Cooking for one

[MsSassyBaskets]

DH's rotation starting in 1.5 weeks is a semi-away... far enough that he took housing and will probably only drive home on the weekends. I haven't cooked for one in years. I anticipate there will be a lot of Trader Joe's/Annie's frozen meals and cans of soup, (honestly I'm kind of looking forward to the cooking break) but this is the first of several similar rotations, and one cannot live on packaged food alone. I'm sure I would end up with HBP from all the sodium. I also don't want to cook as I normally do and end up eating the same thing for 5 days in a row. Ugh. So. Ideas? Inspiration?

Ideas so far:
- I'm thinking I can probably make some smaller stir-fries that would last 2 meals - one dinner, one lunch - if I use a single chicken breast and cut the amount of veggies.
- I could also get a big tub of salad mix and a variety of add-ins, but the weather is getting cold and salad dinners are less satisfying.
- There's always the baked potato option...
- It would be easy to make a smaller amount of pasta and throw together some sauce and frozen veggies and chicken sausage.

[L.Jane]

I wish I could be of more help, but your list of ideas is pretty much my go to. Also, the instant rice and noodle packets dressed up with veggies and cheeses.

Right now with the cold weather, you can make grilled cheese and tomato soup for just one, or quesadillas.

[HouseofWool]

If you do cook some of your standard stuff, freeze leftovers in individual portions. Then you aren't eating the same stuff 5 days in a row AND you will get a break from cooking down the road.

[Mrs. MD, Esq.]

Quesadillas -- just buy what you need for for filling and freeze the tortillas (if you put parchment paper between them pre-freezing, you can take one at a time without thawing them all). You can do an insane variety. My favorites are the Black and Blue quesadilla (double the blue cheese); the black bean with portobello mushroom; the escarole, sausage and fontina quesadilla; and the pizza quesadilla. There are also done other ideas in the last link.

http://www.myrecipes.com/m/recipe/bl...0000001896185/

http://www.myrecipes.com/m/recipe/po...0000001895993/

http://www.myrecipes.com/m/recipe/es...0400000111112/

http://www.myrecipes.com/recipe/kid-...0400000114468/

http://www.cookinglight.com/m/food/r...0412000081547/

Spaghetti squash with sauce works...as does most pasta dishes (measure out one or two portions and freeze leftover sauce).

Sandwiches.

Burritos (homemade beans are easy, taste great and freeze beautifully)

[MsSassyBaskets]

Ooh, I love the quesadilla ideas! I can't eat flour tortillas but I can do corn, and I think there are some interesting larger GF wraps out there for burritos/quesadillas. I'm definitely adding those to the rotation. Grilled cheese too, though I'll need to start baking bread again if I don't want to spend a fortune.

Hmm... a lot of my options so far are quite cheesy and carby! Not all that healthy, but so tasty.

[WolfpackWife]

Quesadillas and baked potatoes are great options, IMO.

I'd also pick 2 - 3 large batch meals to make and freeze so even though you're repeating a lot of stuff, you can mix it up. When I do that, even for the two of us, it's usually:

-Chicken tortilla soup
-Meatballs and sauce
-Chicken and spinach flautas (I'll also make a big pot of from-scratch Mexican rice which I refrigerate)
-Tomato soup
-Dumplings

When I know we'll be really busy, I'll take a Sunday afternoon and make a couple of these and then divide it all up into containers and voila - no work dinners straight from the freezer!

Edit: now I'm hungry.

[BonBon]

I haven't had the pleasure of cooking for 1 in a long time, but my go-to was always popcorn, hot cocoa with whipped cream and a movie.

Sorry, that wasn't much help!

[MrsK]

When I was cooking for one, I used to meet girlfriends for happy hour and enjoy $4 appetizers with a cocktail or even just a soda. Or I'd invite friends over for simple dinners - things like spaghetti or tapas. They'd reciprocate and each of us rarely had to cook. It was fun and easy to socialize informally and made the time pass quickly. I'm sort of sad to be selling my single girl condo because it means those days are over.

Sent from my SCH-I545 using Tapatalk 4

[ides]

I always made stuff I like that dh doesn't when he is away.

[Thirteen]

I always made stuff I like that dh doesn't when he is away.

I will add to that statement - "things I didn't have to cook".


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk - now Free

[Curegirl]

Whenever I eat grilled cheese and tomato soup, the SO refers to it as my senior citizen on a fixed income meal. Hello, it's yummy!

[civilspouse]

Soups, stews and chili freeze well and are great this time of year. They can easily be seperated out into small portions too. I like to use the small pyrex containers, but you can also use Ziploc bags and lay them flat on a cookie sheet in the freezer. After they freeze you stack them up and they don't take up too much space.

[Meenah]

When my kids were small I used to double the servings I needed and give half to my nextdoor neighbor and she would do the same. We did this once every week or two.

[MsSassyBaskets]

Bag of tostitos and red wine. Srsly, why are you not planning to eat happy hour food with friends at least one night a week? Do you have a dog you have to come directly home to let out?

Uhhhmm... I work from home, so I'm already here. And I live in a new city where my only friends are DH, a few of his (male) classmates, and one classmate's wife, who I don't know well enough to call up for happy hour. Yeah. I feel like a winner.

[ides]

Uhhhmm... I work from home, so I'm already here. And I live in a new city where my only friends are DH, a few of his (male) classmates, and one classmate's wife, who I don't know well enough to call up for happy hour. Yeah. I feel like a winner.

Well, no need to cook then. Order in! Thai, pizza, Mexican, the food choices are endless! Oh how I miss the food options in the city.