Cooking and meals for one...

readyletsgo

So I find myself as a single guy living alone as of late. Cooking for myself at meal times can be a little, I don't really know what to make. Kinda stick with frozen or ready made type dinners.

Any recommendations on some easy not too much hassle dinner ideas for a meal for one? Recipes?
What do you guys usually make for your meal for one dinner?

I can cook, don't get me wrong, just don't know what to be making lol.

Cheers guys.

armaghlad

Stir fry.

Quick and easy to make. And healthy.

Can use chicken, prawns, beef etc.

I usually make a basic sauce with soy sauce, ginger, garlic, brown sugar or honey and sweet chilli sauce.

Chop a pepper or two, onion, mushrooms, broccoli, whatever else takes your fancy.

syklops

Stir fries are very versatile.

If Im cooking for one then I do what I'd do for two people, but just half the serving size. A big lasagne made on a Sunday. Freeze the rest and you've a quick fall back meal.

Steak on a friday night.

Dunnes do a Peking Duck kit which is delicious. Half a duck, pancakes and sauce. It costs 6 euros. I recommend it.

Timberrrrrrrr

Chicken, fish, sweet potato wedges, pasta, rice, veg. All easy to make and much better for you than frozen processed crap.

howamidifferent

A bag of salad leaves from the supermarket and squeeze half a lime over it.
Throw on a bit of cheese and maybe some chicken/cooked deli meat and your away.

syklops

howamidifferent wrote: »

A bag of salad leaves from the supermarket and squeeze half a lime over it.
Throw on a bit of cheese and maybe some chicken/cooked deli meat and your away.

And crispy bacon.

We do Chicken Caesar salad at least one night a week. 2 chicken breasts and 5-6 slices of bacon between 2. Its an incredibly cheap meal. Get the caesar salad kit in Dunnes or tesco. Its usually about 1.50. Dice a chicken breast, dice the bacon. Easy and very quick to do.

stargazer 68

Cook a chicken and let it go cold then shred it up (or cut up chicken breasts and cook them). The tub of McDonnells Curry Sauce and some peppers and onions. Cook the peppers and onions, mix up the sauce as directed and then add the cooked veg and cooked chicken to it. Freeze what you dont eat. Its fab - my OH raves about it to everyone but he thinks I cook it from scratch

I find cooking for just myself to be one of the most depressing experiences in life. I hate doing it. When I was a lay about useless turd in college times - or thereabouts - I used to eat crap ready meals and worse like you. It was only when I started cooking for others that I discovered a real love of food - and a snobbery hatred of ready meals or anything overly processed. I am quite insufferable on the subject now

I guess the best trick with cooking for one is to cook things that last more than a single meal. Two or three day dinners. That way you only have the depressing horror of cooking for one 2 or 3 times a week.

There is a "What did I have for dinner last night" thread on this forum which is quite inspirational at times. Just start from page one and scroll down till you see something that makes you go "Hmmm" or "Yea, I could make that" - and go from there. By the time you get to the end of the thread (it is quite long now) you will probably find you have a few dishes on rotation in your repertoire that you keep coming back to.

I particularly like easy meals that the left overs of one can be thrown into the next. So for example shakshuka is remarkably easy to make - and can be a two day dinner for one person - but the left over sauce at the end can then be thrown onto an easy Pizza for a base flavour that is deeper and richer than concentrates tomato from a tube or some such.

I try to be guided by ingredients too - so that no ingredient ends up in my house / shelves for too long. So I try to work out what needs to go next and then recipe hunt based on that ingredient. It keeps ingredients on a good rotation - and can lead you to recipes you might not get to by thinking from the top down - rather than the ingredients up. I think there are even some websites where you type in everything you have - and it suggests the recipes you are closest to having everything for.

Risottos are good too. Lots of variety in there with some imagination. You can go from a lighter onioner type to something heavier and heartier during the winter.

And for the ocasional treat it is always nice to get a little exotic like some really tender goat recipes.

I guess a lot of people view cooking dinner like an inconvenience in their day that they have to get done and out of the way so they can get on with the things they really want to be doing. I guess the key for me has always been when I shifted that focus to make cooking an end in itself - one of my main hobbies - and I learned to love it as something I want to do with my day - not something in the way of the things I want to do with my day.

Hope _some_ of that helps

readyletsgo

Wow that's for all your replies and ideas, especially taxAHcruel! Lots of information there I'll go through, but just so you know, cooking for one is in no way depressing lol. Love my own company, just need ideas on better things to eat in the evenings instead of lazy frozen stuff

Charlie19

Batch cook a load of bolognese. I use 400g turkey mince, 400g of beef mince, tin of lentils, tin of Chick peas, onions, mushrooms, chillies and 2 tins of tomatoes. Seasoned with black pepper, cayenne pepper, basil, oregano and sugar.

For the sauce 2 tbl spoons of Worcester sauce, 2 tbls of red sauce and a quater cup of beef stock.

This freezes great and goes down well with almost everything.

Diamond Doll

Definitely following this thread. My boyfriend left me in the summer and took our baby with him, I could probably count on my fingers the amount of dinners I've cooked since then! Just not worth it when there's no one else to enjoy it.

Weirdly enough though, I was always well able to cook for myself, and eat regular healthy meals, when I was living in houseshares before I met him. I just can't remember how I worked it all out!

GFT

I went through a phase of cooking healthy there for about 6 months last year. Went haywire when I went on holidays and since then I've had nothing but takeaways and ready meals.

Sorry to hear that diamond doll.

The Black Oil

Easy peasy recipes thread.

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2054856196

lazybones32

Can't believe no-one mentioned stew. Lamb stew is best and lasts 3 days (gets tangy after that). Beef and guinness/stout stew are good too but I do love the real Irish stew.
Shepherds pie.
A cooked chicken is great on the day and can be put in the fridge and used over a few days for dinner or sambos.
Moose tacos are an unusual one I had last year in Sweden but absolutely handsome. Tried getting minced moose here but can't. Butcher thought I was taking the piss.
Cooking for one, daily, is a waste of time: 15-45 mins preparation, 5 mins to eat.

fits

I HATE cooking for myself. when I am abroad with work I tend to just eat out at lunchtime at a subsidised canteen which gives you a fairly balanced meal for a fiver.
Fried rice is an easy one in the evening with some frozen vegetables

mzungu

Pataks vindaloo curry paste
Tin of chopped tomatoes
Two diced chicken breasts
Chopped Onion
Whatever veg takes your fancy

Change the curry paste on a weekly basis and bobs your uncle.

Stir frys and salads all easy to do and loaded with nutritious food, as long as you take it easy on the extra sauces and all that.

Basically I find the most fun from cooking comes from experimentation. I look up the recipe of things I like online. I take a note of them...and then tweak them to my own liking. It is great fun doing things that way, cooking is something to be enjoyed and experimenting with different ingredients really adds to the experience.

popa smurf

You are what you eat op and quick and semple is order of the day My favourite dish I cook for myself is aldi panchata ham its in small packs diced and boil some pasta through in a shredded carrot and ounion some chilli flakes and chopped peppers and a squirt of mayo 10 min max

Deise_vixen

I live on my own too and I have to say I love cooking for one and don't find it a bit depressing. I can suit my own taste exactly, I can ditch disasters without anyone knowing and eat as little (or as much) as I like with no-one to comment on it.

I batch cook about once a week, putting a couple of portions in the fridge and then the rest goes in the freezer. Means that I always have something healthy in the freezer to fall back on.

My regular staples would be:

Spaghetti Bolognese
Chilli con carne
Beef casserole
Chicken casserole

Basically anything that I can chuck in a pot, cover with passata, tonnes of garlic/chilli/herbs and is ready in less than an hour. I even freeze the cooked pasta, anything for an easy life ;-)

Omelettes are good
I like a tomatoe and cheese omelette with rashers on top :cool:

Fish or chicken with rice and some sauce or other (or not).

Steak or chops with veg.

I wouldn't be a huge cooking fan but I can manage away, I never bother with potatoes though, seem an awful time sink.

From March to October I generally have a huge salad at lunchtime as main meal and just a snack in the evening.

keane2097

lazybones32 wrote: »

Can't believe no-one mentioned stew. Lamb stew is best and lasts 3 days (gets tangy after that). Beef and guinness/stout stew are good too but I do love the real Irish stew.

Made a beef & Guinness one last night. They almost literally couldn't be simpler or more delicious.

@OP - a carton of passata in Tesco and a well stocked rack of herbs and spices is a great gateway to a variety of cuisines. Brown your meat, soften your veg then fire in your passata.

Add stuff like oregano, parsley, sage, rosemary for Italian; ginger, cumin, tumeric, garamasala for Indian; chilli, cayenne, paprika for Mexican etc.

readyletsgo

These are all really great ideas and recommendations guys thanks very much!

I did cook a chicken once a few months ago, turned out great and I didn't die if food poisoning so I know I can do that.
Might roast a chicken this Sunday with some baby roast potatoes and veg and then make something big with the left over chicken for during the week.

It's baby steps for me at the moment but it seems to be turning into a new years resolution for me, learn to cook simple things, right

I'm a little weary of freezing cooked meats though, do they not have to be thawed out 24hrs before reheating in a microwave? Sounds stupid, but I just don't know and everyone has a different opinion on it.

Thanks again!

magicmushroom

Chop up some bacon/pancetta and fry in a pan with olive oil, garlic and chilli flakes.
Stir in some spaghetti, bit of dried parmesan on top - YUM

Also works great with prawns.

When I have the time I cook Bolognese, stew, curry, soup...put it into freezer bags in individual portions or the reusable tubs and freeze it. My freezer is full of stuff like this.

magicmushroom

readyletsgo wrote: »

These are all really great ideas and recommendations guys thanks very much!

I did cook a chicken once a few months ago, turned out great and I didn't die if food poisoning so I know I can do that.
Might roast a chicken this Sunday with some baby roast potatoes and veg and then make something big with the left over chicken for during the week.

It's baby steps for me at the moment but it seems to be turning into a new years resolution for me, learn to cook simple things, right

I'm a little weary of freezing cooked meats though, do they not have to be thawed out 24hrs before reheating in a microwave? Sounds stupid, but I just don't know and everyone has a different opinion on it.

Thanks again!

Just take it out the freezer the night before and put into the fridge. It will slowly defrost during the day.

If I've made curry, Bolognese etc though I would just heat it from frozen in the microwave. Once it's piping hot you've nothing to worry about.
I've also cooked chicken breasts from frozen before with no problems whatsoever - I just cooked them for longer than usual and made sure the middle of them was absolutely boiling before I took them out.

keane2097

readyletsgo wrote: »

These are all really great ideas and recommendations guys thanks very much!

I did cook a chicken once a few months ago, turned out great and I didn't die if food poisoning so I know I can do that.
Might roast a chicken this Sunday with some baby roast potatoes and veg and then make something big with the left over chicken for during the week.

It's baby steps for me at the moment but it seems to be turning into a new years resolution for me, learn to cook simple things, right

I'm a little weary of freezing cooked meats though, do they not have to be thawed out 24hrs before reheating in a microwave? Sounds stupid, but I just don't know and everyone has a different opinion on it.

Thanks again!

Jamie Oliver's 30 minute meals is a really good asset if you're getting started. You will go from nervously sticking a chicken in the oven to vegetable trivets for homemade gravy, roasted veg and a great soup the following week from the carcass in the time it takes to read a few pages.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Jamies-30-Minute-Meals-Revolutionary-Approach/dp/B00CF6GL6Y/ref=sr_1_13?ie=UTF8&qid=1450872954&sr=8-13&keywords=jamie+oliver+minute+meals

Gael23

There's a thread called "single life as a guy" where this has come up.
Stir Fred are easiest, you can vary them so much with meats and flavours. Steaks are handy too although less often. It's ok to have a lazy pizza/pasta meal once a week too.

Log9

There's nothing wrong with pre prepared food *if* it's high quality and low in added salts, sugars, preservatives etc.

You can't just generalise about "ready meals" as some are actually extremely well made and have healthy ingredients and others are total junk food.

The same goes for eating out. Could be bad for you or ultra high quality healthy stuff.

If you're cooking for one, you'll probably be able to stretch the budget more than if you're cooking for a family.

If you're under time pressure or you just aren't into cooking use things like M&S which has tons of small quantity very high quality prepped items rather than ready meals. You can significantly cut down on prep time without sacrificing quality.

Also if you're near markets, butchers and fishmongers - use them! you can buy smaller quantities, better quality and more flexibly.

Basically you need to think about variety and small quantities and a lot of supermarkets will push value offers based on bigger packs.

toadfly

Roast chicken on a Sunday, leftovers can be made into curry the following two days.

If you dont have a slow cooker I would highly recommend, 10 mins prep in the morning and you come home to dinner ready for that day and enough for the following day or two. I use it mainly for Thai Red Curry, casseroles and do beef housekeepers cut in it, turns out amazingly. Bought mine in Argos for less than €20

Lasange, the dish I have does 8 portions, there are only two of us in the house so I freeze the rest.

Colser

I bought a stuffed chicken in Tesco and roasted it yesterday.You just pierce one hole in the bag(which is marked for you:pac:) put the lot in the oven(remove from the bag 20 mins from the end) and job done.It looked perfect and tasted absolutely delicious.We had it with spuds and veg and made sandwiches with the leftovers last night.And it was only 6e.