Grocery Question for Single People ONLY!

I know that sounds stupid "single people only" but I'm trying to get an idea of how much money you're saving on your new lifestyle at the grocery store...and figured single people would have an easier time tracking it but maybe not.

Because I really have to budget the heck out of this surgery etc, making another payment in my life, but well worth it...just want to see where I can save some money! So if you can give me ideas of how much a month you used to spend and how much you spend now, that would be a BIG help! THANKS


Lisa

I'm not sure-I eat "better" food now, more organic stuff, and I am terrible about leftovers, so I started eating organic so I could give the leftovers to the animals.  So, my feed bill is smaller...LOL.

If a person did leftovers, a can of refried beans would be 3 meals for me.  A big banana I eat some, give some to the bird, and freeze a piece for later.  Yogurt is a pet peeve, unless I eat a whole meal of yogurt, I can't usually finish a whole tin, and those foil lids don't go back on.

Now, before you think "how wasteful" dollarwise it's cheaper to buy a can of tuna and feed half to the cat than buy a those single serve buckets.  It's that way in a lot of things.  A regular can of green beans costs less than the single serve, and the rest goes to the dogs or turns into a bean salad.

I prefer dark meat chicken now, so that's cheaper than breast meat.

I wish we could get a buying co-op of single WLS people-a bulk purchase of meat is just overwhelming for me-so I pay the more expensive smaller package prices.  A group of us could eat a month on a family pack...LOL.

I don't buy chips or snacks like that, but I do buy some hi protein snacks and they are actually higher priced. 

TV dinners are generally a waste of money-I can't eat a lot of what's in them anyway.  I do like to buy a 6 pack of tamales-and that makes 6 meals for 5 bucks a meal....not bad at all. 

Thanks for your feedback, I really appreciate it. I have been a "no snacks and junk" in the house person for a LONG time, simply because if it is around, at some point I will eat it. I know it sounds ridiculous to wonder this at all.....I'm just strapped cash wise and although I would do just about anything to pay for this surgery, I have to cut some corners somewhere and food seemed to be the obvious!!

Lisa J

No, it's not ridiculous.  I was self pay too, so I completely understand.

It's a pet peeve of mine that people say it costs more to eat healthy-and it does if you buy lots of extras or convenience food.  But the diet for most of the surgeries is similiar, and one person could get by nicely for a week on

a dozen eggs

2 cans of tuna

1 can of chicken

1 can of refried beans

1/2 pound of cheese

bag of frozen veggies

Homeland has individual frozen fish filets for about 2 bucks-tilapia and cod and salmon.  Each one of those probably is 2 meals worth.

I also keep a jar of peanut butter on hand all the time-it's a trigger food for some, but I can eat a tablespoonful for a snack (100 calories) that lasts. 

I eat out all the time, so I am not much help when it comes to grocery bills. But here is what I buy for the week. A  bag of string cheese, a can or two of tuna, a can of refried beans, a can of black beans and a 1/2 carton of eggs
and the rest of the time I eat out. I might go to a chili's one night and get chicken fajitas and eat on that for 3 days, or go to taco buneo and get a soft taco and eat the inside for lunch, and I will get a salad with turkey and veggies in it and eat that for a couple of days. I am pretty booring, but who wants to cook for 1 person? Of course I am only a month out, i might get more adventurous later.

Jennifer

I ate out a lot before surgery and still do.  It's kind of overwhelming when a roast or something like that would last a month and I don't care that much for leftovers.  I'm trying to be better about it, learn better ways to fix them, reheat so they don't get dry, store them, etc, but the truth is, I may have gotten worse since WLS about wanting something "new" each time I eat.

If I could get my act together, I KNOW this lower capacity could mean less time in the ktichen, but again, I don't want to eat the same thing every day.