Cooking for one

Blue_Doggy

I had been thinking very much along the lines of this thread. These are some of the things I find put me off cooking-for-one:

that a lot of it takes very very much longer to prepare and clear up than it does to eat

using an oven to cook small quantities is too expensive, so one either ends up filling the space with cakes or other stuff just for the sake of it

it can get very boring: I've done batch-cooking, and even when cooking four different types of casserole at a time (to freeze) it ends up getting very same-y, so ready meals allow variety and new tastes without having to faff about with sauces-for-one etc. And "fresh fruit for dessert" is oh-so-healthy and worthy, etc, but again can be boring after a while

it's not so bad in the summer, because there are so many salads, but in the winter I sometimes find myself longing for a nice roast dinner but knowing that it's not worth it for one - and cold roast meat is not so nice in the winter. Various bits of "left-overs" cookery can also get boring.

Also part of the problem is not so much the cooking for one as the eating alone. There's no-one to say they enjoyed it, or even to say they hated it .

Sorry I think I ever-so-slightly ranted there! Over now.

Eyeore

I used to have roasts all the time when I lived alone, my mum was amazed! I used to make a roast on a Sunday with all the trimmings, pots/veg/stuffing/gravy, then I would take enough for cold meat and bubble and squeak for the Monday eve (delicious!) and portion out the rest into takeaway type containers for the freezer. When I wanted an easy easy meal I just took it out of the freezer to defrost and nuke. Doing this over a couple of weeks with different roast meats then gives you lots of options. If I see a reduced meat joint now I will grab it, cook it and make gravy too, then cool and slice the meat and put in small plastic pots with a couple of spoons of gravy, popped in the freezer and hey presto easy dinner with either a jacket spud or just veg freshly cooked. I use the small plastic stacking tubs from lakeland and they are easy to fit into a small freezer compartment.

maman

I agree that batch cooking can get very samey. I still think it is worthwhile though even if it just means you have something there for days when you didn't get a ready meal or have nothing fresh in. It also has the benefit of potentially being much healthier and cheaper than buying in.


I tend to make either Bolognese OR chilli OR savoury mince in a sort of rotation. I use it as my stand by meal so that if I don't have time to do something on the plan/forget to take something out to defrost it's an easy, quick meal. Similarly if plans change and we eat out then that's what get rolled over to the following week.

Blue_Doggy

I don't have a lot of success with re-heating frozen leftover roast meat, mine gets a bit cardboardy . This may be because I don't like gravy so don't make it.

I used to do lots of grilled stuff (chops etc) and casseroles, but the cost of fuel is now so high that I don't like to put the oven on unless necessary. The microwave is useful, and I can cook a whole chicken in there (a not-exactly-roast) in the salad season, and make a casserole (half-an-hour, and it finishes cooking in its own heat as it cools down).

I used to have a book of recipes for one written by one of the female cooking gurus, but it was really very impractical for more than occasional use, and a bit patronising in tone. The best one I've got is meant for a man alone.

sixtiesgal_2

Thanks for your replies. I have tried batch cooking but found it very samey as has been already said here. I would also forget to thaw meals out or thaw something out and not eat it and it would go to waste.

I find ready meals a lot easier because there is no preparation, hardly.any washing up and it is hard to get motivated to cook for yourself. I have a slow cooker and a George Foreman grill but I feel they are just taking up space.

Are there any healthier types of ready meals on the market?

suki1964

sixtiesgal wrote: »

Thanks for your replies. I have tried batch cooking but found it very samey as has been already said here. I would also forget to thaw meals out or thaw something out and not eat it and it would go to waste.

I find ready meals a lot easier because there is no preparation, hardly.any washing up and it is hard to get motivated to cook for yourself. I have a slow cooker and a George Foreman grill but I feel they are just taking up space.

Are there any healthier types of ready meals on the market?

Sorry but I'm really going to sound harsh when I really don't mean to

I get that cooking, batch cooking is a pain in the arris. I don't particularly enjoy it, in fact I'd rather be sat doing my nails and shaving me legs....

But needs must

Ready meals aren't good for you as an every day option. They are meant to be treated like cakes, biscuits and takeaways, a one off, a treat, for the one offs " I can't be !!!!!d " days


However you don't appear to want to change your ways so I shall bow out

Look at those meal plans advertised by Ronnie Corbett , could be more healthy then what you are buying, plus they are delivered to the door


Good luck x

Owain_Moneysaver

PasturesNew wrote: »

Sometimes I'll simply nuke half a packet of stuffing mix in a Pyrex jug for tea and eat it out of the jug too

... or make toast.

If you mix half a tin of tuna in with the stuffing mix and form it into patties you can convince yourself you've got home-made fishcakes.

Macaroni cheese comes out of a tin (as does ravioli, meatballs, curry, etc).

A couple of handfuls of frozen mixed veg makes almost anything 'healthy'.

BrassicWoman

have you tried Delia's "one is fun"?

Lynplatinum

I'm sorry - but this attitude makes me cross. I am hoping that your stance comes from a position of lack of knowledge/ being perhaps a bit stressed or something.
Nothing comes from nothing - to achieve anything you have to make an effort! You are not eating healthily (as, to be fair, you acknowledge).
Also, I can see what you mean about batch cooking - if you dont like cooking then you are just making work for yourself.
Also, you may have no cooking experience or good examples to follow (I dont know you so I dont know if this holds true - my apologies if I am wrong)
You are looking for fuss free food that is healthy.

Constructively I would suggest:
1) grilling something (takes 5 - 15 mins) - salmon; chops; chicken breast (flavour with pre bought sauces or herb/spice mixes); and having a salad (ready made) or frozen veg done in the microwave.
2) this will cook while you are doing something else in the kitchen - putting washing on/unloading shopping/boiling the kettle for a cuppa/drying up last nights dishes/wiping the sides down clean/checking messages on your phone.
3) minimise washing up by: lining the grill with foil and then throwing it away (marginally less damaging to the planet than all the plastic you must throwing away currently); using a small microwave lidded dish (available from L!keland and other stores); doing ti everyday - immediately after dinner (takes 5 mins)

Sorry if I sound harsh but that is how my life has been - its easy to feel sorry for one's self and slip into moaning and doing nothing about a situation (Yep - you guessed it - I ve done this myself!! :-) With the fantastic help and friendship on here I hope you can pull it together and that you find my suggestions helpful! Get back to us and let us know how it goes.

maman

When I had a job that got me home late I found my kitchen timer was my friend. I'd put something healthy in the oven like a chicken breast or fish wrapped in foil and then for the last 15 mins put in some mushrooms and tomato and a (previously nuked) jacket potato. I'd get on with other things and let the timer call to me when I was needed.


As others have said, you need some effort or was your question really 'Which are the healthiest ready meals?'.