Living Alone? 3 Techniques to Save Money on Groceries

Life is expensive -- and if you dispute that statement, I'm inclined to wonder if you've been living under a rock the last couple of years. Blessedly, inflation has come down notably since its overall peak of 9.1% in June 2022 -- for grocery items specifically ("food at home"), it stood at 1.7% as of the most recent CPI Summary report.

Unfortunately, lower prices at the register don't make food cheap, and this is especially true if your finances are solo. I live without other humans, and most of the time, I'm only cooking for myself. Since I also pay those grocery bills myself, I must find ways to look out for my personal finances. Here are a few techniques I employ.

1. Buy in bulk -- sometimes

Many of us here at The Ascent are big fans of Costco, and this isn't at all surprising. You can buy nearly anything there, but the warehouse club giant is perhaps best known for selling grocery items in bulk. When you're living solo, though, it might not make a whole lot of sense to buy perishable food in bulk. You just don't go through produce, dairy products, and fresh meat like you might if you were feeding a crowd. But buying non-perishable items in bulk can absolutely be a win.

I don't have a Costco membership, and I don't plan to get one. But luckily, I can make bulk purchases elsewhere. My usual grocery store frequently puts canned goods, like beans, on sale to the tune of 10 for $10, and this offers a great chance to stock my pantry for less money. I also turn to Amazon for bulk paper goods.

If you're living solo with pets, you might find some savings by buying their food in bulk -- just be careful of spoilage. As an example, I'd pay $3.50 per pound for a three-pound bag of my usual cat food from Chewy -- but that shrinks to $2.64 a pound for an 11-pound bag.

2. Lean into batch cooking -- and leftovers

A fantastic way to save both money and time in the kitchen is to change the way you cook. If you're currently full-on cooking every day, there's a better way -- batch cooking. I love cooking a big pot of chili, soup, or casserole and then portioning it out into containers and stuffing my freezer. When I want to eat some of it, I just pull a container out and let it thaw in the fridge overnight -- no muss, no fuss.

Many of the dishes you can easily cook a big batch of are composed of less costly ingredients, too. As an example, you could craft a pot of chili to serve six using the following inexpensive store-brand ingredients (prices accurate at the time of writing):

I didn't include the cost of spices, cooking oil, and other pantry staples here (as it's likely you already have those if you cook often), but you're looking at $10.57 for this chili, and since it makes six servings, that's just $1.76 per serving! Freeze your leftovers and this could be an entire workweek's worth of bringing lunch from home, in addition to dinner the night you make it. And note that it'll taste better as lunch leftovers -- chili is one of those foods that gets better as the flavors have a chance to meld.

Speaking of leftovers, consider them a gift to your future self, who had a hard day and truly doesn't want to cook. Aside from always eating your own leftover cooking, you can also stretch your takeout dollars further by ordering a larger portion so you can get two meals out of one order. Just be sure you're storing your leftovers properly, eating them promptly (the freezer is your friend if you need more time), and performing the "smell test."

3. Consider a grocery rewards credit card

This tip is a more recent addition to my list of ways to save. I got a stellar grocery rewards credit card near the end of 2022, and in 2023 alone, I earned over $360 in cash back on my grocery purchases. That's enough to cover about a month of my grocery runs, and when I get that cash back every month, I redeem it as a statement credit to make my next credit card bill cheaper.

It's important to note that this kind of card will only save you money if you manage to pay it off in full every month. Credit card interest is no joke, and if you carry a balance forward, the interest charges will more than eat up any cash back you've earned.

I might not be able to split the cost of my everyday bills with anyone else (although, I don't much mind this -- not having to share a bathroom with other people is truly one of my joys in life), but I can still save money on food by employing these techniques. And you can, too.