I lived alone for about 15 years before I met my husband. As others have said, your freezer is your best friend, both because it saves you from throwing a lot of food out, but also because all the food you froze when you did cook will be there for when you can't be bothered or aren't in the mood. On a day you're in the mood to cook, whip up a batch of spaghetti sauce, thick with meat & mushrooms and freeze it in zip lock bags of one or two servings. Go ahead and buy the value pack of steaks, saving money, and take the time to wrap them carefully against freezer burn before you freeze them for later. Another friend, along with the freezer, is soup. Soup is your very good friend. Keep a good supply of canned or frozen chicken and beef stock on hand, and an amazing number of your leftovers can be turned into the next night's meal without eating leftovers every time you turn around. Use your imagination. That bit of leftover steak? Saute some onions and garlic, add some beef stock, the steak (diced) and the container of leftover veggies from the day before, and maybe some chopped cabbage or frozen peas...whatever...simmer, top it off with grated cheese and have a nice roll or crusty baguette with it. That crusty baguette? Well, put the leftover in the fridge. The next night, when you roast a small chicken or broil some chicken thighs, set aside the leftover meat for tomorrow's dinner...toast the baguette halves, lay good cheddar or Swiss cheese on one side and the thinly sliced leftover chicken on the other...toast under the broiler until the cheese bubbles, and throw on some tomatoes & onions...maybe some bbq sauce or salsa. That and a salad. Mmmm. Another thing to do is make sure that you keep some healthier versions of convenience foods around the house so that you have that as an option on days when you just don't even want to deal with cooking, leftovers or no. If you have some microwavable meals, canned soups, instant meals etc around, you won't be as likely to just say "heck with it" and go out to grab fast food. One thing to remember. You will, if you cook for yourself, have times when you throw good food away because you either got tired of it or just forgot it. None of us like to do that, but remember that you could be spending much more money than you throw out by constantly eating out.

Um, Jessica, I think even I had better leave that alone. (grin) Of course, I think Scott is an absolute sweetheart, so I wouldn't pick on him too badly. Well, maybe I could just mention that all kinds of things can be done in the kitchen...... Annie

Ann is ann_t. You can go to her member page to send her an email requesting the book. She will then send you a link to download the dessert chapter. You can also ask for her earlier recipe book: THIBEAULTÂS TABLE. The desserts chapter is an expanded dessert chapter for the book. Here is a link that might be useful: Ann_t's member page

We are all triangles, lol. Such an interesting observation about the internet and forums. I know eyes probably roll at most of my posts, but someone somewhere might use my non-recipe jumble way of cooking or use a hint since we cut out most sugars and salts a long time ago. Mentioning pharmacists Barb...i've done the same. I wandered into a pharmacist in the city....seems to be one on every NYC block...two young girls behind the counter, young meaning younger, probably early thirties. This was a couple years ago, but i decided to ask about a possible urinary tract infection and we ended up chatting for 20 minutes. They were so helpful and suggested a non-invasive over the counter thing to try first before seeing my primary care as i just had no time...they were a fantastic wealth of information. And made me promise to seek doctor help if it was not solved in a few days. Researching on our own is just good knowledge to have along with your primary care office. We really are responsible for our own basic needs at home and to eat as healthy as we can. It is difficult to start making changes to a dish that is so familiar but i feel pretty shitty after eating comfort food. DH made red-eye gravy, scratch biscuits, the day after a party. With leftovers after i made a de-salted roasted ham NewYears day...we ate tiny portions and it was a treat, then felt crappy all day. We just don't eat that way anymore. (it was delish going in!) Not had tuna casserole since my my mother made it when i was a kid. Loaded with wasted calories. Lots of ways to replace that with vegetables and still be creamy and filling. I've been making a no-mayo nicoise tuna salad for years. Even better, With your prep bowls...6 or 8 soup bowls near your chopping block...chop a half red onion, or white, a half red pepper, a couple ribs of celery, some green onion...pull some peas, limas, spinach, out of the freezer,,,,(i buy the bags over the rectangle cube boxes from the freezer section). Any good veg choices you like...) in the bags you can just take a handful, then wrap it back up with a rubber band. A veg in each bowl, the frozen as well and they start to thaw a bit. Some olives if you like them, capers if you have them. A half a chopped apple and some lemon zest with a 1/4 juice...grate a couple cups of cauliflower. Or chop. Even chopped mushrooms. Saute your onions and celery, grated carrot, garlic...whatever you want and place in the bottom of a casserole, add all other veg and layer with tuna and cooked rice pasta or regular egg noodles but use a 1/4 portion. Just replace all that pasta with 3/4 veg. Cauliflower is such a great pasta/rice replacement. We use non-fat greek yogurt mixed with cottage cheese, feta, or a slice of goat cheese...we like all of those and usually have them on hand. I use a bit of water but skim milk is a good choice for some moisture. And egg stirred in is good but not necessary. I always have citrus ice cubes frozen with some herbs. a couple of those on top...cover and bake...then cover off near the end of oven cooking to get a nice bubbly light brown top. Browning a bit adds flavor. Packed with lots of veggie you can eat a bit more. The rest of the fresh chopped veg and apple/lemon/herb, olives etc goes into a fresh tuna salad for the next day or two. Cucumber and avocado is super on that salad. You then have a crisper drawer of leftover veg not cut up for another few meals at the end of the week. Half a red pepper, half and onion, etc. My veggie lasagna and Shipwreck pie, both are 75% veg and keep winning cooking contests. Because they are baked casserole dishes they have all the elements of comfort food without the high starches and empty calories though very filling and comforting...and we don't feel shitty the next day.