Cooking for One
Dec. 22nd, 2010 10:11 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
cpolkI've shared some of the things I've been cooking lately, but I realized that some of you may not know that I'm cooking for one.
I live alone, so I'm not feeding a houseful (I have, in the past.) A lot of the time, recipes simply aren't designed to serve one person. They assume you're feeding four people, and so it can be difficult at times to feel compatible with a given recipe.![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
standuponit rarely experiences that problem. But I do, and perhaps there are readers who are cooking for two, or cooking for one, and
I've felt most of those (I have a lot of free time on my hands, though.) but this fall I've been doing a lot of cooking and I've noticed that I've developed some habits and practices that address a lot of these problems.
I started buying a lot of re-usable plastic lidded containers. They're clear, so I can recognize what's inside them by looking. No I mean a LOT. I don't buy expensive ones, but I favor square shapes over round shapes.
I have a favorite size - the "sandwich" container. It's about 500 ml and you certainly could put a sandwich inside it. I have many, MANY containers this size, because the sandwich container is the most compatible size for a personal leftover serving. But i have smaller containers and larger ones too. And I use them, oh i use them! I need more.
I use them to store half a chopped onion in the fridge until the next onion i need, and I use them to store my dry goods (I buy a lot of bulk dry goods and dry goods in bags, and they stack and store more neatly in square sealed containers. if something I buy has cooking instructions on the bag, I cut the cooking instructions out with my kitchen scissors, fold it up. and stick it on top of the stuff before closing the lid.) I freeze cooked leftovers in them.
I only buy containers that can go in the freezer. That way if I empty a container I've been using for storage in the cupboard and I'm not re-using it right away for storage, I just put it away with the rest and don't bother or fuss about it. Any container I put my hands on can go in the freezer, and so I don't have to think about whether I have the "right" container for a thing. If I can freeze it, then i can use it in the fridge or the cupboard equally as well.
And that's my most useful habit as a solo foodie - I'm a pre-emptive freezer. I use a lot of soup stocks. they come in 1L tetra packs. Once you open them, they're good for 14 days, and then you have to toss whatever is left over out. When I open a 1L stock, I immediately grab a measuring cup and ziploc bags and pour out one cup measures of stock in the ziploc bag-lined measuring cup. Seal, and into the freezer they go. when I need one I either pull it out to thaw the day before, or I heat the stock in a pan on low to speed the melting. Easy. Fast. I don't even think about it.
I just made a batch of chili. Now chili for one is not practical if you're expecting to make for one person from a recipe. so I grab a big bowl, and I pour in my two cups of black beans (thawed out from the freezer, as I make batches of dried beans ahead and then freeze them in 1 cup measures) and my cup of corn, then I tumble the browned hamburger on top, then I pour half a 28 oz can of crushed tomatoes on top, and stir it all up to get the ingredients mixed and blended together in the big bowl. Then I put the amount I'm going to eat today in the slow cooker, dole out the rest in the sandwich sized containers, and shove them in the freezer for later. my batch put two of those containers in the freezer just now. Then I can pull one out, let it thaw, and just dump it in the slow cooker on chili day. It's halfway spiced. I will need to fuss and adjust it in the slow cooker as i go along, but I've got two low-effort dinners in the freezer now. I do this with the soups I make, and the stews I make, and with the vegetable leftovers that freeze well when cooked. you can't freeze raw potatoes, but cooked potatoes freeze fine. Same with squash. carrots do all right. things like this.
I put my to-freeze portions in the freezer *before* the final touches of cooking, whenever possible. If I'm making a cream soup, I freeze the portions *before* adding the cream. if marjoram is a part of the recipe, i freeze without the marjoram (otherwise you might as well not bother.)
I freeze in single portions to maximize the usefulness of freezing stuff. I buy small quantities of meat. but when I buy chicken thighs I pull them from the package, de-bone them, and freeze one thigh per bag. I never buy chicken breasts, I think they're flavorless compared to the thigh. I always buy them bone in and skin on, because they're easy to de-bone and de-skin if that's how I want them. I know that I'm only going to eat one chicken thigh if I'm alone. so I pull out *one* and cook it. if I buy steaks, I cut them into me sized servings (half a strip loin is about my speed. I'm not a big meat eater.) I freeze single pork chops. Okay, lamb loin chops I freeze in pairs. but freezing things in the smallest usable portions means nothing sits there waiting for the day that I need to cook a package of steak or I need to cook a liter of peanut soup.
It's cheaper and easier to carry dried beans than canned beans (I don't have a car, and I don't take my groceries home in a taxi, so weight is an issue.) so I buy a bunch of say, black beans, and then I prepare a huge batch and freeze them. It takes 24 hours to do this, but the effort is minimal. pour beans into a bowl full of water. soak beans. go to bed. Wake up. drain beans. dump beans in a big pot and fill with water. boil beans for 10-15 minutes. simmer until cooked. Drain and bag and freeze. I cook them without any salt, I don't have to rinse off that weird syrupy glop they're canned in (what *is* that, ew) and they go in chili recipes and in my veggie nacho dip and in black bean soup or I make refried beans of them or whatever it is that I'm doing, and I have them on hand in portions that make *sense* for a solo foodie.
I think ahead, read the whole recipe, and think about the timing of things. Now you can see my menu for Christmas. you have no doubt noticed that a lot of the stuff I am making depends on the oven, and I'm making a small prime rib that requires a very specific cooking technique. The cookies and the buckeyes are obviously make-ahead deals. but I'm going to be roasting a squash while I'm making carrot soup, and the Brussels sprouts are going to get caramelized while my prime rib is furiously browning in a hot, hot oven, and they will be just fine! I'll be keeping an eye on them while I'm preparing the quiona. but I'm only roasting half the squash, the other half will have three days cut in the fridge and if I can't think of something I want to do with it I will turn to the internet for help.
I often turn to the internet for help. there are a ton of food blogs out there and i read blogs for gluten free cooking, slow cooking, baking, you name it. if I have something a little different in my fresh produce box, I'll google that thing and look for recipes that seem appealing. food blogs are the well that I return to again and again, to find inspiration and new ideas and advice. I bookmark recipes in my rigorously organized bookmarks folder, I browse food blogs with a shopping list in hand, I strive to make brand new recipes on a regular basis, to try new foods I haven't tried before, to experiment and to stay out of a rut.
I also don't really follow the usual "big trip" shopping model. It doesn't work for me because I don't have a car, and it's better for me to buy a little food once or twice a week. I have a schedule. Every two weeks I get a delivery from spud of fresh fruit and vegetables and other things that look interesting. Every week I stop in at one market or another to buy other things I need. butter, milk and cream I buy on the way home from appointments. Bulk and dry goods, specialty gluten free stuff, I buy from Community Natural Foods once a month. Heavy canned goods and other staples I take me and my wheeled cart to Co-op when they have those things on sale, and that happens about once a month too. Small shopping trips applied frequently also help me stay inspired and creative. I have a list, yeah, but something will catch my eye while i'm out.
I also tidy my kitchen daily. I wash dishes every day, clear off hotspots, make sure my cupboards aren't getting cluttered and difficult to deal with. No one wants to cook if there's a bunch of kitchen cleaning to do first. it can seriously sap your enthusiasm for getting in there and cooking something fantastic. when I fall behind on this, I quit cooking and I basically live off whatever I can grab out of the fridge and put in my mouth, until I can gently get back on track. I generally wash dishes while I'm waiting for my coffee to brew. If I'm on track I don't even spend 15 minutes cleaning my kitchen in the morning. Seriously.
I eat fresh whenever possible, and I cook from scratch instead of from the kit. Canned and frozen goods definitely have their place, and I buy a lot of dry goods, but fresh fruit and vegetables are easier on a solo cook. If I'm making lasagne, i'm not doing up a 9x12 pan of the stuff. it's only me. so I make the tomato based sauce with a couple of fresh tomatoes instead of opening a jar of spaghetti sauce that is too big for my single serving recipe, (which is ADORABLE and teeny and looks completely swanky served up in the whiteware I baked it in.) a package of lipton side dish is so big that a solo cook might just make that the whole meal (I'm not judging. I used to do it) but I really, REALLY like whipping up an alfredo sauce in a small quantity and then tossing my rice pasta in it for my gluten free version of same. I keep plenty of cream and butter on hand, so why not do it fresh in a small quantity instead of having too much in a prepackage? working from scratch also gives me a lot of flexibility and room for creativity. If I rely on packages, then I can make the stuff that's in the package. but if I'm working from basic ingredients, I can combine them in greater variety.
I started doing more cooking because I need to avoid gluten, and cooking things myself is one of the things I need to do because I have an autoimmune disease that reacts to one of the most common foods on the planet, but that necessity has developed into a pleasure. I love good food and I enjoy cooking and I like the self-nurturing that comes of taking this kind of care with feeding myself.
I live alone, so I'm not feeding a houseful (I have, in the past.) A lot of the time, recipes simply aren't designed to serve one person. They assume you're feeding four people, and so it can be difficult at times to feel compatible with a given recipe.
standuponit rarely experiences that problem. But I do, and perhaps there are readers who are cooking for two, or cooking for one, and- feel like it's a lot of fuss and waste to get fancy for one person
- hate eating the same thing for days on end
- have limited time to be putting home-cooked on the table
- don't have the budget to get extravagant with meals
I've felt most of those (I have a lot of free time on my hands, though.) but this fall I've been doing a lot of cooking and I've noticed that I've developed some habits and practices that address a lot of these problems.
I started buying a lot of re-usable plastic lidded containers. They're clear, so I can recognize what's inside them by looking. No I mean a LOT. I don't buy expensive ones, but I favor square shapes over round shapes.
I have a favorite size - the "sandwich" container. It's about 500 ml and you certainly could put a sandwich inside it. I have many, MANY containers this size, because the sandwich container is the most compatible size for a personal leftover serving. But i have smaller containers and larger ones too. And I use them, oh i use them! I need more.
I use them to store half a chopped onion in the fridge until the next onion i need, and I use them to store my dry goods (I buy a lot of bulk dry goods and dry goods in bags, and they stack and store more neatly in square sealed containers. if something I buy has cooking instructions on the bag, I cut the cooking instructions out with my kitchen scissors, fold it up. and stick it on top of the stuff before closing the lid.) I freeze cooked leftovers in them.
I only buy containers that can go in the freezer. That way if I empty a container I've been using for storage in the cupboard and I'm not re-using it right away for storage, I just put it away with the rest and don't bother or fuss about it. Any container I put my hands on can go in the freezer, and so I don't have to think about whether I have the "right" container for a thing. If I can freeze it, then i can use it in the fridge or the cupboard equally as well.
And that's my most useful habit as a solo foodie - I'm a pre-emptive freezer. I use a lot of soup stocks. they come in 1L tetra packs. Once you open them, they're good for 14 days, and then you have to toss whatever is left over out. When I open a 1L stock, I immediately grab a measuring cup and ziploc bags and pour out one cup measures of stock in the ziploc bag-lined measuring cup. Seal, and into the freezer they go. when I need one I either pull it out to thaw the day before, or I heat the stock in a pan on low to speed the melting. Easy. Fast. I don't even think about it.
I just made a batch of chili. Now chili for one is not practical if you're expecting to make for one person from a recipe. so I grab a big bowl, and I pour in my two cups of black beans (thawed out from the freezer, as I make batches of dried beans ahead and then freeze them in 1 cup measures) and my cup of corn, then I tumble the browned hamburger on top, then I pour half a 28 oz can of crushed tomatoes on top, and stir it all up to get the ingredients mixed and blended together in the big bowl. Then I put the amount I'm going to eat today in the slow cooker, dole out the rest in the sandwich sized containers, and shove them in the freezer for later. my batch put two of those containers in the freezer just now. Then I can pull one out, let it thaw, and just dump it in the slow cooker on chili day. It's halfway spiced. I will need to fuss and adjust it in the slow cooker as i go along, but I've got two low-effort dinners in the freezer now. I do this with the soups I make, and the stews I make, and with the vegetable leftovers that freeze well when cooked. you can't freeze raw potatoes, but cooked potatoes freeze fine. Same with squash. carrots do all right. things like this.
I put my to-freeze portions in the freezer *before* the final touches of cooking, whenever possible. If I'm making a cream soup, I freeze the portions *before* adding the cream. if marjoram is a part of the recipe, i freeze without the marjoram (otherwise you might as well not bother.)
I freeze in single portions to maximize the usefulness of freezing stuff. I buy small quantities of meat. but when I buy chicken thighs I pull them from the package, de-bone them, and freeze one thigh per bag. I never buy chicken breasts, I think they're flavorless compared to the thigh. I always buy them bone in and skin on, because they're easy to de-bone and de-skin if that's how I want them. I know that I'm only going to eat one chicken thigh if I'm alone. so I pull out *one* and cook it. if I buy steaks, I cut them into me sized servings (half a strip loin is about my speed. I'm not a big meat eater.) I freeze single pork chops. Okay, lamb loin chops I freeze in pairs. but freezing things in the smallest usable portions means nothing sits there waiting for the day that I need to cook a package of steak or I need to cook a liter of peanut soup.
It's cheaper and easier to carry dried beans than canned beans (I don't have a car, and I don't take my groceries home in a taxi, so weight is an issue.) so I buy a bunch of say, black beans, and then I prepare a huge batch and freeze them. It takes 24 hours to do this, but the effort is minimal. pour beans into a bowl full of water. soak beans. go to bed. Wake up. drain beans. dump beans in a big pot and fill with water. boil beans for 10-15 minutes. simmer until cooked. Drain and bag and freeze. I cook them without any salt, I don't have to rinse off that weird syrupy glop they're canned in (what *is* that, ew) and they go in chili recipes and in my veggie nacho dip and in black bean soup or I make refried beans of them or whatever it is that I'm doing, and I have them on hand in portions that make *sense* for a solo foodie.
I think ahead, read the whole recipe, and think about the timing of things. Now you can see my menu for Christmas. you have no doubt noticed that a lot of the stuff I am making depends on the oven, and I'm making a small prime rib that requires a very specific cooking technique. The cookies and the buckeyes are obviously make-ahead deals. but I'm going to be roasting a squash while I'm making carrot soup, and the Brussels sprouts are going to get caramelized while my prime rib is furiously browning in a hot, hot oven, and they will be just fine! I'll be keeping an eye on them while I'm preparing the quiona. but I'm only roasting half the squash, the other half will have three days cut in the fridge and if I can't think of something I want to do with it I will turn to the internet for help.
I often turn to the internet for help. there are a ton of food blogs out there and i read blogs for gluten free cooking, slow cooking, baking, you name it. if I have something a little different in my fresh produce box, I'll google that thing and look for recipes that seem appealing. food blogs are the well that I return to again and again, to find inspiration and new ideas and advice. I bookmark recipes in my rigorously organized bookmarks folder, I browse food blogs with a shopping list in hand, I strive to make brand new recipes on a regular basis, to try new foods I haven't tried before, to experiment and to stay out of a rut.
I also don't really follow the usual "big trip" shopping model. It doesn't work for me because I don't have a car, and it's better for me to buy a little food once or twice a week. I have a schedule. Every two weeks I get a delivery from spud of fresh fruit and vegetables and other things that look interesting. Every week I stop in at one market or another to buy other things I need. butter, milk and cream I buy on the way home from appointments. Bulk and dry goods, specialty gluten free stuff, I buy from Community Natural Foods once a month. Heavy canned goods and other staples I take me and my wheeled cart to Co-op when they have those things on sale, and that happens about once a month too. Small shopping trips applied frequently also help me stay inspired and creative. I have a list, yeah, but something will catch my eye while i'm out.
I also tidy my kitchen daily. I wash dishes every day, clear off hotspots, make sure my cupboards aren't getting cluttered and difficult to deal with. No one wants to cook if there's a bunch of kitchen cleaning to do first. it can seriously sap your enthusiasm for getting in there and cooking something fantastic. when I fall behind on this, I quit cooking and I basically live off whatever I can grab out of the fridge and put in my mouth, until I can gently get back on track. I generally wash dishes while I'm waiting for my coffee to brew. If I'm on track I don't even spend 15 minutes cleaning my kitchen in the morning. Seriously.
I eat fresh whenever possible, and I cook from scratch instead of from the kit. Canned and frozen goods definitely have their place, and I buy a lot of dry goods, but fresh fruit and vegetables are easier on a solo cook. If I'm making lasagne, i'm not doing up a 9x12 pan of the stuff. it's only me. so I make the tomato based sauce with a couple of fresh tomatoes instead of opening a jar of spaghetti sauce that is too big for my single serving recipe, (which is ADORABLE and teeny and looks completely swanky served up in the whiteware I baked it in.) a package of lipton side dish is so big that a solo cook might just make that the whole meal (I'm not judging. I used to do it) but I really, REALLY like whipping up an alfredo sauce in a small quantity and then tossing my rice pasta in it for my gluten free version of same. I keep plenty of cream and butter on hand, so why not do it fresh in a small quantity instead of having too much in a prepackage? working from scratch also gives me a lot of flexibility and room for creativity. If I rely on packages, then I can make the stuff that's in the package. but if I'm working from basic ingredients, I can combine them in greater variety.
I started doing more cooking because I need to avoid gluten, and cooking things myself is one of the things I need to do because I have an autoimmune disease that reacts to one of the most common foods on the planet, but that necessity has developed into a pleasure. I love good food and I enjoy cooking and I like the self-nurturing that comes of taking this kind of care with feeding myself.
