Recipes for Singles

I usually will first cut the recipe in half and then fridge the leftovers to make lunches or another dinner with the rest of the week. It's tough cooking for one but not impossible!

A pint of vegan icecream, a spoon, and fifty shades of grey playing in the background of your tears.

Well, that’s just me. But a chopped salad with ground pumpkin seeds and tahini is pretty good.

adirondacksabbath3574 wrote: »

Know a person you could share meal with? Shut in, another single, a busy mom's lunch?

This is a nice idea. Some folks who cook large batches of meals and freeze them make it a social event. They plan a menu with friends, everyone brings ingredients for a dish, and they get together on a weekend to cook. That way everybody leaves with several different dishes instead of tons of one thing. You might do something similar if you know other single people.

Did you know that cooking pasta, then refrigerating it, and then reheating it when you are going to eat it is a good thing to do because it changes the glycemic load of the carbs in the pasta? ... I don't recall by how much it changes it, and am too lazy to look for the article I read about it ... Still ... that's one upside of 'cooking single' ... cook it, portion it, refrigerate it, reheat it and wham!

I learned something I didn't ever think of when I met my current partner, who was a long-time bachelor before I found him: Did you know that pasta sauces in a jar can be re-closed and put in the fridge? It had never occurred to me not to make the whole jar of sauce at once. I felt pretty dumb when he asked me why I thought they came in jars with screw on lids. Never thought about it. Now I often pan sear a single thin sliced chicken breast portion and top it with some sauce from a jar I already have opened in the fridge. I cut my chicken breasts into 4 to 6 ounce portions when I bring it home from the grocery, and freeze them separate in small baggies, so I don't over-eat. I only cook what I need, which is one or two 4-6oz portion (depending on what else I am having with it). If you buy the eggbeaters eggs in a carton stuff, you can use just a little egg too, instead of having to commit to using a whole egg. That makes things like chicken parm (and other breaded things) possible without wasting most of an egg just for a little egg wash to batter it with. I also have a little tiny pie pan I use to make personal sized quiches and desserts, it's similar in size to the personal pot pies you see in the freezer section of the grocery. I also bought a set of tiny little saucepots/sautee pans on ebay like these: https://www.ebay.com/itm/Vintage-Corning-Ware-6-Piece-Blue-Cornflower-Menuette-Pan-Set/132531437804 and tiny little fry pans like these on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/GreenPan-Mini-Ceramic-Non-Stick-Round/dp/B015Y20MVK/ref=sr_1_3 and these make it much easier to only heat up an appropriate portion of sauce or only make a single serving of quinoa, or only make a single burger.

I cook only for myself, and sometimes my dog

I personally love having leftovers, but I try to portion them immediately - one serving on my plate, the rest divided immediately into containers for refrigerator/freezer and put away so I don't help myself to a second serving or more.

I have really liked meal services like Hello Fresh, Blue Apron, Plated, etc. Everything is set for 2 servings, I eat one and have the second for lunch or dinner the next day. It can be a bit tricky because some of the meals are pretty high calorie to fit in your budget (especially as lunch the next day for me because I budget fewer calories for lunch than dinner typically).