Single Money Saver living on my own

CH27

I think the trick is to be organised.

If you're having Phili & crackers for lunch think about having phili with pasta & peas for supper.

When I open a tub of natural yogurt I have tandoori chicken one day & chicken biryani the next.

Cut blocks of cheese into useable chunks & freeze the rest.

When you buy meat freeze it in portions ie 2 sausages or 50g mince.

Kered

As someone that has lived alone for over 30 years, I can tell you that there is no secret to not wasting food stuffs, it is just a case of knowing what you like and making good use of your freezer.
I have a food waste bin provided by my council and the only things that go in it are peelings, bones and cores and even at that, some of them go out to the bird table.

As has been said, check the use-by labels, even if it means searching to the rear of the shelf.
Plan your meals well enough and by adding the simplest of ingredients to a pot of something as basic as minced beef can be transformed into a completely different meal on 3 or 4 successive days, a roast chicken can be transformed into a multitude of different meals that are changed just enough not to get boring. A roast joint can be sliced and used cold in a sandwich or chopped and added to a stir-fry. Using some of these methods lets you use meats on consecutive days without resorting to freezing them.

Supermarkets dont make things easy for us singletons to save money, they are geared up for selling more and bigger packs and with 2/1 and 3/2 offers we can find it difficult to find space for all the extra stuff.
Over the years I have learned to take advantage of all these deals by shopping in the short dated section first and huge savings are to be had at different times of day and these are the deals that I fill my freezer with.

Fresh fruit & veg does take a bit more planning, I buy small quantities more often rather than bulk buying, it just means dropping in on the way home from work, bananas are the exeption, I buy a weeks worth of less ripe ones and ripen them in the fruit bowl.

I always keep a well stocked larder of tinned and packet foods and do my own form of shelf rotation I replace the tins that I use once a month rather than as I use them.

LittleLauz

As a fellow singleton, my best friend is my freezer!!
I can't remember the last time I threw any food away, though I have been known to have a few odd combinations at meal times. Bt this way everything gets eaten!
I always keep a bag of frozen veg in the freezer for the end of the weeks as I buy fresh just once a week and use it up at the beginning of the weeks before it goes manky.
I always buy really green un-ripe bananas and these will keep for Anglos few weeks. If you need one to ripen up quickly, just keep it in the dark overnight and it'll be nice and ripe for the next day.
Apples I always keep in the fridge and they seem to last for a good ten days or so before starting to soften.
I make big batches of lasagna and chilli and soups etc and freeze in portions. Line a Tupperware box with a freezer bag and then lift the bag out when the food has frozen and you get nice shaped, stackable bags of food, can get lots more in the freezer this way. Oh and don't forget to label!! Many a time I've taken a bag out of the freezer to reheat in the microwave at work, only to find it's something totally different to what I expected!!:o
keep potatoes in a fabric bag in a dark place and they will last ages longer than kept in the plastic bag they come in.
Packs of ham and cooked meats can be frozen on portions safely, unless it says on the packet "not suitable for freezing" as this implies that the ham has previously been frozen and we all know it's unsafe to refreeze.
I have wraps or pitta breads for lunch which I keep packs of in the freezer, just take one out the night before and allow it to defrost and it'll be ready to fill in the morning for a packed lunch.
You could even make up a batch of pre-filled ones to freeze, though I've never done this as i like Mayo in mine which I don't think freezes well.
And always keep Lots of non perishable foods in for when you don't feel like going out to get more fresh stuff. Pasta, rice, tinned foods all keep for ages.

[Deleted User]

I have been single since I lost my OH nearly 8 years ago and at first it was odd as I was still 'buying for two' but I slowly adjusted to using my freezer far more than I did before .I always have at least one portion of food to freeze if not more when I cook.I will cook a casserole or stew type meal in my slow cooker overnight and in the morning portion it up and have one in thr fridge for that nights dinner and the rest get frozen when cold In my freezer I also have home-made soups in zip lock bags as a vat of soup made from veggies that are getting past their best is a great way of not having to throw out good food.A chicken once cooked will be stripped and portioned up or turned into curry or pasta dishes after the first roast dinner is taken off.I buy totilla wraps which freeze beautifully and as they are flat take up little room.Cheese I aslo freeze in manageable size portions and on on Friday I had a large yellow stickered box of organic mushrooms that I used some, and then peeled and sliced the rest and open froze them I bagged them up on Friday night and they will end up in a casserloe or chilli at some point in the future.The amount of stuff thrown out in my house in a week wouldn't fill a plastic carrier bag and certainly none of it is food.Food is too expensive a commodity to throw away.I was brought up with rationing until I was 12 so I have strong memories of my Mum streetching food till it almost squeeked to make the most of every scrap.As a previous poster said its just organisation you need. A tub of Philly for example usually has a pretty long expiry date andyway.I always replace the tinfoil lid in the tub with some cling-film it doesn't seem to get as watery if you do that for some reason.Today I am using the last bit of my bacon for lunch with a couple of poached eggs and tonight as I am going to dinner at my DDs I shall come home with some of the left over beef and roast spuds and veg which will go in my fridge in a tuppaware container until tomorrow night and we be re-heated along with some gravy and I will have another meal out of it tomorrow .My DD has a large family so whats often left over is more than enough for a meal for me,, but not enough to go around 7 of them.I usually take pudding with me when I go and todays will be an apple crumble for us all.I will have two apples left over which with the five parsnips left in the veg box I will turn into apple and parsnip soup tomorrow which will be lunch for me for a couple of days this week so everything gets used in my house

Nelski

Backing up the "freezer and microwave are your best friend" advice here

I have 2 freezers - a half one under the fridge and a full size one in the garage - its rare there is much in my fridge bar a lump of cheddar and a few bottles of vino but I have plenty of choice in the freezer as I cant stand the thought of eating the same meal 4 times on a trot.

Small Ziploc bags are a perfect portion for me and over the years I have learnt you can just about freeze anything. Used to use freezer boxes but I can get more out of the space with the bags

I buy lots of bread but split them into a couple day portions therefore getting the benefit of being able to buy a full size loaf which always is cheaper than the rip off small ones.

Pittas and wraps are great for just dragging out one or two here and there.

The other thing for me is buying frozen bags of veg instead of fresh - these are far easier for one portion and that way I can have a couple or three different ones with a meal.

Nice big joints of meat are always tastier imo than the teeeny ones so that gets cooked and chucked in zips too :rotfl: The way I see it is if I cook for a family of 4 for a week freeze all the extra then there is no cooking needed for a month at least and lots of choice

Single eating is fab........no need to pander to others and strange combinations are OK

beemuzed

My DS has this problem too. Sadly in his little flat there is no freezer, nor any room to put one. Any suggestions I can pass on?

spike7451

beemuzed wrote: »

My DS has this problem too. Sadly in his little flat there is no freezer, nor any room to put one. Any suggestions I can pass on?

How about a small table top freezer?...This she could put on top of the fridge or a chest of drawers....

eamon

Another singleton here. A freezer certainly is the single persons friend. However if you don't have one then all is not lost. If you are a meat eater, shop more frequently but use butchers or supermarkets that have a butchery counter, that way you can get more bespoke quantities. Also eat more vegetables, pulses, legumes, fruit. The big four supermarkets all do loose vegetables (although Morrisons are still obsessed with shrink wrapping many things). Lastly a small freezer doesn't have to live in the kitchen.

zippychick

ceecee1 wrote: »

You know I was thinking last week about possibly starting a thread for singlies !! Great minds and all that... I either cook a recipe and have to eat it for days or freeze half of it and then never take it out of the freezer.

I have just moved house and now have a HUGE mortgage, so I need to start saving money to pay it off, rather than be in the spending mode that I was in before.

So any and all ideas are greatly received.

Why do you never take it out of the freezer?

YOu can freeze natural yoghurt I do so in ice cubes

What can you do with cream cheese has more ideas if you need inspiration

I live on my own as well so understand how hard it can be. I think the key is to not let it be an excuse if you know what I mean! Treat yourself and make more of an effort to cook for yourself. I usually batch cook on a sunday and it lasts me though the week. I would make soup, some savoury rice and maybe some lentil dahl - of course you can only keep rice a certain amount of time....

Last night i batch cooked some quorn mince curry and pilaur rice and some in the fridge, and some has gone in the freezer. Sometimes it is as handy just to reach for toast and eggs though:p

here's some linkies i stole from Pink:j

Single moneysaver living on my own!

What can a single person use on this board?

living on your own/cooking for one....

Saving Money On Food For a SINGLE person

Help a Single Saver

I'll add your thread to the first link later to keep the suggestions together.

Hope this helps.
Zip

ceecee1

Zippy !!!

Thank you for those links:j

I never take anything out because I only seem to remember when I get to work.

Organisation, organisation is what I need and what I never seem to have. Will just have to retrain myself