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Cooking for one
Housemates and I have separate meals. It works out taste-wise, money-wise. But I find grocery shopping and cooking for one difficult.
I like going to the grocery store every day, taking into account the cheapness of large quantities, and the amount of time I have, that proves difficult as well. I go about once a week, and try to buy for the week.
That is part of the frustration. If I want to have salad, I can buy those bags of lettuce, but that's about five salads for me. Which means I have to have salad every day of the week, or else it goes back. Seems the best way to handle that would be making the salad a little different every time, but this requires supplemental ingredients. And the supplemental ingredients often come in large quantities too: I could have a salad with red peppers one night, and a salad with pears and blue cheese the next. But I would not use all the red pepper and all the pear, and I would need to find other things to put them in.
Meat should be easier. You can buy a pack of chicken and put it in the freezer. Then each night you can take out a breast and cook each one differently. But I find I am not creative enough to come up with different things to do with the chicken. Mostly I come up with baking or frying it with different herbs and spices. Sometimes I think about using different sauces. And of course sometimes I think, "I could make a cassarole! Or a chicken pot pie!" or something. But again, so many other perishable ingredients go into those. I could use all the ingredients up and eat pot pie seven days straight. Or I could waste the other ingredients, the red peppers, the pears. Or I could find other uses for them, but again, I lack creativity in this department.
I also have problems with freezing meat. It never tastes as good once it's been frozen. Things stick to each other so you have to defrost them just to get one out. Even if you put them in separate baggies the baggies end up sticking together. They stick to the boxes they're in. Thawing takes so long.
You guys, my life is obviously a perfect graveyard of buried hopes.
I'm just wondering how you single people, or those of you often cooking for one, handle these things. Got freezer storage advice? Foods you buy because they last longer? Base ingredients you buy and then change up every night? Different fast simple ways to cook chicken, make a salad? Combinations you do--like what to do with a red pepper when you've used a fourth of it for salad but don't want to have red pepper in the salad every night? Things you don't mind eating every single day?
And how about recipes in general? Got any you want to share?
I love food. Except beans and potatoes; those are gross.
I like going to the grocery store every day, taking into account the cheapness of large quantities, and the amount of time I have, that proves difficult as well. I go about once a week, and try to buy for the week.
That is part of the frustration. If I want to have salad, I can buy those bags of lettuce, but that's about five salads for me. Which means I have to have salad every day of the week, or else it goes back. Seems the best way to handle that would be making the salad a little different every time, but this requires supplemental ingredients. And the supplemental ingredients often come in large quantities too: I could have a salad with red peppers one night, and a salad with pears and blue cheese the next. But I would not use all the red pepper and all the pear, and I would need to find other things to put them in.
Meat should be easier. You can buy a pack of chicken and put it in the freezer. Then each night you can take out a breast and cook each one differently. But I find I am not creative enough to come up with different things to do with the chicken. Mostly I come up with baking or frying it with different herbs and spices. Sometimes I think about using different sauces. And of course sometimes I think, "I could make a cassarole! Or a chicken pot pie!" or something. But again, so many other perishable ingredients go into those. I could use all the ingredients up and eat pot pie seven days straight. Or I could waste the other ingredients, the red peppers, the pears. Or I could find other uses for them, but again, I lack creativity in this department.
I also have problems with freezing meat. It never tastes as good once it's been frozen. Things stick to each other so you have to defrost them just to get one out. Even if you put them in separate baggies the baggies end up sticking together. They stick to the boxes they're in. Thawing takes so long.
You guys, my life is obviously a perfect graveyard of buried hopes.
I'm just wondering how you single people, or those of you often cooking for one, handle these things. Got freezer storage advice? Foods you buy because they last longer? Base ingredients you buy and then change up every night? Different fast simple ways to cook chicken, make a salad? Combinations you do--like what to do with a red pepper when you've used a fourth of it for salad but don't want to have red pepper in the salad every night? Things you don't mind eating every single day?
And how about recipes in general? Got any you want to share?
I love food. Except beans and potatoes; those are gross.
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Is it possible for you to buy meat and things in smaller quantities? I like to go to the butcher section instead of picking up the pre-packed stuff, that way I can buy a fish, a small quantity of chicken, some pork, etc. If you need to separate stuff in the freezer, wax paper is a godsend.
I do the same with vegetables and fruits: you can buy a really small packet of lettuce here, literally just enough for a one-person salad. (They used to sell them even in the 7-11's, which made me really happy, but they don't anymore. *sob*) I also like to buy lots of things in jars as opposed to cans, since it means you can just fish bits out as needed. I have white asparagus in a jar, which is excellent, and I've also found some really good fish in olive oil which is great in a quick sandwich. Also, frozen peas are amazing and can be used for many things!
Carbs-wise, I love fresh bread but buying it stresses me out, as it doesn't last and I can't eat bread often at all. I've found some breads that last longer, and I tend to freeze the small quantities that I do buy so that they'll last a couple of weeks. Pasta and rice are much less stressful. Oh, and potatoes. :D
However, I do find that shopping like this means advance menu planning is a Good Idea. If you like to plan, awesome! I suck at it, so the things I like to have on hand for flavouring (aside from salt and pepper) are: soy sauce (both Japanese and the thick sweet stuff), various vinegars, canned tomatoes, fish sauce, curry paste, shrimp paste, ginger, garlic, lemon and herbs. If you have space for fresh herbs in pots that's great, since it takes care of all the quantity problems. I have a brown thumb (it's genetic - my mother killed a cactus), so I use the dried stuff, except for rosemary, which lasts forever in the fridge and is brilliant with lots of things.
Favourite quick recipes! Grilled chicken marinated in olive oil, lemon and rosemary. The same marinade is tops with white fish, throw a parmesan crust on that and fry it, and then eat it with sour cream and a pita, or rice. Lazy chicken curry: green curry paste, small can of coconut milk, basil, ginger, eggplant. (Also good with fish, or shrimp.) Thai sweet pork: marinate in sweet soy sauce, minced ginger and garlic; sauté. Toss some cooked rice through a pan with a bit of shrimp paste and chopped onion. Eat with sliced green mangoes. Lazy Sicilian pizza: spread some good tomato sauce and mozzarella on a pita, lash it with beaten egg, top with peas and mushrooms, heat in a toaster oven until all is melty and delicious. Sprinkle with a little salt before eating. (I know this sounds weird, but it is seriously my favourite kind of pizza.)
Yes, too long, I know. *slinks away*
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TKP: I wish I could be of more help, but I wasn't the greatest eater before I lived with my husband and could make larger meals. I had the same problem as you with things going bad, and I ended up eating a lot of frozen meals and pasta, or making something like lentil or vegetable soup, or a big pan of baked macaroni and cheese, and eating it all week. Or maybe some crackers or flatbreads eaten with healthy dips made in the blender, like hummus or lentil-walnut pate. Oh, in summer lots of sandwiches (mozzarella-tomato-basil for example) and easy side salads like tabouli.When my husband's been out of town I've lapsed into the same habits, so I will watch this thread to see if I can pick up some new tips.
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I've thought about making hummus! I should try it. I know housemate has. The pate looks cool, too. One thing about dips is I like them too much. I could eat them forever, especially because it means I get crackers. I have a real problem with carbs--I can eat a whole box of crackers in one sitting, a whole box of cereal in one day, and have sandwiches breakfast lunch and dinner. I have a really difficult time controlling myself around them. So I try to have meat and veggies for most meals.
Tabouli is carbs but it is awesome and I should have more of it. I do love a good mozzarella-basil-tomato (esp sundried tomato) sammie. Though I'm a snob about mozzarella, and fresh mozzarella is expensive!
Thank so much for your thoughts! I think it's so cool I can ask something like this and people try to help me. People rock!
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The egg sort of blends with the cheese on the bottom part, but the top part of the egg crisps up a little bit: think of the outside of an omelette. If you like cheese omelettes and peas, you'll probably like this pizza. :D
ETA: Also, I only wish I were a gourmet: I just eat a lot and watch Food Network all the time. XD
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Thanks for the stocking up advice. Should be common sense (and I DID see it on Rachel Ray), but I usually shop for specific recipes, and then have all this left over random seasoning crap I don't know how to use, and no generic stuff to use on more widespread stuff (though I'm not very good at using the generic stuff either. I should be able to use up my Worcestire sauce, dammit).
I stress over bread too. I stopped buying it. I stopped buying pasta for a while, but then I just craved something carby all the time.
Oh, good idea about stuff in jars. I like asparagus. And I know artichokes come in jars. Frozen peas are great, but the only thing I know to do with them is--uh, cook them and eat them!
I don't go to the butcher because that is very expensive. Should've mentioned I have a pretty small budget. Part of my whole issue with fresh veggies is they cost so much--I don't like the waste as well, but yeah. So a lot of the individually wrapped stuff feels so expensive for just one meal.
Thank you so much for your advice! Very cool and I'm definitely going to try these things. And totally hit you up for more cooking advice one day ;o)
...I'm really curious about the pizza, too. The egg confuses me.
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Re: not being able to use onions and things, I have an idea - can you use shallots instead? They're tiny, and I cant imagine one stretching further than a couple of meals. Or scallions. They taste onion-y too! I have no problem using up an entire small onion by myself, but that's because I have a horrible weakness for caramelised onions and think they go with lots of sandwiches. <_<
Frozen peas can go on pizza, in pasta (a great veg pasta that's not puttanesca: broccoli, peas, sundried tomatoes - fresh works too, but the oil from the sundried gives it tons of flavour, parmesan; if you have leftover spinach or asparagus it works great in this too. I also like broccoli and peas with lazy pesto, i.e. I just rough chop the basil, pine nuts and garlic and throw it in the pan with pasta and olive oil, sprinkle the cheese on after it comes out of the pan), stews, soups. Of course, just eating them with herb butter is tops too. I like peas!
The pizza is awesome! See what I said to anthimaeria about the egg. It is like having the best bits of omelette and pizza in one strangely delicious creation. *gestures vaguely*
PS Wax paper really is brilliant, it doesn't stick! Plus I find it less fussy than plastic wrap or foil.
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But just to spite us, she lives in the Philippines.
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Excellent Austen shout-out there, by the way.
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Part of my problem is if the food isn't to-die-for I figure, "why bother?" This was just beyond mediocre, and in the end I probably prefer my Pasta Roni. But I think this is better for me and also doesn't depress me as much as Pasta Roni every night. I feel very chuffed!
I would totally make you chili if you came here :o)
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Yeah, I do think I just don't have a handle on what flavors go together. I mean, I know I like rosemary and chicken, but then . . . I end up having rosemary and chicken every single night, you know, which is one of my problems.
Shallots! Good idea. I do love carmelised onions, but I don't eat that many sandwiches because of the bread thing. Well, and I try not to have carbs, which means even though sandwiches are like my favorite food, I just don't have many of them. But I should have carmelized onions with more things!
Thanks for the peas advice. I particularly love your idea of lazy pesto! Cool.
I'll have to try the wax paper.
Thanks so much for all this cool advice, T! I feel that under your tutelage I shall be a lazy grand master!
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When you say marinade, do you marinade before hand? Or do you cook it with the oil and rosemary? Or do you add oil and rosemary afterward? And when you say parmesan crust, can you just put parmesan on there, or do you need to add breadcrumbs, too? I can make a nice crusted chicken, but it always seems like a helluva lot of trouble, with the egg and the flower and the grating of crackers or bread.
Lazy chicken curry: green curry paste, small can of coconut milk, basil, ginger, eggplant.
I've never made a curry before, so the lazy way is confusing to me. Do you throw all that stuff in the pan? Do you sautee the ginger?
Thanks so so much for all your help!
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For crusts, well, uh, I don't grate anything because I am lazy. <_< If I'm feeling industrious enough to bust out the eggs, I use those Japanese breadcrumbs that come in a bag, and I don't bother with flour. The easiest way: I cook one side. Then, when I flip the chicken or fish, I toss the parmesan on the grilled side so that it melts while the other side cooks. You can leave it at that, or if you want some crunch, you can throw some crispy breadcrumbs right on the cheese.
Flowers would be interesting. XD
You could sautée the ginger if you wanted to! I just bash some up and throw it in the pan with the curry paste for a minute or so, just until it's all fragrant, then I add the coconut milk and most of the basil. Let that simmer for a couple of minutes, and then put the chicken and eggplant in and cover it until it's cooked. I like to add the last bit of fresh basil just after taking it off the heat. :)
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