Healthy Eating for 1?

ashharris424

I just recently moved into my own apartment. No roommates, just me. Since then I've been struggling with eating healthy. I like healthy foods but I run into the problem of them going bad before I can finish them. I only eat breakfast and dinner at home (lunch is served at work) and I only eat dinner at home maybe 4 - 5 nights a week due to my schedule. Does any one have suggestions on things I can make and freeze? Or even things that only have 1 serving?

capaul42

Get frozen veggies. That way you're only using the amount you need for a meal.

I also suggest repackaging any meat you buy into single servings. I usually buy big packs of meat and repack them by servings. This way if I know I'm having pork chops for dinner I take out one package (each has 3 chops for me, my SO and my daughter) in the morning.

My meals are usually pretty simple. Meat, veggies and a starch. I've learned to cook enough that if there's any leftovers, they usually get eaten the next day. Like tonight I'm making mashed potatoes for my daughter. There will be maybe 2 cups left after we eat. My SO likes to cook that up in a frying pan with some left over chicken and make a hash. He'll probably do that for lunch tomorrow.

abatonfan

Can you meal plan/prep? Find multiple ways to use up different ingredients before they go bad (kale can be used as a salad for lunch day, thrown in an omelet tomorrow, and baked as kale chips the next day, etc.)? I'm often cooking for one, so what I like to do is buy a few fresh staple ingredients (zucchini/squash, kale/collards, carrots, green beans, snap peas, radishes, mushrooms, broccoli, tomatoes -often a lot of stuff that won't get nasty if I don't eat it right away), buy frozen (or freeze) things that I don't eat every day (different meats and seafood, berries/cherries), and play around with different combinations of the ingredients with different seasonings/sauces (mustards, salsa, curry sauce, vinegars, salad dressings).

Nikion901

Right with you on this ... also only need to cook for 1 and it is a challenge because recipes usually cook for a minimum of 4, which means lots of left overs or overeating opportunities!

I picked up a few plastic divided storage containers with lids that advertised they were safe in the dishwasher, microwave, and freezer ... so now I use them when I make one of those dinners that involves 3 or more food items that can be separated ... like a chicken baked with root veggies, sides of other stuff ... I freeze a couple and put a one in the fridge so I don't need to eat the same meal too frequently that week. Then, it becomes an easy thing to take one out of the fridge and put in the refrigerator for the next day's supper that heated through instead of cooked from scratch.

Also, like poster capau142 said, frozen veggies and individually packed protein are great!

Another cooking for one tip ... instead of roasting or baking that piece of meat, I slice it thinly and use it as part of a stir fry type dish. Makes it really easy to get the protein and a lot of freshly cut up veggies for a meal.

Whenever a meal plan calls for some carb like pasta or grain, I cook up a batch and store it in the fridge ... pasta in individual portions and others in a container where I can scoop out a serving with a measuring cup.

michelleepotter

Nikion901 wrote: »

Right with you on this ... also only need to cook for 1 and it is a challenge because recipes usually cook for a minimum of 4, which means lots of left overs or overeating opportunities!

A lot of the recipe sites online let you change the number of servings and then it adjusts the ingredients. I use this all the time because I'm cooking for 10.

MelaniaTrump

A lean cuisine or healthy choice with a bunch of added frozen veggies. I think I've seen frozen chopped kale at stores.

BigTandthesquatters

I also live alone. I am a big fan of Chilies/stews that I can make ahead and freeze. A good breakfast I like for 1 person is as follows...
One egg 70 calories
1/2 ounce shredded cheese 50 calories
1 english muffin(Trader Joe's fat free 110 calories)
1 morning star farms sausage patty 70 calories
big cup of coffee
1 oz half and half 40 calories

I make a breakfast sandwich and coffee it has like 350 calories for the whole breakfast and only takes as long to make as it takes to toast your muffin.

Dinner for one is also easy
salad greens
canned fish
green pepper chopped
red onion diced
cherry tomatoes and a decent salad dressing makes a pretty good dinner for one especially in the summer.

grinning_chick

How do you cook for one person? Simple: Not have a hangup about eating leftovers/the same thing multiple days in the week/month.

I've cooked for no one but myself (except for holidays) since I was 17 so for 25 years (!!) now. For the past almost-decade now (9 years) I've nearly exclusively cooked all meals versus eating away from the home. I cook and eat leftovers for up to six days or batch cook and freeze individual proportions.

It's easy to halve recipes and still figure out the proportion size as the standard is for them to be written for even numbers of servings. The only recipes I won't halve are the ones calling for one egg - too much bother to scramble and halve an egg. I rarely, but have on occasion, cooked "for two" meals from recipes. It's rare because it's a pain to cook every two days versus 0-2 a week.

dlkfox

Stir fry is a super easy way to make a fresh cooked for one.

I find that red peppers and onions work well for me. I'll fine dice them to put in scrambled eggs for breakfast. And then for supper, I will cut them up along with chicken for a stir fry. I'll put them in meatloaf or taco meat, too.

grinning_chick

Things you can make and freeze: Casseroles (before and after cooking), enchiladas (same), soups, stews, pulled/shredded pork or chicken, taco meat, meatballs, preformed raw hamburger patties, salisbury steaks, blanched or cooked vegetables, fresh and cooked fruits, lasagna (same), spaghetti sauce, other sauced pasta based dishes, shakshuka base, muffins, waffles, pancakes. Carved roasted chicken w/its stuffing and gravy components and just cook the potatoes and veg from fresh & refrigerate for the week when eat. And so on.

There are few cooked foods that do not freeze well. Google is your friend in determining what you can/can't freeze as well as good old fashioned trial and error. I don't freeze breaded foods (exception: actual bread) as I think they get too soggy on defrosting. I don't freeze deep fried foods for the same reason. I don't tend to freeze cooked whole cuts of beef as I personally find the meat somewhat tinny on reheating. Fajita veggies tend to be a bit limp if cooked before freezing. Milk/cream based sauces don't tend to fare well as the fat emulsion will get broken by freezing. Some you can "bring back" like Alfredo but roux based tend to be hosed once they break which is why I used citric acid and sodium bicarb to make cheese sauce for mac-n-cheese.

kommodevaran

Eating alone and cooking for one has a lot of benefits. Prepping and cooking smaller amounts takes less time, you can decide totally selfishly what to eat, and it's easier than if you have a family, because you can be sure noone has messed with your stuff

I meal plan, and the plan consists of these parts:
A running inventory of pantry, freezer and fridge.
A dinner rotation plan - weekday themes (soup/casserole, chicken/pork, leftovers, fish, surprise/whatever, carbs, lamb/beef) where the 3 meat/fish dinners are protein+starch+vegetable. I buy single frozen, or fresh meat/fish and freeze in portions, and frozen peas/green beans/brussel sprouts and fresh asparagus/artichokes for these dinners. Starches keep for a long time; I buy small amounts of potatoes, or one or two sweet potatoes at a time; occasionally a ear of corn.
A plan of all my meals, that turn into a log as I eat.

As a rule, I shop twice a week for the perishable ingredients, fruit and vegetables I'll be needing for the next 3-4 days. Some items will take me longer to eat, so I reverse plan too. I look for sturdy produce and fresh items. I buy frozen berries for smoothies. I concentrate on a few vegetables that are versatile so I can combine them for several recipes I know well. I will tweak any recipe and use whatever I have on hand and omit anything that is unavailable or too expensive or can't be used up in time; I'm also a bit picky so I avoid certain items. I eat a lot of raw vegetables: cucumbers, broccoli, cauliflower, carrots, rutabaga and beets; and fruit: apples, pears, grapes, melons, pineapple. I cut up large fruits and eat a portion every day until it's gone. Only occasionally I will buy ultraperishables like lettuce or figs, because this takes more intense planning.

I eat a lot of crispbread and milk and porridge with butter for breakfast and lunch, and evening meal is usually just some nuts, fruit and vegetable, sometimes smoothie, cheese or yogurt with nuts/nut butter and sweetener.

Waste is almost non-existent. I eat tasty, healthy, varied and cheap.

lorrpb

Do a search for mug breakfasts or mug meals. You dump everything in a mug and microwave it for a couple minutes. I make egg white omelettes like this. I actually use a Corelle "grab it" dish rather than a mug.