Join Forces with Your Friends
Living alone does not mean you have to shop alone, cook alone, or eat alone. Seniors, students, and anyone on a limited income can stretch their food budget significantly by joining forces with friends or family for meal planning, grocery runs, and cooking sessions.
Key points
- Buying in bulk is often cheaper per unit, but too much for a small household
- Cooking as a group combines the benefits of saving money with fellowship
- A meal-sharing rotation can dramatically reduce effort and cost for everybody
Per person, a small household tends to spend more on food than a larger family. The per-unit cost is higher for small food packages and single-serve items. Beyond that other factors may be at play, such as a lack of time, inadequate kitchen facilities, limited cooking skills, or the temptation to turn to take-out.
Joining forces with a friend or two can be the solution. Shopping, cooking, and sharing meals saves money and alleviates the isolation many singles experience in their personal lives. A group is able to share bulk offers, and members may find it easier to stick to a list and harder to make impulse purchases.
Beyond lowering the cost per meal there are other advantages when friends cook together. Recipes can be shared, and cooking techniques can be passed from experienced cooks to novice ones. Chopping and stirring may be easier for a stronger person in the group rather than a frailer one. At the end of the session everyone goes home with several meals ready to reheat.
Another way to approach cooking as a group is the 'meal rotation'. Each person in a group cooks one large meal per week. The meals are shared, either by delivering portions or by eating together. Each person cooks once but eats well several times a week without the effort of cooking every day.
Practical ways to get started:
- Split a bulk purchase: Identify one or two staples you use regularly and split the next bulk purchase with a friend.
- Shop together once a week or once a month: A shared weekly grocery run makes it easier to compare prices, avoid waste, and split items that only come in large sizes.
- Cook a double batch and share: Double the recipe of soups and stews and give half to a friend or neighbour. Ask them to do the same the following week.
- Start a small cooking group: Three or four people, each cooking one meal per week for the group, means everyone eats well four nights a week while only cooking once. Keep it simple — one-pot meals, big trays of roasted vegetables, large pots of pasta or chili work best.
- Pool pantry staples: Consider sharing the cost of pantry staples one person alone cannot use up fast enough.
- Eat together: Even once a week, sharing a meal with a friend or neighbour changes the experience of eating on a budget. Food tastes better in company and the effort of cooking feels more worthwhile.
Sources for inspiration:
- How to Start a Cooking Club by the Dairy Farmers of Canada
- Cookbook Club 101, what it is and how to start your own, by Wit & Delight
- How to Start a Batch-Cooking Club by vegan family kitchen