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!!

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.

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

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!