Cooking For One
8 years ago
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Cooking for one... (sigh)
Comments (12)Not more than a week apart in 32 years? Wow! My husband travels a lot, and quite a bit of it is international, so your position is a familiar one to me... but it's so far out of the norm for you it must seem a bit jarring. Your suggestion of going to the frozen food aisle at Trader Joe's made me giggle because I do that a lot when I know I'll be dining solo. I also love to roast Cornish game hens because the leftovers don't seem so daunting, and I get the satisfaction of cooking for "real." It's a pity you seem to want to eschew pastas, because you can do some fun and even non-traditional lasagnas for one by layering the ingredients on a single noodle and rolling it up in a smaller pan. I suppose a mandolined slice of zucchini or eggplant could be substituted for the noodle. The roll-up method lets you keep portions very small, but the meal is satisfying nonetheless... "En papillote" cooking works well for one and you won't dirty a lot of dishes in the process. Recipes on the subject are easy to find. I've recently been experimenting with making mini pies. For the record, half of your favorite single crust recipe is about right for a mini pie if the top crust is lattice, and you need about a cup and a half of fruit for a filling... (TJs has some nice frozen fruits, while you're there...) Sometimes when my husband is gone, especially if he has annoyed me before he left, I will eat a meal full of things I know he doesn't like. If you're looking for an interesting read on the subject of dining alone, go to a bookstore or library and pick up a copy of Alone in the Kitchen with an Eggplant. It's a collection of short writings from food authors who talk about their experiences with and feelings about dining solo. Some embrace it, others, not-so-much. It'll definitely make you feel not so alone while you're alone... Oh, one thing I've learned after years of having a traveling spouse: You will both be jerks the first 24 hours he's back. Seriously, you'll both want to be loving, but that's not what will likely come out. We make it a point to not make plans during his first day back because "he'll still be a (jerk) then." I mostly leave him alone. Anytime we've neglected to do this, we find ourselves embroiled in pointless fights. Do yourself a favor and give him time and space his first day back even if you really, really don't want to! :-)...See MoreCooking for one forums?
Comments (15)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....See MoreCooking for one
Comments (9)I actually think it's *really* hard to cook just one serving most of the time, mainly because you always have leftover raw materials (3/4 lb of meat, 1/2 can of this or that, etc...). Normally I just cook a regular meal that would serve 2 or 3 people, and then divide it into equal portions. Eat one, refrigerate or freeze the others for lunches and future dinners. I made a nice meat pie last Sunday night - just finished it off yesterday for lunch. That works pretty well, since I don't have to cook more than 3-4 times per week (I love to cook, but I hate to clean my kitchen). LOL But some things aren't so bad to make just for one person - it's pretty easy to grill or boil up a chicken breast or steak, make 1-1 1/2 cups rice or pasta (or bake one potatoe), and 1/2-1 cup veggies and call it a good meal. 1 small can of sliced mushrooms, sauteed with 2 cloves of garlic (diced), some worchestershire sauce, powdered mustard, and a tiny bit of lemon juice makes a great side to toss with pasta. If you add 1/2-1 cup cream or milk to that mushroom mixture, you can have a nice thick pasta sauce, and it's only 1-2 servings in those small amounts. Tomato-basil soup can be made just for one - heat about 1-1/2 cups chicken or veggie broth, add a small can of tomato sauce, some diced chicken if you'd like, 1-2 diced tomatoes (or 1/2 can diced tomatoes), and a little frozen corn. Lots of basil, garlic and pepper, and a little lemon juice. To make it creamy, add a bit of milk to the mix, and simmer until it's as thick or thin as you want it. Yummy with a cheese sandwich. :-) Ham steaks are good - I buy a ham every other month or so, cut them into personal-sized steaks and freeze them separately. Then I can pull out a ham steak, and throw it in a skillet with a little water, lemon juice, honey, garlic, pepper, soy sauce, ground mustard (lots - yum!) a couple tablespoons frozen orange juice concentrate, and parsley. While that's simmering away, I'll make one serving of either instant mashed potatoes or pasta (egg noodles), and heat up some veggies (whatever I feel like that night). When the hamsteak is done, I pull it out, and add just a little brown sugar & cornstarch to the sauce, and simmer it while I'm dishing up everything else. If I'm eating pasta, I sprinkle it with shredded cheese, then I pour my orange sauce over my "carb" and my hamsteak. Very good! A good light "glaze" for chicken is water, lemon juice, honey, garlic and parsley... Sausage & potato soup...dice one or two polish sausages, and 1-2 whole potatoes. Combine with some diced onion in a saucepan, saute in olive oil until onions are tender. Add water (about a cup or so), and chicken or veggie bollion to taste. Simmer until potatoes are very tender. Remove about half the potatoes, mash and return to soup to thicken (or add instant mashed potato flakes). I season it with pepper and garlic, and add 1/2-1 cup milk or cream, and if I have it, some spinach. Heat until warm again, eat with crusty bread or dinner rolls. I'll stop yammering now...I'm getting hungry! :-)...See MoreFavorite cook for one meals/food shopping tips?
Comments (13)I agree its not only hard cooking for one its hard to eat healthy and not waste money and food especially on fresh fruits and veggies. I think it takes some thought and (my pitfall) a lot of planning since often when you buy something its more than you can eat and doesn't always freeze well by itself. So if you buy a big stalk of broccoli, separate some for eating and make a casserole for freezing, or certainly try to figure which is cheaper, frozen or fresh?. A bag of applies for fresh fruit may be a better deal than single applies but can't eat the whole bag before mushy? Make pie for freezing. Eggs on sale? Again, eat some fresh then make something freezable (is quiche freezable?) A couple of thoughts, Rachael Ray always mentions when using frozen spinach what a good deal it is since you get so much packed in the box for the price. Its good for you so you could google casseroles with spinach (I had a friend in college with no money, he ate one meal a day, spaghetti and spinach). Also lentils, and beans are high in protein and all sorts of good for you things. Back in the day people only ate meat a couple of times a week and ate things like lentils flavored with a chunk of salt pork or soup bone. Dr. Oz on Oprah was just talking about this very thing, cut back on meat and eat more lentils and beans (actually I think his wife is a vegetarian) You can search these forums, I'd search the cooking forum and even ask this question there for favorite recipes (actually I think there was a recent thread on depression food). You can check your library for older cookbooks, the kind that don't use a bunch of expensive ingredients. I imagine there are books on eating on a budget too. You might also keep your eyes out for someone in a similar situation - perhaps you can buy some things in bulk and split them. Last, you might look at the rest of your budget, how much do you spend on cleaning supplies when baking soda and vinegar would work? Do you have an Aldi's near you?...See More
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