Cooking for One

For some reason there are those singles out there who have trouble cooking for themselves. They feel that it is too difficult to cook a full course meal for one, so they settle for take-out and t.v. dinners and other not so healthy options.

EATING HEALTHY FOR ONE:

Just because you live alone it is not an excuse for eating unhealthy. Sure it might take a little bit of extra effort, but at the end of a working day you deserve to eat well. It is not necessary to deprive yourself of a healthy, balanced diet because you live alone.

KEEP YOUR MEALS BALANCED:

It is extremely important to keep your meals balanced. This is where many take-out and fast foods fall short. You always want to include a proper balance of carbohydrates, protein and good fat in your everyday diet. By good fat I mean olive oil and coconut oil for example. Don't give in to the temptation of easily accessible junk food that does you little good. Is is necessary to make a bit of an effort to eat well, but in the end it is well worth it.

COOK FOR FOUR AND EAT FOR ONE:

I learned long ago to make full use of my freezer. Very seldom do I cook just one dinner at a time. However, breakfast and lunch are usually easier to make for one so I go a day at a time. As far as that main meal, I always try and cook enough for at least two meals and often many more than that depending on what I am preparing. For instance pasta sauce. I always make pasta sauce in batches of 5 or 6 servings. I use one and freeze the others in individual serving containers. So whenever I want pasta its just a simple matter of 15-20 minutes of preparation. In that time I can heat up the sauce, cook the pasta and make a salad. Dinner's ready.

I always cook enough rice for at least 3 meals. It keeps well in the fridge for several days and there is nothing wrong with having the same main food several days in a row. Again, it takes little time to prepare dinner once the rice is precooked. I just heat up the rice, cook some fish or chicken, make a salad topped with virgin olive oil, coconut oil and red wine vinegar and in around 30 minutes have a well-balanced, healthy meal for one.

PRECOOKED, FROZEN MEALS CAN BE GREAT!

Once I was expecting company for dinner and had made a very big lasagna. They had to cancel until the next night. I just put the lasagna in the freezer without cooking it at all. The next night we had our dinner. I just put the frozen lasagna in the oven and added some extra time for the thawing out and I could not believe how good it turned out. It was actually better than if I had prepared it and put it straight in the oven. For some reason, freezing it first made it cook much more evenly and it didn't fall apart like lasagna sometimes does when you first serve it. Now I make that same size lasagna for myself and freeze it into about 5 portions.

DON'T FORGET THE HOLIDAYS:

Sometimes I spend holidays alone, but that does not mean I feel sorry for myself and order a pizza. Many times I actually cook a full course turkey dinner just for myself. I mean dinner with all the trimmings. Dressing, cranberry sauce, brussel sprouts(I happen to like them), and gravy. Usually the turkey is 10-12 pounds. It is a meal suitable for probably 7-8 people, but I don't let that bother me. I just make sure I have the proper freezer containers that can go straight into the oven(aluminum foil). I eat one turkey dinner and make up 6 or 7 more with all the trimmings. For the next few months if I want a turkey dinner, I just stick one in the oven. It is basically a very high end, healthy t.v. dinner.

DO THE MATH:

So now, with the meals I mentioned, I have 4 or 5 lasagna dinners, 6 servings of pasta sauce, and 6 or 7 turkey dinners all prepared and ready to go. And if I cook up a big batch of rice I have 3 more meals in the refrigerator. So now I have 20 or so well-balanced meals to look forward to when I get home from a hard days work.

Don't think for a minute that because you live alone that your diet has to hit the skids. With a little planning and kitchen ingenuity you can prepare multiple meals weeks in advance and enjoy a great tasting, well-balanced, healthy variety of meals.