Inspiration Food For One??

[puddicat]

Since my son moved out, i struggle to motivate myself to cook something special,end up eating the same things for days, can any one motivate me!!!

[mrs_overall]

Hi puddicat.

When my eldest left to go to Uni, I gave him a copy of Delia Smith's book One is Fun. As the titile suggests, all the recipes (and there are some fab ones) are for one person.

[ethandron]

what about cooking for 4 and freezing 3 of them - casseroles, hotpots, stews, braising steak, shepherds pie, curries, chillies, lasagnes, et., etc. saves a bit of time and effort, and makes sure you eat properly too. i found it very difficult to scale down from cooking for 4 when my 2 sons went off to uni, and even now i always have plenty left over to freeze. stir fry's are good to do for one person too, they're quick and have plenty of veg in them.
as well as delias one is fun, there are a lot of easy, quick paperback cookery books aimed at students which contain loads of cheap, easy and nourishing meals.

[masterchef]

Buy a 500g packet of frozen steak mince from Sainsburys or Morrisons and see how many dishes you can make with it e.g cottage pie, curry, lasagne,fill a yorkshire pudding with it and some vegetables.
If you cook the whole packet in a wok with some onions and garlic and incorporate some gravy you can make all of the above in one go or use a little each day to make whichever one you fancy.
Halfway through the week break the monotany and cook some oven fish and chips for a change.

[funnygirl]

Macaroni cheese.

Cod baked in oven.

Sausages n Mash.

Homemade burgers.

Mixed seafood risotto.

[Jugglering]

I agree with Ethanron..the freezer is a great solution. Failing that, make up a bit pot of something good (chilli, curry, lasagne etc) and just reheat a portion of it when you get home from work). I tend to cook for the week ahead on a Sunday - lovely way to spend a lazy afternoon - I can then come in from work of an evening and ping a portion when I'm ready to eat, either from frozen or from the fridge.. For the past few weeks, my colleagues at work have been able to share in my lovely soups at lunch times... maybe I should start to charge them !

[puddicat]

Hi juggle hows the website going, have some great and saucy funnies to send if thats ok lol!!!!

[adzy31]

Kind of similar to something already posted, when I was living in my university house over the summer. Other than finding inspiration for that many meals, simply keeping enough ingredients in the fridge for 14 meals each week was a nightmare! always found stuff going off that i just couldn't eat.

Anyway... one time I cooked up a batch of steak and ale casserole/pie filling. day one i had it as a casserole, with dumplings and all the trimmings, day two i had it in a pie with veg, then day three used up the rest of the puff pastry with some fried onions to make pasties and - with oven chips and carrots - had a fairly quick tea! the level of effort goes down each night which definitely works for me. then, as said above, halfway through the week change to something else, to change things round a bit.

Now that I've graduated and am in a house where we have a strict cooking rota, i sort of miss the chance to experiment!