Cooking for one.

[Lostvalleyguy]

I enjoy cooking and I enjoy eating the food that I cook but cooking for one is the bane of my existence. Having leftovers isn't a bad thing but having leftovers for a week gets old really fast.

Cooking and Freezing:
Some foods freeze well, other not so much. Lasagne is one of the foods that holds up reasonably well to freezing and reheats without too much trouble. Many other foods containing vegetables lose their consistency when frozen and reheated and are not suitable.
Making small portions:
Recipes are usually designed to feed a family. Usually the quantities suggested make 4-8 servings. Often it is impossible to divide a recipe down to a single serving. While I can cook only a single chicken breast, the sauce may need to cover the chicken and I therefore need as much for one breast as six. Even rice needs a slightly different ratio for one as the steam produced in cooking one portion is the same as 10 - thus the loss of water isn't the same ratio.
Buying for one:
A head of lettuce is a head of lettuce. I cant buy half a head (in most cases) and even with a large salad every night, by the end of the head it is looking a bit sketchy. A loaf of bread may make 10 sandwiches, but it wont last 10 days and it is never great after freezing a portion of it. Canned foods are equally difficult as I may use up to half a can and end up with a lot of containers in the refrigerator with the other half.

Are you in the same boat? Have you any brilliant suggestions?

 

[Chris_A]

I know exactly what you mean and while I have not figured out an awesome solution for leftovers, I either modify the recipe so that I make only 1 - 3 servings max, or I`ll simply invite over friends and family. If they show up for lunch/dinner, there are no leftovers guaranteed.

 

[crimsonghost747]

Yeah, it's sometimes hard to cook for just one. My meal sizes are pretty much double of what most people eat anyway, so a serving for 4 makes two meals for me.
And that's honestly how I often do it. Eat one meal when the food is ready and save the other half for the next day. I'm fine with eating leftovers as long as it's not the same thing for many days in a row.

 

[margarito]

I can understand your mentioned scenario because I experienced the same situation many a times and really was sick at such situations. I try to make the best out of me as I'm a big lover of food and the leftovers if remained for more than a day really makes me feel annoyed at my cooking because I'd got to eat the same thing kept freeze again and again. In order to escape from such situations I severely try to make only enough quantity for that day.

 

[Jessi]

Buying for one:
A head of lettuce is a head of lettuce. I cant buy half a head (in most cases) and even with a large salad every night, by the end of the head it is looking a bit sketchy. A loaf of bread may make 10 sandwiches, but it wont last 10 days and it is never great after freezing a portion of it. Canned foods are equally difficult as I may use up to half a can and end up with a lot of containers in the refrigerator with the other half.

For the loaf of bread, I recommend thinking outside the box! It's not going to last for 10 days of sandwiches, but you can use the rest to make croutons, bread pudding, etc. You can even make french toast and freeze *that* because it does reheat well. They do sell half loaves of bread now, too, but I find that I can always find some way to use up the last of a full loaf for the same price, even if it means sharing with the birds or squirrels to give them a snack, too.