When having a solo meal at home, the company you keep often comes in the form of inanimate objects. Many people hang out with their TV, book or newspaper but there are other ways to be in good company while enjoying a meal alone. Read on for five simple ways to enhance your solo meal.
1. A favorite piece of music.
Most of the time we're playing music as a background to an activity like cleaning or driving the car. It's rare that we just sit and listen. And while eating and listening isn't entirely a singular activity, it still is a more focused experience. The food and the music will enhance and highlight the subtle (and maybe not so subtle!) pleasures inherent in both.
2. A vase of flowers.
People who tend towards the romantic know that a few garden roses stuck into a jam jar vase make excellent company. Flowers are beautiful, true, but they also (hopefully) smell really nice and the occasional waft of scent is almost like a conversation.
3. Pen and paper.
When eating alone, you are in the often rare situation of keeping company with your thoughts with no interruptions. It might be interesting to keep a pen and paper near by to jot down ideas or a few phrases or even a poem if you're so inclined. While this could be a To Do list, it also would be nice to make it not so much of a multitasking event but a time in which you can indulge your more creative impulses. Drawing and doodling are good as well.
4. Look out the window.
How often do we really do this? Much depends on your view, I suppose, but even if it's a nice one, we rarely spend time gazing out the window. Unless your view is a brick wall (and perhaps even then!) try spending your meal paying attention to what's happening just a few feet away from your cozy perch. You may be surprised to discover how much is going on.
5. Try something unfamiliar.
The human brain likes to figure out puzzles and be challenged. If you find you are getting bored when eating alone, try something unfamiliar like eating with chopsticks if you usually eat with a fork. Or switch dominate hands or change your knife and fork style. This can also extend to a new food, of course, or a different way to prep a favorite food. Or even to different vessels like sipping soup from a tea cup. In other words, play a little!
Do you dine alone on a regular basis? How do you spend the time eating? Do you have rituals or routines for dinner time?
Related: 4 Helpful Tricks to Making Dinner for One
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I love dining alone but so rarely get the opportunity nowadays. A proper table setting, music, a glass of wine and a good magazine were de rigeur back when I could partake. Loved that.
I love to eat in the garden when I'm dining solo. I just had a 6:30a breakfast in the garden watching the sunrise, the birds starting their day, and it was beautiful. Then a stray cat came by, I fed him a can of food, and I wasn't dining solo any longer.
I'm fascinated by the ongoing (endless??) coverage of how different eating for one is from eating with other people...it really isn't that different! Some of us do whatever we want to when we eat alone. I'm not even LONELY when I do it!
Pen & paper don't tend to go with fork use for me.
@Charlotte--agreed.
This is a sweet post :) I think dining alone, at a table, is super different than with company and almost always end up moving to the couch. Tonight, I'll take some tunes and my dinner to the deck for a change of scenery.
A much needed post for this single gal feeling down. :)
I will actually make use of my dining room instead of eating on the sofa in front of the TV.
Instead of flowers on the table, I'll look around my home for objects that make me happy and create a fun centerpiece.
Thank you for this post. Old habits are hard to break.
Oh sitting outside with something delicious and a good beer on a warm evening is so nice! I live on a corner, so my passing neighbors often keep me company whether I like it or not, but it is still so calming to sit outside and relax in the evening (or with coffee in the morning) and clear the head of the day's craziness.
I'm with you, for me eating alone is a different experience than eating with someone else. I like how the ideas in your post would inspire me to enjoy my own company and creativity. :)
An audiobook or podcast is nice while eating.
Classical music, cool air (or rain) and sparkly ginger ale in a vintage champagne glass makes me happy.