Cooking for One

Prior to joining Weight Watchers, I wasn’t a big cook. I lived with my dad and younger brother and often ate what my father prepared or dined out in restaurants. I know now that both of these factors probably contributed to me gaining weight!

I moved in with my ex very soon after joining Weight Watchers and began cooking for the two of us. Having another person to cook and pack a lunch for made it quite easy to plan and prepare meals, do a weekly grocery shopping trip and generally use up everything in our fridge. Most recipes make 4ish servings so we’d have 1 serving each for dinner and then both take another serving for lunch the following day.

Having moved out on my own, I’ve noticed that it has been a very different ball game now that I’m only cooking and shopping for one (officially). In the last month, I’ve fallen into a new groove and developed some new strategies for cooking for one.

Cook for Others
Since I started cooking, I always enjoyed the act of making things for other people and have embraced this as a strategy in my new home. The most awesome part about this is that I now have 3 willing participants in my roommates! In my first week here I started off by making some delicious cuppins

and later went on to include a tomato-zucchini curry I am happy to share food when I’m making larger dishes, because there are often still leftovers for me and the food isn’t going to waste. It also means that I can prepare baked goods without having to worry about having the whole pan or batch to myself!

I also enjoy have people over and cooking for them, like I did with the lovely Lindsay a couple weeks ago We enjoyed baked falafels with a fresh salad and tahini dressing. I love cooking for people and look forward to doing more entertaining in the future. Any takers?

Cook with Others
A few weeks ago I blogged about the impromptu dinner party the roommates and I had, and I’m sure that there will be more of those to come in the future. Last week I had set out to make the cauliflower-lentil curry from Veganomican when Drew arrived home. I mentioned that he could join me in consuming some curry to which he asked how he could help. Together we made quite the delightful meal. Drew whipped up some red rice and an amazing salad with baby spinach, raisins and sautéed onions, garlic and asparagus It was an awesome meal and having someone else to chat with in the kitchen as well as prepare part of the meal, made the whole experience a lot more enjoyable.

Cook for Yourself
I’ve found that since I’ve been cooking for one, my meals have become a lot more simple and I am okay with this. I’ve been eating a lot of salads Stir fries and simple dishes like brown rice pastathat are easy to make for one! I’ve been making 1-2 more elaborate meals each week and sticking with lots of veggies, fruits, whole grains and basic proteins like tempeh and lentils the rest of the time. I’ve been freezing bigger batches of things and embracing leftovers in different ways. I find myself eating a ton of fruits and veggies and this makes me really happy!

While cooking for one is definitely different than cooking for two, it’s proving to be an interesting challenge that I’m having fun exploring!

Are you cooking for just yourself? What are some of your tips and tricks? Any good cookbooks or resources that focus on cooking for one?

Looking for some new recipe ideas? Check out the recipes that my members sent me over the last few weeks.