Guest post

Look in any bookstore and head for the cookery book department and you will come across a few books all focussed on cooking for one, filled with recipes for single meals for single people. The thing is with these books you are left trying to find the ingredients in the right quantities for the recipe, which are very rarely available in single serving quantities and if they are they cost a lot more than if they were purchased as part of a pack.  So what can you do?

Shop Smart and Cook Smart

It’s just as easy to cook for two as it is for one, so instead of looking for recipes for single people, stick to your standard cook books and cook what you like to eat.  There is no need to throw away leftover food, simply serve it up into two portions and pop the extra into the freezer for a later date or cover it and keep it in the fridge for the next day.  Then that’s one night when you don’t have to worry about what to cook for dinner.  Plan ahead, make up a batch of tomato based sauce that you can serve with pasta, use as a pizza topping or in a lasagne or a bolognaise sauce.  Don’t worry about lasagne being a big family sized dish either, it does really well in the freezer and tastes just as good after its been frozen and reheated as it did when you made it fresh.

Fresh from the Freezer

After you have spent a few days cooking fresh food every evening, you will also have a freezer and fridge full of all of those extra portions.  So the following week you will have a much smaller grocery bill as you will only need to buy fresh items like salad and bread to go with your homemade frozen ready meals.  Not only will you be eating well you will be saving money at the same time.  Practically everything you make can be frozen and stored for use at a later date which is great for those evenings when you get home late from work and really can’t be bothered to cook a meal from scratch.  With a freezer and a microwave you could have a home cooked meal, in the perfect portion size in a couple of minutes.  And you know it’s going to be the perfect portion size because you separated the portions yourself when you cooked it, unlike those supermarket frozen ready meals.

Comfort Food for One

Is there anything that looks as sad as a shopping cart filled with frozen ready meals?  Or even worse, pots of dried noodles or pasta?  Cooking is a life skill, and if you can master the art of cooking for one, when the time comes you will be more than prepared to feed your family with healthy homemade nutritious food.  Start now and learn how to cook the food you love.  If you don’t have a freezer get one, it will save you money in the long run and you will always know where your ready meals came from because you made them yourself.  And far from looking sad as you go around the supermarket your trolley will get admiring glances because of all the fresh produce it contains.

If you want to gain some extra know how when it comes to cooking fresh meals why not see if there are any culinary schools in your area that can teach you everything you need to know and more.

More on Cooking for One:

• The Pleasures of Cooking for One
• Cooking for One: A Seasonal Guide to the Pleasure of Preparing Delicious Meals for Yourself
• Serves One: Simple Meals to Savor When You’re on Your Own

 

Image: Paul / FreeDigitalPhotos.net