So question -

how much do you guys spend on average on food per week (singletons) - and if it is low - (50ish - is that possible?) how do you do it? (and we are not talking Ramen every day )

Thanks!
B

Caution - extremely long post.

My husband and I spend $50 - $100 per week for the two of us, so it's definitely possible to spend less than $50 as a single. Although our shopping techniques are a little unusual and require a little more thought and effort.

When I was single, I bought the book The CompleteTightwad Gazette" by Amy Dacyczyn (it was actually three editions of the book, combined into one), after checking it out from the library and deciding I wanted my own copy." The book has all sorts of tips (some really crazy and impractical like washing ziploc bags, but still a lot of great ideas) on saving money not only on groceries, but on everything from Christmas gifts to vacations.

Every week I spend about 30 - 60 minutes with the newspaper grocery ads (we don't even have to subscribe to the newspaper, because our town has a free Saturday community pages with all of the grocery ads). I circle all of specials that sound good and are really good buys. I make a list for each store on a large index card, and note the prices. I also write my list for everything I need that isn't in the ads on a separate index card.

I don't do a menu plan for the whole week, but I do plan on at least 2 or 3 meals ahead of time based on what's on sale.

I then take all of the index cards with me to the grocery stores with me. Sometimes we'll do all of our shopping for the week in day, sometimes over a couple days. We don't visit every store every week, and unless one of the specials in a store is too good to pass up, we won't go to a store if there's only one or two items we're interested in. If I find an item at one store cheaper or at a similar price than listed on one of the cards for a store we haven't visited yet, I buy it and check it off.

Our first stop each is a large liquidator warehouse (privately owned, but the concept is like Big Lots and TJ Max - they buy large lots of products from stores that are going bankrupt or are getting rid of unwanted, but not expired products), This is a tip that might not help you, because you may not have one in your area, and even if you do the store may not get in anything you're interested in. The liquidator warehouse and the Big Lots in our area get in a lot of stock from health food and gourmet shops so it's usually worth taking a look. We get boxes of cereal and gourmet crackers for $.49 a box. Meal replacement bars (I hate them, but my husband likes some of the protein bars) for .19 to .25 (these are the bars that sell for $1- $3 a bar in the grocery store. Basically anything boxed or canned can end up on their shelves. We don't go every week here, but usually once or twice a month.

Our next stop is often the oriental grocery (just because it's really close to the warehouse). We don't shop here often, because we rarely need items from the store, but when we do we make up for it in value. We can buy really high quality products much more cheaply with a better variety than the grocery for soy sauce, thai fish sauce, napa cabbage, bok choy, bean sprouts, cilantro, green onions, fresh mint and basil, spring roll wrappers,
and exotic fruits (they have really wonderful bananas the size of a man's thumb).

Next is Aldi's or Walmart for our basic shopping. Our Walmart has very good quality meat, and if we get there on a Tuesday or Thursday morning (in our area) before 10:00 there will be a lot of marked down meats. I know this sounds awful, but the same meat was there the day before full price. If you freeze your grocery meat anyway as we do, the meat is still far from being in danger of spoilage.

Walmart will match prices, so if I also take the store ads with me (I usually forget), they will give me the item for the price listed in the competitor's ad.
Then we visit any of the other stores as needed.

I know this sounds like a lot of work, although it's alot easier than it sounds, and you definitely can save a lot of money without going to these lengths.

Those are great ideas, Colleen. I do the grocery flyer dance too. I usually only make it to 2 of the 4 grocery stores, though, as I don't have the patience for more... So I figure out which has the best overall deals and do that. I never knew what Big Lots was... We have one here in Cville that is near to one of my usual grocery stores. Is it a membership place like Sam's Club? Or can anyone buy stuff? I'm kind of excited to go there now!

I spend on average about $60 every two weeks, plus a 3rd trip sometime during the month which would be about $15-20. The third trip is usually either for basics I'm running out of between big shops (milk, bread) or for ingredients that I need for a special recipe I want to make.

Let's see... Some of the things I do...

Well, I'm not a cereal person, and cereal is pretty expensive. So that cuts out the cost of that. I buy oatmeal in bulk from places like Bulk Barrel (when I lived in CAN) or now I get my steel-cut oats bulk from Whole Foods for a much better price than Quaker sells them for on the shelves.

When I buy meat, I look for specials. I ONLY buy meat on special, it's way too expensive otherwise. When I get it home, I package it up in individual portions -- to a T -- to maximize what I get out of what I buy. For instance, a package of ground turkey tends to be about 1.3 lbs. That's 19 oz. Recommended serving size of ground turkey is 3 oz, so I divide the package in 6, wrap each little portion in cling wrap, then put them in a (reusable) freezer bag. I used to just cut the meat up in 4 until I realized how much was actually in there and adjusted my portion sizes. (I'll even do this with chicken... If the breasts are too large, I'll cut them up. I'll freeze the chunks seperately for a stir-fry.)

I buy dried beans, not canned. Takes some planning ahead when you want to use them, but worth it in the money you save. Less waste, too.

I buy canned tomato products in large quantities when they're on sale (which happens often). Crushed tomatoes, diced tomatoes, tomato paste, tomato sauce -- all good for making soups, pizzas, pastas, and certain things like Moroccan chicken. Canned tomatoes are a great thing to have on hand.

If I just HAVE to have cheese, I will only buy it on sale as well. Cheese is expensive!! If there's no sale or if I miss it, I go out to my local Target. They have a decent grocery section with good prices.

I'm trying to think of what else is expensive... Oh, I buy dried fruit and nuts in bulk as well. Buying a little can of Planter's nuts is like, $4. Buying the same amount in bulk is half the price. If you can find somewhere that sells items in bulk, that would be a great solution. Dried fruit is always cheaper too that way. (And by bulk I don't mean in super-large quantities... I can't afford super-large quantities of anything at one time, no matter how good of a deal it is. I mean when they sell bins of loose food items, you shovel your desired amount in a bag, and pay by weight.)

Veggies I just suck up the prices in the winter. I tried doing frozen veggies but I just can't make myself. I love fresh veggies. I save money everywhere else so I can get my fresh peppers from halfway around the world.

I pretty much always depend on apples as my staple fruit. I will buy grapes when there is a sale -- there often is one at Kroger for 1lb/$1, meaning a big bag of grapes ends up being like $2.30 instead of $5. Oranges I buy from time to time but never end up eating :/ I don't eat bananas... So mostly it's apples (usually a good price), grapes, and dried fruit for me.

If I'm in the mood for diet sodas, I buy the 2L bottles when they're on sale for about $1 a piece.

What else is awesome is that for every $100 I spend at Kroger, I get 10 cents off each gallon of gas I get at their pumps the next month. If there is a grocery store near you with a similar deal, find out!

This was pretty long too..... But I think I do a good job of keeping the costs down when I need to. It's been a rough transition, as a year ago I was not concerned to the least degree about how much I spent on groceries... Now that money is tight, I have to be very careful!

But by no means should you resort to eating Ramen! Yuck!!

Big Lots isn't a membership place, you just go in and buy. They get in just about everything clothes, toys, kitchen supplies, bedding, paper supples (great prices on dish soap and plastic ziploc and garbage bags), cosmetics, shoes, food (even frozen in some stores), toys, and some stores have furniture. Google Big Lots (I think it's biglots.com, but not sure) and you can view one of their flyers.

I've gotten some pretty cool stuff there really cheap.

Oh- and don't forget farmer's markets for produce in the summer and fall.

I'm not sure how to find them, but if you're within 20 miles of rural areas, apparently alot of organic and hobby farmers will sell chicken, turkey, duck, rabbit, goat, beef, pork, and lamb for as little as $1 a pound. I met a woman who has a small organic farm and sells her extra meat, butter, and eggs to the local health food store. She was saying there were several websites out there to find the co-op and small farms by zipcode.

Oh, and I had a coworker once who belonged to an organic foods co-op. They ordered in bulk from a big organic grocery near Chicago, and a semi would drop off the food at a local church. You had to pay a yearly membership fee, of something like $25.00 if you didn't volunteer once a month to help unload the truck and bag everyone's order.

I'm single - $40-50 a week sounds about right (sometimes a bit lower, sometimes a bit higher, depending on if I need to restock the pantry or expecting guests, etc.), a few strategies I use below to keep my grocery budget under ctonrol.

~ I subscribe the Sunday paper and spend a good 30 minutes clipping & filing coupons, which saves a bundle. Easily pays for the $1-$2 you spend getting the paper (and yes, I actually read it, almost cover-to-cover too).

~ Pretty much same for the food section (in Wednesday papers where I'm at) - where supermarkets usually have ads listing their sales of the week.

~ Make a list before shopping! This will help curb any impulse purchases and keep focused on buying foods you really need!

~ Be well acquainted with fruits/veggies in-season, which are cheaper that out-of-season produce shipped from out-of-country.

~ I'm single too - so I find bagged salads a decent, healthful investment, since if I buy the salad greens separately they'd go bad LONG before I've used them up. And they make for quick meals on the go (I usually throw them in a big plasticware bowl, drizzle some dressing, slap the lid on and shake it to toss)

~ Meat and cheeses are expensive (not to mention less healthful) - so I rarely buy them at all unless there's sale (though I usually have a staple of frozen chicken tenders/breast in my freezer.)

Melody & I spend about 50-75 a week. But, lately we've been living with my Mom since her knee surgery..so we've been buying for three ppl. We shop for groceries mainly at wal-mart, but sometimes we go to kroger & food lion if they have some good deals.

Wow - I spent 100$ or more a week for the two of us! I need to read some of your money saving tips!

In fact last week I spent 210$ but I bought lots of things that will last us a few weeks.

I am semi-single. My BF lives in OK and I live here in CA. When we lived together we spent about 150$ every 2 weeks but we were shopping at the commissary and they have the best prices ever!

Now that I have been living alone the past year I shop around a lot. I buy some things at Safeway on sale and then I buy alot at Trader Joes. Not sure how wide spread TJ's is but they are great. They have good prices and have organic food and natural food. A lot of different types of things that regular grocery stores don't carry. I have noticed that their eggs, milk, bread and butter are cheaper than any store. They have great fruit and frozen fruit, I like all their meats cause they are fresh not frozen. My favorite meat to get is their boneless, thin cut, fatless pork loin chops. A little seasoning and some plain bread crumbs fried in a pan of olive oil Pam and organic apple sauce on the side is delish!

I also buy generic brands of foods. I use to be a label snob and then I watched a program on 20/20 that did blind taste tests and the volunteers picked the generic stuff over the brand name items saying it tasted better. They also said a lot of the generic brands are extensions of the company that produces the name brand. It saves a lot of money.

Having a Costco or Sam's membership or knowing someone that does is helpful for things like bags of chicken breasts, goumet soups and bread (they come in a 2 pk I feeze one and put the other in the firdge to make it last). The fruit and veggies are really good tasting there but you have to eat the same thing all week in order to use it or go in halves with a friend (thats what I do with a friend) that way you don't have to store 12 peaches or feel like you have to eat them all.

Try to freeze as much as you can. I do like Jamie and put all my meat in individual bags and weigh them and put the weight on the bag. I freeze fruit when I know I won't use it all, I freeze bread, english muffins, buns in individual bags so I can just grab what I am going to use. Yes it does take time but you do it once a week and you won't waste this way.

I'm a singleton. I probably spend about $50-$75 per week. I know I could spend less, but I like getting fresh fish from the market, fresh fruit and vegetables, good cuts of meat, etc. (I live about a block away from one of the bigger markets in Toronto, so I rarely go to the actual grocery store.) I also buy wine and vodka. I don't see how that's a low amount. What I buy is fairly expensive, all things considered. Maybe you're buying a lot of frozen food? That stuff can add up. It can actually be cheaper to buy fresh stuff, make a bunch of meals all at one, and freeze them into portions. This is what I do.

Before, when I actually ate the work lunches and dinners that are provided to me, I spent a lot less. But I was a lot fatter. Stupid free lasagna. Also, when I was in university, I could easily live on $15-$20 a week, but I ate a lot of ramen and peanut butter sandwiches.

Some hints I can think of offhand:

-- Don't buy bagged vegetables. It's way cheaper to just buy the whole ones and take the small amount to chop them up for yourself
-- Buy whole fish if you're not squeamish about filleting them yourself (also, cooking them whole improves the flavour, but some people don't like eating food with a head)
-- Buy in-season vegetables and fruit
-- When something is on sale, buy lots, e.g. I love the Campbell's vegetable soups in a box and they were on cheap a few weeks ago, now I have like 12 boxes in my pantry
-- Don't buy diet snack food unless you super-need it. It's very expensive for what it is. I couldn't believe the costs of those 100-calorie packs of snacks, it seems just crazy to me!

Giovanni - agreed with commissary prices. (It was fun the first time we went there, because we didn't know that I would get carded.. they almost didn't let me in! Hah never make THAT mistake again.) Whever I need my food for myself and we do our grocery shopping around the same time, I just keep track of how much my stuff is and give him the money there!

Jamie - we (well, we meaning he) got all of our furniture at Big Lots. Decent quality, and considering that he had to furnish the entire apartment, it was pretty cheap.

I do my own grocery shopping in addition to the bulk things, and I usually spend about $40 that can last me 2-3 weeks. And I do my buying at K-Mart, because it's closest. What I do is I have two staple meals that I cook in bulk (making about 18 servings of each) which I then portion into individual Ziploc bags and freeze. Those will last me for lunches and dinner, and I'll usually have enough money left over to get some of the other things I need - nuts, some meats, brown rice, wheat tortillas, some veggies, etc.

If you have a grocery store or health food store that sells tvp (textured vegetable protein) in bulk bins, it's usually alot cheaper than hamburger (when you realize that 1 cup of the stuff is about equivalent to a lb of hanburger). Dry, it kind of looks like grape nuts cereal.

You add about 3/4 cup of boiling hot water to 1 cup of the tvp granules and just let it sit for a few minutes to absorb the water. Plain it doesn't have a lot of flavor, but it absorbs the flavors you add to it. I usually add it to ground beef in recipes calling for browned grown beef. I usually just throw it in dry while I'm browning the meat with onions, and add hot broth instead of hot water. Then I make my sloppy joes or chili or spaghetti sauce or whatever. I started with about 1/4 cup tvp granules to 1 lb of ground beef, and with every new recipe used more tvp and less ground beef. We've found that we prefer it no more than 50% in most recipes. But, ironically, every time I serve my tvp/beef tacos, I get asked for the recipe. No one believes that it isn't all beef.

I'll even by ground beef in a big family pack. Brown it with onion (and celery and green pepper if I have them), garlic, and the tvp and beef broth. Then I refrigerate until it's cool. Put it in a ziploc freezer bag and freeze. Every 15 - 20 minutes I open the freezer and squeeze the bag to break up the crumbles, until it's completely frozen. This way it doesn't freeze solid.and I can take out as little as I need for recipes. This not only saves money, but a lot of time. One big bag like this lasts a month or more, and I can make super quick meals for one or two. I season it generically so I can use it for almost anything from a quick vegetable beef soup to sloppy joes, tacos, spaghetti, little hamburger helper type concoctions...

I'm single and spending nearly $50 a week and I want to cut that in half! Even though I'm a penny-pincher, I'm also a sucker for specialty foods and organics. Honestly though, now that I have a few somewhat-expensive purchases that last a long time done (jar of roasted sesame seeds, jar of wheat germ, stocked up on Morningstar Farms when it was on sale and had coupons, big bag of frozen blueberries from Sam's, etc.) I'm working on cutting that to around $30.

I used to have a LOT of food waste. I'd buy things and they'd go bad and I'd throw it away. Buying AND using was a big step. Reading the sale ad for your grocery and planning menus around that helps a lot. I clip coupons sometimes but don't use many...there's NEVER a coupon for bananas!

I penny pinch by buying organic whole grain bread at the day-old bread store for 89¢ and then turn around and buy a giant salmon filet in the freezer at Wal-mart (Wal-mart sucks, by the way) for 7 bucks. I buy tofu for $1.09 at the Asian grocery and then turn around and buy imported parmesan-reggiano which runs about 12 to 14 bucks a pound. It's crazy.

Maybe the secret is using little bits of the expensive things and a whole bunch of the inexpensive things. When I make lasagna, it's homemade, inexpensive sauce all the way, but hey, there's a little bit of that expensive parmesan in it too. A portion of that expensive wild salmon will wind up served on an inexpensive bed of grains, like quinoa, with some frozen veggies on the side.

I washed my first ziploc the other day.
(I normally think it's pretty crazy too...but this ziploc had only had bread in it in the freezer, and I was doing dishes, so I just rinsed it out and put it over something in the dish rack...but still, it was THAT STEP...to insanity!)

Do you have a state ID? They let me in with just my Driver's License and he has to sign me in. He's in the Navy as well and I can't wait for him to get out.
The only perk to him being in for 10 yrs is the commissary! LOL

What are your 2 staple meals and how large is your freezer??

My primary new year's resolution was to quit doing this! I had a huge problem with wasting too... I'd buy fruit and let it rot in my fridge (which takes months, btw). I'd use half an onion, let the other half turn black. I'd let lettuce turn to liquid. Leftovers would grow fuzz. Etc. It's expensive being wasteful! I have to say I'm proud that I have not wasted a single food item yet this year Haven't thought about it making a difference in the grocery bill, but it makes sense.