Cooking for one can be a challenge, as it can be difficult to find Inspiration and motivation to prepare meals for just you. However, several solutions can help make the process more enjoyable and rewarding. As someone who has cooked for one person for many years, I have faced these challenges more times than not.
Here are five tips and hacks I've used to great success when Inspiration is lacking. They have been game changes for me in my quest to better care for myself with food.
Understand Your Planning Style
Planning in advance to avoid the question "what's for dinner?" is frequently cited as the answer to the lack of inspiration dilemma.
In my experience, this only works if you are a planner type of cook – someone who enjoys planning in advance. Someone who knows what they are having for dinner tonight and for the next 7-10 days! Someone who is checking what's for dinner as soon as they wake up! They have done the weekly shopping and have everything in place to execute the plan they dutifully made before shopping.
But that's not me!
And I know there are many in the world like me. I have a little voice in my head that throws the biggest 3-year-old-style tantrum if you ask her what she would like for dinner. Yet this same voice has a business schedule mapped out to military precision and would exhaust most people just glancing at it.
I've realised in food preparation that there is a continuum of planning styles. From 'Freestyles' people like me, who naturally love to wing it in food prep – I think about dinner as I walk into the kitchen to cook it. Through to the Food Planners who are the 'plan the cook: cook the plan' crew, who know what's for lunch and dinner a week ahead.
Where you sit on the scale determines the approach to finding Inspiration that will work best for you. Planners find Inspiration in their list of what they have decided and shopped for in advance – weekly shopping works a treat as they have a list; they can shop to it and have it on the fridge /iPad ready for quick reference any time to answer the question of 'what's for dinner?"
Freestyles like me shouldn't shop weekly. We should shop to our planning horizon. Mine is about two days. Doing this, I don't stock up on ingredients I could turn into dinner but somehow never do. I save money by not buying things I don't use and waste less as I use all I purchase. Win /Win!
Where do you sit on the scale? Can you answer the question of what you are having for dinner in 3 days without breaking into a cold sweat, or do you check the planner?
Declutter Your Pantry
Having a pantry (be it fridge/freezer or cupboard) stocked with ONLY ingredients that delight me is a game changer to finding Inspiration when cooking for one.
I've applied this to my pantries, undertook a massive declutter, a story for another time, and now know that when I walk into the kitchen, I have the ingredients to make all the many dishes I genuinely enjoy.
This approach has reduced my shopping trips, as when I shop I'm just replacing the key 'must have' items, which can be done weekly or fortnightly!
I am still determining what I'm going to cook for dinner on the fly, but I know that I have the ingredients for many options I love. This approach has reduced my use of Uber eats and takeaways, which was the old answer to "what's for dinner?" when I would look and see nothing that inspired me. – this behaviour change has saved about $45 a week now, not spent on takeaway. This change has saved me nearly $200 in the last six months.
Know 7 ways with your favourite ingredient that only come in large sizes.
Cooking for one often means dealing with leftovers, as recipes are designed for 4, 6 or 8 people, and it's often too hard to reduce them on the go. Or an ingredient you love e.g. butternut pumpkin, only comes in a size that is at least three meals for one.
For some, making the maxi recipe and freezing leftovers for another day works, especially if you like the same dish often. However, this strategy is challenging if you need lots of menu variety.
My hack for this problem is finding 7 different recipes to use ingredients/dishes I like. What do I mean?
Let's take a Bolognese sauce. Most recipes use at least 500g of meat mince, making about six servers. Below are nine very different meals you could use the sauce for. Thinking of large vegetables below are my nine favourite ways to serve it. I know its more then 7 but I've been collecting ideas over time. I started with three ways for each ingredient.
- Sauce with pasta
- Toasted sandwich
- Topping for baked potato
- Pasta baked with macaroni
- Lasagne with either pasta or eggplant
- Cottage pie with butter bean mash
- Leftover pies in puff pastry in a muffin tin
- Taco filling with added chilli and cumin
- Chilli con cane with red beans and chilli and cumin
- Steamed diced sweet potato
- Sweet potato steaks
- Sweet potato mash
- Roast sweet potato
- Steamed sweet potato
- Baked whole sweet potato
- Sweet potato and carrot soup
- Sweet potato noodles
- Sweet potato cake with pecans and maple syrup
You get the picture.
On a day when I was feeling creative, I challenged myself to find at least 7 ways to cook/serve ingredients I like that truly delight me and then set about to find recipes for that dish/method of cooking. I then add them to a list I have in a little notebook that lives in the kitchen. So, when I'm looking for Inspiration, I know where to turn. Now whenever I taste, see or hear of a recipe for that special ingredient that appeals to me, I add it to my 7 ways collection.
Experiment with New Recipes
My Cookingjust4Me 7 Ways project is a perfect way when you cook for one person to experiment with new recipes and techniques. Try new ingredient combinations, or try your hand at a dish you've never made. If you like it, add it to your notebook. Not only will this add variety to your meals, but it will also help you improve your cooking skills. that's how my three recipes became nine.
Travel the World in Food
Cooking for one doesn't have to be an boring. Think of the cuisines you love, Thai, Moroccan and Mexican for me. Then travel while you eat. Have a meal where you create an evening inspired by the international tastes you love. It doesn't need to be super authentic. The dish needs to evoke the taste of the country for you. Think about the elements/flavours that say that cuisine to you. For me, with Thai, I love the taste of soy sauce, fish sauce, ginger, a little tiny bit of chilli, sesame oil and peanuts. I now always have these Flavour Friends on hand, and when I feel like Inspiration I can say – I want Thai tonight, and I have the flavours in my pantry to create a dish that reminds me of Thai Cuisine.
In conclusion, cooking for one can be challenging, but it doesn't have to be. Knowing your planning style, having a pantry that delights you, your little book of 7 ways with ingredients you love, and your international Flavour Friends on hand can make the process of cooking just for you more enjoyable and rewarding.
What's your favourite way to find Inspiration to cook just4You?