I spend too much on food. Suggestions?

[red92s]

I'm 25, single, and live by myself in a studio apartment.

I take home around $2,850 per month after taxes, 401(K) contributions, and emergency savings. I have zero debt (thanks in large part to this site): no credit card debt, no student loans, no car payment. I have a written budget that I track throughout the month for saving and spending goals, and usually do a good job following. Fixed costs (rent, all utilities, auto/renters insurance, gas, gym, laundry) total to around $1400-$1450, leaving around $1400 every month for specific savings goals, food, and entertainment.

I currently budget $300/month for food, but typically go a bit over. I know this is high for a single adult, but I haven't had a lot of pressure to change my eating habits as I get by with money to spare every month after meeting all my savings and spending obligations.

I shop at Trader Joe's a LOT. Their frozen food is good, reasonably priced, and fast. I work 60 hours per week, and am pretty spent in the evenings so not having long prep times is a life saver. I also eat a lot of chicken and lean red meat for extra protien as I'm trying to gain a couple pounds of muscle, which adds to the budget a good bit.

I have reallllllly nice cookware and food storage stuff (employee purchase perks), but rarely use it. Being single, cooking in "bulk" forces me to throw away a lot of spoiled food, or eat the same thing for days.

Is there any forums, books, or other reading that might have some more economical suggestions for food ideas for people living on their own?

[minnie1928]

I would simply suggest freezing your left overs, even the small amounts if it's something you eat often. For example, we eat Chili about 2x/month and the leftovers are sometimes enough for one, but definitely not enough for two. If I save the leftovers from each time, eventually I will have enough to re-heat for an entire meal. Or freezing leftovers can be used to supplement other recipes, like leftover chicken to use in a pasta & veggie dish.

[aurielle]

When I was single I cooked very simply. An omelette or egg scramble with add-ins (or not) or french toast with a side of fruit, soup and sandwich, soup and salad. PBJ sandwich. Chicken breast w/veggie, eat half the chicken breast and save the other half to cut up and have on top of a green salad the next night. Loaded baked potato. I like simple food and this worked well for me. You can tailor it to your own food preferences and have a fresh meal for one in less than 20 minutes. You can whip up a simple veggie stir fry while the rice is cooking. Freeze the leftover rice for another night or make fried rice the next night. Pasta with pesto sauce and parmesan cheese is delish. Check out allrecipes dot com. They have a search feature where you put in the ingredients you have and you get recipes including those ingredients and you can change the recipe size. Recipezaar dot com is good too.

Spending one Saturday to cook and freeze in single portions a few main meals will give you tasty dinners that are most likely cheaper and healthy. Or, whenever you cook, just cook double the amount and eat it the next night or freeze it. Then you have a second meal with half the effort. I don't see anything wrong with the frozen Trader Joe's meals because like you said they're nice to have occasionally after a long day. I know I get tired of my own cooking and we will eat out or eat some kind of convenience food when that happens.

[kork13]

In general, pre-packaged meals will end up costing quite a bit over time, so cooking from scratch really is a good way to save. I'm much in the same situation as you, and I seriously don't know how to cook for only one person (grew up helping to cook for my big-ish family)... I normally just make enough for 3-4 people a couple times a week, then freeze/refridgerate the extra. Yea, it makes for some repetitive meals, but you can combine different parts of meals together for new ones. The idea of chicken one night, then chicken on salad the next is a good example. I make soups alot as well, which are good for any meal anytime. One other note...if, you're after extra protein, go for nuts--they have good proteins but are much cheaper than meat. Almonds are healthiest for you, but peanuts or whatever you like are fine. You can throw it into meals, and have them as snacks.

[disneysteve]

Originally Posted by red92s

I have reallllllly nice cookware and food storage stuff but rarely use it. Being single, cooking in "bulk" forces me to throw away a lot of spoiled food, or eat the same thing for days.

Not at all. Cooking in bulk lets you take advantage of the prep time that you do have to prepare meals that can be used over a period of weeks or even months. Cook in bulk and use that nice food storage stuff to freeze single-serving portions. No need to eat the same thing day after day. By freezing the stuff, you can have it next week or next month with very limited prep time. Just pop it in the microwave and reheat it.

[Goldy1]

The challenge with me is I use eating out as "entertainment" or getting out of the house. I do use the entertainment book, order h20 and no desert or starters.
Stay away from WHole Foods. LOL

[Smelly_Cat]

My tips,
Water is Free, Store Brands taste Ok and are cheap , Only buy food that is on sale. I Stop at the store after work lot and buy the meat they are discounting and Cook it that night, I like the store to pay to keep food froze for me

[red92s]

Thanks for the tips.

One big detractor of really "cooking" for me and saving portions is that any time I try it, I feel like I end up spending more money than I would on several individual meals.

Being a 25 year old bachelor, my cupboard is pretty bare. I don't have a lot of random ingredients, so any time I sit down and say "alright self, lets cook something" . . . I end up needing to buy a lot of things (many of which won't get used again for quite awhile). I suppose over time, you build up an inventory, but I've relocated so much recently it's been difficult. For instance, here is a list of things I don't currently have in my apartment: butter, salad dressing, flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, pepper.

Maybe I'll just go to the bookstore and read cookbooks till I find a good "simple" one . . . that's how I got into money management (reading books at the bookstore).

[PrincessPerky]

flour, butter, and pepper are pretty important staples...

but honestly cooking for one isn't that much harder than 4..just halve the recipe.....and invite a friend or reheat half for lunch.

the hardest thing I recall from non kid days was wanting to cook...so much work for just me.......

[MoneyTrev]

A way to save money on food is to plan it. Plan what you're going to eat and then look at the prices and compare them. Then buy the cheapest and best quality to price ratio.

[KatieNK]

Well you could do what my husband did when he was single and eat nothing but Stove Top Stuffing LOL

[maat55]

If I were you, I would use more of the frozen type dinners and take the leftovers to work. Stouffers has some good meals that you can get three meals out of for around 4.00. PBJ's are a good option.

I bet some of your expense is tied with other household items, such as cleaners and toiletries.

Your doing great, don't beat yourself up over a little bigger food bill.

[GREENBACK]

Eat right now and spend a little extra to do it. It's cheaper than eating blood pressure pills and other assorted meds when you get older.

[ScrimpAndSave]

Here is what I do...but I am a little bit of a dork.

On Sundays, I make 3 healthy casserole dishes (I just look up new recipies and try them) and when they are done cooking and cooled off, I separate them into individual sized portions. These meals last me throughout the week for lunches and dinners...and I try to make them last 2 weeks overall. This, in addition to buying PLANNED snacks and a few frozen dinners help me save MUCHO money because I am not running to the store mid-week to pick up food. I shop two weeks ahead of time each time I go.

[Daylily]

Do you have any other single friends - male or female - that would be interested in joining a dinner group? You could make dinner for four at your house on Monday, dinner at Bob's on Tuesday, dinner at Stephanie's on Wednesday, dinner at Tom's on Thursday? Something like that?

[Alex_Adviser]

These 10 smart shopping strategies put you more in control of your food budget:
1. First, go thru your pantry, freezer and refrigerator. See what you already have on hand that needs to be used up. Check the expiration dates. Many people fill their pantries and never use the food and then it expires. Use this food first and build menus around it.

2. Second, make a weekly menu. I know, writing out a menu takes time. But it works. Why? Because when you spend a few minutes up front to develop an action plan for the week it saves time and money later in the week because you know what you’re doing.

Remember, base your menus on what you found in the pantry and freezer. My schedule, like yours, is so crazy but every week I make a menu for the next week. It’s habit now. I look at our family’s schedule on the calendar and see what nights we’re at home and which ones we’re out. Then we cook on the nights we’re at home and make the meal do double duty.

3. Shop with a list. As you write out a menu, add needed items to your grocery list. Keep this running list on your refrigerator, on your blackberry, online, wherever it’s easiest for you. As you run out of something, add it to the week’s list.

4. Use coupons for items that you normally buy or plan to buy…not just because you have the coupon.

5. Look at the weekly flyers of the store(s) where you shop. Build your menus with what’s in your pantry and what’s on sale. Many stores have their flyers online as well s coupons that you print off and take with you.

6. Eat a snack before you grocery shop. Otherwise, everything looks good and it’s easy to overspend.

7. Buy the store brand. Store brands are usually lower in cost than the brand name competitor but not lower in quality. For example, Target has their owned brand, Archer Farms, which are premium products at great prices.

8. Buy in season. Produce in season will often be on sale or lower in cost. Some items can be frozen for later use. For example, when strawberries are in season, buy extra and freeze for later use. Again, a little prep time up front yields greater savings now and down the road.

9. If you’re a meat eater, consider a couple of meat-less meals. Make bean and cheese quesadillas, veggie lasagna or spinach manicotti

10. Use meat more as a condiment versus the main attraction. Make chili, stew, or soups where meat is part of the meal instead of the meal.
By shopping smart, you can make your food dollar go farther and feed your family tasty, healthy meals.

I am sure that if you follow the above instructions, you can improve on your food budget.

Regards

[sternchen]

buy only what your stomach can consume

don't go grocery shopping when you're hungry

this will tempt you to buy more food than necessary

[Frugal]

I would highly recommend learning to use coupons and maybe avoid the more expensive stores like Trader Joe's. I have been there a few times in my life, and I know it can be really over-priced, even if it seems like higher-quality items. There are surely other places you can get nice, frozen items, that are a little bit cheaper. If you combine matching prices in sales ads with using a few coupons now and then (even if you don't have time to use a lot of them), it might make a sizeable dent in your food budget being so high.

I also would start cooking on the weekends large dishes that you can stretch into several meals, and perhaps even freezing some of it, so you have some healthy, inexpensive meals ready to heat up at a moment's notice.

Good luck!

[thefrugaltoad]

I wrote an article on that very topic.

1. Compare Local Ads for Sale Items

It takes just a few minutes to compare ads for sale items from your local grocers. It may make sense to buy meat and fish at one store and bread and dairy at another.

2. Research Store Coupon Plans

Most grocery stores have coupon plans like double coupons every Wednesday or they might match competitor coupons. It literally pays to ask! Check with your store’s Customer Service Desk for details.

3. Use Coupons

Use coupons when you shop. This may sound silly but how many times have you pulled that coupon out of your pocket in the parking lot of the grocery store after you finished shopping? Not funny! Most Grocery Stores have shopper cards that you can load with electronic coupons and have websites that you can print coupons from. Don’t forget to ask your neighbor if you can have his Sunday paper when he’s finished. Chances are he is not smart like you and did not see this article about using coupons! The internet is full of sites for coupons. Coupons.com is a great site with coupons for just about anything you are looking for.

4. Buy What is on Sale

If salmon is on sale this week and your family likes it buy it. Don’t buy the expensive cut of meat just because that is what you want for dinner that night. If you are following my advice you would have that steak in the freezer anyway!

5. Make a Weekly Menu

Build your weekly menu around sale items and be sure to check the pantry and fridge as you are making your menu. Nobody needs six bottles of ketchup!

6. Make a Grocery List and Stick to it

This is where your planning will pay off if you stick to purchasing only those items on your list. Another tip is to be aware of impulse purchases. You know those pizza cutters hanging on the door in front of the frozen pizzas? Leave them alone!

7. Buy in Bulk When on Sale

If your budget allows buy extra sale items. You can always divide meat and poultry and freeze for later use. Be sure to use quality freezer bags and label bags with purchase date.

8. Do Not Shop When You Are Hungry

When you shop when you are hungry you are more apt to grab that five gallon container of Hagen Daz Ice Cream or that candy bar at the checkout. Stick to your list!

9. Leave the Kids with a Babysitter

Do I really need to explain this one?

10. Form a Shoppers Club

Buying a side of beef from a butcher can be expensive but you can get some great deals if you find a few other neighbors to split the cost with you.


Hope that helps,

Paul - The Frugal Toad

[MonkeyMama]

Do you feel you need to cut your food bill to achieve specific financial goals, or are you just asking in the sense that you feel *guilty* and/or know you can do better?

I only ask because at your age I Was extremely frugal, but the one thing I never paid much attention to was eating out. I never did well cooking for just one or two, and I also worked an insane amount of hours at that age. (& I can tell you, I saved enought of my income, that the eating out didn't amount to a hill of beans - in that it did not comprimise any financial goals. May have been my only real luxury).

I just share as a different perspective that I don't think you are doing bad at all, and maybe no need to change.

That said, when it comes to changing eating habits, I always have to say that little changes over time can REALLY add up. So, just know that instead of doing a 180 and trying to significantly cut your food spending, you will find it easier and more rewarding to make small changes. For example, start cooking one meal on the weekends and freezing leftovers. I really like the idea of a dinner group - if even once a week or once a month, or so. Start small, and continually look for ways to economize.