1 to 3 pieces of boneless skinless chicken
1 can of diced tomatoes. I like the seasoned ones since I’m bad at seasoning things myself.
Mozzarella cheese if you want. I use lots!
Place chicken in baking dish, pour can (or half can if you’re only doing 1 piece of chicken) over chicken. Bake for 25-30 minutes, depending on thickness of chicken.
Sprinkle cheese over chicken and bake a few more minutes until it melts.
Eat!
Also good with breaded chicken, or with chicken cutlets and put on a sub roll. Almost like a chicken parmigiana sandwich, but clearly not a good, but hey, it’s the best this lousy cook and do. Or served over pasta. I usually just nuke some green beans as a side dish with it, or make a salad. I usually do two pieces at a time because it does re-heat well. I’m not a very good cook and even I can do this one.
Also, All Recipes lets you change the serving size on their recipes and it will adjust the amounts you need. Very helpful when you like something that says serves 8 and you only want it for 2.
Oh, another thing you might try is couscous. Very simple to make, pairs well with fish or chicken (maybe beef too, I’m not much of a beef eater).
I utilize both the fish and meat counter at the grocery store quite a bit because I can buy just the amount I need. One piece of salmon or one piece (they’re usually fairly large) of chicken. The pieces are already seasoned or marinated (but not precooked and filled with fat and grease like take-out) and I don’t have to buy or make a marinade that’s just going to go bad before I need it again. A piece of salmon, a box of couscous, maybe a vegetable (I like to mix peas into my couscous) and you’ve got a simple dinner for one.
The problem with cooking for one and only one with no leftovers is that there’s usually a lot of waste - half a can of this, a fourth of a head of lettuce, etc. If you’re not a smart menu planner you can waste a lot of food and money. Planning for leftovers is way smarter, although I myself am not great at it.
Couscous works well with all kinds of stew-like dishes, including pork and beef. Basically with anything that includes a little moisture. I also like to add a little finely chopped red onion to most couscous dishes.
To the OP: freezing is definitely the way to go if you make stews and sauces. It takes just as long to make 10 portions of spaghetti sauce as it takes to make one, and with ten portions, it’s much easier to add some extra touches that would be impossible to get in small enough portions - for instance, I don’t think I can get a single chicken liver anywhere
I tend to make one or two large dishes a week and freeze whatever is left over. The rest of the time I can make something that doesn’t take too long or just reheat some of the frozen stuff I’ve already got.
Similar to what others have mentioned, I cook once a week for myself – a couple hours on Sunday, full portions in the recipe. The rest of the week, I come home from work and reheat; plenty of time to pursue hobbies and entertainment even on the busiest of days. The problem I have with cooking single-meal portions is that I can’t purchase fresh ingredients in single-meal quantities; almost everything is bundled and bulk, and food generally keeps longer after cooking.
This is partially true, but there are ways to work around it.
Example: I buy chicken wings in 2 kilo portions. Split it up and freeze in 3 to 6 wing bags. Put a frozen bag in the fridge in the morning or the evening before and you can use them the next evening.
The same thing works for many vegetables, especially beans - though fresh is usually best, the difference isn’t all that large if you cook them. Fresh veggies are different.
My personal suggestion for cooking for one is “Dice and Freeze.”
The size of basic produce like onions, garlic, cabbage, etc. is all larger than you need for any one meal for an individual. But if you cook something that uses it all, then you’re stuck eating just that for the next week. (And most things aren’t as appetizing reheated.)
If you buy an onion, dice it, and freeze it in a bag, however, then when it comes time to cook, you can just grab out a handful or however much you need, and throw it in.
You end up not needing to buy fresh produce all that often, and when you do it’s just one thing, so dicing it up once you get back from the store is pretty easy.
Again, throwing in another plug for my favorite cookbook, EatingWell Serves 2. Your local library should have it if you don’t want to spend the $15 on it. If you want a small quantity of a fresh veggie, they advocate the salad bar. They also make it easy to pair a recipe that calls for half a can of diced tomatoes to use the OTHER half can the next day for a meal.
