Cooking for one

Miss Mandy

Having just moved house I'm now living on my own. It's the first time I've ever had to cook really as there has previously always been someone around to do that, either my dad when I was in the family home or my boyfriend when I was with him.

So I was just wondering what other singletons do for meals.
I'm struggling for ideas on fairly quick and/or simple meals that don't cost a fortune. I'm currently relying on pasta, frozen junk like fish fingers, burgers, chips, etc, and stew in the slow cooker.
I'm thinking that perhaps meals I can freeze might be a good idea?
So any advice or ideas please?

IronGiant

Useful thread, because now one of my daughters has gone veggy I'm trying to feed two teenagers separately most of the time.

Stir fry is an obvious option, but keep an eye on portions as the first time I did it for one I had to divide it into three

Making up a pot of chilli and frreezing into portions is a good idea, as is having an onion chopping session and using it over a few nights.

Oh and invest in some of these:  Amazon.co.uk: lock and lock - Food Storage / Kitchen Storage & Organisation: Home & Kitchen

Matt_C

Get a kilo of mince, cook it all into a spag-bol, divide into however many portions you want, eat one and freeze the rest.

Miss Mandy

I hadn't even thought of stir fry so I'll definitely try that. Good idea about the tubs too, I was just going to use freezer bags, but I think tubs is better.

I will do that this week, I think.

IronGiant

Freezer bags are great if your freezer has draws like a filing cabinet, but increasingly they seem to have shelves. Tubs stack

Matt_C

Make sure you've got a big enough pan though! Ice cream tubs are good containers to use to freeze stuff like this, as are those plastic Chinese food containers if you ever order from one that uses them.

Miss Mandy

My pan isn't massive as I only thought about cooking individual meals when I was shopping, I can easily do a couple of batches if I need to though.

I spent one evening last week doing a bit of a cooking session and managed to prep all the stew stuff ready to go in the slow cooker the next morning, did chicken and pasta for dinner, and made a rhubarb crumble which I got 3 days puddings out of. It's not much, but it's a start.

This is all a bit of a learning curve for me as I didn't even do cookery at school!

JimmyMac

My wife is a weight watchers nut and I often cook for myself whilst she has some diet thing going on.

So I tend to make something that I can freeze and have later, the scouse recipe in the other thread is one of those, its even better warmed up second time round!

Another one I do is a simple paella, I do a more involved recipe from time to time but this one I found as a decent quick and easy job that still tastes good

Recipe: Summer paella | Sainsbury's

Otherwise I make Lasagne, chilli, bolognese etc which are all simple and freeze well

494930

Im another who lives on my own. Most weekends I make a different large meal chilli, lasagne, casserole etc. Divide into tubs and freeze. After a few weeks you will have a selection to choose from, just defrost and heat.

I rarely make my own mash now as it's not worth the effort for the small portion I require. Just buy the mash direct stuff from the supermarket. Also frozen chopped onions are a lifesaver.

Miss Mandy

Thanks everyone, you've definitely given me some idea and things to think about.