More Americans Are Living Solo, and Companies Want Their Business

[brooklynite]

Wall Street Journal

More Americans than ever are living alone these days, and many don’t want to bake full-size cakes, buy eggs by the dozen, run half-loaded dishwashers or store 24-packs of toilet paper.

“I gave up on buying bread,” says Nicole Beck, a 29-year-old public-relations manager living solo in Austin, Texas. “I’m always so annoyed that the loaf goes stale before I can use it all.”

Arnold recently came out with a bread package that only contains 10 slices...

[lpbk2713]

1. I hardly ever use the dishwasher.

It would take a while to make using it practical.

[leftyladyfrommo]

17. It's good for storing things out of sight. nt

[JustABozoOnThisBus]

18. Isn't that what the oven is for? nt

[leftyladyfrommo]

19. That. Too. nt

[LakeArenal]

30. Not if you pre-heat without remembering.

[SoCalNative]

2. Has he never heard of a freezer?

It's not rocket science.

[brooklynite]

4. I have; why would you put bread in one?

[SoCalNative]

7. Because it will keep

and not get moldy that way. And if you're going to toast it anyway, it really doesn't matter. Keep out what you will use for a few days and put the rest in the freezer for later.

[MicaelS]

12. To save time running to the store.

Back when my late mother went shopping, she would buy a dozen loves of bread and a dozen half gallons of milk in the old waxed paper cartons. Put them in our chest type deep freeze, and when we needed either we would go get it, let it thaw and use it like normal. And yes both worked perfectly.

It was nice to drink milk with ice in it. I am serious.

[brooklynite]

13. Milk, I have no problem with...

Bread (unless dried out) contains water within the cell walls. When frozen, the water expands and breaks through the membrane. The result is something soggy and unpleasant when you thaw it out.

[LanternWaste]

15. Never had soggy bread after bringing it out of the freezer.

Are you certain you're doing it correctly?

[MicaelS]

16. Neither did we. n/t

[GoCubsGo]

20. Same here.

Granted, these days, I pretty much only eat the sourdough that I bake myself. Even with store-bought bread, I never had sogginess problems, however. The only exception is when it was in the freezer for several months. That didn't happen often.

[LakeArenal]

31. Me neither. Any kind too.

[pecosbob]

21. Hated frozen milk as a kid...

[ooky]

22. Never tried freezing milk, but freeze bread all the time.

Works great. The sooner you freeze it, the better it keeps its freshness.

[Blue_true]

25. To preserve it. Thaw it out just before using it. Not perfect but it works. nt

[GemDigger]

8. Yuck. Frozen bread or meat is a no go in my home. A half loaf would be perfect.

I buy my meat fresh every couple of days. The only thing in my freezer is ice cubes, ice cream, a bag of fish sticks and a bag of tater tots.

[virgogal]

10. I have ice packs in mine.

I used one this AM.

[Flaleftist]

36. I don't think ground beef for tacos, spaghetti, casseroles matters.

For steaks, yes you do lose quality.

As far as bread, if you toast it, make French toast or homemade stuffing or croutons, it's fine.

[UniteFightBack]

23. I never met a piece of bread that I didn't like toasted out of the freezer. nt

[Lady Freedom Returns]

3. About time.

I don't use my dishwasher. And am sick of all the bulk stuff that will go bad because I don't use that much, like the bread.

[greymattermom]

5. I live alone.

I keep my bread in the fridge.

[durablend]

6. Lemme guess

They'll charge the same amount for the "right sized" packages as they do for the bigger ones? So thoughtful!

[Blue_true]

29. Believe it or not, that does not make a difference to the people that buy it.

A really good supermarket got the idea to cut out dinner sized pieces of salmon and cod filets. They charged around 4x more per ounce for the pieces, sold them out constantly. The reason why was that a person that only wants a piece of fish per week don't want to pay $20 for a large filet that they will likely discard most of, when they can buy a small piece of fish for $7 and have it fresh for dinner that night.

[Archae]

9. I live alone, well, not quite, I live with 2 cats.

I buy about $30-40 worth of groceries a week, and I don't have a dishwasher.
Considering the fact I only use one plate per meal, if that, I don't need one.

[smirkymonkey]

11. Good idea.

I throw out so much food because it goes bad before I can eat it. I would love to see smaller packs of items.

[lunatica]

14. I live alone with my cat

And yes, this is bit of a problem.

[PoliticAverse]

28. For you or the cat ? n/t

[lunatica]

32. LOL!

I didn’t realize my comment was a head-scratcher until I re-read it because of your question.

[Blue_true]

24. Really good idea.

I am single and live alone. The only thing that I want a big package of is bottled water because I drink a lot of that. A ten slice bread loaf, four bun hotdog or hamburger package is ideal for me.

[lunatica]

33. If I ever cook hamburgers it's usually one big one or two small one

If I buy a package of buns I only use one or two. Unfortunately hamburger and hot dog buns aren’t very good with anything else, so the extras end up getting thrown away.

[Blue_true]

34. I put my extra buns to use.

I have periodic urges for burgers or hotdogs, maybe once every two months, then I eat only four, so I always have four buns left. What I have learned to do is drizzle honey on them and use them as a snack, but even with that I would prefer buying a four bun pack to start.

[UniteFightBack]

26. This Irish woman throws out the least bread possible and it stores wonderfully in the freezer. I

wrap it up really well and then put in in a freezer bag. I do this at work too. I currently have a hero and a bagel in the freezer at work. I really think single people are facing much more pressing issues than this bullshit.

[PoliticAverse]

27. Letting bread go stale is how you save money buying breadcrumbs. n/t

[First Speaker]

35. I find this a little sad...

...despite--or maybe because of--the fact that I've lived alone for most of my life. I remember a song lyric from my childhood--"all the lonely people". You get used to it...but still, I find this--sad...