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cooking for one cook book?

i against i

i against i

Bluelighter
Joined
Jan 6, 2012
Messages
1,214
Location
london
hey,

so most of the time i cook for myself, but recently i've been slacking and making crappy, not nutritional meals. i was wondering if anyone could recommend a cook book for one? i used to cook a lot but have fallen out of it and forgotten what i used to cook so am looking for ideas.

what i'm looking for is something that doesn't require lots of spoilable, specialist ingredients, if you know what i mean. i've got a lot of cookbooks but most of the recipes require things that you will use once for that meal and then will go off, wasting food and money. so i end up just doing pasta or whatever, which gets boring and unhealthy.

thanks.
 
I don't know any cookbooks specifically but I'm sure a google search would help you find a site that gives "individual" recipes.

I have cooked for one for a loooong time lol (now there are two of us though yay!!). I would usually cook enough for 2-4 meals for myself so that I could just warm it up the next day. Some things are really good to freeze and then you can have it in the freezer and warm it up (like soup!). Okay so some of my suggestions
- beans (chickpeas ... just get a can, spice them up, and cook them, they should last for a couple days depending on how much you eat them)
- steamed veggies (again, if you make enough, they will last the next day or two)
- salads (basic lettuce and salad dressing and then whatever toppings you have. I like to add cauliflower, olives, tomatoes, fake bacon, and nuts)
- rice (you can make rice different each time, with different spices and flavouring. I have recently found that putting French onion soup mix in the rice cooker with rice is delicious!)
- soup (just basic veggies, beans, broth, spices, etc. ... you can make a ton at a time! also split pea soup is good!)
- mashed potatoes (or any other type of potatoes, but I prefer mashed, with mushroom gravy)
- tofu (my process for tofu - freeze it for a night, then let it thaw out, then cut it into pieces and soak in soy sauce and spices, let it marinate for a day or two, then baked it, this is best with firm tofu)
 
I would find a cookbook for one extremely useful! It's not often that I cook for just myself these days, since I have a partner and am often in the company of his two kids BUT I have found on nights where I'm left to "fend for myself" it can be really hard to make something for just one person. So many recipes make enough for four or more, and I rarely feel like having repeats of the same meal over and over again.

I think this would be a really worthy idea for a collection of recipes. :)
 
Why not try googling recipes? That will save you money you can put towards ingredients. Not that buying a cookbook wouldn't be helpful, but since it doesn't seem like you intend to take up cooking intensively it may be better just to pilfer the internet for recipes....
 
motherofearth said:
Why not try googling recipes? That will save you money you can put towards ingredients. Not that buying a cookbook wouldn't be helpful, but since it doesn't seem like you intend to take up cooking intensively it may be better just to pilfer the internet for recipes....
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google recipes can be helpful however i really do like having a cookbook in front of me personally

also as llama said you can freeze the extra....

this is just one thing but i used to like buying the bags of raw chicken breast where each one is individually wrapped.... but then again its more expensive this way
 
A great thing to cook once a week is a big stew, either left in the fridge or on the counter in a slow cooker on low. You can easily serve yourself a bowl a day and in doing that, do it cheaply and knowing youve eaten atleast one healthy meal that day. Good snack/meal to serve any hungry guests too!
 
^ make sure its a healthy stew though, use lots of veggies. My wife and I do this with lots of veggies (cabbage, zucchini, onions, green beans, celery etc) and low fat turkey meatballs. The stew will last for a while.

Here's another healthy things that can be thrown together from ingredients that are cheap and last a while:

Red cabbage and celery chopped salad w/ olive oil, salt and pepper, basalmic and parmesean cheese for a dressing - low calorie, high in antioxidants
 
^ yeah dude.

At the moment I am keeping it simple and nutritious myself. Generally porridge for breakfast, or stewed apple/kiwi/banana, for lunch I will either have baked potato, omelette or spiced rice with veg, possibly with lentils, usually with some pickled veg thrown in for the sourness (heating), and a sprinkle of sunflower seeds or

For my optional 4th meal I might have a massive piece of cake, 4 cookies, or just have what I would have for breakfast if I skipped it.

In the evening - a chilli, an omelette, curried lentils with rice and veg, or meat/fish with stir fried veg and a few handfuls of nuts.

Simple nutritious food - doesn't need any thought really as long as it's spiced right for your constitution to help digestion and provide warmth (among other things), and it' giving you everything you need to maintain a healthy mind and body.

Do this www.prokerala.com/.../prakriti.../prakriti-test.php and then I could give you a simple menu, if you'd like?
 
Oats! Yes I forgot oats! Get a big bag, it costs about $4-$5 1 kg of oats around here. And it will last you like a month! You can eat it plain, yes. I prefer sweetener and cocoa, it's like chocolate for breakfast LOL! Or I add brown sugar. The brown sugar isn't healthy but it makes the oats more flavourable. Oats are pretty filling, great for the morning anyway :)
 
^Omg I cut chicken or beef slightly frozen all the time to get thin slices, and somehow I have never thought of trying this with tofu. And I consider myself a creative type?!? Anyway, awesome idea

Much like the Stew suggestion, a Thai style curry is a good meal to make at the beginning of the week and reheat as you need it for days to come. Just don't use too many ingredients that will get soggy: photato cubes, chicken, carrots, green beans, bamboo shoots, pineapple chunks are all good options. Make some rice too but keep it separate and just combine when you want to eat so it will keep better.

Also miso soup is an extremely easy lunch / snack to make a in single portion sizes, and the ingredients will keep pretty much indefinitely. Just get yourself some miso paste, some dried sea weed, and thats basically it. A little bit of tofu or noodles are good too but not necessary.

Also I will keep a few chicken breasts in the fridge I can use for a quick dinner for myself, just coat one in a bread crumb and spices mixture, there are lots of options there. Dipped in egg then coated in bread crumb / grated parm mixture with some thyme and or dill is pretty good, and this is also really good on a plain white fish like haddock.
To add a little vegetable side for the chicken I will maybe sauté some broccoli with a little lemon zest, olive oil, salt and pepper. If you only cook as much broccoli as you want to eat that night, the rest will keep pretty well raw, and this whole meal for one takes under half an hour to prepare.
 
llama112 said:
Brown sugar is okay in moderation but sugar isn't healthy in general. At least not in excess or processed sugar.
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Alot healthier than any 'sweetener' you mentioned unless you are using one of those horrible tasting stevia ones.

Brown sugar is not bad for you, but it theoretically is worse than refined white sugar.. reason being is that all the treacle(?) or whatever makes brown sugar brown, is bad for you in high quantity... they dont know if the small amounts over a lifetime are bad though. It was on some bbc documentary i watched... but yeah it pretty much proved that white sugar is definitly at the very least the same health effect as brown but most probably is healthier.

I prefer brown for anything where sugar is a flavouring, like porridge, but if its coffee or something i dont give a fuck.
 
moonyham said:
Alot healthier than any 'sweetener' you mentioned unless you are using one of those horrible tasting stevia ones.

Brown sugar is not bad for you, but it theoretically is worse than refined white sugar.. reason being is that all the treacle(?) or whatever makes brown sugar brown, is bad for you in high quantity... they dont know if the small amounts over a lifetime are bad though. It was on some bbc documentary i watched... but yeah it pretty much proved that white sugar is definitly at the very least the same health effect as brown but most probably is healthier.

I prefer brown for anything where sugar is a flavouring, like porridge, but if its coffee or something i dont give a fuck.
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I like sweetener (Splenda). It's not unhealthy.
As for brown sugar - have you seen the calories in it? I'm just saying that if you ate a lot of brown sugar, that's not good for you. But if you're putting like 1 tsp in your oatmeal every morning, I don't see it being an issue. I go back and forth between brown sugar or sweetener and cocoa. I love brown sugar but I know it's not the best for me, so I make sure to not put TONS in my oatmeal (no matter how much I want to lol).
 
Let's keep this on topic guys, we're discussing food options for one not sugar. Feel free to make a new thread or use the search engine for an existing one. :)
 
http://www.amazon.com/Man-Can-Plan-Great-Meals/dp/1579546072
This came to mind as I recall a male co-worker raving about it years ago. I am not sure of the nutritional content of the recipes.

I don't mind eating the same thing for multiple meals if it tastes good and is good for me. I tend to make one casserole dish and one slow cooker meal a week and alternate dinner with either during the colder months. My lunches and breakfasts are usually not what I have for dinner. Another option is cook for multiple servings and freeze portions.

Warmer months, we grill a lot. I make (or grill) a veggie side plus a salad to go with the protein. I grill more than I need to have different options for lunch or use that grilled meat for next day supper option. I also make a breakfast casserole every weekend.

There are rarely processed foods in my house so everything requires planning and cooking. I have been doing it for years so it has become just as easy as exercising daily.
 
llama112 said:
I like sweetener (Splenda). It's not unhealthy.
As for brown sugar - have you seen the calories in it? I'm just saying that if you ate a lot of brown sugar, that's not good for you. But if you're putting like 1 tsp in your oatmeal every morning, I don't see it being an issue. I go back and forth between brown sugar or sweetener and cocoa. I love brown sugar but I know it's not the best for me, so I make sure to not put TONS in my oatmeal (no matter how much I want to lol).
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And what im saying is you said 'sugar is unhealthy in general' which is not true at all. Last time i checked, carlories are not 'bad for your health'. Now if we actually talking health effects and not calories, then sweetner is terrible for you, especially splenda, and brown sugar trumps it many times.

The only thing unhealthy about sugar is peoples misinformed opinions on it.
 
Nigel Slater's always good for simple, straight-up, but darned tasty food. jamie Olliver's books are pretty geared for the single geezer, but I hate the fucker so I'm recommending through gritted teeth =D
 
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