Cooking for one on a budget with minimal hassle

tomatoey
tomatoey Posts: 5,446 Member
edited November 8 in Food and Nutrition
I've lost a good amount of weight - and after years of maintenance, regained a bit. Last time I lost, other than portion control, I mostly ate the way I've always eaten - whatever food I felt like that day, cooked (or bought) that day, and some gone to waste. No attention paid to cost, and at least half my meals eaten out.

This time, I'm wanting to watch my wallet a bit better and minimize waste. I'm looking at items on sale (not just whatever I feel like), cooking in batches and freezing, eating leftovers, aiming to have most meals home-prepared.

It's a learning process in a lot of ways. Training taste buds to accept what's there instead of what you want is, well - I kind of hate leftovers, for one, especially cooked veg. (Alternative: buy and cook smaller amounts every day or so. Still a pain.) Usually, I don't know what I'm going to feel like eating until about 10 minutes before I make it - I like variety, I really can't predict what future me will want. So far, I haven't been doing that great at guessing :/

Also, I don't have a dishwasher, so adding tupperware to the pile of stuff in the sink makes me groan. I've been doing it for a couple of weeks, and I'm already kind of sick of it (the work, the same food, the mental energy involved in thinking up ways to recycle it.) I know all this is definitely first world problems. I dunno, I'd be less annoyed if I were cooking for more than one person, or if the work could be shared, lol.

I spend WAY more time and effort on food than I'd like to, basically.

So how do mfp's single people plan, shop and cook with budget, taste and time in mind?

(I'm not so up for the crockpot solution, just fyi.)

Thanks!

(also - i'm about to pop off to sleep, so will not be able to get back before tomorrow - thank you to any who reply!)

Replies

  • RodaRose
    RodaRose Posts: 9,562 Member
    It seem that you are trying to convince yourself that you want to manage change.
    Look, make this easy on yourself so that you can be successful.
    Spend one week tracking in the diary everything you eat so you get an idea of how this works.
    At the beginning of week two, consider how you can eat less of your regular foods in order to stay under your calorie goals.
  • Chaotic_Weevil
    Chaotic_Weevil Posts: 199 Member
    I'm not single but my partner and I have differing work schedules that leads to me cooking just for myself a lot.

    Omelettes are my saving grace. Low cal, high protein, easy to customise for variety, you can make it fresh with minimal time/fuss/clean up and it's easy to make a single serving. Just have a bunch of fixins on hand such as spinach, mushrooms, ham, cheese, tomato etc
  • tomatoey
    tomatoey Posts: 5,446 Member
    RodaRose wrote: »
    It seem that you are trying to convince yourself that you want to manage change.
    Look, make this easy on yourself so that you can be successful.
    Spend one week tracking in the diary everything you eat so you get an idea of how this works.
    At the beginning of week two, consider how you can eat less of your regular foods in order to stay under your calorie goals.

    I lost 50 pounds doing just that :) I would like to lose 15 now, but without spending as much money in the process.
  • tomatoey
    tomatoey Posts: 5,446 Member
    Chaotic_Weevil wrote: »
    I'm not single but my partner and I have differing work schedules that leads to me cooking just for myself a lot.

    Omelettes are my saving grace. Low cal, high protein, easy to customise for variety, you can make it fresh with minimal time/fuss/clean up and it's easy to make a single serving. Just have a bunch of fixins on hand such as spinach, mushrooms, ham, cheese, tomato etc

    I'm all over that :) Thanks :)
  • 89nunu
    89nunu Posts: 1,082 Member
    I'm all for soups! Y0u can chuck in whatever leftover veg you got in your fridge (all the bendy carrots and wrinkly potatoes) top up with some lentils/beans and stock. It cooks practically on its own (About 25-30 min) and you only got one pot to wash up.

    + you can make about 8 servings in one go and freeze the lot for lunches or days you can't be bothered.

    Also in terms of less to wash up. I often weigh a whole recipe in one and than add the grams as servings. This way I can store the dish in just one pot instead of putting it in a million different ones per serving. And just weigh again the bit I eat that time.
  • ASG_21
    ASG_21 Posts: 82 Member
    Oatmeal is also very easy to make in one-person servings and extremely customizable. You can have it sweet with peanut butter, cocoa, fresh/frozen/dried fruit, chocolate chips, nuts, honey, plain with a bit of sweetener (sugar, honey, artficial, whatever you like)... Endless options! If you like it savory try making it in chicken stock with some shredded chicken or meat, add an egg, make a soup out of it... Several options there, too!
  • CeleryStick22
    CeleryStick22 Posts: 6 Member
    edited November 2014
    Cooking lots in one go and freezing portions for later is great - I'm not a fan of cooking so being able to plonk a frozen hunk of soup/stew/meatloaf/etc in a bowl and heating it up in the microwave makes me happy and stops me eating something packaged/processed/just a sandwich for dinner. I like doing meatloaf with heeaaps of grated veges (carrots, zucchini, celery, etc) and cutting it into meal-sized slabs, then freezing those. Then you get protein, veges and carbs all in one without having to do anything separately! :P

    Also I've recently remembered how much I like plain rice cakes - there are heaps of options for toppings and they have way less calories than bread. Cottage cheese + tomato, cheese + tomato with a bit of mustard or mayo and sprinkled with salt and pepper, peanut butter and jam...there are loads of options!
  • Patttience
    Patttience Posts: 975 Member
    If you don't like the taste of your leftovers you are cooking bad food.

    Who in their right might cooks vegetables (boiling steaming and the like) only to reheat and eat in the same manner?

    No, this is not the way forward.

    Cook vegetables into interesting dishes and then i can just about guarantee that you won't have a problem with leftovers. Try ratatouille, caponata, this or that vegetable gratin/bake or whatever. Sometimes the dishes actually taste better when they are a day old.

    You just need to learn to cook better/choose better recipes to cook.
  • snowflake954
    snowflake954 Posts: 8,399 Member
    A cheap way to get your veggies in is to buy 2 carrots, 1 big onion, 3 celery stalks, and a handful of parsely. Clean and wash them all. Grate the carrots. Put all in a food processor and chop up very fine. Put in ice cube trays in the freezer. To make a fast soup, pop a couple cubes into some water in a pan and simmer 15 min. I add broth to this and have a fast vegetable soup. To this basic, you can add pieces of meat, small pasta, cooked barley or rice, etc. You can add whatever you like.

    I also make chickpea hamburgers and zucchini patties and freeze them--so they are fast and easy too.

    All of these ideas are cheap. If you'd like recipes, PM me. You've just got to change your mindset. It takes a little more time and planning in the beginning, but is worth it. Best.
  • Serenitynow29
    Serenitynow29 Posts: 119 Member
    The easiest is to focus your meals on raw fruits and vegetables that you like. Last summer I tried a fruit forward diet. There was minimal prep or clean-up. I felt energized and free to cook when I felt like it. The key is to have a lot of fruit and vegetables to hand.

    And then wondering what was for dinner went out the window. Last night was the first time I ordered takeout in over a month. I love to cook but work gets in the way. And then you are starving and a bit frustrated, not to mention tired.

    I also like to scramble eggs. I keep vinaigrette made in the fridge, hummus, yogurt, homemade pickles, home-cured olives, and homemade mayonnaise ( currently it is a homemade vegannaise).
    There's always pasta and sna marzano tomatoes. I also have brined beans in the freezer and rice in the cupboard. So a quick defrost in the microwave and beans into the pressure cooker with some aromatics and broth while the rice cooks also results in an easy pot of beans and rice.
  • squirrelone
    squirrelone Posts: 58 Member
    The key to both simplicity and cost is planning and preparation.

    I buy the vegetables I eat most days, about twice a week. Then spend maybe 30 or so minutes preparing them. I separate my broccoli into florets, trim the Brussels sprouts, etc. and put them all in glass containers in the fridge.
    My baby spinach, I clean and put in portion sized ziplock bags.

    And so on. I'm sure you get the point.

    Pretty much all vegetables will easily keep fresh for days when kept in an airtight container in the fridge and whenever I need any of those things, they are ready to go.
    That makes cooking very simple as all the vegetable preparation is done in advance.

    Meat are a bit more tricky as it doesn't really keep that well. The key is to buy a lot when you spot good deals and then separate it into portion sizes and freeze it. That way you never have to defrost or cook more than you need at one time.

    Lastly, you need to learn how to cook single servings.
    While the ingredients scale perfectly, the same is not true for cooking processes. It really is a matter of learning how things work the way you do it.
    For example; I have portion sized loaf trays (for meatloaf and such). It took a few tries to dial in the exact temperature and cooking time to get those to come out the same as a full sized one. But now it is just routine and I can cook what I want without ever having any leftover to deal with.

    As for the dishes.
    It's pretty simple really. Just wash everything as soon as you are done using it. That way it never accumulates.
This discussion has been closed.

Categories