What groceries should I buy?

Question

I've lived on my own pretty much since I was 17 and one thing I've always had trouble with is grocery shopping. I find it very hard to shop for one person, portions are big and if you buy individual servings, they tend to be more expersive in the long run. What should I buy that will get me through the week and also stuff that is healthy.

Answer 1

buy the frozen bags of chicken breasts...you can pull out as much as you need and reseal it--it's no more expensive than buying unfrozen breasts--just the convenience of a zip top bag. You can also make a quiche, slice it into portions, then freeze it--when hungry, pull out a section, nuke it, a boom! Dinner's done! The easiest thing for you to probably do is buy normal portions, then portion them out and freeze what you don't need. My mother lives by herself and does that (not saying you're like my mom, just the same situation). I hope you find what works best for you!

Answer 2

I always buy in large portions to save for later. Like the others said, divide large portions of beef, chicken, etc into single servings and cook one at a time.

In my case, I actually would cook a large meal at the beginning of the week and have leftovers for 2-3 days. Yeah, it gets boring eating the same thing over and over, but if you're poor, you don't have much of a choice.

Also, start looking at those grocery ads you get in the mail for sales.

Sign up for store cards. Not credit cards, store cards that give you great discounts. On several instances, I went to Ralph's and bought chicken for half the regular price because I had a store card.

When you buy vegetables, don't buy the pre-packaged ones. They're always more expensive. It makes no sense to spend an extra 1.50$ on cut carrots when you can take an extra 3 minutes cutting your own.

Answer 3

pasta is always a good choice because you can cook just the amount you need. A jar of sauce stays good for a few weeks. When you buy packages of chicken, ground beef or whatever, split it up into single serving packages and freeze individually. Then just take out the amount you need. You can broil, bake grill, fry, saute or brown any amount of meat, you don't have to grill a bunch at the same time. If you want left overs for the next day, just make two instead of one. You can make a small pot of soup or chili and freeze portions of that too. Making casserole type meals is tricker because they don't cut down very easily, but if you have a craving for some certain kind of food, just make it and freeze the rest in single serving proportions. Good luck!

Answer 4

Here there are one serving tv dinners for $1. Check around. Sandwiches are ok, made at home or bought at Subway and they have a little bit of all the veggies you need if you ask for "the works" on a BMT. Have tunafish, fish or salmon once a week. Lay low on the carbs. Salads are good (change dressing, add things like raisins, black olives, hard boiled eggs, cucumbers, radishes, or whatever you like). Cup of soup, an occasional fruit drink (frozen orange juice). I've found that Carnation Instant Breakfast (loaded with vitamins) in Milk keeps my weight down and for me is sometimes my one meal a day. I like carrots dunked in dressing for munchies or any cheese on crackers. Yogurt is good. Cottage cheese with pineapple is good, or rice cakes instead of chips. An occasional cantelope or watermellon in season or fresh cherries, corn on the cob, little cabbages (you get 2 or more meals out of a package). If I'm hungry I'll cut and boil a yam or potato. I'll even eat a can of mushrooms as a meal. I keep canned fruit on hand too. Soft fresh Italian bread is great for sandwiches or French bread to put a dip on. Bagles with strawberry cream cheese. Btw, if you're eating like this occasionally you will crave meat so buy a whole chicken.

Answer 5

Milk is a good aprt of anyone's diet.

Think about frozen veggies, salad in a bag and fruit.

Tuna is not a bad bet, but get it when it's around 50-60 cents a can.

Eggs if you like that (they are very versatile), some kind of a juice (check to see what is on sale).

Some kind of meat (beef, fish, chicken).

What are you doing for breakfasts and lunches? Peanut Butter gets boring quick and I don;t know how you feel about lunch meats.

Pasta is a good fall-back, but not too often

Answer 6

Think pantry goods. Rice, dried beans, potatoes, cheese (can be put in the freezer), buy veggies only as needed for a recipe, and try to stay away from the prepackaged stuff. That's laden with salt and preservatives.

Good luck, it can be a lot of fun to cook for 1-2 people without overdoing it, it makes you creative!

Answer 7

Buy a loaf of bread and some milk first!

some sandwich meat, cheese and peanut butter!--these will last awhile!

Get a treat or 2 ... and don't be scared to re-heat left-overs!
I try to make a meal the size that will last at least 2 days!
(HATE DIRTY DISHES!!)

Honey, ice cream, yogurts, salads, cottage cheese--will all last a little while or more!

Answer 8

when you buy meats like chicken and beef, this is what I do:

I open the package of chicken and divide them into serving sizes, put them in a ziploc baggy and put them in the freezer. The same with beef - I will pat out individual servings from a big package and freeze them.

Answer 9

Milk
whole wheat bread
1 dozen eggs
1 3lb bag of apples
1 small bag onion
1 small bag brown rice
3 potatos
3 bags frozen veggies( your choice)
1 package of porkchops place one chop each in freezer bag and plae in freezer.Then do the same with a
1 package of chicken breasts
1 package of hamburger.
3 tins fish
1 jar peanut butter
1 lb butter or margarine
1 jar jam

Thils list will get you through the week and them some! will save some money too.

Answer 10

Back in my single days, I bought groceries and divided everything into single servings. I.E. a pound of hamburger is 4 servings. Seperate into 4 ziplocs and freeze.