Cooking for One?

nicoleeliza4

Ok so just signed the lease on my first apartment (Yay!!) and moving out in less than 3 weeks! So excited to be able to cook what i want (healthier, none of these steaks the size of your face or the go to frozen pizzas) and work out.
Now that I actually have a place though I've been starting to think what I can start to cook since right now when I cook it's for 4 people and now it will only be 1 and need to go cheap on groceries.
Any meal ideas that are cheap, healthy, and easy to do small portions? Or good for freezing for later?

TheFunBun

Portioned meats usually work wonders, that way you can just add sauce for flavor and use whatever side you want. Chicken and pork loin are nice and lean and work really well for salads, pasta, stir fry, grilling, everything.

One day you eat them on a salad with fruit and nuts, the next day a savory salad with beans (canned) and corn (canned), the next day you have it with roasted vegetables, etc...

nicoleeliza4

Hmm that gave me some good ideas thanks!

WaterBunnie

I have a bit of an obsession with stirfries at the moment adding noodles for carbs. A chicken will last all week used for different meals each day and keeps things cheap. Roast chicken with veg one day, cold chicken salad, chicken wrap, chicken chow mein, very versatile!

Best advice I can give is to always make sure you have some healthy store cupboard items like tinned fish, veg etc so that on nights you really don't feel you can be bothered you still have something really healthy you can quickly throw together without having to cook.

marylou1976

mince meat is cheap in Uk (I think you call it ground beef) to make chilli con carne, bolognaise sauce, keema curry and can all be portioned and frozen then warmed up in the microwave. soups also you can make a big batch and freeze. you can also make low fat curries and stews which freeze well.

Koshkaxo

Keep an eye out for deals at the store. Buy bulk sized meats when on sale (I go chicken boobs and thin cut pork chops) and immediately freeze whatever you wont eat before it spoils. I also usually cook enough for 2 meals at a time and then I only have to do it (and the dishes!) once. I also think I save a lot of money by buying produce that is loose rather than the pre packaged (pre washed etc) variety

Leiki

When I lived on my own these are some of the things I did.

I would make a full pot of rice, separate them into single servings and sandwich bag and refrigerate them so I could microwave them a minute to get almost a bagged steam effect. (just make sure to open the baggie before you microwave. You may need to put a bit of water in the baggy, too, so that it doesn't overdehydrate, depending on the rice, and your microwave.)

I made enough veggies/ meat for the week to keep in the fridge. I would freeze the rest in single serving baggies. The veggies and meat I made may be unmarinated, or marinated very basically so that I could vary up what I had throughout the week.

Frozen mixed veggies are quick, and easy. They are great for making quick stir fry or fried rice, or a side to go with a piece of chicken or fish. I buy bulk, and make sure to seal it properly so it doesn't get freezer burn.

I refrigerate the bread right away, and if I know I won't be able to consume it before it molds, I'll store some in the freezer.

Fresh veggies, like lettuce or spinach can be difficult if you plan to eat them raw, like in a salad or sandwich. You don't want to buy too much, because it doesn't taste the same once you freeze. Buy only one of each type at a time. For example, as a salad staple for week 1, buy 1 head of lettuce. After you are almost done, you can buy spinach. That minimizes waste.

Good luck!

taunto

Well, I usually cook couple of dishes at a time and freeze most of the stuff. This way you get to cook for 4 people but dont have to worry about it going to spoil

CMB1979

When I lived on my own these are some of the things I did.

I would make a full pot of rice, separate them into single servings and sandwich bag and refrigerate them so I could microwave them a minute to get almost a bagged steam effect. (just make sure to open the baggie before you microwave. You may need to put a bit of water in the baggy, too, so that it doesn't overdehydrate, depending on the rice, and your microwave.)

I made enough veggies/ meat for the week to keep in the fridge. I would freeze the rest in single serving baggies. The veggies and meat I made may be unmarinated, or marinated very basically so that I could vary up what I had throughout the week.

Frozen mixed veggies are quick, and easy. They are great for making quick stir fry or fried rice, or a side to go with a piece of chicken or fish. I buy bulk, and make sure to seal it properly so it doesn't get freezer burn.

I refrigerate the bread right away, and if I know I won't be able to consume it before it molds, I'll store some in the freezer.

Fresh veggies, like lettuce or spinach can be difficult if you plan to eat them raw, like in a salad or sandwich. You don't want to buy too much, because it doesn't taste the same once you freeze. Buy only one of each type at a time. For example, as a salad staple for week 1, buy 1 head of lettuce. After you are almost done, you can buy spinach. That minimizes waste.

Good luck!

Good advice. However, you should never refrigerate bread. It will go stale faster in the humid, cool environment of a fridge. Freeze if you are saving for a long time..but don't refrigerate.

http://wiki.answers.com/Q/Should_you_refrigerate_bread

Leiki

Personal experience shows otherwise. I think it is because the temperature varies so much throughout the day when I leave it out. It would go bad in less than half a week when I lived in Irvine, which is a beach community.

Dogwalker1989

Currently I'm in the habit of cooking multiple portions of every meal and then freezing them. We have a big freezer so I can do this and not eat the same meal twice in a week - which was what initally put me off the idea of cooking multiples. It also gives me nights off cooking because I only have to reheat

It can get quite costly cooking a completely different meal each day so before I had a freezer I used to choose recipes for a week that all contained similar ingredients. eg. I'd have a tomato, onion and garlic week with root veg. And it's amazing how different you can make those meals by switching between your carbs (rice, pasta, cous cous, potatoes, bread) and adding different staples herbs and spices. Eg. Soup, Risotto, Pasta bolenguese, pizza, chilli, stuffed mushrooms, casserole, some sort of meat replacement with a Mediterranean style sauce, curry.

CallejaFairey

lasagna is always good to freeze. same with chili. i even make up a quiche and freeze half. always just portion things out before you freeze them. meatloaf, any type of pasta casserole. it's hard to cook for one.. when i was in university, i would buy a box of instant mashed potatoes (the super yummy garlic butter flavour of course) and just have that for supper! lol. the best bet is to make stuff that you can portion out and freeze. sure is handy to be able to pull a baggie of healthy homemade food out of the freezer when you don't feel like full on cooking.

sweetpea7441

Hi. Not sure how big your freezer is? Do you have a slow cooker? those are great for cooking big meals in a really super easy way, eat one portion and freeze the rest. :-) xxx

jcan1588

i make a huge quinoa salad with veggies, beans, and some times alittle feta i eat this for lunch through out the week, i'm also big into refrigerator oatmeal at the moment. both are very cheap to make.

And dont forget pintrest! they can teach you how to dyi anything which has saved me a ton of money on cleaning supplies for my house.

needles85365

get a slow cooker that way you can get the cheaper cuts of meat, add whatever you want. Throw it all together in the morning and the house smells great and dinner is ready when I get up. Left overs can be made into anything you want depending on what you started with. Favorite is chicken breast, mushrooms, onions and can of tomatoes. Have fun!

logoode_

This sounds weird, but for those times when you are REALLY on a budget, you can make ichiban noodles, just without using the flavour packets or "vegetable" packets, and boil it down and use a healthier homemade sauce and use it as 2 portions, not one. Dr Oz (I'm goig to get torn apart for saying this) did a segment on healthy meals for college students, which is basically the same deal. I would check that out. Again, this isn't ideal in terms ofhealthy but its better than other things during those times when you're on a strict budget.

christina0089

stir frys are great go to meals wether you are cooking for one or four.

I thnk you can probably do just about anything you do now just made for one. Just portion it out for one.

Think pasta

a box will now last your for a few meals rather than one and the sauce once opened freezes well in airtight containers so divide a jar up into equal parts and you can have it on hand to quickly defrost to put over the pasta alone or with a thin cut chicken breast and some light mozzarella cheese. Just as simple to toss in some frozen veggies when boiling a serving of pasta then drain and add a couple wedges of laughing cow light cheese. and toss till melted well.

I make vegetarian chili but I would also say toss whatever you like for chili or bean soup in a crock pot and let it cook then divide it up into individual servings and freeze. it goes a long way as a side dish say over steamed rice or alone as a meal. And is pretty cost effective. You can do the same with soups.

I agree with stocking up on meats when they are on sale I do this regularly and I portion them out and season them before I freeze. I have a family of four to feed so I buy ground beef and season it up then freeze it individualy into burgers, meatballs, a meatloaf, or just enough to make a portion of whatever you happen to use it for like a taco salad (one of my favs.

Same goes for chicken but I season it with some dry ranch (hidden valley) dressing mix or one of many marinades by lawrys or mckormick and freeze individualy in ziplock bags. Or make shiskabobs from cuts of beef, pork or chicken and some veggies.

Hope that helped! Good Luck and enjoy your new place

TheFunBun

Personal experience shows otherwise. I think it is because the temperature varies so much throughout the day when I leave it out. It would go bad in less than half a week when I lived in Irvine, which is a beach community.

I promise you will thank him if you start freezing. I put my bread in the fridge all of my life - but when I started baking the books all specified that you freeze bread after slicing. Anyways, with both homemade and storebought it means BETTER TASTING BREAD.

Like, night and day deliciousness.

Plus it takes absolutely no time for a slice of bread to defrost, so it's not painful.

BazAbroad

how about fish,
whiting with veg,
we have a pie oven at work so I put a fish fillet in tin foil with some veg's and a little oil with some spices,
Put it in there at the start of shift and have a decent alternative to pies and chips for break,,,
its the cheapest healthiest thing I can come up with so far,,,,

Cost ; under 2 Australian Dollars

nicoleeliza4

Wow so many ideas!! Thanks for the ideas everyone. Definitely going to have to invest in a slow cooker and some good containers for freezing!
And to the one person who asked about freezer space, I only have the one on the fridge, didn't even realize when I was there that there's no room for a big freezer if I ever want one! Too late now I guess haha

sarahrichards81

My fiance is in the army and so I find it hard to switch between having him here 100% of the time some weeks and then not seeing him at all other weeks in terms of planning my meals (and him not being here generally as well!). A few tips I would have are:

Don't worry about a small freezer, just get sensible with space and how you store things - rather than having half filled containers put everything in ziplock bags and you'll fit more in.

Prepping veg is a brilliant idea - cutting up carrots, green beans, asparagus so they are ready to pop into a stirfry / salad / steamer as necessary. I find pulling out the big steamer is a pain for one but in the UK you can buy these steamers to put in the microwave - assume you'll get them over there too.

Try to think of ways of changing things up so you can have what you had for dinner the following lunchtime without getting bored (e.g. marinated lamb kebabs in the evening, make the lamb into a wrap / salad the following day).

Speak to people you work with - I don't have it now but at my old work myself and 2 other girls had a 'lunch club' where every third day we'd bring in lunch for all 3 of us. Meant we got gorgeous, homecooked and healthy food every day but didn't have the faff of cooking for one every lunchtime and every evening.

Finally, plan, plan, plan your meals. It might sound boring but you will end up saving a lot of money. If you find a recipe that calls for something fresh that you know you'll only use half of - that's fine, just find another recipe that uses up that ingredient (google is a godsend, just type in the ingredient followed by 'recipes' and it'll bring back a load of suggestions).

Have fun - you'll love living on your own

Sarah