Cooking for one can be tough. It’s easy to burn yourself out and spend lots of time and money trying to find creative, nutritious ways to feed yourself.
No matter your excitement about cooking for yourself, you know that when you can’t muster the energy to meal prep or spend time in the kitchen after a long day at work, you might find yourself spending extra cash on delivery or choosing a not-so-healthy option that’s quick and cheap.
But your intentions about cooking for yourself don’t inevitably have to crash and burn — you can make your weekly meal schedule a success. You can also flip your mindset about cooking for one. Remember, when you cook for yourself, you get to pick what and when you eat.
Planning Meals for One
Let’s start with the first step in cooking for one: Grocery shopping. Maybe you look forward to grocery shopping, or perhaps it’s your least favorite item on your to-do list.
If you dread your weekly solo trips to the supermarket, there are a few ways to make it easier:
- Make grocery shopping fun for yourself by buying local and perusing the farmer’s market each weekend or by planning enjoyable errands around your shopping.
- Order grocery delivery from a service like Instacart, or place online orders for curbside grocery pickup for a less overwhelming experience.
When you plan your grocery list, don’t think big — think realistic. What are you actually going to be in the mood to eat this week? Do you need to buy enough ingredients to make the same meal for four nights, or will you get tired of that recipe after night two?
As you’re shopping, think about which foods you can buy in bulk. Frozen foods and your shelf-stable favorites — whether rice, pasta, beans, lentils, or canned foods — can be bought in larger quantities, while you’ll want to buy smaller amounts of perishable produce and proteins.
Prepping Meals for One
The thought of meal prepping can inspire dread, but setting yourself up to eat well doesn’t have to involve a marathon Sunday prep session. Instead, think of meal prep as a process that makes your life easier later in the week.
While that could mean making a four-serving recipe during the weekend, it could also involve only making some aspects of your meals ahead of time (for example, cooking a pot of rice that will go with multiple recipes or slicing and dicing all the vegetables you’ll use that week).
Meal prep can be as simple as purchasing the base for a couple of meals ahead of time (like buying a rotisserie chicken to carve up throughout the week or getting a bagged salad to dress up differently every night).
Meal prep also doesn’t mean you need to eat the same pre-made meal for five days straight. Remember: When it’s just you, you can mix it up whenever you want!
You could have a single-serving meal Monday, dine out Tuesday, eat a microwaved dinner Wednesday, and have a two-serving dish across Thursday and Friday nights. Part of avoiding burnout is recognizing that you don’t need to cook or eat a fresh, five-star meal every night.
Making the Most of Meals for One
There are a few easy ways to avoid wasting money and food in your quest to feed yourself more efficiently.
First, don’t hesitate to rely on frozen food. If you overbuy protein or purchase fresh food that’s near its expiration date, look into how to freeze and eventually thaw or reheat it safely.
When you go to the grocery store, stock up on frozen meals you know you enjoy, and consider buying frozen vegetables where you can (while they get a bad rep, frozen veggies are nutritious, easy to add to any meal, and hard to waste).
You can also challenge yourself to rethink your idea of a meal. When you’re grocery shopping, you may be tempted to plan for a high-effort meal every night, but a meal can be something as simple as a filling smoothie. Avoid wasting food by letting yourself enjoy meals that might not sound grown-up but keep you happy and healthy.
Photo: igormeshkov via 123RF
Making Fun Meals for One
Cooking for one is also about picking reasonably-sized recipes you genuinely enjoy.
These recipes make small servings that are perfect for a single weeknight dinner or a meal with just a little bit of leftovers:
- Buffalo Cauliflower Tacos – Makes one serving (though you can double it to give yourself lunch tomorrow).
- Cacio e Pepe – Makes two to three servings (perfect for next-day leftovers).
- Mini Slow Cooker Pot Roast – Makes one serving, but can be doubled.
- Orecchiette with Mixed Greens and Goat Cheese – Makes one serving.
- Overnight Oats – Makes one serving, but includes ideas for different flavors if you want to make the oats multiple times a week and mix it up.
These recipes make significantly more food but make for great meal prep choices for the week. Several of them freeze well if you want to save them for later:
- Breakfast Egg Muffins – Makes 12 servings but can be frozen for up to three months and reheated for an easy breakfast.
- Crispy Chicken Salad with Sriracha Honey BBQ – Makes four to five servings; it’s easy to make the chicken ahead of time and assemble the salad each day.
- Curry Lentil Soup – Makes four to six servings and can be easily frozen and thawed if you don’t want to eat the soup for a week.
- Indian Butter Chickpeas – Makes four servings with canned chickpeas, and it’s perfect for meal prep since it keeps up to three days.
- Spanish Chickpeas and Rice – Makes four servings but can be scaled down and frozen.
Cooking for yourself doesn’t have to be overwhelming. With some forethought and planning, you can create a slate of nourishing meals without burning yourself out.