cooking for one
Cooking for one or two
Small households that are tired of waste and of eating the same pot for six days.
Cooking for one is not a smaller version of a family project. It is a small pan, a real portion, and a decision about the extra half of anything you had to buy larger.
Freeze that half the same night, while you still like it. Eggs, rice, beans, yogurt, and a potato will cover the nights you do not shop. A rotation of about eight dinners is enough for two people.
The waste is usually produce with no second job and a family pack that looked cheap. Give the onion a job in tomorrow's eggs, or do not buy the family pack.
Use the dinner rotation and the freezer log. If you also want more protein, start at high-protein meal prep and halve the meat.
Ideas in this collection
A leftovers plan for single cooks
Leftovers need a job before they go in the fridge. Lunch tomorrow is a job.
Breakfast for one
Breakfast for one should use a single bowl or a small skillet. Yogurt, eggs, or oats cover the morning without a package of twelve muffins going stale.
Cooking for one
Cooking for one is a small pan, a real portion, and a plan for the other half of anything you had to buy larger.
Cooking for one on a budget
The budget meals for one person are eggs, oats, dry lentils, chicken thighs you freeze in portions, and beans.
Cooking for one with a freezer
The freezer is the roommate a single cook does not have. Any recipe that serves four becomes dinner plus three labeled portions, and you do not have to eat them in.
Cooking for one without waste
Waste drops when every ingredient has a second job. Half an onion goes into eggs.
Cooking for two
Cooking for two is the sweet spot: most recipes serve four, so you eat once and pack lunch, or you halve the meat and keep the vegetables.
Cooking for two different appetites
When one person is training and the other wants a smaller plate, cook one base. Add extra rice or an egg for the bigger appetite, and keep the sauce on the side.
Cooking for two on a weeknight
A weeknight for two should be on the table in about half an hour and use one pan or one sheet.
Dinner for one in about 20 minutes
Twenty minutes is eggs and rice, a tuna box, shrimp, or a potato and turkey you already roasted.
Eggs for dinner when you are one
Eggs are a complete dinner when you add a starch and a vegetable: rice and spinach, a potato, or beans.
Grocery shopping for one person
Shop for the next four days, not for a fantasy of daily cooking. A short list, a piece of fruit you will eat, and proteins you can freeze will beat a overflowing cart.
Lunch for one
Lunch for one can be last night's protein on a potato, a tuna and bean box, or eggs. It does not need to look like a café sandwich to count.
One-skillet meals for two
One skillet is the right amount of work for two people on a weeknight. Shrimp, eggs, pork and cabbage, or a small frittata all live in a single pan.
Pantry dinners for one
A pantry dinner is rice, beans, eggs, tuna, or oats you already own, turned into a hot plate.
Sheet-pan dinner for two
A sheet pan for two can be half a tray: chicken and peppers, or salmon and potatoes. Use the space so the food browns, and save the other half of the pan for a.
Small-batch meal prep
Small-batch prep is two or three portions, not a wall of containers. Cook dinner with one planned lunch inside it and stop there.
Articles
One dinner, two appetites
Cook one base. Add starch for the person training. Keep sauce and salt on the side.
Leftovers are a map
Every extra portion needs a job, written down, before it goes into the fridge.
Cooking for one without the waste
Freeze half, give the onion a second job, and stop treating a household of one like a failure of meal prep.