| Cooking for 1
Posted: 12/9/2008 1:12:50 PM | | How do ya do it? at the weekends i cook for 3, but i cant cook for 1... ideas please people...help, ive tried spag boll, chille con carne & froze em but noooow ime struggling and why does this have to contain more than two hundred letters? | |
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| Cooking for 1
Posted: 12/9/2008 2:44:52 PM | What do you mean? If the recipe serves 4, just divide the ingredients by 4. If you want leftovers, divide by 2. It can't get any simpler than that.
What is it you find difficult about cooking for 1? | |
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| Cooking for 1
Posted: 12/9/2008 2:49:12 PM |
What is it you find difficult about cooking for 1?
Who wants to eat the same thing all week long? And unless you have a large storage freezer, you can only "freeze" so many meals. I've tried pots of stew/soup and wind up eating the same thing for days, or I freeze part of it and usually forget its in there. TV Dinners are beyond old. Now its canned soup, and I'm tired of it.Besides, the sodium content is too high even on the healthy ones. And eating out all the time is fattening. | |
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| Cooking for 1
Posted: 12/9/2008 3:12:32 PM | I did a thread search and there are 8 threads that talk about cooking for one. You might want to check out those for ideas. There are also cooking for two threads that you might find useful.
S. | |
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| Cooking for 1
Posted: 12/9/2008 3:43:26 PM | | I LOVE cooking for one cos you get to eat your own favourites and there's less mess | |
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| Cooking for 1
Posted: 12/9/2008 5:42:20 PM | I am cooking and baking all the time. right now its xmas cookies!! being i dont have my son at home on weekends I cook a big meal on Saturdays and bring it in to work for my friends and we eat together at lunch time. They love that I work Sundays cause they know they will have a home cooked meal. | |
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| Cooking for 1
Posted: 12/9/2008 6:08:02 PM | There's nothing wrong with cooking for ONE....
You SHOULD come FIRST and, you SHOULD make things wonderful for YOURSELF EVEN if there are leftovers. You can always freeze it in portions so that you ONLY have to defrost items for yourself WHEN you want it.
I cook for myself on MANY occasion and, I ENJOY what I cook for myself because I'm my own BEST/WORST critic. LOL
Hope you find some things for yourself to cook...there are plenty of topics in the forums..just do a search on cooking for one and see what comes up.
Good luck...
~~Beth~~ | |
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| Cooking for 1
Posted: 12/10/2008 1:33:31 AM | | Thanx for your advice & tips people.......Sirloin steak,new potatoes,brocolli,cauliflower & carrots is on tonights menu, this Englishman knows how to cook ;) | |
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| Cooking for 1
Posted: 12/10/2008 6:37:47 AM | I work construction and maintain two houses. One I live in as a permanent residence and come home on the weekends, the other I stay in during the week while I am working. I cook for one every meal I cook. Here's some ideas based on what I made for myself in the last month.
Guy I rent from gave me a quart of oysters (really salty too!!!) that made oyster stew that fed me dinner for 3 nights. It was EXCELLENT to come home to hot soup and butter bread when it's cold and humid out and just plain crappy winter weather to have to work ouside in.
He gave me 2 nice gallon freezer bags of fresh caught, dressed and cleaned speckled trout fillets. Filled the toaster oven with them, add lemon juice, butter, salt, pepper, old bay, and broil. Serve with mashed potatoes from a mix, and a small can of those early peas. That made a WONDERFUL dinner, and put the remainder into tupperware that went to work the next day as lunch. One bag is still in the freezer, it will make several good meals.
I made turkey and dressing, collards and such for thanksgiving, that was work lunches for 4 days and dinner for 2.
15 bean soup with cajun andouille sausage, make this and serve over rice, I take a Stanley food jar thermos of it and a ziploc container of rice cooked the night before to work, pour the beans over the rice and man, that is a GREAT lunch.
Black bean soup with chorizo, see above.
Venison cooked in a crock pot with a salty onion soup broth, make gravy with the broth and serve over rice or mashed potatoes, again pack it in the lunchbox for work.
Trick is to cook once, and have 2-3 meals out of it. Use tupperware and separate your food into meal size portions. Buy items that are the right size to do this with. Pork tenderloin = dinner twice and lunch at work once. Steak = dinner two nights. Spaghetti = dinner two nights and lunch two days. Chili = dinner and lunch for 3 days.
This way you have good wholesome home cooked meals and no fast food, no store bought entrees which are easy and fast but LOADED with sodium. You will eat better and be healthier because of it. | |
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| Cooking for 1
Posted: 12/10/2008 3:13:11 PM | Can you please explain what 'collards' are - I have NO clue?? Thanks | |
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| Cooking for 1
Posted: 12/10/2008 3:57:19 PM | Collards are a large green leafy vegetable, the leaves can grow as big as tennis racquets. They are traditionally cooked in a large pot with at least one form of side meat, salt pork, ham hocks, hog jowls, smoked pork, etc, and some peppers and/or vinegar to flavor them, they will cook about 2 1/2 to 3 hrs when they are tender and ready to serve.
They are very good for you, very high in vitamins, minerals and other things, they are traditionally a southern dish, and very much in the soul food group.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Collard_greens | |
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| Cooking for 1
Posted: 12/10/2008 9:59:10 PM | I invested in a high-end food storage unit, one that sucks the air out of the storage bags prior to freezing. I love it and never, ever get tired of what is in my freezer since it is just as good the day i take it out as it was the day i put it in there. Of course, there are some secrets and tips you have to keep in mind, but i bag and freeze everything from bread to delicate cakes to burgers, to preseasond meats and fishes, this was the best kitchen investment i have ever made aside from my kitchen-aid mixer and its components. Feel free to message me for suggestions,
Hugzz,
Donna | |
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| Cooking for 1
Posted: 12/11/2008 2:05:50 AM | would it be Silverbeet?? Like a large spinach leave over here in Australia - that's all I can pin it down to, cheers  | |
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| Cooking for 1
Posted: 12/11/2008 4:19:25 PM | | Silverbeet is also known as Swiss Chard. It's not anywhere the same as collards. Check out the wiki URL posted above, it says correctly what collards are. | |
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| Cooking for 1
Posted: 12/11/2008 4:41:59 PM | | Wow! That's way better the Cheerio's or peanut butter on rye that I eat every night. | |
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| Cooking for 1
Posted: 12/11/2008 5:17:28 PM | | How do you freeze bread with a vacuum seal machine? It makes my breads and rolls squish. | |
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| Cooking for 1
Posted: 12/20/2008 8:24:12 PM | Hi Pazoozoo
Re Vac sealing bread. It depends on what kind of vacuum sealer you have. If you have the one that has the wet/dry button ( I think it might say moist/regular), then you just set the machine to moist and seal away. It uses a different method to do the sealing. If you have the model that doesn't give you 2 options, it just seals, then the only way you can use it for bread is to lay the bread out on a cookie sheet in the freezer to individually freeze slices, or rolls, or whatever. When they are frozen, put them in the seal a meal bag and proceed with the vacuum sealing. The frozen state will prevent bread from crumpling up. I ate a lot of stuffing for a while when I failed to freeze the rolls first LOL what a mess. Those suckers were flat as a flivver! Even now that I have the one with 2 options, I still freeze the bread first.
I agree with Butterfly. I have said it before and I'll say it again. A vacuum sealer is an essential tool in a singles kitchen (IF you have a freezer.) I 'd be willing to bet I use mine 5 days out of 7, either putting something up or using something already sealed in a bag. That, a crockpot, a toaster oven and Debbie Meyer Green bags are my kitchen essentials, even though I have an overly equipped kitchen. If I had a fire or in some other way lost everything, those are the things I would replace immediately.
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| Cooking for 1
Posted: 12/21/2008 12:24:38 AM | Well mightbeme....
That did it. Reading your cooking posts here have gone and made me look at your profile. My knees go weak for guys that can build houses. I surely can't do the building, but I am a gifted designer. It has been my passion since my youth. Would you fight me for the kitchen?
LOL walking away shaking my head because I know no one is REALLY here looking for a relationship LOL
Oh good Lord...
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| Cooking for 1
Posted: 12/22/2008 6:06:32 AM | This may help - for your main dishes, try purchasing things like single sized lasangna, meat dishes etc. All in your frozen food sections. As a side dish, you can add any veg dish you like such as salad, cut raw vegs., frozen vegs. etc...
I don't recommend buying the bags of cut vegs in large bags, but look for the individual sizes or just buy and use as you go for salads. The deli section has good ideas in small portions for individual needs. The less you buy (unless frozen), the less you waste.
Plan your meals if cooking a larger portion. This way you can plan on cooking a half a chicken and using the rest in stir frys, pastas or salads. And you buy the ingredients for this prior to the day cooking. Less waste and more taste!
I have now gotten this down to a science and being on my own for three years has made it easier to manage. In the beginning, I did waste because I was so used to cooking for two or more and having leftovers as well.
Good luck | |
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| Cooking for 1
Posted: 12/22/2008 10:22:01 PM | | "Company's Coming" makes a good cookbook called, "Cooking for Two". The portions/ingredient list, etc. is all much smaller. | |
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| Cooking for 1
Posted: 12/23/2008 5:04:50 PM | Instead of making a big batch of something then freezing, buy the raw, base entree ingredients, portion into single-serving sizes, and freeze (preferably vacuum-sealed). Thaw in the microwave on defrost setting while you prep or cook other items that can go with the protein/meat. Note: before I got my vacuum-sealer, I did not like frozen meat, poultry and fish but vacuum-sealed items keep much better.
Buy ingredients and spices that you like, can be used in different ways, have longer storage life and/or can be cooked whole in microwave (potatoes and winter squash come to mind). Fruit that doesn't need peeling (whole or pre-cut like pineapple), bagged salad, and pre-prepped vegetables simplify things too. Spinach is versatile since it can be eaten raw for a salad (with grape tomatoes that don't have to be cut & whatever else you like) or cooked (sautee 1-2 minutes in olive oil with minced garlic [pre-minced from jar] or even just covered in microwave for 30 seconds). For rice (Kashi 7-grain pilaf blend is good), you can make a batch plain then put in fridge and add different seasoning when reheating for the week (maybe toss in a stir-fry).
Use vaccum-seal containers for fresh items that allow it (works quite well for grapes since you can wash & dry them so they're ready-to-eat).
Use easy methods like cooking on top of the stove in a non-stick skillet where you can "grill" or cook in a sauce with a lid on it. If you have a pan rated for oven heat, you can sear something on top of the stove then finish it in the oven; it reduces the cooking time compared to just baking or roasting and it gives a different flavor (I like to do this with salmon).
Use smaller smaller-serving size kitchen tools like a small colander and a small cutting board instead of the regular size. For some reason, it makes it seem like less hassle than handling full-size items (at least to me).
Make your own recipes by cooking improv instead of trying to pare down a recipe. Just season to your taste instead of trying to measure. Peruse recipes for ideas of which spices and flavors go with your ingredients.
Keep it simple, vary the seasonings, mix fresh and ready-to-use items, and get the timing down and it's pretty easy. Yeah, it may take a bit more time and effort than the can of soup (which I do enjoy) but I don't seem to notice anymore and find I'd rather do this short-cut cooking than have a can of soup. | |
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| Cooking for 1
Posted: 12/24/2008 10:29:01 AM | hi jazzy75149: I think you need to get a bigger freezer, that way you won't be eating the same thing for days. You're concerned about fatty foods?, again, get that bigger freezer to store the healthy foods you already like, and they will last longer without the repitition, you will maintain your weight or may even lose some if that is your intention and feel great either way, and feel calmer, and save money too, esp. now with the high food costs.
I cook for one-myself and have to be more particular about meals because I have diabetes and I enjoy these already-made meals. Don't wait to get sick or a disease to eat better longer.
I hope this is helpful.
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