Cooking For One

[xeemzor]

We've all read that cooking for yourself is better. But does it really make sense if you are only cooking for one person?

I'm a young professional living alone, so it's not really feasible to cook all my meals. I'm also not really able to bring lunch most of the time unless I want to bring meals that don't need to be refrigerated. For dinner I'd have to either cook and freeze meals, eat frozen dinners (good ones from Whole Foods and Trader Joe's), or eat out.

Eating out is so expensive and I've been trying to find ways to cut back. Is there a way that makes cooking viable for me? Because I eat at home so little I find that I'm either eating the same thing for weeks or throwing out food that went bad. The frozen dinners aren't usually too expensive at between $4-7 a meal. My freezer space is also really limited so I generally get meals for a week at a time. Going to a grocery store daily is viable, if slightly inconvenient.

Any suggestions are appreciated!

 

[tokie]

I cook for one and I usually end up with two portions. One goes straight in a tupperware container and I eat it 2-3 days later (I don't like eating the same thing back-to-back).

Things like chili or stew you can just store in the fridge and slowly eat at for a week when you are home.

 

[waggy]

I cook for one and I usually end up with two portions. One goes straight in a tupperware container and I eat it 2-3 days later (I don't like eating the same thing back-to-back).

Things like chili or stew you can just store in the fridge and slowly eat at for a week when you are home.

/this

 

[bigrash]

Buy a Pizza pie. Eat 1 slice a day. Make it last 8 days. Win.

 

[zCypher]

I'm in the same boat, I have very little counter and storage space with a normal sized fridge/freezer. I ate out for a long time cause I was too lazy, until I got fed up with wasting all that money eating out. I still eat out too often, but I bring a lunch to work most of the time and I usually have something easy to make for dinner.

Get a slow cooker, even a relatively small one can easily make you four meals. Very little work involved in cooking with it, and easily makes very delicious meals, usually meals that can be frozen and are still very good when reheated.

Look for some decent meat pies. There's a place I get some really good ones for $6.99 - good for 4 meals. So between chili, stews, meat pies - you already have some choice of very tasty and easy stuff.

Buy some rice, some noodles, some decent frozen veggies and a few kinds of meat and some tomato sauce / spices / garlic / ginger. Make random assortment of these. Here we have a Super C grocery store that usually has good $10 deals on frozen sausages, bacon-wrapped chicken things, so on and so on. You get a ton of food for $10 and they're pretty tasty, could can probably find something similar.

Buy a few packs of minced beef, I usually buy the ones for $5-6 that are good for at least 2-3 meals worth of spaghetti or whatever else.

I have found that what's more difficult than figuring out what to make, is to overcome the laziness.

 

[Mixolydian]

We've all read that cooking for yourself is better. But does it really make sense if you are only cooking for one person?

Nope, that's one of the reasons why I don't cook.

 

[Mr. Pedantic]

Do you guys have many fresh vegetables? My parents always cooked fresh vegetables as a child, so now when I'm living alone and relying so much on frozen veges it feels like I'm cheating.

 

[MagnusTheBrewer]

So, don't cook for one. There must be a number of other people in the same situation within your acquaintances. Cook for friends, coworkers, team members, fellow hobbyists etc. Set up a rotating plan or, buy in for meals. You get cheaper decent food and social interaction. It's a win win.

 

[Jadow]

make stuff that will be decent leftovers the next day.

example make tacos

then the next day, add a little ketchup and brown sugar to the taco meat, and you got sloppy joes.

slow cooker beef roasts reheat good in the microwave

spagetti is easy and you can save the sauce in the fridge for a week and eat it next week too

 

[Bloodberry]

order and share it to your neighbor

 

[zCypher]

Do you guys have many fresh vegetables? My parents always cooked fresh vegetables as a child, so now when I'm living alone and relying so much on frozen veges it feels like I'm cheating.

Certain veggies keep better than others. I found that potatoes, carrots, cabbage, rutabagas, onions, garlic all keep plenty long for me to use. If you make a weekly trip, you should be able to keep some fresh veggies in your diet.

 

[xeemzor]

Buy a Pizza buy. Eat 1 slice a day. Make it last 8 days. Win.

Probably not the healthiest of options.

I'm in the same boat, I have very little counter and storage space with a normal sized fridge/freezer. I ate out for a long time cause I was too lazy, until I got fed up with wasting all that money eating out. I still eat out too often, but I bring a lunch to work most of the time and I usually have something easy to make for dinner.

Get a slow cooker, even a relatively small one can easily make you four meals. Very little work involved in cooking with it, and easily makes very delicious meals, usually meals that can be frozen and are still very good when reheated.

Look for some decent meat pies. There's a place I get some really good ones for $6.99 - good for 4 meals. So between chili, stews, meat pies - you already have some choice of very tasty and easy stuff.

Buy some rice, some noodles, some decent frozen veggies and a few kinds of meat and some tomato sauce / spices / garlic / ginger. Make random assortment of these. Here we have a Super C grocery store that usually has good $10 deals on frozen sausages, bacon-wrapped chicken things, so on and so on. You get a ton of food for $10 and they're pretty tasty, could can probably find something similar.

Buy a few packs of minced beef, I usually buy the ones for $5-6 that are good for at least 2-3 meals worth of spaghetti or whatever else.

I have found that what's more difficult than figuring out what to make, is to overcome the laziness.

Thank you for your insightful post! I've been looking into slow cookers for a while now, but this might finally get my lazy ass to finally buy one. Seems great that you can just dump stuff in a pot, press a button, and you are done. Do you have a planned out list of 5 recipes that you rotate?

Nope, that's one of the reasons why I don't cook.

I also live in the NW Chicago suburbs. Maybe we should start a cooking club?

 

[MagnusTheBrewer]

I also live in the NW Chicago suburbs. Maybe we should start a cooking club?

If only I'd thought of that.

 

[RossMAN]

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B003UCG8II/

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/04/06/AR2010040600766.html

http://www.thekitchn.com/help-me-make-better-meals-for-148939

http://crockpot365.blogspot.com/

 

[Leros]

When I cook, I usually get 3-4 meals out of it. Trying to cook a one person meal is difficult and time consuming.

There are also some things that are really easy to make for one person, like sandwiches. Tonight I made a Reuben sandwich and some soup.

 

[xeemzor]

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B003UCG8II/

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/04/06/AR2010040600766.html

http://www.thekitchn.com/help-me-make-better-meals-for-148939

http://crockpot365.blogspot.com/

Between the hot deals and crock pot recipes is there anything you can't do? Thanks RossMAN!

 

[RossMAN]

Between the hot deals and crock pot recipes is there anything you can't do? Thanks RossMAN!

Thank you for the kind words but all I did was Google "slowcookers for one".

Please keep us updated as I have a few single colleagues who are in the same boat. Eating out often is expensive and not really the healthiest.

 

[gotsmack]

during the weekend I buy 2 large boxes of mixed salad greens, a package of chicken breasts, and sometimes 2 heads of kale when they don't look too beat up at whole foods. Then on Sunday night I:

1. fry about 3 large chicken breasts and let cool
2. rinse and package salad into cheap plastic zip lock sandwich bags (I get about 12 bags from 2 big boxed of salad)
3. cube chicken and distribute between bags
4. put salad bags in plastic shopping bag in fridge to bring to work the next day (I keep it in the work fridge during the week).

At my cube at work I keep a bottle of olive oil and red wine vinegar. The chicken salad is my breakfast and lunch.

I've been doing this for maybe 8 months now. Before that I did almond butter and strawberry preserve sandwiches, but then decided to cut carbs.

No, I don't get board of eating the same thing every day, but I eat out one work lunch a week.

 

[Iron Woode]

I work and I live by myself. I love cooking. Its a skill everyone should learn.

I bought a big 6 quart/liter crock pot. I love this thing! I make stews, roasts, baked beans, short ribs, etc..

I also bought a 12" cast iron frying pan.

for crock pot recipes try: http://www.food.com/recipes/crock-pot-slow-cooker

 

[dougp]

Pro-tip for reheating leftovers - avoid the microwave, utilize your slow cooker, oven or the stove-top. It'll taste like a fresh meal instead of reheated leftovers.

 

[ElFenix]

http://www.amazon.com/Watchers-LEFTO.../dp/B009AHRCZU

this book is has lots of ideas for stuff that you eat multiple times. some recipes are something big that's intended to be simply reheated and eaten multiple times, some recipes have you set aside some of the main ingredient to make a different meal later (like having steak one day and then steak tacos another).

there's lots of similar books i'm sure.


a tip i saw for eating more veg is to prep your veg when you get it from the grocery store. yes, it will go bad faster than if it weren't prepped, but you're much more likely to use it since there's not as much work left.

 

[Leros]

Pro-tip for reheating leftovers - avoid the microwave, utilize your slow cooker, oven or the stove-top. It'll taste like a fresh meal instead of reheated leftovers.

This is especially true with pizza. The best way to reheat pizza is in a pan. You end up with nice crispy crust instead of a moist crust that you would get in the microwave.

 

[BladeVenom]

Don't freeze mayonnaise; freezing separates the egg and oil. I did that with chicken salad once, and it leaves it an oily mess.

 

[Cerb]

I'm also not really able to bring lunch most of the time unless I want to bring meals that don't need to be refrigerated.

People have been managing that for centuries. Just Google, "Bento," and you'll find more than you ever wanted, and probably get a few morbid cuteness fixes along the way.

I started a few years ago when I have a traveling job, and it's easy once you get into a habit of it.

Do you guys have many fresh vegetables? My parents always cooked fresh vegetables as a child, so now when I'm living alone and relying so much on frozen veges it feels like I'm cheating.

You can't use frozen vegetable for everything and have it work out. Frozen veggies aren't all bad, but fresh vegetables don't have the moisture that ruins a saute, and they have more flavor and texture. If you're just dumping everything into a soup, or long-cooking sauce, it won't matter. But for about anything else, it will.

Don't get masses of vegetables. Garlic, 'dry' cabbage*, celery, fresh onions, potatoes, and so on, can last for several weeks (if you're lucky, cabbage and garlic can last months), while most will only last 1-2 weeks.

Make sure to get small amounts of dried herbs and spices, like oregano, basil, thyme, sage, parsley, dill, cumin (if you like it), paprika, and so on. If you have ethnic markets nearby, they usually have better quality than the likes of McCormick and such.

Most of the time, my grocery trips are <$20, as I don't buy too much in larger quantities.

For grains and pasta, get airtight containers, like lock&locks, bail-top jars, various kinds with the latch-gizmos (Oxo, FI), etc., instead of leaving them in their breathable boxes or bags.

Crock pot: IMO, you want a good off-brand, such as Hamilton Beach, if buying new. Old Crock Pots(tm) are awesome, but the new ones get too hot at low settings.

The most important thing is probably to start thinking of overlapping meals. Make food, eat it as leftover, make more food, eat it with those leftovers, or interlaced with eating those leftovers, and so on and so forth.

* You know how they like to spray water all over the produce? I've found cabbage and fresh herbs of any place that does that to not last as long as if not done.

 

[MichaelD]

You didn't state what your schedule looks like (unless I missed it). If you never know what time you'll get home, then cooking pretty much isn't for you, unfortunately. But if you get home at the same time every night, then there's really no excuse, save laziness, to prevent you from cooking.

TONS of great tips/advice in the replies; some of them I would've posted too.

Being that you're single, your schedule dictates how much time you have for cooking. Trust me when I say that eating healthy NOW will dictate how much work you have to do later in order to stay in shape. In my 20's I worked 12 hours a day, then partied until way after midnight, then ate whatever fast food I could buy at 2:00AM and got up at 6:00AM to do it all over again. I never gained any weight until about 34 year old and THEN...all that weight just dropped on me like...a fatass deferred, or something.

I've had to work very hard to lose the weight and KEEP IT OFF. Eat well NOW and it will help you later. And later WILL come.