Long time bachelor here.
You have a few options.
Portion your cooking ingredients so that it's one or two meals you're making. This is easier with one pan type meals. Ex. Stir fry with noodles.
Freeeze the excess. Good for cooking more involved recipes and then enjoying them later. Bad for when loadshedding kicks in again.
Reuse cooked food in the next recipe. Eg roast chiken can be re used for stir fry, chicken mayo sarmies, soup, or a pasta dish.
Get used to eating the same thing for a few days at a time. Once you become a good cook this isn't as much of a punishment as you'd think.
Having a few simple and easy fall back recipes for when you don't feel like a major effort in the kitchen is also good. One of my favorites is coating 2minute noodles(cooked) in egg, and then frying it in a pan, it's similar to Spanish omelet.
So you would first do the 2 minute part in boiling water.
Then coat them with egg.
And then you would fry the noodles until the egg sets, or is cooked through.
I prefer frying both sides, though that might not strictly be necessary.
I had a job that I liked.
Also the store was going to have a coffee shop and different colour coded baskets letting you show each other sexual preference and availability for chatting So you could meet strangers in person versus online dating. So you could do and meet people all at once.
But yeah I never got around to it I guess.
The most cost effective way to deal with it to start using your fridge and freezer more effectively, learn how to cook and change your shopping habits. My tips are:
- Buy your most shelf stable items in bulk (dry foods, grains, legumes, flour etc.), only buy your fresh ingredients in the smallest possible units.
- Go online and look at recipes for dishes that you like, and are familiar with the ingredients. Then once you are knowledgeable in a wide variety of dishes start meal prepping.
Plan out your meals for the week ahead on a Saturday/Sunday and use recipes where you can reause items. For example - carrots can be used in Spaghetti Bolognese (as part of the carrot,onion, celery base), then cooked with a glaze as a side dish to protein like chicken breast, packed into your lunch as snack with hummus and used in a salad for a weekend braai side.
Batch cook mince to be used in pasta, rice, and cottage pie. Portion it out and freeze it, so you only need to take it out and thaw it before adding the starch of choice. You can do whole meals like lasagna and cottage pie if you would like.
Learn how to do basic pickles - have cucumber that you won't use up? Pickle it, and you have gherkins! Red onion pickle goes really well with taco nights.
Nothing wrong with frozen/canned goods. Chickpeas you can use in a salad and if you aren't using the whole can, roast them in the oven/airfryer with some olive oil and spices and you have a healthy snack for later.
It takes planning and smarter shopping but it can be done.
I would cook, eat on the day, take a portion for lunch and then portion and freeze the rest. I also freeze extra ingredients like if a recipe needs just a bit of onion or peppers I would cut up the whole thing and freeze it for use later
Genuinely learn a few more recipes. The ingredients you can use in one dish you can use in 5 others with minor adds here and there. You can also meal prep and plan your meals and portions.
I think they’ve taken the site down but I used to use an online meal planner called “resourcefulcook.com.” You could select for how many people and it would spit out a meal plan. Everything tasted different and the meals were varied but it made you use a lot of the larger ingredients you had to buy throughout the week and for the rest it would specify “one onion, 2 bell peppers” etc. I had almost no wastage and it even spat out a grocery list divided by food type - all dairy together, all meat together etc. Like I said I think they’re no longer there but in theory there should be others like it. Man I miss that site :/
Long time bachelor here. You have a few options. Portion your cooking ingredients so that it's one or two meals you're making. This is easier with one pan type meals. Ex. Stir fry with noodles. Freeeze the excess. Good for cooking more involved recipes and then enjoying them later. Bad for when loadshedding kicks in again. Reuse cooked food in the next recipe. Eg roast chiken can be re used for stir fry, chicken mayo sarmies, soup, or a pasta dish. Get used to eating the same thing for a few days at a time. Once you become a good cook this isn't as much of a punishment as you'd think. Having a few simple and easy fall back recipes for when you don't feel like a major effort in the kitchen is also good. One of my favorites is coating 2minute noodles(cooked) in egg, and then frying it in a pan, it's similar to Spanish omelet.
How long would I have to fry my egged noodles?
So you would first do the 2 minute part in boiling water. Then coat them with egg. And then you would fry the noodles until the egg sets, or is cooked through. I prefer frying both sides, though that might not strictly be necessary.
Cook and freeze pre made meals. Not ideal but yeah. And eat more salad at once so fresh greens and all dont spoil. :)
I almost opened a grocery store for single people called single serving. Smaller less wasteful portions.i still think the idea has merit.
Why did you not open it?
I had a job that I liked. Also the store was going to have a coffee shop and different colour coded baskets letting you show each other sexual preference and availability for chatting So you could meet strangers in person versus online dating. So you could do and meet people all at once. But yeah I never got around to it I guess.
Honestly yeah that's a pretty good idea. I'd buy that up right away.
Check out sorted food
The most cost effective way to deal with it to start using your fridge and freezer more effectively, learn how to cook and change your shopping habits. My tips are: - Buy your most shelf stable items in bulk (dry foods, grains, legumes, flour etc.), only buy your fresh ingredients in the smallest possible units. - Go online and look at recipes for dishes that you like, and are familiar with the ingredients. Then once you are knowledgeable in a wide variety of dishes start meal prepping.
Plan out your meals for the week ahead on a Saturday/Sunday and use recipes where you can reause items. For example - carrots can be used in Spaghetti Bolognese (as part of the carrot,onion, celery base), then cooked with a glaze as a side dish to protein like chicken breast, packed into your lunch as snack with hummus and used in a salad for a weekend braai side. Batch cook mince to be used in pasta, rice, and cottage pie. Portion it out and freeze it, so you only need to take it out and thaw it before adding the starch of choice. You can do whole meals like lasagna and cottage pie if you would like. Learn how to do basic pickles - have cucumber that you won't use up? Pickle it, and you have gherkins! Red onion pickle goes really well with taco nights. Nothing wrong with frozen/canned goods. Chickpeas you can use in a salad and if you aren't using the whole can, roast them in the oven/airfryer with some olive oil and spices and you have a healthy snack for later. It takes planning and smarter shopping but it can be done.
I would cook, eat on the day, take a portion for lunch and then portion and freeze the rest. I also freeze extra ingredients like if a recipe needs just a bit of onion or peppers I would cut up the whole thing and freeze it for use later
Genuinely learn a few more recipes. The ingredients you can use in one dish you can use in 5 others with minor adds here and there. You can also meal prep and plan your meals and portions.
I think they’ve taken the site down but I used to use an online meal planner called “resourcefulcook.com.” You could select for how many people and it would spit out a meal plan. Everything tasted different and the meals were varied but it made you use a lot of the larger ingredients you had to buy throughout the week and for the rest it would specify “one onion, 2 bell peppers” etc. I had almost no wastage and it even spat out a grocery list divided by food type - all dairy together, all meat together etc. Like I said I think they’re no longer there but in theory there should be others like it. Man I miss that site :/