ramen noodles and mac and cheese with frozen veggies was my mainstay, but I was a lot younger then.
Hi Maggie, Above you mentioned that you have more ideas on easy, tasty, and low cost meals. Would you care to share some of them? The older I get the more I need easy, tasty, low cost, and low sodium meals. Thank you.
Annie,
One of the things I do in the warmer months is to only cook a large meal every other day. The in-between days, we have cold cuts, with fresh veggies and fruit. I enjoy a salad and put leftover meat (chicken, pot roast, ham) on top, but my husband does not eat fresh greens so he just has cut up veggies, like radishes, scallions, peppers. Having a cold meal instead of a hot one helps the budget because we can use up the leftover veggies in the fridge. With this we have sliced cheese and crackers, too. I also make meatball subs with a maranara sauce (sometimes I just open a can of tomato sauce (salt free) and add Mrs. Dash seasoning, garlic powder and dried onions and Italian seasoning and put the meatballs in the sauce to warm. We use hot dog buns (my husband is a diabetic so doesn’t need much bread) and this plus some fruit (cut-up apples or pears) makes a really nice dinner. It is filling, low in sodium and easy. If you want a dessert, serve ginger snaps with vanilla ice cream. I also make steak subs making caramelized onions (I just saute them in a little butter and some water). Or we have Clam Chowder (Harvest Select), add an extra small can of clams, some crusty bread and that is dinner. Perhaps add a slice or two of tomato or fruit. We are really trying to get away from too many potatoes. I cannot have much potassium and hubby does not need the starch. I also take leftover pot roast, shred it and add some barbeque sauce. If you don’t want the extra thickness, add some cola or sprite or ginger ale. It will dilute the sauce. Sometimes, I make my own sauce with coke and catsup, stir together in the pan until it is the thickness you like, add the shredded meat (chicken works well here, too) and warm. Put on Hamburger or hot dog buns with some green beans or a crisp salad.
Hope this gets you started on thinkiing of new ways to make meals. With just my husband and me and our diets, I am learning lots more ways to make things. I just purchased Jill and Tawra’s book, Dining on a Dime, and it has some really easy recipes that look pretty good. I am eager to get started on making some of them. I think some new recipes will be fun to try this summer.
Sorry this is so long but once I got started… :)
When I was single I dealt in single items regarding foods. A single drumstick or thigh along with a fresh veggie, and a pack of individually cooked rolls from the bakery section, which store well if you keep them in the fridge. Carrots keep a long time, and you can dip them in ranch dressing for a side. I found a bag of mixed veggies didn’t take up too much freezer space, so I would take out a portion for one and cook these with dried minced onions and seasoned salt, and finish with melted butter. You can do the same with green beans. Corn on the cob is a also great choice for one and individual veggies like tomatoes which you can slice and eat with salt and pepper, or one zucchini sauteed with one onion are great ways to have your cake and eat it too.
For meats, go to the butcher shop or deli part of your grocery store and get one stuffed porkchop, or one fish filet, or one chicken breast. Small steak with a baked potato and a one pound size of deli salad, which can be eaten the next day for lunch with a sandwich are good choices as well.
Also forgot to mention if you are near an Albertson’s, sometimes they have lobster tails on sale for 4.99 a pound, (from Canadian waters).
They are so good. I still always like to save my freezer space for these whenever they come on sale or whenever I need a special treat. Being single doesn’t necessarily mean you have to deprive yourself of what you enjoyed when you were married.
Margaret now you have me thinking I should move to the states. I am Canadian and the only time we get fresh lobster is at Christmas.
Apparently before the mines came to town they never got fresh lobster here at all. But with the mines coming a lot of Newfoundlanders came for the jobs so the stores started to cater to the new people.
But still the price you pay is great.
My mother goes to Florida every year and is amazed that the greenhouse grown fresh produce is cheaper than the fresh grown down there.
But since I am not a big fan of lobster I guess I will stay put in my own backyard of Ontario.
Interesting to read the difference in prices and things people eat though.
Sometimes it can be a real eye opener.
Just a note about lobster. I volunteer for a small company who orders lobsters 3 times a year from Maine or Canada (customers pay in advance) and shrimp from the Gulf of Mexico and we dispurse the orders to our customers. For our work, we get 4 lobsters each and my son works the shrimp table and I work with one of the lobster lines.
We do this the 3rd Saturday in May and October and on New Year’s Eve. Love our seafood. If any reader is in MD, DC or VA, please check out the website. Lobsterday.com if you are interested in ordering. My daughter tries to plan her visits to us so she can have lobster one of these days.
YUMMMMMMY!
Okay, I need to get out my glasses. When I read the title of this article I thought it said “Saving money on groceries when you’re simple”.
Seriously, when I was single I would buy a loaf of bread and repackage it into 3 portions, one to eat for that week, and the other two for the freezer for subsequent weeks.
My freezer was teeny tiny, but I managed to use it quite well for repackaging items that were obviously made for families. I would buy milk in the gallon jug (as it was cheaper per ounce that way), and repackage it into quart size freezer containers, using 1 quart per week, while keeping the rest frozen.
I would buy a whole chicken, roast it, and pull meat from it to freeze for future meals. I even made my own chicken stock from the carcass, with which I’d make a large pot of chicken and vegetable soup, some to eat that week, some for the freezer.
In many ways, it was easier cooking as a single. If I roasted an entire chicken, it gave me enough meat for about 10 days, all tucked away in the freezer for a quick and easy to make dinner each night. Whereas now, with a family, when I roast a chicken, it’s all gone in a couple days.
The hardest part wasn’t in the cooking or shopping, it was sitting at a table by myself every night.
I was married for twentyfive years & file for divorce. I have always lived a frugal life. I am learning to do things different. I enjoy going to moving sales, yard sales and many churches have sales as well. I used coupon and I went on craiglist and found a beautiful antique Settee Sofa. I have been a bargain hunter all my life. I just enjoy purchase everything on sale. I do not pay full price for anything. I have furnished by entire duplex that I live in from other people stuff. I love antiques, so all of my furniture is antique that I got on sale. I live in Arkansas.
Wow! You do really well at being frugal! I read this article, even though I’m not single; because we’ve gone (gradually) from eight of us at home to three of us at home. So I was looking for tips on buying, storing, and using a little less. As usual, I wasn’t disappointed. That was interesting, too, about eating out. You are right that is cheaper for one. It’s also cheaper at fast foods, as you said, or sometimes a grocery store, if the weather is nice enough to eat in the car. Today, I stopped in a grocery store before going home from a neighboring town. I picked up a bottle of iced tea on sale, a banana, a 1 ounce bag of potato chips, and then I asked the lady at the deli if she would be able to sell me just one slice of turkey. She was happy to do it, and my whole lunch cost $2.15, and I ate it in the car on a lovely day! It was way better than the time I spent $20 (including tip), eating by myself in a restaurant, and feeling lonely. I never get lonely in my car! LOL.
As a single person, I love my toaster-oven. It is great for tortilla pizzas (put some tomato sauce on a tortillas and add any veggies, meat, or cheese you want, and open-faced sandwiches with meat and melted cheese. Plus I do not have to heat up my large oven. I also like to give some variety to my left-overs by adding frozen veggies or spices, and changing what I serve it with (e.g. potatoes, bread, rice cakes, crackers, tortillas, rice, pasta, soup, salad, eggs,sauces etc). I find I can stretch my left-overs an extra day and not get bored with it! I also plan my meals, see what I have on-hand, and try to use one ingredient more than once. For example, I may use broccoli in a stir fry, on a potato with cheese, or in an egg omelet. In addition, a pineapple could be used in a salad, cereal, pizza, on a rice cake with cream cheese or mixed in cottage cheese. I try my best not to waste my food!
I am single and 67 years old, my diet is restricted because of food allergies. No Peanut Butter, no nuts, seafood, fish, poultry, dairy, chocolate and some grains.
Breakfast is Tea, Rice Dream and Rice Cereal, and 1/2 piece of fruit
Fake Tuna Salad Sandwich, Mashed chick peas, celery, onion, with mayo, and a squeeze of fresh lemon. Served on whole grain bread with sliced cucumbers on top
0r: a homemade bean burger, or a carrot dog, or fried cabbage with noodles, or ramen noodles throw the packet out, at 2 teaspoons chick pea miso, and low salt soy sauce, or in my case Nama Shoyu, get at whole foods.
Dinner chick peas, stewed tomatoes juice and rind of half a lemon, cook add garlic dill weed, pepper, minimal salt, dash of s sugar. serve over 2 ounces of cooked pasta. freeze without pasta. I have $35 per week to eat on, I make and freeze burritos I eat no meat or cheese so mix must be flavorful.
I make 5 2qt pitchers of ice tea, 1 of homemade lemon ade, and 2 of water in my fridge each week.
I have pasta no more than once every two weeks, I do buy potatoes and bake and stuff them with spinach, and lemon. if i have a cake it is a jiffy cake with pineapple in it, dusted with icing sugar. Since I also can not have eggs, I use a product called, “No Egg” rice cakes are a staple, but I put nothing on them. I hope my ideas help. I buy only what I will use or it gets dehydrated. Minty
I appreciate your hints and tips. They are very helpful. I am single but my 24 yr old son lives with me and he eats…..A LOT! He also injured his back about a year ago so he isn’t working or receiving money of any kind. I shop Dollar General and use coupons when I can. Also, when I travel to see my parents about an hour away, there is a Salvage Grocery store near them that I always check out because I can pick up canned and boxed goods to stock up on things we need fairly cheap. Also, they will have condiments, spices, breads, and they vary in the types of things they have in the refrigerated section from frozen meals, French fries, pies, meats, etc. They save me a lot of money! Also, we have an Aldi’s near where I work and I go there from time to time also. There is also a United Grocery Store in my city and it is a salvage grocery type store. They also carry produce and meats as well as frozen items. The thing with this type of store is you never know what they will have so if they have something you want, you had better buy it in bulk because they may not have it the next time. You can also find items on clearance at the grocery stores including Walmart (at times). I always look to see if they have things I can use and make sure it is really a bargain by checking shelf prices. I have also found some good deals on food items at Big Lots. Household items such as paper plates, trash bags, etc. are usually a good buy at Dollar General because they take coupons. My Mom always used coupons and I have become very very good at couponing. Most of the time, they only allow 2 prints per computer…..at work, I can print from a number of computers or get my coworkers to print it for me. That helps a lot!
Thanks for posting something for single people. Some things I found that help me is freezer cooking. Once a month or so I buy the bulk of my groceries, if I buy spinach I will use it for a salad or a recipe than freeze the rest for smoothies or make a freezer recipe using it. It really helps cut down on food waste and you always have meals available. I take my leftovers to work the next day, cheaper and much better than the cafeteria but you could freeze instead if you don’t like to eat same thing right away
I have a small freezer now is a great time to buy small turkey breasts
for later use at .99 a pound . Really a cheap meat I will cook it and slice the meat and refreeze for turkey salad sandwiches or to put on salads . I also boil chicken breasts cut bit size freeze for chicken salad sandwiches, , chicken stir fried rice , it’s so much easier to fix a meal when you have your meat cooked and in the freezer . I also will cook and freeze white rice for stir fry , put in soups
I am the original person who asked this question way back in 2008. It’s fun to look back and see how much has changed since then and how much I have learned. I was in my 20s then and I’m now in my 40s. I could go back and answer my own question now to how I would have handled that time in my life. I am still single, but I’m now a caregiver for my two adult disabled brothers.