What's your diet like if your partner works away or you're single, live alone?

[TheBellas]

My husband works abroad & when he first left - that first week-week and a half I was so good- did a roast, curry, lots of vegetables, ate properly. Next week it was toast, biscuits & tea, cereals. Then I succumbed to takeaways 🙁Now about a year in my diet is a mix of takeaways and oven meals like fish fingers & chips. I really need to add more veg and I have great intentions I buy loads then it just sits in my fridge. I'm living like a student, I can't be arsed cooking a proper meal for one! It's not like I don't have the time to meal prep. Pure laziness!

Because the discussion is on the board for MNetters without (i.e don't have and never have had) children.

Nothing at all!

We’re talking about a poster who started her post with ‘Very rare I’m on my own only maybe 2 weeks a year and the odd evening’. Which is very different from someone who eats on their own most of the time.

I live alone and see a proper home cooked meal as one of the greatest forms of self care. I’ll batch cook as much as possible so I’ve got easy options in the freezer for when I’m short of time. I now much prefer a curry that I’ve made and can take out the freezer for a Friday night then a takeaway.

Of course there’ll be some days I have fish fingers and chips or crackers and cheese as that’s what I fancy but not regularly.

It didn't help, you didn't actually contribute. OP posted on this board for whatever reason she wanted, as is her right. If you'd actually RTWFT you'd see a PP is a single parent of a toddler - nobody jumped on her as her post was appropriate

Agree @EmpressaurusOfCats that occasionally being alone for dinner is totally different - for those of us who permanently live alone/have partners who work away or are shift-workers, it's really not healthy or sustainable to miss meals or just snack or eat a plain chicken breast! I also agree @MrsDanversGlidesAgain - I'm glad I'm secure enough not to have those insecurities too.

I live alone and see a proper home cooked meal as one of the greatest forms of self care

Despite saying upthread that I go through phases of not being bothered, I really agree with this. It's saying my nutrition and my comfort and my happiness matter to me. When I'm thinking 'can't be bothered' I'm always aware there's something else going on that I need to deal with.

I made a big ratatouille, which I froze in portions, & baked some sourdough rolls last weekend. It was lovely yesterday to get back from the gym & be able to heat up a homemade lunch.

Knowing it was waiting for me also took away the urge to pop into a cafe on the way home.

DH often works away or in the evenings. I want to be really into cooking but I’m just not. I hve a few things I tend to default to. I’ve just never got the hang of freezing and reheating leftovers but I do some things that will keep in the fridge for a few days like pasta, veg and sauce, stir fries, and frittata. My other go-tos are omelettes, stuffed pasta, and either salmon, lemon sole or fishcakes with rice and veg.

Oh and traybakes! For example halloumi and lots of colourful veg roasted in the oven, served with rice or flatbread.

That sounds fabulous!

The secret to freezing dishes is to cook them like 80-90% not 100%(except the meat). Rice should still be hard-ish for example. I even put some more fragile veg raw in before freezing (mangetout, green beans, baby corn) so it doesn't go mushy. Nothing worse than mushy green beans😶

The traybake sounds lovely!

I even make wine leaves for freezer now. Cooking them 15 min less than for immediate consumption so they don't fall apart in a microwave after😁 (admittedly these are made when DH is home so it's "we make", not when I was by myself for months. Cause it's a hard graft to make that mega pot😂)

I'm the same as you, first week or so I do really well, make enough for leftovers. It descends then quite quickly into bread and butter, cereal, pasta with butter and Parmesan. It's daft as I like cooking and I'm a good cook I just get bored of cooking fro just me and batch cooking never appeals to me a day or 2 after I've made it.

I had a friend who was really bright in some ways, but less so in others....
We were in M&S and something I really like was in "meal for 2" with a dessert. She actually laughed at me putting the items in my basket and then said "that's a meal for TWO. You can't buy that". And she was serious.

I had to explain very patiently that I could eat it two nights in a row....

But she was also the type who'd laugh and say "you don't know you don't want children, you haven't met the right man!" No amount of explaining would persuade her the wrong man would want children...

As for what I eat, I went through a phase of really enjoying cooking. But now I find it boring and quite honestly, I think a lot of places eg Cook, do better tasting stuff than I make. It will be extra salt and butter than I'd use, I'm guessing that's why 😂

Also, I'm really not happy with the induction hob in my new home. I know some people love them though. And I've suddenly gone off eggs and fish, dunno why.