Cooking for One

chelletackett

Hi, I'm new to the community boards, but have been using MFP for a bit now. My question for you all is this: My husband is leaving for the next few months for work (off to Ireland, lucky dog!), and I'll be staying home to work and take care of the home and dog. I'm not sure how to cook for just one person... I've never done that before, so I'm hoping to get some good base ideas from you all.

I am allergic to nuts (everything except peanuts are off limits), and my calorie goal for the day is 1900. I'm hoping that I can get some ideas that I can customize and run with. Thank you all in advance... its going to be a long 5 months!

cwolfman13

My cooking for one is usually just some kind of protein, a veg, and a starch or grain. Casseroles, soups, stews, etc can be frozen and leftovers used for other meals.

JeromeBarry1

If you consume all meats, you can find packs of meat in your grocery that are sliced thin. You can buy canned or frozen vegetables and easily take whatever portion you want, while storing the rest in the freezer or refrigerator. Glad has a new Press N Seal sheet which actually works to seal air out of opened cans in the fridge.

If you like cooking big batches of stuff, keep doing that. Freeze leftovers in meal-sized containers and you'll be fine.

hippysprout

I would advise cooking like normal. You can freeze and reheat most meals just fine. Basically, you will cut your cooking in half and not have to do much work at all to adjust.

Having said that, there are a lot of mug cake recipes on pinterest. I find these helpful when I want a treat but know I can't be trusted with a whole cake in the house with no one to eat it but me

mbaker566

i cook for the week. not for one. though it's just me.
then i take what i want out of the fridge and reheat. and i only have to cook once and the dishes are minimized.

hadirk

I cook for 1 but instead of making my meals of 1 serving, i make them 2 then split them between lunch and dinner. sometimes when i'm too busy i cook 1 or 2 meals with enough servings for the whole week.

alicebhsia1

lots of salad, microwave steam veggie bags, michelina's type frozen entrees, veggie hot dogs (you can microwave them), progresso soups, baked bean cans, lots of choices. cooking for one is easy and if you feel like actually cooking you can freeze leftovers or invite a friend over for dinner/lunch.

ritzvin

mbaker566 wrote: »

i cook for the week. not for one. though it's just me.
then i take what i want out of the fridge and reheat. and i only have to cook once and the dishes are minimized.

ditto.

hesn92

Before I moved in with my husband, I cooked probably the same amount as I do now, it would just last me 4x as long. You'd have to be ok eating the same thing for several days though (I am).
Or there are some meals that are easy to cook for one. Like maybe just cook up a chicken breast, a baked potato and some vegetables. Or breakfast for dinner - scrambled eggs, a couple pieces of bacon, whatever you like.
There's also a lot of stupidly easy meals I used to eat when I didn't live with my husband. Like "english muffin pizza" lol.

acpgee

I might feel unmotivated to just cook for myself. I would probably batch cook some recipes that freeze well and divvy up into single size portions to reheat for days you can't be bothered.

My batch cooking go to recipes are braised chicken (curries, cacciatore, coq au vin, Korean dak dori tang), beef and lamb stews (manzo all'olio, estouffade, Irish stew), make ahead pasta sauces (bolognese, amatriciana, pesto) and meatballs. If you have the right size of thick glass bowl that can be heated in the oven or souffle pots, individual portions of shepherds and cottage pie.

I would also consider buying half a rotisserie chicken on day one to have with slaw, and then using simple recipes for leftover roast chicken on subsequent days such as (chopped chicken + a chopped avocado + a jar of salsa served on a soft taco shell, bang bang chicken, avgolemono soup served with a salad).

A quick starch for one person is a jacket potato in the microwave. Prick all over with a fork so steam can escape to prevent explosions. Zap 8-10 minutes on high depending on size of the potato.

fraukazi

I agree with the others, cook batches of freezable dishes. I like the one pot recipes on this site, my husband doesn't like them very much, so I make them for lunches and freeze to use over a few weeks.
https://www.familyfoodonthetable.com/category/maindishes/

jscot002

There are a lot of cooking for one cookbooks. The hardest part is portion control when shopping and automatically buying fruit and veg because your partner eats it. Everything you buy will take twice as long to eat which can lead to wastage. Stop, look at your basket and think, do I need all that food. When buying meat, split into single portion sizes and freeze what you won’t use straight away. Left over fruit can be frozen. Label and date everything. Stick note to fridge with what you have eg mince 3 (meals) ham 2, chicken 7, apples 4 curry 3 etc. I can’t stick to weekly meal plans, I decide in the morning and pull out the meat to defrost. Place everything onto a plate unsliced and raw and think is that too much for one meal. Buy some smaller sized dinner plates so the meal looks bigger and a salad bowl small enough for one. Collect all treats and place them at the other end of the house for guests. It makes you walk further for that piece of chocolate. Eat when you feel hungry, either when you get home or two hours later, you are no longer waiting for that other person. Lastly long distance relationships are hard to maintain. Send email each day even if it’s about what you ate or what’s on the news, just keep in contact. Good luck.

Millicent3015

It might be helpful downloading a free shopping list app, most of them have a Pantry option where you can list everything you have, especially in the fridge and freezer, so you don't forget about some fruit and veg you bought previously, or get stuck deciding what to have for dinner because you forgot that thing at the back of the freezer. It helps me finish off all the fresh fruit and veg and stops me from buying more that I don't need. In the cookbooks you already have, most of the recipes are for four people, so if a recipe calls for 100g of something for example, you divide it by four to get the weight of an individual portion. I think the Recipes/Meals features on MFP can adjust portion sizes as well.

chelletackett

Thank you everyone! These are some great suggestions! I am pretty good about meal waste (throwing away leftovers and such), but that was with 2 people. I do freeze quite a bit of leftovers, I'm not one to throw things away unless they're truly bad. Its just so hard to cook for one person, as I don't really like eating the same thing everyday.

I am scouring the internet looking for all kinds of single serve meals or meal for two. In some ways it will be easier to eat as my husband is quite picky, but so many options.... lol!

Thank you all!

aokoye

Do realize that you can just half recipes. Bread and such is a bit harder, but most non-baking recipes can easily be halved, quartered, cut in third, etc. I do it all the time. Given that my norm is cooking for one (and it always has been) I will typically cook four servings of something and eat the rest for leftovers.

The other major exception I can think of is things that are cooked in pressure cookers in which case you need to make sure that you have enough liquid in the pot. Even then it's not that complicated.

amgreenwell

When I was cooking for myself before husband and kids I would make a smoothie in the morning, have a protein rich snack mid morning like an apple with pb, prepped crock pot meals for lunch or a salad with protein, then another protein rich snack like cottage cheese in the mid afternoon, then dinner was usually steamed edemame and a piece of fish (I'd thaw it while I showered after exercising and cook it in the oven). I didn't cook a whole lot but I'd just have staples like bags of frozen veg and simple proteins to cook.

cheryldumais

I have gotten in the habit of creating reruns that are unique each time. For example I'll fry a package of ground beef then season portions differently for different meals. One portion might be made into taco meat which can be used in tacos and maybe another day as a taco salad. Another portion would be seasoned for spaghetti. Another might be used with shredded cabbage, onions and mushrooms with soy sauce for an oriental flavor over rice. This way I don't have to cook daily and nothing goes to waste. You can do the same with sauted chicken. Chop some for lettuce wraps, eat one or two for a meal with starch and a veg, use some in a stir fry. You get the idea.

earlnabby

chelletackett wrote: »

Hi, I'm new to the community boards, but have been using MFP for a bit now. My question for you all is this: My husband is leaving for the next few months for work (off to Ireland, lucky dog!), and I'll be staying home to work and take care of the home and dog. I'm not sure how to cook for just one person... I've never done that before, so I'm hoping to get some good base ideas from you all.

I am allergic to nuts (everything except peanuts are off limits), and my calorie goal for the day is 1900. I'm hoping that I can get some ideas that I can customize and run with. Thank you all in advance... its going to be a long 5 months!

I live alone but usually cook for 4. I eat one portion, freeze 1-2 portions, and eat leftovers 1-2 times. Every couple of weeks, I eat my frozen meals and don't have to cook at all. Makes life so much easier than having to cook every night or worry about resizing recipes for one.

When I do make a dinner just for myself, it is generally a serving of meat with a large side of veggies. The meat may be a burger, pork chop, chicken breast or thigh, or steak (depending on what is on sale at the grocery).

pinggolfer96

I’d help but my cooking for one could prob feed a family of 3-4....

funjen1972

I've been on my own for years. I cook enough for a few meals and eat the leftovers. Somtimes I cook too much and freeze portions for eating later.

Some meals aren't even cooked... Greek yogurt and fruit, hummus or avocado with dippers, simple sandwiches, soup, etc... It makes life easier and there are less dishes to wash.

Deviette

When I was at uni I didn't do the typical student thing of eating takeaways all the time (seriously, I eat more takeaways now than I did then). I cooked myself proper meals every night. Anything I didn't eat went into a tub and I ate for lunch the next day, normally with a salad. Then the next dinner was something new every night. Some tips:
- Learn to freeze things in single portions. Even since living with my partner we still freeze things like meat in single portions because I still often cook just for myself (he's a shift worker).
- That goes for cooked meals too. I have single portions of bolognese, chili, curry (tai and indian style), stew currently sitting in my freezer at home. We use those plastic takeaway tubs for single portions as they're generally well sized and they're reuseable. Just chucking on some rice or pasta is an easy way of having something nice and homemade, but without all the effort.
- Don't buy big packets of things (like veg), it'll just go to waste or you'll get so very bored of eating that veg

I can tell you, when it's just you it can be really difficult to motivate yourself to cook something "proper" when you're just cooking for yourself. I always make sure I have something in the freezer that I can make easily when I can't be bothered. A frozen pizza, those tortellini packets, something I've cooked. It doesn't matter what it is. Just something that's better than and egg and bacon sarnie (because that's my go to)

FL_Hiker

I don't think cooking for one vs. two has to be all that different, you'll just have a lot more leftovers you'll need to freeze. I was in a similar situation when my husband went to Japan for work, so I took the opportunity to have a little fun myself by cooking things that he doesn't enjoy ( like broccoli!). To make it easier on yourself you could make a weekly menu, that way every night you know what you will be having, and have a game plan. It can be hard to stay motivated when its just yourself, I know I was tempted to just go out every night since I didn't feel like doing all that work for just me... I always prefer to cook for someone I love .

abbynormalartist

hippysprout wrote: »

I would advise cooking like normal. You can freeze and reheat most meals just fine. Basically, you will cut your cooking in half and not have to do much work at all to adjust.

This, absolutely this!

I do most of my cooking on the weekends and often make a double batch of each dish- it's usually just as easy since everything is already out. We eat one meal from what I make that day, then freeze the rest. Lasagna, meatloaf, casseroles and especially soups do really well when frozen. If I have time and want to cook during the week I can quickly make salads, stir frys or eggs. But most of the time I just pull something from the freezer the night before and then just warm it up at dinner time.