now I am a single parent, it means I need to change the way I cook...How can I do this?

[gemmummy]

Basically, there is only me and my DS aged 4. It seems so much effort to cook a meal for just 2 of us but I don't want to live on fish fingers and chips. How can I make some nice stuff for me and DS that is cheap. He likes plain food, spag bol, meat and two veg, fish cakes, anything in gravy. I love spicy food, stir fry and all that but I know it will go to waste with him. Sigh, just one more thing I have to deal with.

Yould make the larger amount and freeze some for future meals, saves time on cooking some nights too. When I was a LP I used to make big batches of sauces, soups etc and use ice cream tubs to freeze them. You can get packs of stirfry veg that are small enough for one in most supermarkets and just add some of the precooked chicken/meat pieces you can buy in iceland (can be cooked from frozen), very quick and you can just use the amount you need, same with curries etc, make the sauce and freeze into single portions, just defrost and add the chicken etc.

I tend to try to have a mixture across the week. So one day a kid type meal, another couple of days a family favourite (carbonara, chilli, roast etc) that we all enjoy and once or twice a week I cook something I want. I'm lucky that my two are open to trying new foods though and some of them have become favourites (chicken and chorizo paella, ximxim, fajitas, curry). They always have to try a bit of everything and I don't stop cooking something if they've said they don't like it

It can be hard if you spend time cooking something and they reject it but I give them a tiny amount, get them to at least try and then freeze what's left or have it the next day for lunch-that way if they like it they can have more and if not there's not too much on their plate to throw away.

I'm in a similar position in that part of DS's sensory difficulties is his aversion to nearly all foods so I usually end up making us different meals.

I don't cook for myself from scratch every night though, I batch cook big meals (dinners, and also batches of soup) and portion them up, then put them in the fridge or freezer. Another tip is to still buy fresh ingredients like tomatoes, peppers, onions, mushrooms and chop and freeze them to use as you need them - works out cheaper and none goes to waste.