When my husband’s job was in another state, I did what was mentioned upthread – cook something which had 2-4 servings. Eat one serving for dinner that night, save the rest for the next night. Repeat the following night after work. So basically I cooked three times a week. He came home on weekends, so we’d go out for dinner Saturday and Sunday “so you don’t have to cook”, as he’d put it. Doggy bags are the next day’s meal.
I still follow the basic outline now that my husband has another job and is home.
For the nights I don’t feel like cooking I always have quick and easy stuff in the freezer. If we get a rotisserie chicken at the supermarket I’ve got frozen veggies or rice to go with it. Not the stuff with sauce – just plain frozen veggies. If you need to doll them up you can do it yourself after you nuke 'em. They’re just as nutritious as fresh and they don’t go bad. You can also portion oout amounts rather than being forced to use the entire bag. I’ve bought too many fresh veggies only to throw them out because I don’t use them quickly enough.
I always have some kind of lean deli turkey, cheese, condiments, greens, and burrito-sized wraps on hand along with potato chips. Wraps and quesidillas are our favorite fallbacks if we can’t agree on what to have.
The other thing I did every once in a while when my husband was away was use Hello Fresh. $69 buys you three meals, 2 servings each. You pick your meals from their menu within an allotted period of time or they’ll choose it for you. Yes, it’s pricey for one, but I didn’t have to think of what to cook for dinner during those weeks since everything was already there. Plus their servings, in some instances, are better suited for one than two.
Yes, this is a great idea. I cook for three, but I do this a lot. A few years ago I had some surgeries that had me off my feet for awhile. Prior to that, I did exactly this. I would double some recipes so I could freeze them, or some recipes I’d split in half and freeze so my husband only had to defrost and reheat. With my job, I sometimes don’t know my exact schedule in advance so often I still spend a Saturday or Sunday cooking and then have leftovers or meals I can just pull from the freezer during the week. Another suggestion, if you are cooking for one, freeze individual portions of soups, stews, meatballs, etc.
Another thought, I’m not sure what your budget is, but supermarkets now often have a prepared foods section. I’m sure that could get expensive, but they usually have rotisserie chickens. In fact, we’re picking one up for dinner tonight. If you are just preparing for yourself, you could get several meals from it. You could do a platter with some simple sides, a sandwich, a casserole, etc. I know our local market has them for $4.99 so it makes a good, inexpensive meal.
I do a nice vegetable stir-fry maybe twice a week. Chop up a shallot and some garlic, saute that for a minute, then add in whatever cut-up vegetables I have (for me it’s usually mushrooms + asparagus + broccolini or string beans or bell peppers). Cover, and cook for 3-4 minutes, stirring occasionally. If I have some left-over chicken, I throw that in. Sometimes, I’ll scramble a couple eggs and add at the end. Sprinkle the whole thing w parmesan cheese, and you’re good to go. If you need some more cards, serve with some rice (which you can buy frozen and TJ’s if you don’t want to make your own). I try to avoid low glycemic carbs, so I just add more vegetables instead of going the rice route. You can add a splash of white wine, soy sauce, sesame oil, or something if you want to add a bit more flavor. Tasty, healthy and takes about 10-15 minutes from start to finish.
Winter is great for stews-- make a big pot one night, and you’ve got 6 or seven meals left over for the freezer. Make rice or pasta in advance, and freeze the rest, too. Re-heats very easily in the microwave.
Restaurant portions in this country are absurd, so I make sure to take at least half of it home.
In fact, I rarely prepare my own food any more. I eat out three or four times a week and have the leftovers — on a rotating basis, if you’re worried about boredom — at all my other meals (well, maybe not breakfast). And because I’m trying to lose weight (and succeeding!), I can eat half in the restaurant and get two more meals out of the other half.
If there’s a will-power issue, you could do what a friend of mine does: She orders her meal and asks that a to-go container be brought with it, then packs up half before she even starts to eat. It works.
I don’t do stir-fries at home, but it sounds good so maybe I should start. I do make fajitas fairly often. Cut up some chicken, peppers, and onions. Season the chicken (Penzey’s makes a good fajita spice mix). Heat a little bit of oil in a skillet over medium high heat. Cook the onions and peppers and set aside. Cook the chicken. Add the veggies and a little lime juice. Serve with warm tortillas.
For all that I read and hear about how large restaurant portions are in the U.S., I wish I could get smaller portions of items in the grocery store. About a half, or three-quarters of a pound of chicken is perfect for fajitas.
I had a lot of steamed vegetables atop a bed of brown rice. Start the pot of rice, , start 30 minute timer, chop vegetables, prep steamer, , start vegetables at 30minute mark, reset timer for 10 minutes (15 if you like REALLY soft veg) turn everything off at timer beep, serve, garnish with favorite condiments ( I like sweet soy sauce and chili garlic sauce), serve and enjoy
single people are good for about 2 weeks of food, not as much meat there as you think.
I like to gut clean and prep them before their core temp drops, the meat drains better that way.
Wash it good and then get it packaged up for fridge or freezer.
I can send you a butchering and usage guide if you like?
I’ve been living single most of my adult life. A lot of the time I’ve been here I’ve been following one diet or another so I’ve spent a lot of time shopping, cooking and cleaning up after myself.
At some point I just gave up. It sucks. I don’t buy fresh veggies anymore cuz they go bad. Don’t buy meat, I cook it wrong. Bread and milk usually go bad here too but I still buy them and throw away half.
The biggest thing I did for myself was to just stop eating so much. I have a prepackaged breakfast, a sandwich for lunch and either cereal or dinner out for dinner. If I am going out for dinner I eat a protein bar for lunch. If I go out for lunch I have a protein bar for dinner.
Eating less is good for the waist, good for the wallet and good for your time. And then you don’t have to shop much or clean up.
See, when I was cooking for myself, I loved it, because I could just make whatever the hell it is I wanted to and exactly to my tastes. Now, cooking for four, I have to make something my two little kids and my wife like, so that drastically narrows the field. I mean, yeah, I can also cook a separate meal for myself (and I sometimes do), but that usually takes too much energy. More often I miss cooking for only myself vs cooking for my family (although I do enjoy both, don’t let this sound too negative. I make a lot more middle-of-the-road American food like casseroles and cube steaks and hamburgers and chicken dishes than I normally would otherwise, and find I do enjoy them, even if it helped put 20 pounds on me in the last four years.)
As to the OP, the easiest thing to do is make meals that freeze well if you’re like me and don’t like to make one big meal and chow down on the same thing for the next five days. Of course, you can get creative with your leftovers. For example, make a big batch of chili one day for dinner. The next day, use that chili with onions, lettuce, tomatoes, cheese (whatever you like) for something akin to ground beef tacos. Or make some enchiladas with them. Or use it as a base for a spicy spaghetti sauce. Or chili mac. Or turn it into a soup. Or layer it with tortillas and cheese into a casserole. Etc. Freeze the rest, since chili freezes a snap. Or roast a chicken. Use the leftovers to make chicken soup. Or chicken tetrazini. Or chicken tacos. Etc. That’s what I always ended up doing with stuff that I really ended up cooking in larger amounts that I didn’t want to downscale to single serving sizes.
Also, I would just alternate. Like I said, I can’t eat the same thing every day, but I can cook one batch of food on Monday; another on Tuesday; another on Wednesday; and rotate back to Mon, Tue, Wed leftovers, which will keep fine in the fridge usually for about five days and give me the variety I desire. But if you’re a person who doesn’t mind the same thing every day, you’re golden. Just make a big batch of stew or a casserole or bowl of spaghetti or whatnot, and eat it 'til you’re done. It’ll last just fine in the fridge.
And don’t forget simple things like sandwiches and soup. Back when I was single, there were many days that all I wanted was a nice grilled ham & cheese sandwich (or whatever deli meats I happened to have around) and perhaps a bowl of soup for dinner. You don’t have to get that crazy. And buy a bunch of bags of nukable frozen veggies so you can balance your meals a bit when you’re feeling too lazy to cook up vegetables yourself but want to feel like you’re somewhat taking care of your body.
Re: Roast Chicken. Back when the kids were at home, we could polish off a roast chicken at dinner with no problem. They liked white meat, the Ukulele Lady and I prefer dark.
Nowadays chickens are so damned HUGE…yesterday I wanted a 3-pounder and ended up with a 5-pounder. The two of us consumed the wings and legs, and we have both breast halves in the fridge to deal with later in the week. Luckily I know a fine tortilla casserole to use it up. But leftover roast chicken is magic meat…I can see a single person doing one and having every other night’s dinner half-ready for the following week.
A cold chicken sandwich on rye or white with thin slices of summer tomato and a schmear of mayo and some salt and pepper is a grand thing. If you really want to whoop it up, add a couple leaves of Romaine lettuce and a few rashers of crisp bacon and make the original Club sandwich.
You can keep bread in the freezer, although after a while it doesn’t taste as good.
I used to live in Japan, and something I liked about grocery shopping there as a single person is that they sell very small loaves of bread – like six slices. (You can also buy tiny cartons of four, or even TWO, eggs there.) I haven’t found anything that small in grocery stores in the US, but Cobblestone brand bread sells loaves of 12 slices. It’s a little pricey, but I like the bread. Another option is to get bagels, which usually come six to a package. Either way, I can typically eat six sandwiches before the bread starts to get nasty.
Single vegetarian here. I make large quantities of bean and lentil soups and freeze them in two cup servings. Heat and serve with crackers or a grilled cheese on whole grain bread. Add pasta, rice or vegetables. With fruit and yoghurt, it’s a good balanced meat.
