Shopping For One Person

Shopping For One Person
Shopping For One Person

Shopping for one person seems like it should be easy. After all, it’s just you, right? You know what foods you like to eat. You know how to make them. You know your schedule for the week so you know how many lunches you’ll be packing, how many nights you’ll be eating at home and whether you’ll be entertaining. Why, then, do you always end up throwing away all that limp produce and a-few-too-many-days-old chicken? And, yup. The bread is stale. Again.

There are a number of factors at play here, but typically the problem starts at the grocery store. Because it seems so easy. You know what you’re out of and you may even have a vague idea of what you’d like to prepare for dinner. So you get to the store and begin to shop but soon enough things go awry.

You see that tomatoes are on sale so you decide to get a few extra. There wasn’t a plan to get bananas but they’re perfectly ripe and certainly look tasty. And what’s that over there on the day-old bakery rack? By the time you get to the checkout, you’ve purchased waaaaayyyyyyyyy more than you had intended. And guess what? Some of that surplus is not going to make it anywhere but the trash can.

Now, don’t beat yourself up too badly because it’s not entirely your fault. Grocery stores are in the business of selling you groceries. They pay people to devise a plan to entice you to buy as much as they can possibly entice you to buy. What you need is a plan of your very own.

Make a Healthy Meal Plan

Make a Healthy Meal Plan
Make a Healthy Meal Plan

The first step in conquering the grocery store is to make a healthy meal plan. It may sound complicated but it’s really not.

Remember how you sort of knew what you wanted to eat the last time you went shopping? Well, write it down. BOOM! Meal plan. At least for one meal, anyway.

And you don’t need to make 21 separate meal plans for the week. What are you having for dinner? You could make double and nuke the leftovers for lunch tomorrow. Or even triple if it’s something you really think you’d eat three times this week. Maybe you could make this Basic Overnight Oats Recipe for a few of your breakfasts. You get the idea.

Keep in mind that whole foods meal plans don’t need to be fancy. You don’t have to buy expensive food, have gourmet cooking skills or large blocks of time. Throw a piece of chicken and a potato in the oven while you microwave a bowl of frozen carrots. There you have it. Whole. Foods. Meal. That wasn’t so hard, was it?

Organize a Shopping List

Organize a Shopping List
Organize a Shopping List

Now that you have your meal plan created, it’s time to organize a shopping list. Yes, I do mean organize.

I’m sure you’re already familiar with the setup of your preferred grocery store so make the list in the order that you’ll be walking the store.

For example, list all your fresh produce items together, followed by seafood, meat and dairy. As you get to the “aisle items” part of your list, think about what items might be in the same aisle and list them accordingly. If you have to keep backtracking to get the items you forgot to get while you were there, you might decide it’s just easier to just get a can of spaghetti and a bag of chips for dinner.

Size Matters

If you take the time to read the shelf tags at the store (that list the items’ price per pound, ounce or piece) you know that size matters.

Generally, the larger the package, the lower the unit price. So, you might ask, does ever make sense for a single person to buy food in bulk in order to save money? The answer is a resounding…maybe.

The questions to ask yourself are these: How can this be stored and for how long? Do you have the space to store it? Will you use it all before its “time is up”?

One thing to consider is whether the items can be frozen. Things like meats/poultry and bread products can easily be broken down into serving-sized packages and frozen.

Many meats and poultry can be frozen for up to a year while bread products are best used within 3 months. Fish and Shellfish are trickier as items in the showcase are likely to have been previously frozen so refreezing might compromise the quality. The safer bet, in this case, would be to buy these items in the freezer section of the seafood department.

Many fresh fruits, vegetables and berries can be prepped (seeded/peeled and sliced/chopped) then spread in a single layer and placed in the freezer. When solid, they can be stored in airtight containers in the freezer for 12-18 months. While they will not retain the crisp texture they had when fresh, they will work perfectly well for cooking and pureeing.

This leaves the vast number of shelf-stable and refrigerated items that are available in larger “family size” portions but would not hold up to being frozen. This is where the expiration or sell-by date comes in. Look at the date and ask yourself if you will realistically use it all before then. If the answer is no, it’s better to opt for smaller or single-serve portions. You’re not saving money if you end up throwing the food away.

Frozen Foods Are Your Friend (or Buying Whole Foods Frozen)

Frozen Foods Are Your Friend (or Buying Whole Foods Frozen)
Frozen Foods Are Your Friend (or Buying Whole Foods Frozen)

What’s the first thing you think of when you think of the frozen food aisle? Pizza? Corn dogs? Ice cream?

A large portion of that part of the store is dedicated to processed foods. But if you look a little closer, you’ll find plenty of healthy choices there.

For a single person, buying whole foods frozen might be the answer to your prayers. Think vegetables, fruits, berries and bread. No prep. No waste. No muss. No fuss.

Be aware that there are pitfalls even in the healthy section of the deep freeze (who knew?). Avoid vegetables with added ingredients such as sauces or cheese. And don’t bother with the more expensive “steam in” bags as you probably won’t be cooking an entire 12-16 oz bag to eat in one sitting. Make sure fruits are packaged without added sugar or syrups. When in doubt, read the ingredient label. The only item listed there should match the picture on the front of the container.

On Your Mark…Get Set…Go!!!!!!

On Your Mark...Get Set...Go!!!!!!
On Your Mark…Get Set…Go!!!!!!

It’s time to take a deep breath, get out there and shop. You’ve got this.

Cynthia

Cynthia@cynthiaeats.com

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12 Replies to “Shopping For One Person”

  1. Being divorce and having every other weekend to myself definitely poses a problem when trying to figure out what to eat! I am a chronic over-cooker! This article had some really great tips on cooking for one and eating healthy, which can be hard! Also, the money saving aspect is huge! Thanks so much for the informative article!

  2. Cynthia,
    I totally struggle with this! Buying for just me and somehow I end up spending so much money overtime I go to the store.
    Thanks for sharing your tips. I will totally be making a list before I go this time.
    Ive also been pondering the idea of switching some of my stuff to frozen just in case something comes up and I don’t end up eating a meal I bought. This happens all the time, someone invites to lunch or dinner and of course I want to go but that chicken is going to go bad.
    Totally relatable article, thanks for sharing.

    1. I’m a total convert to my freezer now…and for just that reason! When I first started my whole foods mission, I thought I would only buy fresh veggies but life is too busy and I ended up throw too much away. And just a note on that chicken. If you take a portion of poultry out of the freezer and thaw it in the fridge, you can always put it back in the freezer if you don’t use it. As long as you thawed it in the fridge the whole time it was defrosting.

  3. Great article Cynthia,

    My wife and I have been having trouble with this the last 6 months or so. Our family of six has started to get smaller due to two of our four children flying the nest , quite unexpectedly I might add.

    So we seem to be having a lot of produce left over, one benefit we have is that we can pass the extras on to the children that have left.

    This article has given me food for thought (pardon the pun…)
    With a few adjustments we can do our shopping at a reduced costs and less waste for the four of us. Saying that we will probably continue to shop for six just to know that the whole family has food in the cupboards lol

    Great read
    Bryan

    1. I’m glad you enjoyed it and thank you for your comments. I hear you on the children thing. I still buy groceries for some of my kids. Someone, somewhere, promised me it would all be over when they turned 18 but it never is. And I wouldn’t have it any other way! I’m working on a piece about shopping on a budget so stay tuned!

  4. Hi, Cynthia,

    I’m not a fan of grocery shopping. However, there are 2 rules I always abide by:

    Always make a shopping list.
    Never go shopping when you’re hungry.

    It’s always a good idea to do some planning and not just wing it. Also, we are more prone to buying more unnecesary things when we’re hungry.

    Thanks for your tips.

  5. This article is definitely for people like me. I mean whenever I go to a grocery store, I don’t know what happens to me. My hands are not in my control nor my heart’s desire. I always pick up things that I love to eat, which is not bad but I get them in big amounts. I don’t care about the money spent because I can’t resist myself. 

    Well now I have read this article, I will try ‘TRY’ to create a plan and a shopping list. Wait am hungry, thanks for your article.

  6. This afternoon I have been estimating that the average cost of food per month for one person ranges from $150 to $300, depending on our age. However, these averages vary based on where you live and the quality of your food purchases. I really like the guide you have laid for us on this post. I believe that “healthy” should be the most important point in our purchases.

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