Cheaper ways of cooking for one

skeeter93 · 1 March 2015 at 11:42PM

I try to cook up a double portion of whatever I am cooking so I can freeze half. On days we don't want to cook, just defrost and then heat up. You could also put on the slow cooker once a week and freeze several portions of that. Some recipes work better than others for that, I find mince dishes work well, stews etc.

Citygirl1 · 1 March 2015 at 11:47PM

Thanks for all your replies. I do have a slow cooker and find what I eat tastes good at first but after I've freezed the rest it never quite tastes the same but I have to freeze some as it makes too much for just one portion for myself. I love chicken and was buying those Birds Eye chicken grills which are lovely but then it means putting the oven for one small chicken piece which seems such a waste. I'd love to do chicken in the slow cooker but am wary of reheating and freezing chicken.

I like fresh fish which I do in the microwave. I have a steamer for the microwave which is good and easy to clean. I do have those steamed bags of veg which are very tasty, I can't be bothered to be peeling and preparing lots of veg so they are good.

I try to get the slow cooker out at least once a week but then I get fed up with it and hate cleaning it, though it is better than cleaning lots of pans I must say.

I think I need to get a system and stick with it. You can get healthier ready meals (the Be Good to Yourself ones). My friend who is a real healthy person eats one of those just once a week to have a break from cooking.

Horace · 2 March 2015 at 1:03AM

Cooking chicken, freezing and reheating it doesn't do it any harm but you do need to make sure that it is piping hot when you serve it.

I sometimes do a beef stew in the slow cooker but I will have a portion one night, then I will add a different vegetable and reheat it (again leaving it on low all day) and have another portion, anything left over after that is portioned up and put in the freezer.

Must admit that I rarely eat ready meals because of the additives, sugar and fat that they contain. Occasionally I will have a Count on Us Meal from MnS (I have loads in the freezer from when I worked for them) and these are used on days where I really don't have the energy to cook. I tend to make my own. Today I cooked up a joint of beef and sliced it all, had some for dinner but the rest has been portioned up with added spuds and frozen, all I need to do is reheat, cook up some veg and make some gravy and I can have my own tv dinner.

xHannahx · 2 March 2015 at 1:14AM

Cook batches, and freeze in portions. Home made microwave meals. Plastic tubs like the Chinese restaurants use work great for this.

Anne_Marie_2 · 2 March 2015 at 2:25AM

I'm not criticising here, but I do cringe when people say they work full time and don't have time to cook from scratch. Nonsense! Plenty of us have done it, and not just being on one's own, but dealing with children and other family commitments too. Even better when you all eat different things, and have to make different meals. (I am a vegetarian and OH and daughter not).
You can whip up some really quick meals from scratch if you put your mind to it. You maybe can't do a roast joint in 30 mins, but there are plenty of other meals that you can.

Pasta dishes...macaroni & cheese, carbonara, spag bol to name but a few.

Stir fries...takes no time at all to chop up a few vegetables and a bit of chicken or pork. Buy easy veg such as peppers, courgettes, mushrooms and onions/spring onions, if you don't want to go to the bother of peeling veg like carrots.

An omelette, about the fastest dish that you can make.

A chicken breast, pork steak/chop, steak, burgers and other such small pieces of meat don't take long to cook at all. If you've got a George style grill, that's just ideal for quick cooking of meat, and easily cleaned. Nice to also stick a few chopped veggies in there too, to save dirtying another pan.

A dhal is my favourite quick meal, takes about 15 mins in the microwave (using red lentils). Whilst that is cooking, slice an onion and saute with some chilli on low, spoon over the dhal and serve with chapatti or pitta bread. I can give you a recipe for the dhal if you like.

I've always been one to bulk cook though, so that there is always something in the freezer if I can't be bothered cooking.
Anything in a sauce (not cream though), shouldn't really change by freezing, things like chilli, spag bol, curry, stews, hot pot, soup. Anything that needs cream, omit when freezing, and add when reheating. I can't buy it here, but used to buy bags of frozen cream in the UK, was really handy as there was no waste. Otherwise, whip up a batch of cream and freeze in ice cube portions, then bag, and use as required.

I don't think pasta dishes freeze particularly well, tends to absorb the sauce a bit too much, and just doesn't have the right texture. I just think it's better to freeze the sauce, and cook the pasta fresh. Takes no time at all to cook up some pasta.

You can easily cook a load of rice, and freeze in portions, just so long as you allow it too cool quickly, and then freeze asap. As long as you reheat properly and piping hot, it's totally fine.

If you are a mashed potato lover, again make a batch. Mash and freeze in portions.

Eliza_2 · 2 March 2015 at 8:21AM

Other than doing my batch cooking at weekends/days off I couldn't get on with the slow cooker. If you cook overnight it's ready in the morning but too hot to fridge or freeze so what do you do with it? If you cook during the day it'd ready at night, but I wouldn't like to leave things like that on when I'm out. So I gave the slow cooker away and now have a pressure cooker which is fab.

Like others I make single portions, stews, mince mixtures and so on and freeze. I make them with loads of veg and very thick gravy so when I come home, I put the frozen block into the pan with a bit of water and by the time I've changed and made a brew, I have a nice meal ready. Add a chunk of bread, spuds, rice, pasta and salad or whatever you like and there's your meal. Frozen veg are fab and take no time. Frozen peppers are great in stir fries.

My oven has been broken for years, I would never use it anyway for a single meal. I do have a mini oven and love it. When my last microwave died I thought I'd test how I got on without it and haven't missed it at all.

It's not just about time when you're at work all day, it's also the inclination, when you get home you just want to relax after a hard day and cooking isn't relaxing.

There's a thread on here about being OS and single, you might find that useful.

PlutoinCapricorn · 2 March 2015 at 8:29AM

From PNew:

"Those mini ovens, about £30, are brilliant too - they fit a whole pizza "

My cooker socket has blown, and in any case the oven is not economic for one person. My Christmas presents to myself were a mini oven, which cost £14.99, and a double portable hob, one of which is small, and cheap because the packaging was damaged. They are great. I can even stand a dish on the top of the little oven and the contents heat up.

I heard bad things about microwave ovens destroying nutrients so hardly use mine now. Ready meals may not have much nourishment in them.

Evil_Olive · 2 March 2015 at 12:27PM

Citygirl1 wrote: »

I love chicken and was buying those Birds Eye chicken grills which are lovely but then it means putting the oven for one small chicken piece which seems such a waste.

The clue is in the name

Grill them. You can fry them too if you don't mind the extra oil. It's usually quicker to grill or fry than bake too, and uses less energy.
Those chicken grills are horrendously expensive though and have a sugary glaze on them. Also not whole chicken breast - they're made from chunks stuck together.
It would be better for you (and cheaper) to buy a bag of frozen chicken breasts, defrost one, roll it in a mixture of salt/pepper/herbs/spices/crumbled chicken oxo to your taste then grill or fry. You could add a little sugar or honey to the mix if you like the sweet taste of the processed version.

Citygirl1 wrote: »

I do have those steamed bags of veg which are very tasty, I can't be bothered to be peeling and preparing lots of veg so they are good.

I know the ones you mean and, again, really expensive. You say you have a microwave steamer - why not buy a few different bags of normal own brand frozen veg and steam them in that?

Citygirl1 wrote: »

You can get healthier ready meals (the Be Good to Yourself ones).

Just because the manufacturer prints things on the packet to give the impression that it's healthy, doesn't mean that it's true. On examining the ingredients and nutrients labels they are sometimes worse than the 'normal' versions and rarely healthier than something you could whip up yourself from fresh ingredients.

Out,_Vile_Jelly · 2 March 2015 at 2:01PM

I live alone and work full time and hardly ever have ready meals (a frozen pizza that I add veg toppings to once a fortnight maybe). Rice or pasta take ~20 mins to cook; with that I have various veg in stir fry, curry or chilli form (sauce out of jars, but you can make your own in batches and freeze if you prefer). I buy jars of sauce when they're on offer for a quid and either get two meals plus leftovers to go on a jacket spud, or three smaller meals out of them. Never been able to taste the difference between value pasta and the posh stuff. Cous cous with stir fried veg is very quick and tasty.

You will definitely save money going veggie a couple of days a week! I can't imagine the quality of meat in ready meals is very good.

Spendless · 2 March 2015 at 2:18PM

Citygirl1 wrote: »

Thanks for all your replies. I do have a slow cooker and find what I eat tastes good at first but after I've freezed the rest it never quite tastes the same but I have to freeze some as it makes too much for just one portion for myself. I love chicken and was buying those Birds Eye chicken grills which are lovely but then it means putting the oven for one small chicken piece which seems such a waste. I'd love to do chicken in the slow cooker but am wary of reheating and freezing chicken.

Your slow cooker only makes as much as you put in it in the first place. What are you making in it, it might just be you need to adapt recipes to suit one. Also, if you have been eating ready meals a lot, your taste buds may be looking for the fat/sugar taste processed meals produce and may need a period of readjustment to go back to fresh meals.

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Cheaper ways of cooking for one

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