Different members of this household are busy working in different places. This means that they do not have adequate time to come home and cook. In addition, there may be only extremely few members in this household and, therefore, they find no need to cook all the time. Most of the households that carry food from the restaurant are couples with no children, so there is no need to cook. Furthermore, most financially stable individuals can be able to afford to buy food from restaurants, unlike people who are not financially stable and would choose to cook instead as it is cheaper compared to them later. Household income is a strong influence on the quantity of food discarded. In all kinds of households, and higher household incomes are in line with elevated levels of food wastage.
From the amount of waste, it is possible to tell the number of persons living within a household. Studies have shown that a single person’s household wastes the least amount of food per household. However, on a per-person scale, a household occupied by a single person litters more due to lack of company. This may also be because single householders are likely to be young and have lifestyles less familiar to regular patterns of eating at home. On the other hand, given the idea that it is not easy to find food that is specifically packaged for households with single persons, it may eventually end up in more waste. For instance, a loaf of bread is equal in size irrespective of the number of people who are going to eat it before it goes rancid.