I feel a bit sorry for single parents. Without a dual income, they are ideal candidates for frugal living, yet many of the standard frugal tips don't really work for single people living alone.
I hadn't really thought about it before until. I had a conversation with my bachelor brother-in-law, Clint. Clint is young, somewhat selfish and impulsive, thus he has experienced some financial difficulties.
Clint is also a moocher. He stops by our house around dinnertime two or three days a week, on average. He shares our dinner and raids our fridge.
One day he commented that he likes having dinner with us because he never gets a home-cooked meal. He explained that the other four or five days of the week, he eats dinner out, typically fast food or pizza. When I commented on the amount of money he must spend each week on dinners out, he responded by telling me it was impossible to grocery shop and prepare economical meals for one person. This was a challenge I welcomed.
Clint told me the two basic parts of his groceries - bread and milk - would often spoil before he could eat them. He was buying a gallon of milk at a time because it is more economical that way. I reminded him it is not economical if he has to dump out half of it. We started by buying milk in smaller quantities, such as a half gallon.
His bread would get molding before he could eat it, so I told him a little trick I used when I was in college. Save a bread wrapper from your last loaf of bread. Then when you buy a new loaf, put half of it in the other wrapper and freeze it. Keep the fresh loaf in the fridge.
Freezing portions of your other groceries works well, too. Cold cuts can be split and froze so they won't spoil. Packets of meat can be divided into individual meals and frozen separately. You can even pre-form hamburger paddies from a pound of hamburger and freeze them in individual bags so you can quickly cook up a burger or two for lunch or dinner.
Clint also told me that things like cereal and crackers would get stale too soon for him. I showed him how I put the contents of cereal boxes in large zipper-locked plastic bags then put them back into the cereal box. This keeps the cereal fresher longer. It also works for crackers.
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