Cooking for one

[mikelc]

Evening all,

Recently separated from the missus and since moving into a new place I've really been struggling with food. Does anybody have any good recipes for one, preferably stuff I also make a bit more of and have for dinner at work the following day?

Thanks

M

[JAHetfield]

Nice big pot of stew. Potatoes, onions, carrots, a couple of stock cubes and some beef chunks. Always tastes better on the second and third day too.

I used to make big pots of pasta and sauce too but I find it dries out on the second day and isn't as nice.

[mikelc]

Sounds good, cheers. Will probably slow cook that instead... how much water should I add to it out of interest?

[JAHetfield]

Just slightly less than you would use if you were boiling a pot of potatoes. Keep an eye on it and don't let it boil dry. If I can cook it, anyone can lol. The great thing is you can always experiment with different ingredients depending on what you have in the cupboard at the time.

[Mobile Chicane]

Check out the recipes and ideas on the Slooooooow Cooker Recipe thread.

I live alone and all of my suggestions can be scaled up or down for as many meals as you'd care to make.

The slow-cooker is a very good buy for the time-pressed and/or cash-poor: it can be doing its thing all day/night while you're at work, and is a great way to cook tougher and cheaper cuts of meat.

[LordHaveMurci]

I'm in the same situation, buy fresh pasta & pasta sauces last for 2-3 days once open so you can have a few days of pasta with tuna, chicken or whatever. Stews/casseroles are great, spag bol/chilli/cottage pie etc also worth a go as they're easy(ish) and taste better 2nd & 3rd time round! I also oven cook chicken breasts, potatoes & other veg like peppers, carrots, parsnips, sweet potatoes, keeps the cost & cleaning to a minimum!

Lots of recipes available, just Google search & pick the ones you fancy or take bits from each. Almost anything is better than microwave meals!

[Henry Hawthorne]

Good stuff for batch cooking:

- Chili con carne
- Bolognese
- Cottage pie
- Curry

If you're mainly after night before/day after stuff, then pasta with whatever always keeps fairly well for a couple of days.

Generally, as I cook for one as well, for lunch I'll stick the Lean Mean on with a couple of chicken breasts whilst I shower in the morning, once back in the kitchen take them out, chop and shove in a wrap with some salad/cheese/salsa/hot sauce/veg and it's done with about two mins of actual work.

[mikelc]

Some good comments thanks

If I made a chilli would I need to brown the mince first or just chuck it in the slow cooker?

[Mobile Chicane]

Other food heroes for the singleton are roasted vegetables and couscous.

Roasted veg: peppers, courgettes, red onions, aubergines, and a few cloves of garlic, bunged in a tray with a good glug of olive oil and roasted in a hot oven until the edges are just blackened. Make lots - it will keep in the fridge for ages and can be used as the basis of a pasta sauce, an omelette, a sandwich filling, a salad - anything.

Couscous: tip into a bowl and cover with boiling water and a plate. 5 minutes later, fluff with a fork and voila! Cooked couscous will keep for a few days in the fridge, and makes a great lunch mixed with roasted vegetables, frazzled chorizo, bacon, grilled chicken breast, etc.

Failing that, there is always the classic refuge of cheese, biscuits, and a bottle of red.

[Shaw Tarse]

mikelc said:

Some good comments thanks

If I made a chilli would I need to brown the mince first or just chuck it in the slow cooker?

Brown the meat first, same if you make a stew.

[Mobile Chicane]

mikelc said:

Some good comments thanks

If I made a chilli would I need to brown the mince first or just chuck it in the slow cooker?

Brown it.

I do it in a square lump rather than stirring it about - the rationale being that the brown outside adds flavour to the sauce while the raw inside adds 'substance'.

[Mobile Chicane]

mikelc said:

Sounds good, cheers. Will probably slow cook that instead... how much water should I add to it out of interest?

The rule for slow-cooking a stew is liquid to 1/3 of the way up whatever you have in the pot.

You'd be amazed at how much liquid comes out of the meat and particularly - vegetables.

[mikelc]

Mobile Chicane said:

there is always the classic refuge of cheese, biscuits, and a bottle of red.

That has been my diet for a few weeks now lol hence needing to change it

Going to get the slow cooker dusted off tomorrow then. Presumably when you say liquid up to 1/3 that's just water or is it stock, I'm completely new to all this in case you hadn't noticed

[Mobile Chicane]

mikelc said:

Mobile Chicane said:

there is always the classic refuge of cheese, biscuits, and a bottle of red.

That has been my diet for a few weeks now lol hence needing to change it

Going to get the slow cooker dusted off tomorrow then. Presumably when you say liquid up to 1/3 that's just water or is it stock, I'm completely new to all this in case you hadn't noticed

'Liquid' could be almost anything depending on how flavoursome your meat is, however you need to balance the flavours of the liquid with the flavours of the meat, ie. don't overwhelm a chicken by stewing it in Guinness.

'Kallo' organic stock cubes are pretty good out of all of them.

[D_G]

Another good variation is a batch of spicy meatballs, mince beef with garlic, onion and fresh chilli, brown these then add extra spicy Dolmio sauce and red pepper. Grind in black pepper and let it simmer for 20 mins chucking in mushrooms 5 mins before the end. Will make 5 dinners, freezes really well, much better than ready meals.

ETA: those Knorr stock pots are really good despite the annoying wker on the adverts!

[hyperblue]

Henry Hawthorne said:

Good stuff for batch cooking:

- Chili con carne
- Bolognese
- Cottage pie
- Curry

This plus chicken, peppers and onion with pretty much any sauce (curry, sweet & sour, kung po etc). I cook about once a week, freeze 4 or 5 meals each time. Just boil up some pasta/rice/noodles to go with. I like noodles because you can eat a decent meal in under 15 minutes, having only boiled some water and cooked the noodles for 4 minutes.

Edited by hyperblue on Monday 5th December 22:11

[Mobile Chicane]

Incidentally, if anyone's thinking "I'd like a freezer but I don't have space for one" I have this little dubby and it's excellent.

It sits on a worktop in my (tiny) utility room.