meal planner for one?

Nancy888

I also cook for one (DS1&2 either eat at the childminders or their dad's in the week) and find my freezer is the best - BUT I also swap with my friend.

She will cook something to batch freeze and swap 2 portins with me for 2 portions of something that I've cooked - we both end up with something that we haven't 'slaved over' and also try things that we wouldn't ordinarily cook for ourselves - I now like aubergines!!!

PasturesNew

annie-c wrote: »

Sorry for being insensitive about the fridge/freezer difficulties. I've been there too. If the terms of your tenancy and/or size of your kitchen allow though, you may pick one up free at www.freecycle.org. They are often given away on my local group and are a lifesaver when cooking for one!

Thanks, but I live in a studio, which is a bedsit. If I got a freezer I'd have to sleep in or on it!
There really is no room at all.

annie-c

Nancy888 wrote: »

I also cook for one (DS1&2 either eat at the childminders or their dad's in the week) and find my freezer is the best - BUT I also swap with my friend.

She will cook something to batch freeze and swap 2 portins with me for 2 portions of something that I've cooked - we both end up with something that we haven't 'slaved over' and also try things that we wouldn't ordinarily cook for ourselves - I now like aubergines!!!

That's a brilliant idea - wish I had a friend I could do that with!!!! :T

MushyPeas

Hiya

What a great thread, thanks

I'm also cooking for one, but living in two different locations during the week so it gets really difficult to plan ahead. I do end up cooking the usual bolognese/curry/chilli/soup combos just because it's easier. I have to be honest I don't do any 'fresh' cooking these days just because it seems rather time consuming for 1.

I don't have a fridge or freezer yet in my home where I stay weekends so I need to get around to buying one!

I've fallen into a terrible trap over the last few weeks of buying sandwiches at work or ready meals on the way home....the OS shame of it :eek:

MPx

studentsaver166

Hiya,
It's nice to know I'm not the only one who finds cooking for one a bit of a chore - and I love to cook usually! It all seemed a lot easier when my boyfriend was living with me, but since he had to move away I'm finding I spend almost as much money on the shopping for just me as I did for the 2 of us! I have got the meal planning thing down to a fine art though and with regard to saving money (I'm a very poor student so this is of prime importance!) I will make my meal plan for the coming week every friday night (so I can do the shopping on saturday) and make a shopping list according to precisely what I'll need to do the meals on the list, and nothing else. Being specific and strict is the only way to really keep the cost down - I literally specify the number of carrots/mushrooms/onions etc I will need so I never over-buy! I also buy meat to use on a cunning sort of rotation system because my tiny little freezer is always packed with my housemate's ready-meals so I can't freeze portions. For example I'll buy a 6 pack of sausages and a 2 pack of chicken breast fillets and then on day 1 I'll use 3 sausages to make sausage and cabbage parcels, then day 2 I'll use 1 chicken breast to make stiryfry or something similar, then day 3 use the other sausages to make sausage stew, day 4 use the other chicken breast to make goujons...etc etc. You get the picture! Throw a pack of mince into the equation as well and thats a week's worth of meals, never eating the same meat 2 days in a row and not needing to freeze anything.
Wow, that was a long post! Sorry to ramble...!

MushyPeas

SSaver - you sound very organised! I need to be a bit more like that

studentsaver166

lol I'm glad you say organised..many of my friends have less pleasant comments to make about my ways..! But sadly living on my budget demands strict organisation given the fact that I'm utterly debt-phobic! I think I may well be the only student in the country whose massive overdraft has never been touched..Start as you mean to go on I always say

MushyPeas

Very sensible...and your friends are probably the ones with loads of debt!!

Agaton_Sax

I'm new to the web-site, posted my SOA and felt tons better. Anyway, have now stumbled upon this bit and it's great ! I also cook for one and find it hard going and a stretch of the imagination so the ideas from other people here are truly inspiration.
Pastures New; what a laugh I had over your thread about having to live in/on a freezer if you had one. Cheered me up no end !
I'm amazed how many people there are in the same circumstances as myself.

P.S. Maybe we should have an acronym [?] .. CK4/1 = Cooking for 1,
yes/no ? :rolleyes:

razra

Just thought I'd share what I did with a pack of mince last week,

I made a basic spag bol with half of it, then I had that for tea two days, one day I had it as spag bol and the next day I made it into a lasagna.
Then with the other half of the raw mince I made Cornish pasties which made enough for one in my lunch box for 4 days

So 1 small pack of mince made two mains and 4 lunch boxes, (have to say it made a change from sandwiches:D) and I didn't need the freezer at all.

Apologies for presuming you had a freezer:o