Cooking for One

Ever ask yourself, "what's the point in cooking?  It's too hard to cook for one person."  Cooking for one person can seem like a lonely and daunting task, but when you really look at it, it's more of a planning challenge than anything else.

I have done a lot of "cooking for one" and I have found that the best way to do this is to make casseroles, lasagna, and sauces that you can freeze as single servings in air-tight containers.  Freezing in single servings allows you to have very quick and healthy meals by popping them in the microwave to defrost.

Tip - make sure these items cool completely before freezing them. Otherwise you'll end up with lots of ice crystals on top of your food when you pull it out of the freezer to defrost.

Some of my favorites to make and freeze in single servings are:

- Chicken Tetrazini
- Lasagna (Beef or turkey)
- Eggplant Parmesan
- Chicken Florentine Lasagna
- Spaghetti Sauce

These are much better and so much less expensive than TV dinners.  You'll get lots more nutrition, stay full  for longer, and keep more money in your wallet.

Keeping flash frozen veggies on hand and spicing them up by sauteing them in onion and olive oil is also very easy and makes for a nice complement to any of these dishes.  Using the flash frozen veggies keeps you from having to throw out veggies that go bad because you can't eat them fast enough, or keeps you from going to the grocery store 3 times per week.

These frozen servings are also very easy to take to work for lunch.  Ziploc and Glad make steam bags that you can take to throw in some veggies as a side.  I did this for a couple of years because I couldn't make it home for lunch and back to work within an hour.  It saves lots of money and keeps you healthy. You always know what's in your food when you make it!

If you would like recipes for any of these, just let me know and I would be happy to provide them.

Enjoy!  And next time you find yourself thinking, "one is the loneliest number..." think again!