It’s been just over a month since I’ve relocated to Wisconsin. For those who don’t know, my new job sent me here to train for the year before I return to Florida next June.
This is the first time that I have ever lived alone in my entire life. Although it’s a little more quiet than I’ve been accustomed to, there is a prevailing sense of freedom and independence from being on your own. Thankfully, I’m only here for a year! But being on your own does present some challenges. What has become particularly annoying are my trips to the grocery store.
Throughout college, my roommates and I shared the cost of groceries every week. I never dealt with separating groceries and labeling ownership so other roommates wouldn’t dabble in my food. The whole process seemed annoying; and I like dabbing into my roommate’s food, haha. You always have to try new things right? Fortunately, my roommates didn’t mind and everything was dandy.
Now that I’m on my own, I’ve had to purchase groceries for one person, not three. This has been a pain. Especially with staple items like bread and milk. These items tend to expire relatively quickly; usually within two weeks of purchase. Unfortunately, I can’t seem to consume these items within that time span. Although I like to have milk with my bowl of cereal and I enjoy a sandwich now and then, I don’t eat these items regularly. As a result, I’ve been throwing away expired products more often than I would like.
For this upcoming month, I will have to force myself to use more milk and bread in my meals. Something I’m not looking forward too… I like to eat what I want… Wouldn’t it be nice if grocery stores reduced some of their portions??? I wouldn’t mind stopping by more often…
4 Responses
GradGirl
June 30th, 2007 at 8:50 am
1Such a good point.
Here are some suggestions, if you’re willing to be a little inconvenienced:
milk: it does come in quarts, though the value decreases. have you tried that?
Or if you’d like to go healthy, try soy milk. I prefer vanilla. It comes in a big container like milk does, but it doesn’t expire for months.
bread: buy sliced and put it in the freezer. (not good for Italian or French) When you want some, toast it, and it will taste normal. Takes forever to go bad.
one more option: plan to have someone over once a week, and get rid of some food tht way! :)
Best!
MissGoldBug
July 2nd, 2007 at 7:19 pm
2Hi Dennis,
Thanks for the comment on my blog! I feel your pain at the grocery store as a singleton myself. One suggestion: Trader Joe’s! It’s in Madison on Monroe Street. If you live in Milwaukee, there’s one there, too. They have a lot of single portion entrees that aren’t too spendy. Like stuffed chicken and fish that are frozen individually. I love almost everything that I have bought there!
Check it out: http://www.traderjoes.com
Best,
MGB
ambellamy
July 8th, 2007 at 10:22 am
3Dennis-
you speak my language friend… back at my mom’s house, i drank so much Milk because she never went grocery shopping… so i ate a lot of cereal at random times, etc… so when i moved out i could buy food i liked to munch on… I shop a lot at Trader Joes… and i Freeze my bread even though i make about 3-5 sandwitches a week cause i pack a lunch to work… But i hear you with staples and with portion sizes… I make one meal and i find myself eating it as leftovers for a week!
MILK FREEZES fine FYI… so if you buy a quart once, save the bottle… and then buy a gallon or so and you can freeze part of it in the older container. [just give it room to expand]
you can also re-freeze meals… if you make a pasta dinner and find yourself with too much leftover and you don’t want to eat it again that week… put it in some tupperware and freeze the sucker… then you just pop it in the mircrowave later and your all set.
daesonesb
November 7th, 2007 at 1:24 pm
4Hey, milk and bread do not have to be thrown away at expiration – especially if the bread is refrigerated.
They only need to be thrown away if A) the bread is stale or moldy and B) the milk has gone bad. Milk going bad involves smell. If you can pour a glass of milk and it looks and smells fine, then dont throw it out!!
RSS feed for comments on this post · TrackBack URI
Leave a reply