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The tips I share here at Southern Savers are relevant to anyone who is trying to save money—but sometimes if you’re in a certain context, it may not be as easy to apply all the principles. Recently I have been helping a friend who is living alone for the first time and facing buying groceries for only her and cooking for just one person. While it might seem like saving money would be simple, sometimes buying and cooking for one person is harder than cooking for four or six! If you are trying to stick to a budget, then you will have to be very intentional because you don’t want food to go bad and have to be thrown out, but you also want to be able to take advantage of sales when items are at rock bottom prices. These ways to save money on groceries when you’re single will hopefully help anyone who finds themselves in a situation similar to my friend!
How to Save Money on Groceries When You’re Single
Meal plan with repeat meals
If you’re looking for meal planning advice online, you might find templates with 7 breakfast, lunches, and dinners each week. This probably feels overwhelming! I recommend planning 2 breakfasts, 2 lunches, and 3 dinners for each week. You can rotate between the breakfasts and lunches, and then you can cook double portions for dinner. If you want to cook even larger portions, you can freeze additional portions for another week.
Look for recipes with simple ingredients
Buying a ton of different pantry items that you’ll only use a teaspoon of every few months is not worth it. Stick to things that can be used a lot of different ways: herb pastes, balsamic vinegar, fish sauce, maple syrup, high quality extra virgin olive oil, spice blends, capers, and sun dried tomatoes are some of my favorites.
Use ChatGPT if you get stuck
I’ve already written one post with 3 ways to use ChatGPT to meal plan. If none of those prompts work for you, try this one:
Make me a meal plan with two breakfasts, 2 lunches and 3 dinners that can feed one person. I’d like to make enough from these recipes to last the whole week. These are my nutritional goals: [insert any foods or components you want to focus on or avoid, such as “dairy-free” or “high-protein”].
You can even ask ChatGPT to make it into a printable grid!
Make a list and stick to it!
Once you have your meal plan, make a list for the store and stick to it. If impulse purchases are a problem, it might be worth using a grocery pickup option like Instacart at Aldi or Publix or Walmart or Kroger’s free curbside pickup.
Be smart about name brands and generic items
If you like certain name brands, Publix is your best bet (see a recent post comparing name brand at Publix vs. Walmart). If you prefer to shop generic and don’t want to spend a lot of time cutting coupons, Walmart or Aldi might be a better option.
Don’t overbuy sale items
If you are shopping at a store that puts items on sale, like Publix or Kroger, only buy enough to last you six weeks unless it’s something you can freeze. But as a single person, you probably don’t want to buy too much anyway—stocking up unncessarily will use up a lot of your budget and prevent you being able to buy other things that you want, like produce.
Set aside a portion of your budget for sales
If you like to shop at stores with sales, consider setting aside a portion of your budget (maybe 10% per month) that you use to stock up on items that are on sale but aren’t necessarily on your list. But only buy items that you know you will eat! Don’t just buy it because it’s a good deal.
Consider some convenience foods
It may be worth it at times to focus on convenience foods. A small container of pre-chopped veggies for your salads for the week might be more cost-effective than buying a bunch of different produce items that you won’t be able to finish.
Track what you throw away
This might just be the most important tip. Look honestly at what you’re having to throw away. It wil be painful at first, but if you can learn from it, you can save money going forward. Maybe you thought you’d eat a lot of salads but as it turns out, you don’t usually feel like that during the week, so you end up throwing out bags of lettuce. Use that money the following week on food that you think you’ll actually eat. Or maybe you just bought too much of something because you overestimated how much you would need. File that away for future shopping trips!
Invest in products to protect frozen food
Freezing leftovers or food you buy in bulk is a great way to save money on groceries when you’re single. Remember that the enemy of frozen food is air. You can buy a Vacuum sealer, which is a great option if you’re able to get good deals on meat in bulk. This will allow you to save smaller portions of cooked or uncooked meat so you can pull out a smaller amount as you need it.
If you don’t want to buy a vacuum sealer, you can use a freezer bag and a straw to get most of the air out. (Don’t do this with raw meat, though!) If you’re freezing leftovers, your best option is to invest in some durable glass containers with tight-fitting lids.
