Cooking for One

Sleepy

As a singleton living in shared accomodation I've found myself eating more and more frozen / ready meals. I have feck all space in the fridge/freezer so keeping large amounts of veg or cooking a large meal and freezing the rest of it really isn't an option so I need your help!

I need simple recipes for one, preferably that you could pick up the ingredients for in an average SuperValu and use all those ingredients rather than having a lot of left-over veg etc. Low-fat/healthy would be good too.

Anyone got any good recipes they'd like to share?

xzanti

Make a pot of stew and put it in the fridge, or freeze it to do you for the week... Tasty, healthy and filling..

Oxtail soup, about 5 large spuds, 1 large onion, about 4 good size carrots, mushrooms, some stewing steak - about 1.5lb, some parsley (very important) and an oxo cube and off you go...
I always steam the spuds separate from the stew and just add them at the end... Or mash them and pour the stew over them... Mmmmm

Sleepy

Sounds nice (similar to my Mum's in fact!) but I don't have the room in the freezer to store stuff. The idea of this thread is for single serving dishes / recipes. I'm sure I'm not the only one that could use some suggestions!

I know I found a twist on the recipe suggestion in the recent philadelphia add a great quick meal:

Put some pasta on to boil while you chop some red peppers.
Lightly fry the peppers for a minute or two, then add a few quartered cherry tomatoes, a two tablespoons of Philadelphia and a liberal teaspoon of pesto.
Drain the pasta and add the contents of the pan to the saucepan, stir about and you've a tasty pasta dish in ten minutes.

You can obviously change around the veg or add a sliced chicken breast to the ingredients if you fancy playing with it.

eljono

I make one like yours Sleepy, but I throw in chopped up tomatoes, red onion, sweetcorn and tuna to the pasta with a stir-in sauce. Then throw sprinkled cheese on it. I usually make enough for two, put half in the fridge and then you have two days dinner for about 15 mins cooking.

Kolodny

Don't how how you feel about spicy stuff Sleepy...

I make this with minced lamb as I'm a bit of a meat snob, but it'll work just as well with beef of course:

Ingredients:
1/2 lb mince (you can use less if you're not as piggy as me)
1 large onion - finely chopped
1 small green pepper - finely chopped
2 red chillies - finely chopped
1 or 2 cloves crushed garlic
1 tin chopped tomatoes
1 tablespoon Worcester sauce (optional)
3 teaspoons hot chilli powder (or more if you like it HOT )
A sprinkle of mixed herbs (optional)
1 vegetable stock cube
1 tin of kidney beans
Cooking oil
A few mushrooms - chopped
Whatever kind of rice you prefer

Method:
Brown the mince in a pan in the oil, adding the Worcester sauce (if using) and crushed garlic.

When the mince is nearly brown, chuck in the chopped onion and stir it all about until the onion begins to turn clear. Then chuck in the chilli powder, the chopped red chillies and the sprinkle of herbs. At this point you can add the tinned tomatoes, green pepper and mushrooms and stir it about again for a few minutes.

Depending on the consistency of the sauce: if it's quite liquid I'd just crumble the veg stock cube into the sauce, if it's thick I'd dissolve the stock cube in a cup of hot water then add it to the sauce. You can start preparing and cooking your rice at this point.

Let your sauce bubble away for a while and when the rice is nearly ready, chuck the kidney beans into the chili sauce (I find they turn to mush if you put them in too early).

Serve your chilli sauce on a bed of rice. A bit of grated cheddar is nice sprinkled on top and a bit of garlic bread on the side if you're very hungry!

Not shockingly low in fat but certainly healthier than a frozen / ready meal.

davros

I got this recipe off a frying pan I bought recently. I've made it twice since then and it's quite edible:

1 courgette, chopped
2 eggs
2 spring onions, chopped
Grated cheese (recipe says parmesan but I had cheddar handy)
salt and pepper
olive oil

Fry the courgette in the oil for 4 minutes, adding salt and pepper to taste. Mix the eggs, cheese and spring onions and pour over the courgettes. Cook until eggs are done and cheese is melted.

Actually, the recipe says stick the frying pan under the grill for the last bit to brown the top. But if you are living on your own, who is going to see?

This is my kind of recipe - quick, almost no preparation, hardly any washing up.