Saving on food costs can be tricky when you’re single

Published 6:06 pm Thursday, November 6, 2014

Single people, who now make up the majority of American adults, often have spending and saving concerns that differ from those of married folks. Eating and drinking expenses are among the big ones — buying a 5-gallon jar of pickles at the warehouse club to save money doesn’t seem like such a good idea when you’re buying for one.

A record 20 percent of adult Americans 25 or older, or 42 million people, have never married, according to a recent analysis by the Pew Research Center.

Besides the obvious difference of potentially having one fewer income-producer, singles have a variety of money issues that differ from marrieds. But among singles who only have to financially fend for themselves, food spending can be a sticking point.

It’s no small expense. Single people who lived alone last year on average spent $3,654 on food, more than 40 percent of which was dining out, according to the federal government’s Consumer Expenditure Survey. By contrast, a family of four spent about $2,400 per person.

If you’re single and find you’re spending too much on food and dining out, here’s what to look at.

Cook: Eating out almost always costs more than cooking at home — unless you’re OK with fast-food dollar menus. So, the obvious advice is to dine out on special occasions and when you really want to, not because you’re a poor meal planner. Ditto for beverages, including morning coffee and evening alcohol.

Use your freezer for batch cooking.

That serves a dual purpose. First, you can buy in larger quantities for a lower unit price. Second, you have ready-made meals that are only microwave minutes away the next time you arrive home late and hungry.

Take stock: The main strategy for food buying is the same for singles as it is for families — don’t shop for what you need, shop for what’s on sale and stock up. In other words, buy multiples when it’s cheap — think half-price — and few or none when it’s full price.

Bulk buying: It’s generally a useful strategy, but the difference for singles is the extent to which they can do that. Bulk-buying perishables is a bad idea, and some singles’ small apartments might not lend themselves to stockpiling jars, cans and boxes of food.

So avoid buying too much perishable food in bulk that will just be thrown away, which greatly increases the unit cost of the food you actually ate. If you have room, buy larger sizes of nonperishable items, like batteries, toilet paper and toiletries, that you know you will use, said Stephanie Nelson, founder of CouponMom.com.

“Compare the cost per ounce, and if the larger size of laundry detergent is half the unit cost of the small size, save by getting the larger size,” she said. Also: Split a warehouse club membership with a friend or family member.

As for bulk buying perishables, the freezer is your friend. Divide and conquer. For example, $3 per pound is a fine price on ground beef, but you won’t often find it in 1 pound packages. Go ahead and buy the 5-pound pack and divide into 1-pound portions and freeze them.

Coupons: They still work. Couponing, via coupons in the newspaper, printed from online sources or stored electronically, can still work for single people. They are most effective when you apply a coupon to an item already on sale, on items on your list (avoid buying things you don’t need just because you have a coupon).

Communal dining: If you’re especially social with a tight group of friends, consider taking turns cooking.

“One day a week, each of you cook for the entire group, with any leftovers divided among those attending,” said Jeff Yeager, author of four books on frugal living.

Take a lunch: Many people have intentions of bringing lunch to work to cut food costs, but it can be a difficult habit to form. When Yeager worked in an office, he would instead take a bag of groceries to work every Monday and make lunches on the spot, rather than keeping groceries at home and “having the hassle of packing an individual lunch every day.”

Gregory Karp, the author of “Living Rich by Spending Smart,” writes for the Chicago Tribune. Readers may send him email at gkarptribune.com.