Most people forget about spoilage, which is a stealth expense that almost everyone realizes. $5 isn’t as realizable as you think.
We don't have much spoilage at our house. Stuff gets eaten quickly. People living alone can reduce expenses by eating with friends on a rotating basis. Somebody buys a family-size package of something which the group eats.
Spoilage is money out the window. I don’t throw money out the window.
Friday, I had a roasted chicken carcass left over from chicken and dressing (!) so threw it in a pot of water and let it cook down. Picked the meat off and put it back into the pot of stock. Threw in leftover veggies from the fridge, added a handful of pasta and the little bit of Velveta cheese in the box. Viola! A nice cheap pot of chicken soup and no spoilage that had to be thrown out.
I rotate canned goods. This weekend, I cleaned out the deep freeze and the refrigerator freezer and arranged everything by date. It’s rare that something gets freezer burned but then the dogs get a treat. Tonight, we had mushrooms (2 x $1 lb) stuffed with the oldest 2012 package of sausage from the freezer ($1.50) and cream cheese ($1.40), a pea salad (75 cents = 50 cent can of peas, a bit of onion, mayo and cheese) and mashed cauliflower (giant $1.48). That makes 6 plates at about $1 each and hubby can have a midnight snack on the leftover sausage stuffing.