Cooking for the single?

Question

I'm own my on now and I was always a bad eater as a child. I'm struggling because I thought I would really get into cooking. Most days after work I just boil pasta or eat cereal. I really want to learn how to cook and also learn how to plan my week's meal and optimize when I go shopping for groceries. Can anyone give me suggestions on books, recipes, how to shop for one person etc? I don't even know how to buy meat... I can't saute chicken, I can't make sauce, etc... I will kill myself of starvation or get really poor eating out :)

Answer 1

One thing that's good and easy is purchase a bag of frozen boneless, skinless chicken breasts. Also purchase a bag of BirdsEye (I think that's the brand) frozen Steam-in-the-Bag veggies - they have broccoli, snow peas, carrots w/peas, etc.

In the morning, take one out of the bag, and marinate it in about 1/4 c. Italian Dressing and 2 Tblsp. of Worchestershire Sauce - Marinate it right in the small baking dish you plan on cooking it in - keep it in the fridge while you're at school/work.

When you come home, pop it in the oven at 325 - 350 degrees. Let it cook for about 20 minutes. (some of the thicker chicken breasts will take a good 25-30 min - but you don't want an over cooked dried out peice of chicken).

About 6 minutes before your chicken is done, pop the veggie bag in the microwave on high for 5 minutes. When it's done, drizzle it with a little butter or margarine and serve it with the chicken. YUM. Low-fat, quick, easy and healthy.

I think also that Rachel Ray has a cooking for one or maybe 2 recipe book. She's got simple recipes that are good for new cooks. Usually just a few ingredients, quick cook time, etc. Even if it's cooking for two - you'll just have one serving of leftovers.

Answer 2

Since it's hard to buy single proportions of many foods (and if you do find them they usually cost quite a bit more), it's a good idea to buy some good plastic freezer containers that will hold 1 meal for you.

For instance, the larger the package of hamburger you buy, the cheaper it is per pound. If you buy the larger package, you can cook the whole thing up in a pan chopping it up with maybe some onions, celery, and green peppers if you like those with your hamburger. When you're finished cooking it, dump it into a strainer to drain off the excess fat. Then divide it up into the smaller containers. Leave the lids off until it cools a little, then close them up and pop them into the freezer.

That way when you come home, you can make pasta, or instant potatoes, or even just grab a hamburger bun and nuke a container of hamburger for your meat. You can even make a one pan meal by measuring out water and butter into a pan for instant potatoes, adding some frozen vegetable, and the hamburger from one frozen container. When they are hot, remove from the heat and add your potatoes. It's a balanced dinner if you add some fruit for dessert or even a sliced tomato.

Buy frozen foods especially things like vegetable, berries in bags, waffles, fries, fish sticks... Those are all foods you can take a portion out of without having to use the rest.

Keep your bread in the freezer so it stays fresh. Just take out what you need - it doesn't take bread long to warm up.

Answer 3

Try a website I have found to be very useful. It is www.allrecipes.com. It has recipes submitted by the general public and you can search by ingredient or catagory.
It also has meal planning and cooking tips so take the time to look at all the areas of the site.

Each recipe has a rating and comments by other people who have tried it. The higher the stars, the better the recipe. Many have photos and very clear instructions.

Answer 4

Take soem cooking classes. Gourment food stores, kitchen shops, or even the library may offer them. Or make friends w/ someone who is a good cook and learn at their side.

Rachael Ray is a good show to watch on Food Network. Seems like she's always on, but you can tVo it. Good basic techniques. Also "How to Boil Water" w/ Tyler Florence is a good, basic show for beginners.

Sauteeing chicken and making a sauce is easy-peasy... you just need to learn how!

Oh, I think the Food Network website has some cooking videos on-demand, too.

Answer 5

The cook book i have is a "Better Homes and Gardens" found at walmart, relatively $15. it the only book i use, and i make the rest up. Try watching "Good Eats" on the Food Channel. Think about the stuff you ate as a child. Learning how to cook is not "hard" it just takes alot of practice and everyone has their own style of doing it (shopping, cooking, ect.) some of the basics to go with every meal is frozen ready-to-bake bread, canned veggies, frozen mix veggies, try frozen stirfrys, Zaterrains Dirty Rice Mix (Add Polish Sausage), Pasta Roni, french bread (wrap in foil, heat in oven 5 min @ 350)
The tips are endless and it all depends on what you like to eat. If in doubt, add a tbs of butter (literally to anything)
my favorite, and easiest way to cook chicken breast: preheat pan, add olive oil (about 1 tbs) add 1 tbs of butter, throw on chicken breast, turn up stove to high (electric 8) and cook 2 minutes, then flip and cook another 2 minutes. flip again and turn down med-low (electric 3-4) flip every couple of minutes for about 10 minutes or less (depending on size) add salt and pepper toward the end (pepper burns). if this hasnt helped at all, feel free to email me at [e-mail] for anything additional, i could go on forever. if anything, practice, practice, practice!

Answer 6

You can start by purchasing a book, one that comes to mind is "How to cook anything" (try amazon or borders), another one is by GoodHousekeeping that is a teaching cookbook (search good housekeeping). You can find 3 or 4 recipes that you'd like to try, make a list of groceries needed, and just jump right in. It's the only way to really learn and you'll either love it or you won't. I love it! We all have nights that we couldn't be bothered because we're tired or it was too hot to cook, so we've all had "cereal nights".

Answer 7

I had this same problem. Sometimes it feels useless to cook a whole meal for just yourself. I used to think it was just easier to pop a frozen dinner in the microwave or run to MickeyD's to grab a burger than to actually cook something worthwhile. Well so then I gained about 15 pounds and decided that I had to find a better way to eat well on my own.
I started planning out meals for the entire week on Saturday morning, and then I go to the grocery store and buy everything I need for the whole week. I would marinade whatever needed marinading on Saturday night. I then cook everything on Sunday and portion everything out into freezer & microwave safe plastic containers with lids. I don't normally freeze things, I just put them in the fridge so it takes less time to defrost and heat up. In a week's time most things won't go bad because they're chilled instead of frozen. I've also learned to experiment with foods. For instance you mentioned chicken... get some boneless chicken and play with it. Seriously, put it in the microwave and see what it does, put it in a pan on the stove and see what it does, put it in the oven and see what it does. All of these methods will cook chicken... its a matter of what you like best. Then buy a bunch of spices and marinades and play with them too. A chicken recipe I love is Chicken & Stuffing. Stuffing takes all of 3 minutes to whip up from the box. Spread it in a 8x8 baking pan, lay 4 small uncooked boneless chicken breasts marinaded in Italian dressing in on top of the stuffing. Pour a can of cream of chicken soup over top of the chicken. Then sprinkle with shredded mozzarella cheese. Bake at 375 until chicken is done (about 30 minutes). You had also mentioned sauce. Well most marinara/spaghetti sauces are pretty good... even the cheap ones in cans. I like to play up the taste a little bit with some italian seasoned hamburger and onion. Its not hard to cook up an onion... especially with the meat. Just chop up the onion in little pieces and cook right with the meat as it browns. After draining the cooked meat, add in the canned sauce and let it simmer for about 20 minutes to make the onion softer and the flavors mesh. You can cook up large quantities of sauce and make it with several recipes like lasagna, spaghetti, chicken parmasean. Ooh chicken parmasean... very easy, microwave plain boneless chicken breast until totally cooked, smother with sauce, sprinkle with mozzarella & parmasean... mmm. Taco fixins are another easy thing. All you need is hamburger meat (I prefer chicken, but I get small cans of chicken instead of cooking up a chicken breast and then cutting it all up) and you can get a spice mix for tacos, cook up the meat (or heat up the canned chicken) in the spices & drain it, heat up some taco shells... maybe even some fat free refried beans, some raw onions, tomatoes, lettuce, etc. You can make a taco salad too... lose the taco shell and top the salad with a fritos instead of crutons. Fritos... they're versitile too... frito chili pie... fritos, chili, cheese, microwave, voila, instant meal. Try to plan meals and shop for things that are versitile and can be used for 2, 3, or more meals. All it takes is a little planning and some experimentation. And don't forget that it's ok to ask for help at the grocery store... especially when it comes to fruit and veggies, they can help you pick out what's good and give you ideas on how it can be cooked. Good luck!!!