Cooking for One

by Sarah (March 13, 2008)

Learning to cook healthy, inexpensive meals for one person takes a little bit of effort, especially if you are used to cooking for a couple or a family. Some quick tips on making the switch:

Freeze, freeze, freeze - Make a larger batch and freeze or refrigerate portions individually. Label the packages with the date and contents and don’t keep anything much longer than 2-3 months.

Think outside the meat, potato, vegetable box - The standard North American meal doesn’t really lend itself well to cooking individual portions or to freezing. Lots of soup and stew recipes are hearty, filling and have all the nutritional requirements of a full meal. So do casseroles. These kinds of meals also freeze well and use fewer dishes, saving cleanup time.
Try vegetarian options - Even if you don’t want to give up eating meat, start introducing vegetarian meals into your regular diet. Canned legumes like lentils, chick peas and kidney beans are much cheaper than meat, and don’t go bad nearly as quickly. They’re high in protein and go well in soups, chili, pastas or salads.

Chop vegetables in advance - When preparing one meal, just keep chopping and store your chopped vegetables in the fridge for your next meal, so that when you’re more pressed for time, you can just toss them in to a salad, soup or stir-fry.

Think about sharing with friends - If you have single friends, think about trading portions, like a longer term potluck. Make one of the larger batches and trade off a few of the freezer shares. This will introduce new recipes and variety into all of your diets.

Cookbooks and online recipe sites - There are cookbooks available that give recipes in one-or-two person portions, and online recipe sites often have a built-in calculator that lets you change the number of portions you want to make and adjusts the ingredient measurements accordingly.

Subscribe to feed updates or email updates
Save it: Stumble it! | Del.icio.us | Digg
Posted in Easy Food
Want your tip featured on Bohemian Revolution? Click here!