Cooking for one? We know that it takes a little extra creativity and motivation sometimes to create a tasty dinner just for yourself. Take heart with our tips and recipes for the solo cook, including how to get your cooking mojo back, tips for a better solo lunch, and thoughts on the perfect dinner for one.
TOP ROW
• 1 Tips for a Better Solo Lunch
• 2 Four Basic Challenges in Cooking for One: And Four Simple Solutions
• 3 7 Ways to Get Your Cooking Mojo Back
• 4 Cooking for One: Eggs for Dinner
• 5 When Eating Alone is Lonely
SECOND ROW
• 6 Living Alone with a Dishwasher
• 7 Keeping Sweets in the House
• 8 The Solo Picnic
• 9 Cooking for One? Make a Big Pot of Rice
• 10 Why Bother Cooking Just For Yourself?
THIRD ROW
• 11 Onion Strategies in the Single Kitchen
• 12 The Toaster Oven in the Solo Kitchen
• 13 A Single Jar of Refrigerator Jam
• 14 For the Love of Smoked Salmon
• 15 Revisiting the Violet Hour as Alone Time
BOTTOM ROW
• 16 How to Cope with a Big Loaf of Bread When Dining Alone
• 17 A Big Pot of Delicious Soup (For One): 7 Soup Tips for Solo Cooks
• 18 One Woman, One Rotisserie Chicken, and Five Days: A Menu Plan
• 19 A Few Good Sauces for the Solo Cook
• 20 An Omelet and a Glass of Wine: Some Thoughts on the Perfect Dinner for One
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Perfect timing for this article. Just got dumped on Christmas Eve after a 2 year engagement
I'm so sorry to hear this. Please take extra good care of yourself, and cook and eat whatever you want. Don't stop making delicious food. Invite over friends and let them help you through it.
@Angela!: So sorry about your news. Speaking from experience, landing on your feet is indeed the best revenge (mostly because it isn't revenge). Hang in.
I heartily recommend Judith Jones's The Pleasures of Cooking for One. Judith was Julia Child's editor and had a hand in publishing many wonderful books during her long career at Knopf, including ThenDiary of Anne Frank.
It contains many wonderful recipes and tips for the solo cook and is also a gentle manifesto for gracious and fearless living.
Thanks for the support! I will definitely check out that book.
Other good books for single cooks - Joe Yonan's "Serve Yourself" and Joyce Goldstein's "Solo Suppers". I love all three, and yes, cutting recipes down gets old, really, really fast. Judith Jones' is probably my favorite of the three.
From my experience in creating meal plans for one person, here are some tips for the solo cook:
1. Cook recipes during the week that use the same ingredients. When cooking for one, you usually don't end up using a whole can of crushed tomatoes or a full bunch of spinach for a single recipe. When you use the same ingredients in multiple recipes, it reduces food waste, you grocery bill and the time you spend shopping and cooking.
2. Use leftover ingredients in dishes like a frittata, quesadilla or stir fry. You can add almost any herbs, veggies and meat to any of those meals!
3. Double your dinner recipes to have leftovers for the following day's lunch.
If you have little time to spend on planning and cooking meals, check out www.mealime.com. It's an online subscription service that provides meal plans for one person.