Eating for One

As you probably know by now, I recently moved into my own apartment. I live on my own and am learning a lot by doing so. One thing I had to learn a lot about was making meals and going grocery shopping for one. Before this, I lived with my mom and I have to say, she did a lot of the shopping. There were very few things that I really had to purchase on my own, so I have to give a lot of credit to my mom. Over the years of living there, I started to watch what she’d buy in bulk and what she’d buy on it’s own. But, nothing is like grocery shopping on your own and cooking for one. 

So, first, I had to learn to shop for myself. Shopping for myself sounds like an easy task, but in all reality, it is very daunting. I love to cook and bake, so I tend to find crazy and intricate recipes, which in turn requires a lot of ingredients. I have had to learn to make substitutions or work with what I have, especially if it is an ingredient I probably won’t use again, or too often. I also have a small amount of space to work with, as my refrigerator is not a full sized one; it’s a bit smaller than a normal kitchen fridge. 

My very first grocery shopping trip for my apartment was much larger than normal. I got a lot of the essentials or long lasting items. Items such as condiments, salad dressings, oil, baking supplies, ect. Normally, I don’t have to rebuy these items!

I have learned to buy packs of meat and separate them out into individual portions in the freezer for easy meal prepping. I have also learned to not buy bulk items too often, unless it will fit. While buying in bulk from Costco is a huge time and money saver, it’s not necessarily useful for me, spacewise. I normally buy packs of 3-5 chicken breasts, which will last me about 2 weeks. As for other freezer items, I normally purchase frozen fruits for smoothies and one or two frozen ‘meals’ or substitution meals. 

I have also learned to purchase one or two fruits and one veggie per week. Being on my own, I won’t go through it as quickly and I don’t want it to go bad. I normally stick to one veggie a week with dinner (broccoli, green beans, ect.) and about two fruits for snacking (plums, apples, strawberries, ect.). This way I know my produce won’t go bad… it’s expensive! As for the things I normally have on hand in the fridge, it varies. But most of the time I always have bread, eggs, milk, meat, a veggie, fruit, tortillas, cheese and spinach. This way I alway some sort of meal to make up. I also keep one of the large containers of chopped garlic from Costco in my fridge because my heart loves garlic. 

As for my pantry, there is a lot more wiggle room. My mom actually helped me build a very inexpensive and useful shelving unit using wood planks and cement blocks. In my pantry, I keep a lot of things that can be kept for a while (duh…) such as canned food (always canned corn, pumpkin, soups, ect.), peanut butter, snacks (popcorn, chips, pretzels, ect.), rice, pastas, and baking supplies (flour, sugar, oats, baking powder/soda) . This section of my grocery shopping is what varies the most, as I have a good amount of space to work with. I also keep onions and potatoes in a bag in my pantry. 

Now, as for making meals for myself, I tend to keep it simple. I only try fancy new recipes if I am having guests or I have the next morning off (I start at 5:30 am and I need my beauty sleep). Most of the time, my dinner consists of whatever protein I have pulled from the freezer- most of the time chicken, pork or some sort of fish. I pair it with the ‘veggie of the week’ and either rice, pasta or potatoes (or both, no shame!). The way I fill up my plate with flavor is normally in the seasonings or sauces. Seasonings and sauces are a great way to add flavor without the cost of a whole other product. My go to is garlic (duh), salt and pepper (what else?) and fresh basil (I grow it on my porch!!). But mixing it up with a cream sauce (cream, seasonings, onion, ect) or even soy sauce is an easy way I spice up my meals to make them a little bit less repetitive. 

One thing that I struggle with a lot when cooking for myself is only making enough for myself. I tend to overcook, overcut but not overeat. I try my hardest to eat my leftovers for lunch the next day, but sometimes it just doesn’t happen. I have learned to cook less than what I think I will eat, because at the end of the day, I can always eat snacks or grab some custard from the Culvers down the road (oops). 

The other struggle I have with cooking for myself is the dishes. I don’t have a dishwasher and (my mom can testify to this), I hate dishes. I despise dishes. But, it’s also not feasible to eat out every night, so I needed to learn to do dishes every night. My rule of thumb when cooking is to use one pot/one pan meal or even everything in the oven at once to make cleaning up simple and easy. I was given 2 different sized cast iron pans for my birthday, which I use religiously for one pan meals with meat and vcg. But, no matter what, I have told myself that I cannot go to bed until dishes are done. As I stated above, my beauty sleep is essential for me to function the next day (that and coffee). So the longer I put off dishes, the later I go to bed. I hate waking up to a dirty kitchen and or dirty dishes. This simple task which taunts me daily has become the best habit to complete in order to properly keep myself on track and clean. 

My last idea for cooking for myself is to prep my meals in advance. This looks different each week. Some weeks I write out what meals I am having each day based on if I’ve gone grocery shopping already. Other weeks I wing it. But most of the time, I plan it the night before by pulling out what protein I need and either marinating it (forces me to use it) and or pre-cut veggies/pre-portion carbs for easy cooking. 

What meals do you cook for yourself? Any tips or tricks? Please share!!