The third difference I realised about cooking just for me is that I need recipes that are fast to cook. There is no starving family or grumpy partner to push me to produce a meal.
It’s just me and it’s easy to slip into the habit of not bothering.
Especially on weeknights when I get home from work and battle with that annoying and evil voice that pretends it is trying to help me when it starts saying insistently,
“It’s only me so why bother? It’s not worth the effort, just have cheese on toast… again”.
Winning the 30-minute challenge
I realised that I have a narrow window of opportunity after arriving home from work to win this battle. And it’s about 20 minutes for me. So I’ve designed a collection of recipes that can be produced in 30 minutes because I found that if I’ve got dinner nearly cooked I can beat that ‘you’re not worth it’ voice.
I think Jamie Oliver is onto something with his 30-minute meals, but I have to say with my Thermomix it’s a lot less washing up – when there is just me to do it.
But one tip I have taken from Jamie is that when I walk in the door I get the things that take time, such as boiling water for steaming and putting the oven on high if I want to brown a dish, happening before I think about taking out the ingredients. It’s amazing how this can cut down the time and it makes you feel like you’re already cooking dinner and it will be ready soon.
Most of the recipes that I have on this site are designed to be prepared in less than 30 minutes. The exceptions are some of the dishes that are the first course with a progressive ingredient menu.
Share your tips for winning the 30 Minute challenge in the comments below.