Shopping for one. Any tips?

Make sure you have a plan for every thing that you buy. I used to buy a lot more than I needed "just in case" I wanted to use more later in the week. It always went bad, because I didn't have a plan. When you have already planned out what you are going to buy, make, and eat, it's a lot easier to avoid spoiling food. Also, try portioning out what you buy as soon as you get home from the store. So, if I buy a big container of berries, for example, I split it up into tupperware containers right away and plan to eat one container each day. If a certain food only comes in an amount that's too large for you, look up multiple recipes that use that one ingredient. If you find yourself at the end of the week with an ingredient that will go bad soon, look up a recipe that can be made and stored in the freezer, so you don't have to eat that right away.

But basically, meal planning. If you don't currently plan out everything you will eat for the week, you should start. It saves a lot of money and wasted food.

I find that I have to go to the grocery store twice a week sometimes, and I only buy the amount of fresh produce that I can eat in that amount of time. Otherwise things go bad and I've wasted money and my fridge stinks. It's a pain, but necessary.

But aside from fresh fruits/veggies, the freezer is your friend!

In for tips.....I live alone but often have to chuck things that have gone bad because I can't eat that much of one thing.

I have had tremendous luck with Green Bags! Veggies last three times longer. But you have to use them as instructed - no twist ties, etc. The meat and cheese ones didn't work so well.

I buy products that can be repackaged in smaller amounts such as meat. I weight out 3 ounces and freeze it. It's hard to eat the same stuff over and over but then I think about the end results.

I am lucky to pass the market everyday on my way to and from work so I stop off a couple of times a week for perishables and buy less of these when I do my BIG Sunday shopping.

If you are truly concerned about fresh fruits and veggies and not packaged food or meat, it's just not true that they are only sold in family-sized packs. (Except in discount markets, and obviously if you're shopping somewhere that exclusively pre-packages in restaurant sizes, you're not really saving money if it spoils, are you?). If you're shopping for one, give up on the idea of saving money by buying in bulk, at least for fruits and vegetables. You'll clearly save money buy buying smaller amounts, possibly shopping more frequently, than buying big amounts and throwing half or more of it away.

Some veggies do come in big packs in regular stores, but most don't and even ones that do don't come that way EXCLUSIVELY. You can buy loose broccoli, carrots, bell peppers, sweet potatoes, tomatoes etc. And you can eat a lot of "huge" vegetables pretty fast. One big head of cauliflower? Roast it immediately, and refrigerate -- makes 4-6 servings that will keep for a week if already cooked. Those great giant tubs of spinach? Deceptive -- spinach cooks down so much, even the giant tubs only provide about 3 or 4 servings. I live alone, and those are gone in a few days. And they do sell spinach in smaller 9 or 10 oz bags that I get 2 servings from (or just one serving if I'm spinach-greedy, which I often am).

I don't know where you live, but farmer's markets are a great option for fruits and veggies. Again, most things are not sold in huge packs. AND USUALLY CHEAPER than supermarkets, providing you can control the urge to splurge on fancy exotic stuff or the kettlecorn wagon, etc.

I find that meat does come pretty much only in big packages (and I am utterly unwilling to pay "single serve" prices for meat), so I freeze meat in single serve (or recipe-sized) bags and thaw as needed.

And what someone else said about having a plan for what you buy. Do your meal planning for several days in advance of shopping and you'll know how much to buy. I won't usually buy spinach AND a lot of mushrooms the same day, for example. And generally I eat meals made of more perishable food the first few days of the week, and by the end of the week I'm eating things that keep better or thawing stuff from the freezer. Also -- going to the market more than once a week is not the end of the world. Especially if you walk. I get in an extra walk a week by strolling down to the grocery to top up on quick-spoil veggies (I eat a lot of scallions) before I run out after my big weekly shopping trip.

Finally, if you're shopping and prepping food for one, you might have to resign yourself to sometimes eating the some of the same food two or three days in a row. See above re: spinach. When I buy spinach, I know I'm eating spinach a lot for a few days. Many of us are so lucky and privileged to have so much variety and choice available to us, but there's no law that says you have to have an orgy of variety every single day. If you're eating a healthy, good balance of macros and switching things up gradually the vitamins and minerals will take care of themselves over the average.