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When I was first engaged, I rec'd a cookbook called "Cooking for Two When Minutes Matter" by Lucy Cole. It gives you recipes from around the world. The book actually gives you menus for 3 course meals (appetizer, entree and dessert), but I pick and choose - mostly entrees. It even provides a shopping list, so you know what to get. I've actually gone the reverse, and find myself doubling recipes to accomodate the whole family. But, there are several recipes which have become staples (especially the chicken dishes).
When I first met my husband and he was living alone, his favourite cookery book was one by Delia Smith called "One is Fun!". The title says it all.
I am glad to see that you are beginning to look at the challenge of cooking for one or two in a different light.
Hope you will begin to have fun with it.
I cook for one. My freezer is full of leftovers. I don't really like leftovers because I have to remember to eat them at a later date. I try really hard to make only 1 or 2 servings of items. I had the pancake dilemma this week too - I saw a recipe and started to crave them. I began calculating in my head how to pare down the recipe for 1. Then I wondered if it's worth the hassle and maybe I should just go to the restaurant and have someone cook them for me instead. I do pay more for smaller quantities of food items, unfortunately that's part of the singles tax. My married coworkers rave about shopping at Costo - they don't understand why I shop at the regular grocery store instead .
Do any of you find yourselves 'challenged' when it comes to cooking for just yourself, or two of you, if you have a spouse?
So many of my beloved recipes and dishes just don't taste quite the same if I halve them, or quarter them, but my freezer fills up fairly quickly if I prepare the meal, and then try to save the leftovers -- without having to eat them in the next few days. Some things freeze very well, like a stew or chili, while others just don't.
To buy things in quantities suitable for just me, or my husband and myself, is SO expensive, too.
I also find that if I am here alone because hubby's work has taken him out-of-town overnight, I tend to skip meals, or eat like I would never let my daughter do, as a child -- the junk food thing, you know. I hate to admit I ate two bowls of ice cream for dinner one night!
I usually don't feel like cooking, if it's only for me. I might fry a few eggs, or make a grilled cheese sandwich, eat some soup...but I don't want to go into a big production just for me.
Now, my girlfriend likes to cook, and she cooks our dinners, and plans for us to eat. She buys large portions of meat at the market, and divides it up when she gets home. Er, sometimes she makes enough for FOUR people to eat...and expects us to eat it all up, and not have leftovers. I'd say she serves large portion sizes sometimes.
I think most people don't take advantage of their freezer enough. Freeze, freeze, freeze. Use the internet to look up what you can freeze and how. I have found there are very few things you can't freeze.
There is a nice little recipe on allrecipes.com called, I think, "chocolate cake with liquid centers." It serves 4 people with no leftovers (great for a dinner party). Or you can cut it in half, and it's perfect for two people.
I cook basic things BIG and then use them as the base for other meals. For instance, I'll do a roast beef, a package of chicken, or pork in the crockpot and use the meat a variety of ways throughout the week. Roast beef especially is versatile -- you can use it for a traditional roast beef dinner, beef and noodles/stroganoff, sandwiches (hot and cold), put it in spaghetti sauce and serve with pasta, etc.
I cook a bigger quantity of rice than I need, too, and keep it in the fridge. You can use it for stir fry, soups, pilaf, etc. Same with elbow macaroni. If it's already cooked, it's easy and quick to make pasta salads, mac and cheese, etc.
I find it much easier to cook for more, as well. I am now cooking for only three, my kids and myself, and when I cook, I do not cook for leftovers. The kids will consider it... I need to eat this right now food...
Forty helpings will do...
My challenge is cooking for one. When they are not here and it is just me. What I usually end up doing is just not cooking anything.
I don't wanna mess things up to cook for just me... I don't want to break up the pack of three chicken breasts.. leaving me with only three...
This is when I become a true bachelorette. I eat frozen burritoes or cereal. Pop tarts.... Oh the life.
I cook for my dh and myself. Last night I bought the family pack of boneless chicken cutlets (8 lbs) at Sam's club for $15.00. I will slice them in half today making 30 cutlets, I pack them up in Food Saver bags, date the bags and freeze. With the FS bags they can be frozen 6-9 mos. Tonight I will take 4 cutlets and make either chicken piccata or pomodoro, rice and asparagus or salad. Tomorrow dh will have the leftovers when he comes home for lunch.
One thing that I have found that does not freeze well is leftover rice, becomes mushy, and when I make chicken/turkey soups, I cook the pasta separately and add into individual bowls with the soup. Putting the pasta into the pot of soup absorbs the stock. Happy eating everyone.
This is one of my pet gripes, since I almost always cook for one (me). I enjoy cooking, I look forward to planning my dinner and I shop most every day. But I have been frustrated by the grocery stores, who seem to package everything for families of six or more. Whole Foods always bundles the asparagus in 1 lb + bundles (which means I eat asparagus for a week) though I have asked them to vary their packaging, they don't. The meat is the same, at least 1/2 lb packages or more. I have cut back on shopping at Whole Foods for a number of reasons. My reaction has been to keep stable foodstuffs in my cupboards, such as sun-dried tomatoes, dried mushrooms, spices, capers, bundles of garlic, dried pasta, tomato paste in a tube, chicken stock in cans, dried beans and grains. In half an hour I can have a very savory meal about ready. For meat, I keep Bob Evans sausage, which I find to be the most savory, least fatty and lowest cholesterol, and I can use it for breakfast, or I can add it to spaghetti sauces. I also keep anchovies covered in oil in the fridge and add them to sauces for extra flavor (it really works), and I keep Hormel bacon pieces which I can add to breakfast dishes or dinner recipes. I don' really eat a lot of meat, though I like the extra flavor it gives. Dried fruit is also great, though I usually use it for breakfast in the winter months, apricots, cherries, dates, added to oatmeal with some dried citrus zest is a real picker-upper, for me. Although I saw a statistic that one-quarter of all household in the US are single people, the grocery stores don't seem to have caught on to this. My freezer is basically a sub-zero garbage can, I don't save anything there, I only use it for ice cubes and ice cream. Anything else I might put there might just as well go in the garbage.
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