I don’t buy milk either. Just cheese and cottage cheese and stuff like that.
That just takes on a whole new and unpleasant meaning in the context of a thread aobut food, doesn’t it?
I buy it a gallon at a time, but I drink enough of it that it usually works out perfectly in terms of running out as the expiration date approaches. Then again I use it every morning for my cereal (sugar cereal rules as a comfort food by the way, Cyn :D), and I like milk and cookies too…
This is true. Laziness stands in my way all too often though 
I use powdered milk. That way, I always have milk when I need it and I don’t have to worry about it spoiling.
Milk? Well, if I find I’ve got some that’s about to be past its prime, I make bread pudding or rice pudding. With stovetop-type (rather than baked) rice pudding especially, the proportions are rather forgiving; if it’s too soupy, you just let it simmer a little while longer. It’s also very easy to adjust the other proportions to taste, i.e. sugar, cinnamon, vanilla, or whatever other flavorings you like. (For a change of pace, I like a bit of orange flower water and cardamom.)
Right now, I’m geographically single, and I’m living off my mother-in-law’s cooking, take-out, and the random restaurant meal. Some nights, I don’t even bother to eat dinner if I’m not hungry.
Now that Aaron’s starting to feed himself, I do cook meals at home because it’s just as easy to cook one and a half chicken breasts (or whatever) and frozen veggies for two, cut the half breast into pieces small enough for Aaron to manage, and do that.
Some grocery stores sell milk by the pint; most convenience stores certainly do. Try that.
Robin
I can’t imagine using powdered milk. For another option, depending on your shelf life requirements:
I recommend - Farmland Special Request Skim Plus Milk. I don’t know how it’s processed, but it’s as thick as 2% milk, tastes creamy (unlike regular skim) and has a shelf life of 4+ weeks.
There’s also that European Parmalat Milk that comes in special cardboard packaguing, requires no refrigeration and has a very long shelf life. Sorry, I Don’t know what it tastes though.
Half a gallon a week here. Some weeks I do end up throwing out the bottom portion. My trick? I keep it at the back of the fridge, the coldest part, and generally force myself to drink it.
You can’t even keep a quart fresh? Have you checked the fridge’s settings?
Farking Hampsters! They ate my treatise on halving recipes, including my coveted Peking Duck for Dummies script. I may be convinced to resubmit it if there is interest( /suckup/) Let me sum up: most receipes can be halved. Oven time may need to be adjusted downward but if it saves you from having to deal with meatloaf for 6, hey, get out your calculator!
Today is a momentous occasion in my amateur cooking career: I go to lay claim to The Kitchenaid Mixer. Bow to the Mixer!
Annie, I admit to being quite jealous of the mixer.
As to milk, I buy sizes no larger than a half gallon. Usually I make it through it (even if I have to force myself to finish it before it goes off), but every once in a while I end up getting rid of some.
It can be more difficult, as I don’t let myself purchase cereals - those will definitely go stale before I finish it. Bananas are generally another poor purchase for me unless I buy no more than 2 bananas.
Things like milk: when I buy it, I try for several consecutive days to cook recipes that need the specific ingredient. Frinstance: if I need cream for sauce, I use it in soup and in coffee too. Milk is easier: I just drink the remainder.
I like to cook, but for some reason I prefer and audience as it were. In other words, if it’s just me, I usually don’t take the trouble to make stuff from scratch. I’ve really come to enjoy the “frozen meal some-assembly-required” type of thing. (It comes in a bag, with all the components separate. Gives you the illusion of cooking without a lot of hassle) The various meal-in-a-bowl offerings are pretty good too. So I’m not surviving on take-out all the time, but I don’t actually cook a whole lot. I’d like to think that if I ever have a g/f or family I’d probably do more “real” cooking, but right now, I am the king of frozen heat-and-eat.
:where’s the smiley with a crown when you need it:
This is my favorite “singles dinner” which provides leftovers for lunch and dinner the next night:
Start to heat a big pot of water for pasta. While it’s heating, mince 2-3 cloves garlic, 1/4 cup oil, basil, oregano, salt, pepper, and a 6 oz pkg of crumbled blue cheese (mix). Cook the pasta (I use a box of Rotini, but whatever), and 1 minute before it’s done, throw in a 10 oz. bag of fresh spinach leaves. Drain and mix with the oil/cheese mixture until coated.
Great for when your friends drop by, too - tell 'em to bring the wine.
I buy it in half-gallon plastic jugs, never cardboard. Pour what you need (don’t leave it out at room temperature), then retighten the cap and put it back in the refrigerator. I have kept milk as long as a month without it going bad.
As to the OP, I’m a single guy and I cook. I sometimes make enough for several meals, and then freeze individual servings. Sometimes if I don’t feel like cooking I make a meal of a few different kinds of cheese and crackers, maybe with a salad. Or just throw a couple sausages on the grill, heat up some frozen veggies to round out the meal. I don’t like any of the store-bought pasta sauces, so I make my own and use it with the various Rosetta stuffed pastas (shells, ravioli). Pick up some fresh bread from the bakery, grate some Parmesan, and you have a meal.
SDMB has been a wonderful recipe resource for me- for example, Italian Gravy!
Damn,reading this board makes me hungry:cool:
Or some crackers and a tin of tuna, maybe with dill pickle slices.
I think I’ll have to try this one, sounds quite good (and easy).
I’ve been guilty of tuna/pickles/cheese/and crackers before as well. I have a problem with salad though - actually, the exact same problem that some people have with milk. Even if I get the pre-mixed salads, I will always forget about it before finishing it all, or just not get around to eating it until it gets a bit slimey and moldy. Maybe I should just make a bigger effort to eat vegetables more foten - or try the frozen variety, so I don’t have to worry about forgetting about them.
In more than 25 years of living alone, I have never once used an oven. I’ve used a top burner on occasion for pancakes/bacon for breakfast, but it’s been years since I’ve done that either. I no longer own a single pot or pan.
I use my microwave a thousand times as much, though I still don’t cook with it, just heat things up.
FYI, that stuff goes bad in seven days or so once you open it. It also tastes very different from regular milk.
I cook a proper meal once a week. Usually I’ll eat half of it that night and save half for the next night. Then two nights a week I have just a basic pasta + garlic bread dinner and two nights something else really simple, like veggie burgers or Old El Paso Burrito Dinners. The seventh day I’m usually either away and have to eat out, or I’ll just get a takeaway from somewhere. Works out pretty well.
Cerrtainly I can’t speak for all single people, but I rarely cook for myself. However, the main reason I don’t is because I hate to clean up after.