Pick stuff you like, have a cooking day. Spend the afternoon making it. For me it's stuff like lasagna, channa masala, chili and the like. I actually make the meat base for lasagna and chile etc. Thaw it and add whatever you need to make it into chili, etc. Keep one portion of one for dinner. Freeze the rest. You've got 3 months worth of stuff to eat that just needs microwaving. Fantastic when you don't feel like cooking. Make some bechamel and freeze. You can make all sorts out of that. Add cheese you've got mac and cheese, wine and garlic a. Nice pasta sauce. Keep some pesto in. A sausage, pesto, mushroom and a bit of pasta 20 minutes = dinner.
Frozen veg often keeps the nutrients better than fresh, unless it's really fresh at the shop and you eat it quick.
Some people I know even cook a whole package of bacon and freeze it.
Firstly big hugs..I mercifully haven't been in the position of loosing a partner of so many years, but a separation/divorce throws up a very similar situation
I found that a routine was helpful, as was a menu. Pick a time to shop, have a menu of meals to shop for until next shop.. obvious.
I found this not only helped with actually having a decent meal to look forward to, it stopped me buying rubbish.
Veg lasts longer than you think.
Back to the menu, can you have a meat/tatties/two veg one night and the rest of the veg becomes a stir fry the next night or night after?
Batch cooking/frozens massively helped me as well. Takes a bit of time to get up and running but when you just can't be arsed, back from work late, whatever its good to have something in the freezer
I wasn't much of a cook, i'm still not but I found having to go and actually prepare a meal and cook it, and eat it took up a chunk of time that may otherwise have been spend moping around.
Meal was planned, ingredients bought.. radio on and while away a pleasant hour doing something useful.
Treat yourself occasionally, get a take away!
BBC good food is a brilliant resource, I quite liked (still do actually) playing the invention test.. pick something in the fridge/cupboard and make a meal around it.. sometimes it works!
For added meal excitement don't mark your frozen dinners, and guess at what carbohydrate goes with it.. pasta and black bean sauce, yes please, rice Bolognese..mmm
(this was a tip from IHN.. its not the best tip..;-)
Washing up.. get a dish washer.
until then stack it neatly by the sink, soaking stuff that may become harder to clean if it dried out and do it every couple of days. Or wait until you are eating out of the container the food came in with a tyre lever as a spoon and then do it...
Same. Recently single. Normally healthy diet totally gone out the window. Seem to get by on packets of crisps, apples and the occasional Chinese take away. I wonder if some of it is depression...but anyhow...feel your pain.
For added meal excitement don’t mark your frozen dinners, and guess at what carbohydrate goes with it.. pasta and black bean sauce, yes please, rice Bolognese..mmm
(this was a tip from IHN.. its not the best tip..;-)
LOlz!
Sounds like I really need to get organaised for the monthly cooking day. I like that idea.
Ta again folks
BTW - I'm not really in pain - more a bit lost on this subject
I can also recommend the Economy Gastronomy cookbook as it suggests a big meal for Sunday followed by mid-week meals to use up the leftovers.
have got some frozen veg but its not as nice as fresh
Just nip out regularly on the bike if you have a greengrocers/supermarket nearby ie <5 miles?
I often just go and buy 2 carrots, an onion, half a head of broccoli or similar from the fresh/non-packaged aisle. Basically just buy what is required or a little over.
Another trick with fresh veg including broccoli, cauli etc is to roast it and then refrigerate pieces that you didn’t use. They make great cold healthy snacking.
Pataks Madras curry paste, you can knock up a curry in minutes be it still feels a bit home made, but less faff
Few super quick things:
Get cuts of steak sliced thin. A minute on each side and your done with some bagged salad on side. Last in fridge for quite a while.
As above but with fish. Sea bass doesn’t go bad when frozen and can even be bought frozen super cheap, only takes a couple of mins to cook on each side.
If desperate slice either of the above into a quick noodle soup (pot noodle will do if you have nothing else), bonus if you add a hard boiled egg and some diced spring onion. Alternative to go with them is cous cous that can essentially be cooked by covering in boiling water a left for a few mins. Some good easy ready packs available for under a £1 and flavoured with tomato or herbs.
Also just add anything green to the above. Broccoli or green beans cook in a few mins boiled in water.
Kelp stack of healthy snacks around so you don’t OD on crap. Hard boiled eggs, peeled carrots, trail mix, sliced cooked meat.
I found when living on my own it helped having things that were quick / easy to cook but still semi healthy with mix of protein / veg. Lazy can still taste nice.
TJ, I haven't said so yet but very sorry for your loss.
Thank you very much for posting this thread though, and everyone else for the input. As per a previous poster, situation similar due to separation and imminent divorce and other than weekends when the kids stay, I'm finding it very difficult to do the whole cooking for one thing. Especially as I used to do a lot of the cooking previously.
Will be keeping an eye on this thread for some more gems from you lovely people!
It's a bit outdoor activity based, but tinned fish, pasta and a stir-in sauce make a quick meal that feels a bit like you've made an effort when you really can't be arsed.
Sea bass doesn’t go bad when frozen and can even be bought frozen super cheap,
+1 sea bass fillet and greens (with potato or pasta salad) for quick easy meal.
often get the bass fresh from end of day bargain shelf - then freeze immediately at home.
There was a good book I had, I'll see if I can find it. It was one dish dinners or something. Mostly stuff that you could cook in one pan, a lot of it was prep, put in pan or oven, come back in 1/2 hour. Simple stuff like breaded pork chop, potato and carrots roasted with cumin. Really good for when you are not motivated to cook.
Leek and potato soup in the freezer is fab
Fish Pies in the freeer also great
Shepherds/Cottage Pie fried in the pan the next day is even better than in the first place.
Off no use to you but at a low point in my life living in a shity bedsit with no cash or fridge I created the spambhuna...
I hate cooking for myself when shes away and as shes veggie I go meat heavy. It's not healthy
But minute steaks on morning rolls..... my word
hello fresh stuff is available for 1 person.
me and karen get it for 3 people. and it is barely enough. :o)
Find two groups of four people in a similar situation. Then do a ‘come dine with me’ type thing where you each cook for the other three on rotation. That’d sort out two meals a week and be a bit of fun.
Going back to the freezer roulette mentioned above, take a leaf from my parent's book.
60 odd years ago he would drag her out on weekend sailing trips. After a "blustery" bit of weather the contents of the cupboards were floating around inside the boat, so tinned food became label-less. They had a two tins rule, whatever came out of the first two tins opened was the meal.
Grapefruit and baked beans anyone?
No end to the culinary excitement TJ 🙂
Reminds me of Polish roulette in a shop in poland in 1990. All the tins had hand written labels in polish. NO pictures. we had no idea what we were buying
For emergencies I always have some Uncle Ben’s rice packets. Throw in some veg, chorizo and feta you can’t go wrong. Frozen corn, peas and edamame beans are fine. Softer stuff like peppers etc aren’t great frozen. Cooking a whole chicken then bagging up the rest in individual portions is great for curries.
A couple of thoughts. Firstly, get a bread maker. Fill it up at some point in the day, takes about 2 minutes. Set it to finish just before tea time. Fresh bread with butter is a meal from the gods. Suddenly things like homemade soup, which of course you would have batch cooked some weeks ago, turn into a fantastic delight when eaten with fresh bread.
Secondly, for making batch cooking super easy, buy a pressure cooker. Well, actually buy a one-pot cooker that does pressure and slow etc. Pretty sure there was a thread on here a while back with ideas of what to cook. But super easy to just load it up with things, set it going, and come back sometime later to finished food. The best ones come with amazing recipe books.
You could take a leaf out of a Welsh farmer’s book. He was featured in the Guardian recently. He has the same meal every day.
I’ve had the same supper for 10 years
I have two pieces of fish, an onion, an egg, baked beans and biscuits.
https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2021/apr/16/experience-ive-had-the-same-supper-for-10-years
They had a two tins rule, whatever came out of the first two tins opened was the meal.
Haha I was going to suggest tin roulette 😁 Chicken tikka masala with rice pudding was surprisingly good. Meatballs with custard was "challenging".
On a sensible note though, I used to do a roast chicken with veg, the next day was a salad with the drumsticks, then a curry, then pick the chicken and do a risotto. The next day boil the carcus to make stock, chuck in all the left over veg, blend it and you have a tasty soup and an empty fridge /veg rack. I'd do that every couple of weeks.
black bean sauce
This is my latest enjoyable eat.
Pretty much a stroganoff, using one slice of fillet steak, cut into strips, which makes quite a lot.
an fry the meat and when its nearly cooked, and still a bit pink on the outside, I add the black bean sauce, cook that off for a few minutes then pour in 1/3 of a tub of double cream.
Served with microowave mash - Very nice 😀
Theres nothing to it, and its all made in the one pan, which means washing up is a minimum. Literally takes about as long to cook as the microwaving the mash, so about 3, maybe 5 minutes from in the packet to on the plate.
Well I just weighed myself - I have not lost as much weight as I thought.
Buy a mini slow cooker.
Bung in what you like and let it cook all day.
Not so much recipe ideas but I find that having a well stocked basics cupboard is a big help so you've always got stuff like rice and pasta around which you can knock something up by adding in a few ingredients. There's plenty of tray bake style meals that save cooking time and washing up. You can bulk these up by adding rice/pasta etc.
When you unpack the shopping cut half an inch off the stem of the broccoli, then place in bowl with a little water and pop in the fridge, it's now drawing up water, firming up and staying fresh for you, and should last just fine.
Being single for me means I can eat what I want when I want without questioning it, fav at the minute is just sourdoe bread, proper butter and olives, with beer, no cooking required, I feel a Greek salad coming on though.
Post separation/divorce a long time ago I ate out (friends and colleagues) and had take out a lot in the first few months as life settled down.
I've always liked cooking so might have helped me get back in to cooking for one when the bills for above started to make me wince. 😯
Lately as a family we've gone for more veggie and vegan meals and at least that way you rip through the veggies faster.
On the batch cooking, the aim for me was never to eat it next day or week. Give it a good couple of weeks in the freezer. Build up some stocks of different stuff and then go back to it later.
Stuff like sausages and meat I'd cook up some for hot some for eating cold (also as I'm dirty a left over curry sandwich is great).
I wish I'd had a smallish slow cooker (a device that Mrs gd introduced me too). The throw it in and it be ready at the end of the day thing was a revelation for me. Low effort, big reward. Lots of things you can chuck in that are one pot.
On the rare occasions I'm home alone for a few days now it's risotto, noodles, simple pasta or rice dishes for the most part and I might get a steak in and do with a jacket.
Make spag bol (enough for 4 portions). Eat a portion, freeze a portion. Turn remaining 2 portions into chilli the following night. eat one freeze one. 2 night's worth of teas. 2 in the freezer. Tbf, when you add extra peppers and beans to make chilli you end up with more.
Couple of years ago I too couldn't be bothered, not worth the effort for one, too much waste etc.
I took HelloFresh boxes for 2-3 months for 6 meals a week. The cost and non-stop nature forces you to use them, and the instructions and lack of ingredient-hunting removes a lot of potential excuses. Cook every other night, pop half in the fridge for the next evening, plan ahead so you're not cooking if you're riding that evening. Quick rinse and brush the dishes if you cba, wash properly on non-cooking nights.
After a few months you'll have the hang of it and have formed the habit (my intention from the start). Now cancel that expensive box, get the ingredients yourself (you can swap/omit many and it'll still work) and continue.
Also after a few weeks get good kitchen tools and proper non-stick cookware that remains non-stick. Cooking with crap equipment is less enjoyable, much like biking on a Halfords BSO.
Buy a load of different dried fruit, rolled and organic oats, seeds, nuts and blue milk for ever-changing DIY muesli and/or snacks. Add in a few espressos you'll be a bolt of greased lightning irrespective of the subsequent (or not) meals being of the short commons/cheese sarnie variety. Despite its sugar content, I seem to be able to eat loads of fruit without putting on the suet but sadly bread is a different story.
Also.
Sometimes the answer is beans on toast.
Or a fish finger sandwich.
It might also be worth getting some quality microwave meals in as a backup to when you really can’t be bothered. Mark’s and Spencer’s are really good (their paella I love) and I like the sainsburys currys - the fridge stored chicken jalfrezi is gorgeous even compared to some Indian takeaways we have here in West Yorks.
At least you have discipline. If I cooked for 4 I would eat all 4 portions myself - I know this from bitter (but tasty and very full feeling) experience.
Also.
Sometimes the answer is beans on toast.
Or a fish finger sandwich.
I’d agree! I want a fish finger sandwich now, and I’ve only just had breakfast.
Ihave eaten more beans in the last month that I have in the rest of my life.
beans beans are good for your heart. the more you eat the more you .........
smile?
Buy in the ingredients for a Full Scottish but freeze the sausages (or cut the square) individually, split the bacon up and chop the black pudding into one-man units. Reserve some of your beans. After a few days of chaotic and occasional eating, you can benefit from a recuperative blast of saturated fats then sit down contentedly (outside).
Beans are tops, I make my own courtesy of Tom kerridge recipe, it's really easy very healthy and freezes well.
I make everything now, bread, ice cream, visitors muck in, kids love it. Actually really relaxing if you are a bit of a meddler.
Only lost a few kg, just get organised on ingredients.
My dad now cooks things that can be eaten over several days which allow different flavours/ textures. My mum died 2 months ago so he's cooking for one now.
So for example, roast chicken on Sunday, cold cuts Monday, curry on Tuesday, risotto on Wednesday using the stock from boiling down the carcass.
Ta folks. Plenty to chew on there
I see what you did there. Food for thought, hey? HEY?
For added meal excitement don’t mark your frozen dinners, and guess at what carbohydrate goes with it.. pasta and black bean sauce, yes please, rice Bolognese..mmm
(this was a tip from IHN.. its not the best tip..;-)
You say that but, a lot of what we eat is cultural / convention. Why not throw rice or noodles in a bolognaise sauce instead of pasta? Any student will tell you that necessity is the mother of invention. The lad I lived with at Uni was the master at Pasta A La Cupboard.
Me: "What've we got left, Daz?"
D: "A tin of tomato soup, a bag of macaroni, a tub of mayo, half a jar of oregano and a can of tuna-flavoured Whiskas."
Me: "..."
D: "I think I can work with that."
Me: "**** off, I can't stand mayonnaise."
Leek and potato soup in the freezer is fab
Soup may well be part of the answer here. You can work miracles with soup, it's nutritious and it's fun.
🙂
Didn't you get & send Binners some lush pies off the back of some squabble discussion?
Not sure why you need other options tbh...
I think "debate" is the word you're reaching for.
TJ and Bins are both masterdebaters.
Ah yes. I got greggs and he got gourmet pies !
Mmmmmmm pies! I must order some more.