Why living alone costs more at the grocery store

Living alone can mean higher grocery costs. John Vennavally-Rao takes a closer look at how household size influences spending.

TORONTO – An Interac survey making the rounds this week confirmed what many single Canadians already suspected: living alone means paying more per person for groceries than those who share a household.

But the numbers don’t explain why. The short answer, according to food experts and solo shoppers, is that the grocery store seems to be built for families, leaving the person shopping for one at a disadvantage.

Blair Titus, who lives alone, put it plainly as he headed into a No Frills in downtown Toronto.

“You pay a little more as a single person, because you don’t need a whole rack of anything, you know?” he said. “You just need what you need.”

The survey found single Canadians spent about $102 a week on groceries, compared with roughly $80 per person for those in shared households.

More than three-quarters (77 per cent) said they struggled to keep their grocery bills from climbing, about six in 10 felt they did indeed pay higher per-person costs than people who split expenses, and roughly a third said food often went bad before they could use it up.

Grocery prices have soared in recent years, and data suggests solo shoppers have been pinched the hardest of all.

The main reason single people pay more isn’t tough to understand. The best deals usually involve buying in larger quantities, where the cost-per-serving drops. A three-pack of chips, for instance, works out cheaper per bag than a single bag on its own. But those savings only pay off if you can use up what you buy or have somewhere to store it.

Canadians living alone say they can struggle to find food items portioned for one.

The inability to buy in bulk is where living alone starts to cost more, said Mike von Massow, a food economist at the University of Guelph.

“If you’re a single person, you have to worry about space. You’re often living in a smaller space, you might have a smaller fridge, no access to a significant freezer,” he said.

Bulk shopping, including at big box stores like Costco, has long been held up as the way to save. But it is often out of reach for someone cooking for one, said von Massow, because of the storage problem.

The same goes for the two-for-one offers that fill grocery flyers, he added.

“You’re worried about things going bad and going off,” he said.

It is a reality Krista Ruest knows well. Living on her own, she said food waste is a constant battle.

“I buy a whole loaf of bread and if I don’t get it in the freezer fast enough, then it’s going to go bad,” she said. “If I was living with other people, we would be able to eat it all and then save money that way.”

Jozen Janik said his small apartment and tiny fridge leave little room to stock up when prices are good. Asked about rising prices, Janik said, “It’s tough.”

To cope, Janik added: “You buy less stuff, less quality stuff. Cheaper stuff.”

For Greg Johnson, who also lives alone, the rising prices are hard to ignore. A bag of rice that once cost him $11 now runs closer to $20, he said.

“It’s very hard to survive these days,” said Johnson, who reaches for no-name brands when he can.

He said he used to be able to fill a shopping cart for $100, but showed CTV News a single bag he’d just filled for around the same amount.

“Even the laundry detergent, you try to save on that,” said Johnson as he held up a No Name-branded product. “Nowadays, I see people making their own laundry detergent, trying to save some money.”

The higher cost of living for singles does not stop in the grocery aisle, von Massow noted. Couples sometimes get preferential tax treatment, and he said a two-bedroom apartment does not cost twice as much as a one-bedroom.

Ontario’s own public health modelling builds in a 20 per cent cost premium for people cooking for one.

So what can solo shoppers do? Von Massow said the trick is flexibility. Specials are not always tied to buying in volume, so it pays to shop around and stay open to substitutes.

And increasingly, he said, people are teaming up. Some of his students pool their grocery money to split bulk buys and share the savings.

“They say we need to buy this, even if we’re not living together, we can split it and take advantage of the sales,” von Massow said. “I’d be surprised if we’re not starting to see some groups of friends get together and try those sorts of things.”

Ruest has landed on a version of the same idea, trading meals with a neighbour so nothing goes to waste.

“If I make a large meal for dinner, I’m gonna give her some, so it doesn’t go to waste, and she’s gonna do the same for me,” she said. “Just to kind of save money and time.”