That is one drawback – you can get used to a certain product and they stop carrying it. For months I was eating red licorice covered in dark chocolate from Australia. I miss that stuff.

Folgers Coffee

Right now Big Lots is selling Folgers coffee so that’s what I am drinking. I paid $3.00 per 12 ounces. I can pay $5.25 in the grocery for Folgers or get it online at Amazon for $3.76 each if I buy 6. That gave me savings of $0.76 to $2.25 per tub depending on where I was buying it and how many I was buying.

Big Lots also had stuffed green olives for sale. Olives are one of my favorites but I don’t want to pay $7.36 per pound. I got these olives I had never heard of for $3.00 per 13 ounces. My Big Lots’ olives work out to $3.69 per pound for a savings of $2.98 per bottle.

Stuffed Olives

And finally the score of the day. ORGANIC Muir Glen Pasta Sauce (25.5 oz) was on sale for $1.30 per bottle. The sauce retails for $5.19 and discounts to $3.89 so I saved $2.59 to $3.89.

I bought 3 of each item and spent $21.90. I saved $18.99 at the low end and $27.36 at the high end on these products. Which is 44 to 54 percent of retail prices. Not bad.

Muir Glen Pasta Sauce

I notice that Big Lots carries brands from a fair number of countries. It is always a treat when I find something from home or my travels. If I find a brand I don’t recognize I may only buy one as a tester. There is nothing worse than buying 6 of something you don’t like.

I also check out their kitchenware department every time I am there. Over time I have collected some really useful tools.  I have gotten some great Calphalon kitchen utensils for $2.00 and $3.00 that retail for $7 to $15.

Some things to remember when buying food at Big Lots:

1. Check expiration date of products
2. Only buy as much as you can use before the expiration date
3. Only buy one of an item to test if you are unsure
4. Have a price book so you can recognize a deal
5. Check end caps for really good deals
6. Food will be progressively marked down
7. Don’t buy food you won’t eat just because it is on sale
8. Buy food you have never eaten just because it is on sale

• Do you have the room? Single people can live in small places and don’t always have the room to store themselves let alone bulk purchases. Choose your bulk wisely.
• Are you moving anytime soon? Are you moving in 3 months while stocking up on supplies for a year? You will have to move your bulk goods and you will have to store them.
• Once you open the bulk container can you use all the servings before they go bad without getting sick of the stuff?

Take a look at what you use on a regular basis and see if you could possibly buy it bulk. To get my bulk items I shop at Big Lots, Sam’s Club and the Dollar Store. I go to Sam’s and the Dollar Store once every 6 to 8 weeks and Big Lots every 3 to 4 weeks. Buying bulk saves me time, money and the annoyance of running out of stuff.

Bulk Up Around The House

Bathroom
The only thing I am super particular about in the bathroom is my shampoo, deodorant and face sun block. I like Burt’s Bees, Lady Speed Stick and Neutrogena Age Shield Face. Other than that I don’t have much brand loyalty and will buy what is on sale with grapefruit being the preferred aroma for body products.

• Body Wash – buy large sizes and 2 for 1’s at Big Lots or Sam’s Club
• Shampoo – use Burt’s Bees so buy when/where I find on sale
• Face Wash – buy at Big Lot’s they usually have some St. Ives Facial Scrub
• Suntan Lotion – buy large sizes at Big Lot’s or Sam’s Club. Use as moisturizer in summer
• Deodorant – buy multiples at the Dollar Store when they have Lady Speed Stick
• Toothpaste – buy large sizes and 2 for 1’s at Big Lots or Sam’s Club
• Mouthwash – buy large sizes and 2 for 1’s at Big Lots or Sam’s Club
• Toilet Paper – buy large packages at Big Lots
• Disposable Razors – buy large packages at the Dollar Store
• Hand Soup – buy large sizes and 2 for 1’s at Big Lots or Sam’s Club

Kitchen
Being single and having a small kitchen doesn’t mean you can’t enjoy saving money and time with bulk purchasing. I find I do best in the freezer and the cupboards. Other than condiments what I put in the fridge needs to be used up quickly so as not to spoil.

Freezer

• Frozen Strawberries – 5 pound bag from Sam’s Club for smoothies
• Frozen Blueberries – 48 ounce bag from Sam’s Club for smoothies
• Shelled Pecans – 2 pound bag from Sam’s Club
• Mahi Mahi – 32 ounces from Sam’s Club which is 7 – 8 servings

Cupboard

• Canned Tuna – buy multiple cans when they are on sale at Big Lots
• Canned Salmon – buy multiple cans when they are on sale at Big Lots
• Canned Chicken – buy multiple cans when they are on sale at Big Lots
• Chicken Stock – buy multiple cans when they are on sale at Big Lots

Pantry

• Paper Towels – buy 8 roll packages at Big Lots
• Garbage Bags – buy 30 plus bag rolls at Big Lots
• Light Bulbs – buy on sale packages at Big Lots
• Dish Detergent – buy large sizes at Big Lots

One Caveat: if you can’t control yourself with munchies don’t buy them in bulk. I ate a month’s worth of chocolate-covered almonds in a few days.

Because I lived in Austin, Texas and near Lebanon-Hanover, New Hampshire I was used to shopping in Central Market, Whole Foods and the Co-op. I purchased excellent quality foods that were good value for the dollar for the most part. And I splurged as needed.

I started commuting to Shreveport, Louisiana and had to find a local grocery store to feed me. I began my reconnaissance of the local grocery stores.

Store A is a smallish grocery store conveniently located ¾ mile from my house and serves a mixed socio-economic neighborhood of historic homes. No matter what I would go in there for all I ever come out with was a can of Folger’s and a bag of dog food.

This store specializes in fat, starch, sugar, alcohol and over-priced fresh orange. I was going to starve to death shopping here.

Next I test drove Store B which is 4 miles from my house. This is a grocery store for what was the Shreveport everyman. I began my exploration of the store and was immediately disappointed. There was no variety, no organic foods, no bulk, no nothing. I was so damn depressed. I consulted some locals and they directed me to Store C.

Store C is located 3 miles from my house and serves a higher end socio-economic group. In this neighborhood the houses are beautifully massive and the squadrons of giant flying cockroaches are called water bugs.

I made my trek to Store C to see if this grocery store was going to meet my needs. It has fruits and vegetables, some imported items, organic meat and vegetables and my staples. There is produce that I would consider a staple in Austin that is 3 times the price in Store C so I do without. But still out of the three, Store C was the best suited to my needs.

So you would think the post would stop there:

• Explore your grocery store options
• Pick the grocery store best suited to you
• The End

I thought that was the end too. But a friend, who lives 4 blocks from Store C, told me she was shopping in Store B. I was floored as I had seen what was in her fridge and it looked nothing like what I had seen at Store B.

So BACK I went to Store B. It was fabulous. They had been undergoing renovations for months. I walked into a beautiful produce section immediately hitting a wall of organics that were only pennies more expensive than the regular produce.

Green peppers were $0.99 each at Stores A and C, ORGANIC green peppers were $0.99 each at Store B. I try to stay away from the bakery but they had fresh baked cheese biscuits 3 for $1.00.

The prices are cheaper than Store C, the quality and selection are better than Store A. I was so happy I damn near burst into tears.

I now firmly believe that the choice of grocery store should be revisited annually.

The grocery chain marketing departments are constantly reassessing: what should be sold at each store, improvements and renovations, the pricing strategies, specials, etc. You never know when something is turning to your advantage in a different store.

I struggle mostly with saving money while shopping for food because its hard to buy produce for one without spending a lot of extra money for small portions and a lot of packaging. When I buy regular-sized things, they tend to go bad before I can finish it. I hate to waste food because it feels like I’m throwing money away! Do you have any advice on how to shop more frugally for one?

I understood exactly were Elizabeth was coming from. I am single and live alone except for my beloved tri-colored corgi. I have a small 720 square foot 1/2 duplex with a tiny kitchen and very messy pantry.

At the end of 2008 I was working in the hospital building industry. The industry just tanked and all of a sudden I stopped working for my client. I found myself happily broke, moving in the direction I wanted to be moving in and now having to cook my own meals. I wasn’t even sure if I remembered how to cook for one person.

I had been single for ages but hadn’t done my own cooking. The culture I had been working was one where you went out to lunch every day with your co-workers. This entailed a $10.00+ meal of varying degrees of nutritional goodness. The meals fell into the categories of bbq, mexican, chinese, southern and foods from your childhood.

Dinner was eaten out or whatever snack food and condiment combination I came up with from my fridge. That is one thing about being single you have a great condiment selection. I am very partial to pickles, olives, pestos and mustards.

And I have definitely gained some weight over the last couple of years embracing this lifestyle. This is not something I am happy about. I am short and when I gain weight I start to look alot like a fire hydrant. Not particularly attractive. Plus being in my mid-40′s now with bits falling off I am hyper-aware of health and eating.

So I searched around online to see if there was any web sites with tips and so forth for the single kitchen. I thought it would make my transition to home cooker on a budget easier. There wasn’t to much out there but I did learn how to potion out 24 servings of chili to freeze but that was about it. Which is really surprising considering that according to Euromonitor International:

• The number of one-person households worldwide reached 202.6 million in 2006, up from 153.5 million in 1996;
• The trend of single households is closely correlated to culture and living standards. As such, developing regions tend to have a considerably lower proportion of single households than developed regions;
• Most single householders fall into one of the three categories: single young professionals who can afford their own place, middle-aged divorcees, and elderly people who tend to be on a tight budget;
• The proportion of single households is highest in developed countries. In 2006, one-person households accounted for 28.9% of all households in Western Europe, 26.7% in North America and 25.7% in Australasia;

That’s alot of single people that need help in the kitchen. I know 8 months ago I did. And it is not like I can’t cook because I can. It is just different when you are single. Even a friend of mine who is a stellar cook admitted to regularly eating canned tomato soup and toast in her single kitchen. And Elizabeth is right about the food waste. The USDA states:

• 91 billion pounds of food were lost by consumers and foodservice in 1995.
• Foodservice and consumer losses accounted for 26 percent of edible food supplies.
• Fresh fruits and vegetables accounted for nearly 20 percent of consumer and foodservice losses.

That is an outrageous amount of waste. Waste that I can’t afford in my kitchen. The USDA Food Plans budgets for my sex and age group anywhere from a thrifty $34.80 to a liberal $69.00 per week for food. That means I can be losing anywhere from $9.04 to $17.94 in food waste per week. I have better things I could be doing with that money than tossing it out.

For the last 8 months, I have been practicing and experimenting in a single kitchen to see just how best to operate a kitchen for one and save money. And now that we have the site relaunched I have a forum to expand on this topic.

I hope some of my posts help you in the kitchen and you find the rest of our site useful as well.

A potato chip (American English chips, British English crisps) is a thin slice of potato deep fried or baked until crispy depending on the company it originated from. Potato chips serve as an appetizer, side dish, or snack. Commercial varieties are packaged for sale, usually in bags. The simplest chips of this kind are just cooked and salted, but manufacturers can add a wide variety of flavoring (mostly made using herbs, spices, cheese, artificial additives or MSG). Chips are an important part of the snack food market in English-speaking countries and many other Western nations.

Back in the day when I was a starch-eating-type-of-girl I loved potato chips. Whenever I went grocery shopping I would usually pick up a bag of salt and vinegar or sour cream and onion. Occasionally, as a treat, I would buy ketchup chips.

I would get the normal grocery-store-sized-bag. Which, as you know, is like buying in bulk for a single person. But it was cheaper than getting individual potato chip bags. So I was saving money – yeah, me.

The problem was once I opened up that bag of chips I was obligated to eat them and fast. Otherwise they would go stale and I would waste money. So instead of wasting my hard earned dollars I was eating 16 servings of potato chips in 4 days. That is a lot of potato chip calories. Especially considering I didn’t slow down eating anything else.

I rarely eat potato chips these days so naturally now is the time I finally find the solution to the stale potato chip dilemma. I was speaking with an old friend and she told me to do the following:

After opening your bag and have a serving of potato chips. Close up the bag and toss the bag into a Ziploc bag and put that bag into your freezer. When you want a handful of chips you grab them from the freezer and they defrost in a minute or so. And the amazing thing is the frozen chips taste even better than the unfrozen serving of potato chips.

I asked her how long chips would stay fresh in the freezer and she didn’t have a clue. So when in doubt I always say 6 weeks. I may be wrong but it keeps my freezer rotating.

I wandered over to the Snack Food Association website (you just knew there had to be one) and read their 2009 State of the Industry Report that they had posted. According to the report:

A changing definition of affordability has brought about significant changes in shopper rituals.

· One quarter of consumers have actually reduced snacking frequency.
· Again, stretching products surfaces, with one-third of consumers trying to make their snack purchases last longer.
· And, about one-half of shoppers are spending less on snacks and/or purchasing whatever is on sale rather than their preferred brands.

I am definitely a consumer that has reduced my snacking food to next to nothing. And I have become obsessed with food waste. I shop at Big Lots so I am buying whatever was on sale in another country. Love me some chocolate covered licorice from Australia.

So try it. Freeze your potato chips and see if they really do last longer and taste better than fresh out of the bag.