How to cook for a single person

Do you meal plan and require cooking for one, but find you either end up wasting food or eating the same thing over and over again? Let’s discuss how to bring variety into your life  if you are living alone without wasting food or feeling like you need to make something different each day.

Key Takeaways

• Use leftovers creatively — Plan meals so you can reuse ingredients in different ways to avoid waste and keep things interesting.
• Freeze single portions — Cook in bulk and freeze individual servings to build a stash of quick, ready-to-eat meals.
• Cook once, eat differently — Start with one main ingredient (like a protein or veggie) and use it in multiple varied meals throughout the week.
• Keep easy meals on hand — Maintain a list of quick, simple recipes that serve one, perfect for busy days or when plans change.
• Make meals you enjoy — Don’t settle for boring — cook meals you love, even when it’s just for you, to stay inspired and satisfied.

Cooking for One Meal Planning 101

There are a few things to consider when you are cooking for one person.

1) Plan for leftovers

Leftovers are great if you are not fussy and okay with eating the same meal again. Or you can think of leftovers as simply using one main ingredient in another meal (sometimes referred to as a “planned extra”). This will help reduce waste and prevent you from over purchasing foods each week. It can also help you save time in the kitchen.

2) Plan to add food to your freezer

When you make a meal or part of a meal, always plan to add a single serve portion to the freezer (or more). For example, when you make rice or quinoa, it can still be cooked in bulk for one person, but you can freeze some in containers for later use, so you don’t need to cook it again for a while.

3) Keep a list of meals you can make easily that do not produce a large portion

Keeping this list handy will allow for variety in your diet when cooking for one. Meals like scrambled eggs with veggies on toast or tuna salad melts can be made quickly with simple ingredients for one.

Divide and Conquer Recipes

Most recipes make 4-6 servings. When you look at these recipes, consider whether you would want to eat this meal for three nights in a row. If the answer is yes, then go for it; if no, then you need to consider a few things.

One, would this recipe freeze well? Can you portion out the leftovers into single-serve freeze-safe containers so that you have a ready-to-go meal when needed? If you are unsure if the meal will freeze, try it, and you will find out. It will either work well, or you will never do it again.

Also, consider if one of the main ingredients can go into another meal that mixes things up, but does not require you to cook much the next day.

Or can you simply reduce the ingredients to make a smaller portion. This will give you variety; however, it might require you to cook most nights. We suggest using AI to help you easily convert ingredients for less servings.

Develop a Meal Matrix: Cook Once and Eat Twice (or more!)

If you don’t like eating the same food repeatedly but you want to make one thing and eat it for 2-3 meals, my recommendation would be to start with one item, (often the protein) and think of all the different ways you can use that item with similar starches and vegetables.

For example:

Day 1 – Steak with roasted vegetables such as potatoes or sweet potatoes, as well as onion, carrot, mushroom, bell pepper, and/or zucchini.

Day 2 – Beef and veggie stir fry. Use the leftover steak cooked from the night before, all the veggies (except the potato), and your favourite stir-fry sauce. Serve over rice, vermicelli noodles, or quinoa.

Day 3 – Open-faced steak sandwich. On a piece of bread, place sliced leftover steak, sautéed (or leftover roasted) onion and mushrooms, some grated or sliced cheese, and broil until brown. Serve with a side salad, raw veggies, or more leftover roasted vegetables.

Here is a vegetarian example:

Day 1 – Roasted sweet potato, cauliflower, and black bean bowl. Assemble the bowl by starting with a base of brown rice or quinoa and then adding greens, roasted sweet potato, cauliflower, black beans (or other legumes), feta, avocado, and your favourite salad dressing (I like a miso/Asian flavour).

Day 2 – Sweet potato and black bean burger with toppings of your choice and a salad.

Day 3 – Roasted cauliflower and black bean tacos with aioli.

Create a Freezer Stash

Meals like chilli, soups, pasta sauce, meat loaf, burgers, casseroles, and so many more are great to freeze. When you spend the time making these meals, especially when they serve 4 or more, you don’t have to cut back on the serving size; you just need to make sure you have containers and freezer space.

The more you do this the more you can stockpile. When the end of the week comes and your fresh meals are running out, you can easily pull from the freezer.

Or maybe you were supposed to go out and meet a friend for dinner, but they canceled, and you have nothing in the fridge to make for dinner. You can pull out one of these meals instead and not have to worry about finding inspiration somewhere or picking something up on the way home.

The Importance of Back-up Meals

As previously noted, it’s always a good idea to have backup meals that can be made quickly and easily, such as:

• French toast and frozen thawed berries or eggs
• toast and raw veggies
• tuna melts with frozen veggies

These speedy meals can also break up your planned meals, so you are not eating the same foods each day (or even with just the same ingredients). Back-up meals also help you on busy days when your schedule changes and you no longer have time to make your planned meal.

Need some other ideas for backup supper ideas? Check out our previous blog post here: Back-up healthy meal planning in a crunch

Final Thoughts on Cooking if You Are Living Alone

A final tip when cooking for one (or any amount for that matter) – ensure you ENJOY your food.

Often, when people are cooking for themselves, they don’t always cook the foods they enjoy or love; they make easy, simple meals with few ingredients because they don’t want to waste, overproduce, or put the effort in for just themselves. This can be the biggest mistake when cooking for one.

You should enjoy the food you eat just as much as someone who cooks for a large group of people. The more we enjoy the foods, the more satisfied we will be, and the easier it will be to continue moving forward with a healthy eating plan.

As much as meal planning can be a drag sometimes, taking the time to plan out your week will always help prevent waste, unwanted leftovers, or plain old boring meals. If you lost inspiration, book an appointment with a Dietitian on our team so we can help you explore ideas you will love and time saving techniques to bring the joy back into your kitchen.

Looking for more support for cooking for one?

Our Registered Dietitian team specializes in nutrition for mental health, meal planning, weight concerns, emotional eating, eating disorders, digestive health and more. Find out more about our Dietitian Nutrition Counseling Programs here. 

As trained Registered Dietitians, you can count on us for credible advice and practical meal planning so you don’t have to stress about food anymore. You can achieve a healthy and joyous relationship with food and your body. Let’s talk about what this can look like for you.  

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