Meals for one

[BuddhaAtSea]

If you’re eating (mostly) alone, what/how much do you cook?

I can’t get my head around portioning and rotating meals for one.

I do the usual: cook and eat and whatever is left (unusually another 2-3 portions) goes in the freezer. It’s handy, as I work long hours, but sometimes I want to eat freshly made food (and not have the same meal 3 days in a row).

How do you organise yourself?

I find myself not buying sour cream, for example, because I wouldn’t be able to use it all before it expires. Or bread, I stopped completely buying bread, I use those flat breads, I can finish a pack in 2 days, it won’t go off.

Not sure what to do, I can see myself falling into that: why bother, it’s just me, just have a slice of something and that’s that.

Do you have any suggestions?

I eat alone a few times a week. I usually go with tweaking something to make two different meals, so that eg one day I’ll have bolognese, the next day stick some peppers, beans and chilli in and have it with rice. Or cook some chicken and have it with salad and new potatoes one day, stick leftovers into some into fajitas the next etc so that you’re only doing the bulk of the cooking once, then just reheating.

I also make it easy by buying frozen chopped peppers, onions, chicken, so that I can just throw it into a pot with some curry sauce and heat a pouch of rice for dinner. I’ve got quite lazy at cooking since the kids have grown up and aren’t in for dinner as much. No shame in having a bowl of cereal or some toast if you can’t be arsed though.

I live alone, so understand the difficulty of meals for one. It’s very easy to slide into the “why bother” mode. I try to plan ahead, to make meals that are simple to cook but still interesting.

I often eat fish, as it’s sold in small portions, eg 2 salmon steaks I’d cook both and have one hot with vegetables and the other cold with salad the next day.

Frozen vegetables are very useful for adding a bit of variety to basic meals, I especially like the Picard range.

I buy small (400g) loaves and keep them in the fridge, I also usually have a loaf in the freezer for toast. I keep some bake at home bread rolls or baguette in the store cupboard and cook in the air fryer as needed.

I love cooking for one, as I have great confidence in the audience! I like puzzling together how to make the meals roll into each other. I like to mix following recipes with tinkering about. I tend to shop for about four days and trust that another three days will arise from that. This week I’m eating out of stores, I had a squash that never got used for its intended purpose, and a resolution to try a MN tip for marinading frozen chicken in zhoug paste from Waitrose, I’ve had a jar since I read it. I bought some Itsu ramen broth, as I had made soy eggs last week and kept the liquid to make another. I like to mix following recipes with tinkering about. I tend to shop for about four days and trust that another three days will arise from that.

Friday: spaghetti with squash, walnuts and goats cheese, an old favourite.
Saturday: veggie ramen noodles with soy egg, two slices of fried squash and some shredded sugar snaps.
Sunday: Baked chicken with zhoug paste, squash purée and couscous. The rest of the purée will go in the freezer I think, that’s probably enough squash for now.
Monday: I baked two bits of chicken, so I could use one with the other half of the ramen broth. There’s a picture on the box of doing it over rice, I’m thinking of trying this with coconut rice.
Tuesday: the zhoug paste talks about hummus and flatbreads on the jar - given that there are sugar snaps still and another carrot, maybe do crudités and try making some hummus.

I’m always packing away bits of things to turn into lunches or sandwiches, even if there isn’t truly too much for dinner I still like getting extra value out of my time spent packing flavour into something by using it again as a component in a different dish. A good leftovers book is inspirational - I like Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall's one.

I very rarely buy sour cream or crème fraîche for the same reason as you, and as I'm less familiar with them, I can't tell when they are off. I tend you use full fat Greek yogurt, as I find that more versatile, and I'm happy I can tell when it's had it's day!

I do tend to cook enough for two meals (rarely more), but spread them out so it's not on consecutive days. I also focus on using ingredients in different ways, so I might have cabbage in a salad one day, in a stir fry the next and then cooked in butter to have as a side.

Thank you all!
I wouldn’t have thought to cook two different meals with the bulk of what I’ve already cooked. But that’s a great idea!

It’ll take some getting used to, but it makes absolute sense to boil several eggs and use them for several recipes. Same with cabbage, fish, etc, it would have never crossed my mind!

How did I make it to nearly 50 not knowing there is such a thing as a leftovers recipe book?!!! Thank you for that!

I went and bought a small bread and put it in the fridge, thanks for the idea. I normally froze it and then toasted it, never remember to defrost to have ready for later etc.

So today I got a pack of flat mushrooms, I’ll stuff 2 with couscous and the 3rd one I’ll use in an omelette on Wednesday.
I’m so glad I asked, I was stumped, after 30 years of cooking for a family.
Thank you!

Sounds perfect, thanks for the stuffed mushroom idea!

Don't forget that lots of vegetables can be stuffed and baked, green & red peppers, tomatoes, large courgettes (if that isn't a contradiction!) aubergines as well as mushrooms. Stuffings can be a super way to use up leftovers, rice, cous-cous, cooked vegetables, pasta sauce, small amounts of bacon or ham, ratatouille, mixed grains.
Pile in the stuffing, add cheese perhaps, bake for a quick tasty supper.

Something I've found useful are packs of microwaveable rice or mixed grains. Much easier and quicker than peeling and cooking potatoes for one!

I usually keep some Biona rye bread as a stand by either in the fridge or cupboard. It’s a small pack so doesn’t take up much fridge space, it has a very long use by date, so ideal for keeping.
It’s quite a dense chewy bread, so it’s filling. It’s very good for open sandwiches with cheese & pickles, smoked salmon, or meats like Parma ham, pastrami or rare roast beef.

Another good standby are the boxes of cooked vacuum packed mussels in sauce. Though they serve two people, they’re packed in single serving pouches, and have a good long use by date. So it’s easy to have one serving then the second a few days later. They cook in a sauce pan or the microwave in under 5 minutes.

I don’t buy them during the summer months, as the quality seems very variable then, but in autumn & winter they are a reliable purchase from the likes of M&S or Waitrose.

I’ve been getting gousto boxes for a while, some of them are quite good for giving some inspiration! I often just cook something and eat it for two days, but that doesn’t bother me - I find I don’t mind putting a decent amount of effort into cooking something if I know the next day will be minimal cooking.
In the summer, I quite like doing big salads where the dressing can make two taste very different. I’ll roast a butternut squash and peppers and add those for added veg and making it feel filling.

Easy/lazy options are stuffed pittas - spiced chicken, avocado, rocket, hummous, etc. I’ll often do salmon rice bowls, with pickled red onions, edamame beans, avocado, cashews, kimchi, soft boiled egg, rice.

I second packet rice and grains, makes portioning quite easy as well. Spice pastes and seasonings make a difference to me as I can change up basic ingredients. I keep a rough list of what’s in the freezer so I can use what I’ve got.

I don't eat for one any more but when I lived alone I tended to cook often. Tesco used to be the one store where online or in person I could buy a good range of vegetables in small amounts - eg a single medium sized courgette or whatever. Otherwise, I'd buy a packet of something and eat that most days then a packet of something else - eg tender stem brocolli then mange tout or whatever.

Cream cheese in those mini tubs is useful - can be use to make a sauce creamy and as long as each tub is still sealed, lasts forever in the fridge.

Some convenience stuff from the freezer is useful too - things like gyoza which can be cooked and served with a nest of rice noodles and some stir fried vegetables or salad. Frozen veg as someone else suggested. Things like fish cakes or crumbed chicken breast fillets that can be cooked in the oven from frozen.

Make mashed potatoes in larger amounts. It freezes well and can be microwaved from frozen (I usually do it on 50% power for a few minutes, then stir and whack up).

Something I still do is make lasagnas in individual portions on a bulk cook day and freeze (I usually spend a sunday doing both meat and vegetable lasagnas). I put them in tinfoil containers which can then go straight into the oven from frozen (Usually put them into the cold oven and then use a slightly lower temp, for longer). It's incredibly helpful for all of us if one or two of us are at home and don't have time/energy to cook.