Any tips for cooking for one?
I made a ham steak and pasta the other day and had way more leftovers than I could eat. I bought the smallest ham steak they had, 2lbs. Same thing happens when I buy chicken
Didn't think this was new thread worthy.
Use a scale to measure the weight of your ingredients. If you want to eat exactly what you're cooking and you don't want any leftovers, experiment with how much food you typically need. I recommend a calorie counting app like Chronometer even if you're not trying to lose weight, it helps a ton when brainstorming recipe ideas and you can save your creations in a My Recipes tab. It's very handy if you like making something every day. Here's a sandwich I cook almost every day for lunch. I put it in a sandwich press and in 5 minutes I have something I could sell for $15 downtown. It costs me $2 to make one.
An average adult eats approximately 8oz to 1 lb. of food each meal.
If you don't mind eating leftovers for a few days, start measuring your cooking ingredients in how many meals you'll get out of each dish.
Food like pasta and stews are easy to make too much for one meal. In general I like to measure meat as either 4oz or 8oz, and the same is true for pastas, rice, potatoes, etc. Vegetables you can eat way more, they have few calories and fill you up.
For example I may make a dish that's 8oz of turkey breast, 8oz of brown rice, and 1 lb. Of broccoli.
Your freezer is your best friend, places like Costco, Aldi, and sometimes chain groceries will sell chicken breasts and fish in single serving pouches. You may also want to invest in a
Food saver to create your own. This can be used to prep raw ingredients into ready to cook meals or save ready to heat & eat meals. Another option is meal prepping with glass or plastic containers. I personally don't recommend meal prep unless you're trying to lose weight because it's boring.
The last bit of advice I have is practice with what you like, learn what foods go together easily for you. Nobody likes spending two hours cooking a single meal or eating the same thing for a week straight unless you're trying to hit specific nutrition goals.
Unless money is tight don't be squeamish about throwing away uneaten food. Even if you're only eating half your cooked food you are still saving an insane amount of money versus buying restaurant or fast food.
