Are grocery stores catering to

households of one or two?

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Activist Carol Ann Johnson of Columbus, Ohio does more than gripe to friends about what she views as slim pickings for single shoppers. She picks up the phone, calls chain stores like Kroger and reminds them how many people are "householders living alone." (According to the 2000 census, 26% of Americans live alone — up from 17% in 1990.) Johnson wants more for the single shopper; she'd even like to see entire grocery stores geared toward singles' needs and desires, e.g. single portions. If this is a topic that concerns you, give Carol Ann Johnson a call at: (614) 461-0831. There's strength in numbers! Looking for restaurants featuring counter/bar dining? Click: eating at the bar Interested in restaurants featuring communal table dining? Click: eating with others THE How-to Booklet of Solo Dining Tips & Strategies: (Sooner or later, EVERYONE — business and pleasure travelers, singles, those divorced or widowed, very-marrieds whose spouses are on the road, harried moms and dads, etc. — faces the challenge of eating out alone.) The Art and Satisfaction of Dining Alone — REVEALED! is now available for purchase in PDF format! For details, please visit: solo dining tips & strategies Grocery shopping for most of us is simply a matter of searching, gathering and finding a place in line. Not so for Wharton marketing professor Peter S. Fader who tags shopping carts to discover your shopping pattern. His conclusions are interesting. To see if you agree with them, click: Patterns of Supermarket Shoppers Have you discovered Minimus.biz? Travelers are well aware of this company and for good reason. They depend on it for travel-sized versions of cereals (Kellog's Raisin Bran Cereal - bowl), jams (Kraft Strawberry Jelly - sealed cup), condiments (Stonewall Kitchen Country Ketchup), nuts (Corn Nuts - Nacho Cheese) snacks (Mary's Gone Crackers Organic Crackers - Herb), candy (Lifesavers Gummies - Tangy Fruits), breakfast (Diet Source Imitation Pancake Syrup), nutrition & energy bars (Betty Lou's Jumbo Fruit Bar - Cherry), and more. Minimus.biz is also a terrific resource for YOU, the home cook! Check out their array of individual-sized gourmet foods (Cheese Spread with Wine - Cabernet Cheddar, Portlock Wild Smoked Salmon, Giovanni's Mushroom Pate - with Marsala wine) — perfect enhancements for a meal at home! Free Shipping on all orders over $20! Cooking Solo Tidbits from: "Baffled by Beef: Meatpackers hope to boost sales by educating clueless shoppers" — Columbus Dispatch "Cooking Solo: Food Industry catching on with recipes geared for one" — Columbus Dispatch "Table for One: Just because you're cooking solo doesn't mean you have to skimp on fresh food" — The Sacramento Bee "Big Cookie Makers See Sales Crumble" — USAToday Noticed the growing numbers of articles on gourmet salt? What's in it for you? Get the details on an exciting and economical salt sampler. SoloDining.com believes the following offer may appeal to solos other than college students! Gourmet Food Express -Your Italian Grocery Store Online — has developed a "CollegePak" line of selections — specifically for college students (They also offer Quick-N-Easy dorm recipes.) — and promise, ". . . no shopping list and no cooking experience is necessary." According to the Gourmet Express website: "CollegePak™ features four individual combinations of products conceived to provide the basics to prepare very affordable, simple, delicious and healthy meals, whether you are a campus resident with access to a dorm kitchen or you live in an off-campus fully furnished apartment." New Survey Shows Nearly Nine in 10 Mature Adults Consider Themselves On-the-Go, Yet Many Find It Hard to Get Nutritious, Good-Tasting Meals — 1/6/05 Mature adults who responded to the survey (results based on a nationwide phone survey of 361 people ages 55+ and conducted by Ipsos U.S. Express on behalf of Golden Cuisine. Margin of error — +/- 3 percent.) conducted for ConAgra Foods Inc.'s Golden Cuisine line of meals for mature adults cited the following as among their most important challenges to getting nutritious meals: * Hard to find the time to plan, shop and prepare nutritious meals. (35 percent) * Hard to find a convenient place to buy nutritious foods at a good price. (32 percent) * The hassle of preparing nutritious meals just for one or two people. (32 percent) * Hard to know what nutrients you need as a mature adult. (23 percent) * Not sure their family, friend or caregiver always knows what to provide them for a nutritious meal. (12 percent) Carol Ann Johnson shares the following solo shopper finds: A dry dinner kit goes mini with the debut of Hamburger Helper Microwave Singles. One single-size pouch requires only one-step prep, one microwave and one hungry Hamburger Helper fan to enjoy one bowl of Cheeseburger Macaroni, Cheesy Beef Taco, Stroganoff or Cheesy Lasagna. Welch's Dried Fruits are now available in single-serve packages — a convenient way to enjoy a fruit snack. Available choices include: 0.9 oz. pouches for Berry Medley, Tropical Sensation, Mixed Fruit 1.5 oz. pouches for Tropical Sensation, Mixed Fruits "The Downsizing of Watermelons": In an unusual case of demographics-driven agriculture, an Orange County-based firm is targeting minis to singles and smaller families." — Los Angeles Times — September 25, 2006 Carol Ann reports that HoneyBaked now offers a 3 lb. Hickory Boneless Ham — smaller size/smaller price! Love Mac & Cheese, but not the huge leftovers that remain? Annie's homegrown totally natural has introduced a tasty solution — "Microwavable Single Servings Macaroni and Cheese Meals" ( 5 pouches). Locate a store near you or purchase it online. Per Annie's website: "Just add water and microwave the certified durum semolina pasta and you'll get a healthy meal fit for one!" "Meal assemblies," or "professional chef substitutes," is drawing the attention of busy solos/singles and families, too. For details, click: meals made easy Black&Decker — One-Cup Coffeehouse - The New Home Cafe System — Price: $59.99 Wheat Montana — a regional bakery and grain farm in southwestern Montana which makes 86 bread products, has ventured into mini-loaves for empty nesters, people living alone, single parents with one child and other small households. They're reason enough to bake the abbreviated loaf. Wheat and white are the choices for buyers of the half loaves that Wheat Montana first began selling about two years ago. But demand picked up this year, leading the company to plan the half-size package of buns that it hopes to have in stores this spring. Orowheat — just introduced "Mini-Loaves," a size that's "perfect for smaller households." Current choices: 100% Whole Wheat, Oatnut, Seven Grain and Buttermilk. Orowheat website offers a coupon for 40 cents off any of their products. S. Wallace Edwards & Sons — of Surry, Virginia has come up with a solution for smaller households that relish all-meat, hickory smoked country ham. It's the 2-3 pound Petite Boneless Ham, a convenient variation of their larger, cooked Virginia Ham. It comes in a traditional cloth bag, fully cooked and ready to heat and serve. Price: $29.95. Chiquita stocks fresh-cut fruit — 6 ounces to 32 ounces. Active and Fit sugar-free frozen fruit (1 lb.=2 servings) at Aldi (P.S. Kroger stocks its own brand of sugar-free frozen fruit.) Lean Cuisine (1-800-225-1180) or visit on the web at: http://www.nestleusa.com OR http://www.stauffers.com — money-off coupon (per Carol Ann)! Boston Market (1-800-488-0050) Swanson (800-798-3318) — money-off coupon (per Carol Ann)! Smart Ones (formerly Weightwatchers) (800-762-0228) — free entree coupon (per Carol Ann)! Hormel (800-523-4635) — single-serve microwave beef stew Dinty Moore (800-523-4635) — single-serve microwave Banquet (800-257-1191), Healthy Choice (800-323-9980) and Marie Callender (800-595-7010) Dole Foods — (800-232-8888) — Look for their 8 oz. zip-lock bag items. Note: When Carol Ann Johnson tries an item, she calls the company. "They'll ask you for the UPC symbol off the box and they'll often send you a "money-off coupon." (Want a lead on more coupons? Click: here) More of Carol Ann Johnson's recent discoveries: During a visit to Giant Eagle, ever-alert Johnson spied a perfect item for singles — "Breakfast Machine": coffee-maker, toaster, one-burner combination ($34) — one of the grocer's "back-to-school" specials. Visit them on the web at: http://www.gianteagle.com CarolWright Gifts (http://www.carolwrightgifts.com) stocks a "Mini Electric Frying Pan." Skillet features a 7" square nonstick surface (with a 32 oz. capacity) and a tempered glass lid. Item #43059 — $19.99. To check it out, click: cook a smaller serving Walgreen Drugs also has a "personal-size" electric frying skillet made expressly for them under the name, Signature Gourmet or Signature Kitchen. Walgreen Drugs also offers a four-cup size crock-pot AND a "two-slice" for one waffle-maker. Visit them on the web at: http://www.walgreen.com (Johnson noted that CompactAppliances.com (800-297-6076) — http://www.compactappliances.com — may be able to supply you with the Walgreen Drugs items mentioned above.) While surfing the internet, Johnson discovered gold at Amy's Kitchen! Specifically, an article entitled, "Cool Ideas in Frozens," by Tichard Turcsik, originally published in Progessive Grocer Magazine. Here are excerpts: " 'In' are individually boxed family-size and single-serve microwavable and/or oven-ready entrees featuring braised short ribs, chicken Marsala, grilled white meat chicken with penne in basil cream sauce, angel hair pasta and seafood, vegetable lasagna, and side dishes including twice baked potatoes, sweet potato casserole, and spinach soufflé." " 'What we've seen in the evolution of the TV dinner is a change from the traditional tray with compartments to frozen meal solutions that are ready-to-bake full meals with a center dish, as well as side items that are microwavable and/or oven-ready,' says Brian Frey, marketing assistant at Giant Eagle (1-800-634-1267) in Pittsburgh." "The Oriental category is really set to take off . . . Kahiki (1-888-436-2500) is introducing its Bowl & Roll Combo line. The 12-ounce meals consist of a 9-ounce entree and three-ounce egg roll packaged in a patented tray with a susceptor sleeve that crisps the egg roll in the microwave. 'We also include a little packet of sweet and sour sauce, which was our restaurant's signature sauce,' says Alan L. Hoover, s.v.p., sales and marketing, of Columbus, Ohio-based Kahiki Foods, Inc." " 'I would say 80 percent of our customers are still Indian,' says Archie Amin, v.p., marketing at Deep Foods (1-908-810-7502) in Union, N.J. 'But the mainstream stores are expanding their ethnic offerings because of the growing Indian population and because the taste profile for mainstream clients has changed somewhat.' " "In February, Albertsons (1-888-746-7252) introduced its new Essensia line of frozen main meal entrees and side dishes. Packed in sleek sliver boxes, Essensia is made in Canada and includes braised short ribs in a Polynesian sauce, fully cooked hamburger patties, lasagna, ravioli, and side dishes like twice baked stuffed potatoes and spinach soufflé." Contact information provided by Carol Ann Johnson Carol Ann Johnson reports that Glory Foods — a major processor of African American foods — will soon offer a single-serve size. For more information, call: (614) 252-2042 P.S. The Columbus, OH-based maker of southern foods, Glory Foods Inc. has begun selling its wares directly to consumers over the internet. Glory Foods primarily sells through grocery stores, but many stores don't carry its products or don't carry its entire line, according to Business First of Columbus. She adds a "sweet" announcement: Edwards Baking Co.; (404) 377-0511 (Atlanta, Georgia) now offers frozen pie singles (P.S. Johnson has tried them; the key lime variety is tasty!). P.S. Johnson provided us with a toll-free number for Smucker's Jams & Jellies — (888) 550-9555. You can purchase single serving sizes of their products. Marzetti of Columbus, Ohio is another of Johnson's finds. They offer single-serve pouches of salad dressing (20 selections, eight of which are "light" or "fat free.") to the public via mail order (minimum order — one case per item). For more information, call: (614) 846-2232. Hidden Valley Ranch Dressing offers single-serve selections — regular and lite versions. Call: (800) 537-2823 for recipes. If you have questions or comments about this Web page or site, e-mail: webmaster@SoloDining.com. © 2010 SoloDining.com Return to Top