Attention, single shoppers: How many times have you chosen a package off a supermarket shelf even though you knew the package was too big? You knew that you would wind up throwing out some of the product, and subsequently wasting money, but the larger packages factored into a smaller price per serving than their diminutive counterparts.
Those products “for one” sound great, at least until you check out the price.
Let’s compare some national averages of retail supermarket sizes and prices:
– Quaker Instant Oatmeal: 18-ounce box, $2.45 (13.6 cents/ounce); 42-ounce box, $3.69 (8.7 cents/ounce).
– Starkist Chunk Light tuna in water: three 3-ounce can pack, $2.25 (23.1 cents/ounce); 9-ounce can: $1.49 (16.6 cents/ounce).
– Tombstone pizza (pepperoni and sausage): Tombstone for One, 7.05 ounces, $2.19 (31.1 cents/ounce); Tombstone pizza, 22 ounces, $3.49 (15.9 cents/ounce).
– Kellogg’s Fun Pack: 6 boxes, $3.25 (50.8 cents/ounce); Kellogg’s Variety Pack: 10 boxes, $4.49 (42.8 cents/ounce).
As many of us have discovered, the average American isn’t so average anymore. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the fastest-growing segment of the population is divorced parents with one child. Furthermore, more single consumers, young and old, are shopping for themselves, and faced with higher prices for smaller sizes.
It would seem, in checking out these products for one (or two) that the manufacturers are assuming that if we have a smaller family unit we have more money. No one would argue that it costs more to package smaller sizes, but this much more?
So what can smaller households do? Just grin and bear it? Write in and complain? Accept the price discrimination? Actually, you can shop smart with just a bit of thought.
Remember, many foods in the supermarket service departments are sold by the pound.
The fresh meat, seafood, deli produce and bakery are perfect places to buy the exact sizes you need without paying any more than if you had a family of six. For convenience, the deli now offers more prepared foods than ever before, so if you want one burrito, onc slice of pizza, or 2 ounces of antipasto you can get it, and all by the pound. Mind you, these are often premium-priced products, but you are buying them in manageable quantities without being penalized.
The bulk-foods section of the store might also offer singles and couples the advantage of exact sizes. It also might be the best place to buy breakfast cereal or oatmeal for the occasional user.
Check out private label (the store brand) for grocery items such as tuna. Frequently the store brand will not only offer a price savings, but be packaged in different sizes.
To do a fair comparison, check the unit-price label on the shelf as well as the ingredients and nutritional information panel.
Buying for one or two doesn’t have to be more expensive. Plan your meals around those products that are available the way you want to buy them.
———-
Leave questions and comments for Philip Lempert in Good Eating ‘s Interactive Kitchen forum in the Tribune area on Chicago Online. Join our supermarket con sumer panelforum at 7p.m. every Wednesday in Windy City Chat II on Chicago Online.
