Cooking for one

Inferno

Thank's for that I'm going to have that for my tea, with a self made pasta sauce, blended chopped toms, teaspoon of basil, pinch of garlic salt and 2 x tablespoons dark soy, i'll use half of it and put rest in a sealable tub and eat sometime in the next 3 days .

The Dude

Welcome to the world of food Mandy, cooking for one means your options are only limited by your imagination, so get stuck in.

One thing to definitely get in is a selection of a few basic herbs and spices, Salt, Pepper, Paprika, Cumin, Garam Masala. Or the jars of 'Cajun seasoning' 'Steak Shake' etc, Grab them one at a time as you need them and you'll soon have a nice selection to go at.

My first 'meal for one' suggestion is nothing more complicated than a chicken breast and a few veggies.

1 Chicken breast
half a dozen asparagus tips
a handful of green beans/mange tout/sugarsnap etc
A bag of sweet potato chips from the freezer section

Drop the chicken breast onto a square of foil the size of a plate
Grind a little bit of salt&pepper&paprika, or your chosen seasoning Cajun etc on top
Fold it up into a parcel, not to tight.

Bung this into the oven at 175-200deg.

Spread a handful of the chips on a baking tray, again a little bit of salt and pepper on top, bung this in the oven along with the chicken.

After 10 mins, Drop the asparagus and beans/peas into a small pan of boiling water, (a quick grind of salt/pepper in here too), reduce heat to simmer.

After another ten mins (20 total) the veggies should now be done, try a bite from the fat end of an asparagus, you'll know if it's done or not

Pull out the chips, these should be fine after 20 mins.

Pull out the chicken, open the parcel.
with a sharp knife make a deep slit lengthways in the chicken breast, have a look inside.
If there's any kind of pink, re-wrap and back in the oven for another 5mins. test again.

You can do the same basic meal with different seasoning for the chicken, different veg combinations, you'll soon start getting adventurous.


For the vegetation option, swap the chicken breast for a big flat portobello mushroom.

Smear a few teaspoons of green pesto into it's gills, sprinkle on some grated cheese, cook under the grill for 10-15mins, throw some baby tomatoes or sliced peppers on the tray with it.

A pack of beans/peas/asparagus from the supermarket will do 2 meals easily and keep ok in the fridge for a day or two.


It's all good fun, nice homecooked meals are sometimes the best bit of the day when you live alone, so enjoy your food.

Miss Mandy

Thanks very much Dude, that definitely sounds tasty.

I was a bit reluctant to post this thread at first in case everyone thought I was a bit of an idiot, but I'm glad I did now. I'm looking forward to trying a few things out.

busterbenny2001

As a chef I really enjoy cooking even if its for one!!

The wife goes on random diets all the time so even if its just me I like to still chef it up a bit, sometimes the simple things are the best, last night the wife wasnt eating and after looking in the fridge for insparation I was struggling however I found a few bits suitable for a light tea, easy to do and simple for one.

A really ripe large avacado, cut in half lose the stone put under a warm grill.
While thats grilling fry a bit of bacon, mushrooms, shallots maybe chorizo or anything like that cook until bacon crispy.
Chuck that lot into your warm avocado top with cheese of your liking, I love stilton, place under higher grill and melt cheese.

Serve with few salad leaves sun dried tomatoes or whatever you have lying in fridge!!

Also works well as a starter for 2!!!

IronGiant

Damn you, I'm hungry now...  

JimmyMac

A dairylea triangle, half a jar of mayo and and an egg

I'm on it!!!!

busterbenny2001

Its not real till I see pics

The Dude

In honour of this thread I made us a stir fry veggie option of my earlier suggestion for tea tonight.

Stir fried broccoli and fine green beans.
Sweet potato mash (pre-made microwave job from Tesco)
4 large portobellos with red pesto, red leicester, and Worcester sauce.

10mins from fridge to plate - go on then

494930

I'm certainly no chef but this is one of my favourite quick dinners.

From this:
                                                                               

To this in 15 minutes.
                                                                               

Very little effort or experience required.

Rorifett

When I stayed alone I bulk cooked but didn't divide into portion sizes - total ballache scraping out a single portion from an ice-cream sized tub.

Cooking for 1 really sucks but if you find the right stuff that works over 2 days too it can help break up the monotony of pre-cooked/frozen and served with pasta/rice stuff.

Finding a decent bean salad can work wonders - pro tip for any salad, slice red onion and put it in a bowl, bang on a bit of red wine vinegar and mix it about/leave it for about ten-twenty minutes, add the red onion to the salad and it makes even rubbish a lot better. Some things like lettuce don't stay well for a second day but beans/sweetcorn/diced pepper stays fairly good for a couple of days without going soggy so try to build a base and then add other bits to mix it up a touch.