Limited ingredient weekly meal plans for cooking for 1 person?

[Anonymous]

Can you recommend a simple meal plan for the week for one person? I prefer limited ingredients and simple meals. I don't mind leftovers, but I don't want to cook for 4 and freeze meals. I usually don't have room in the freezer. I have searched online and in bookstores for these types of easy meal plans for cooking for one petson. It's challenging to find. I have simple tastes, and I don't really want to cook something at home that doesn't taste good without adding one expensive ingredient. Does that make sense?

[Anonymous]

What kinds of things do you like? When I cooked just for myself I made recipes/regular favorites for two and used half for lunch the next day. Sometimes I’d make a bigger position of something and freeze it and keep in my work freezer for lunches, too.

[Anonymous]

I did lots of black bean quesadillas and home-made pizzas for dinner when I was single.

[Anonymous]

Be open to unconventional dinners. Eggs, fruit, toast or bagel. You can make a small portion of soup if you have an immersion blender. Pear, cheese, crackers, grapes. Then salad with pear. Then maybe one night make potato and leek soup and the next night make chicken with veg and potato.

I always have pasta at home and will sometimes stop at Whole Foods, buy a quarter pound of cooked shrimp meat, warm that on the stove with garlic and butter, then mix it with pasta and there's my dinner.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What kinds of things do you like? When I cooked just for myself I made recipes/regular favorites for two and used half for lunch the next day. Sometimes I’d make a bigger position of something and freeze it and keep in my work freezer for lunches, too.

I like chicken, shrimp, tuna, salmon, hamburger, pork, steak. I am not a picky eater. I can eat chicken, brown rice, and a steamed veggie. Those meals would be fine. I get confused about the meal planning each week, the logistics of it for cooking for just myself.

[Anonymous]

Th Fresh 20

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What kinds of things do you like? When I cooked just for myself I made recipes/regular favorites for two and used half for lunch the next day. Sometimes I’d make a bigger position of something and freeze it and keep in my work freezer for lunches, too.

I like chicken, shrimp, tuna, salmon, hamburger, pork, steak. I am not a picky eater. I can eat chicken, brown rice, and a steamed veggie. Those meals would be fine. I get confused about the meal planning each week, the logistics of it for cooking for just myself.

That kind of meal (protein, rice, veggie) is great for prepping on Sunday for the rest of the week. Get a rice cooker, if you don’t have one, and cook a few servings (1/4 cup dry is a good serving - it’s 1/2 cup cooked). You can eat that as a side throughout the week. Also on Sunday, you can either cook some meat for the week OR separate 1-2 chicken breasts, pork chops, etc. each into individual storage bags and freeze. Each day, pull one out and put in the refrigerator before you leave for work so it’s defrosted when you get home. Then, you just have to cook that and heat up one serving of rice and one serving worth of frozen veggies in the microwave. I eat this way all the time and love it. You can mix it up with sauces, cauliflower mash for a side, stir-fry, fried rice, etc just from those same ingredients you’ve stored in the fridge/freezer.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Th Fresh 20

The meal plans from Fresh 20 didn't seem very simple or limited ingredient to me.

My mother used to cook the following:

Tuna and noodles with peas casserole
Spaghetti and meatballs with a side salad
Baked lemon chicken with potatoes
Rump roast with root vegetables
Steak cooked out on the grill with baked potato and veggie
Pork chops and a veggie
Baked fish fillet with a veggie
Hot dogs, macaroni and cheese, spinach on the side
Homemade pizza and a salad

I don't know how to cook any other way, really. She really didn't spend more than once a week in the store. She seemed to have an easy time with shopping and cooking. Are these boring meals from the 1970s?

[Anonymous]

Instead of thinking of recipes, think of techniques. Then you can use those techniques on single portion meals. We have a family of three, but I often cook for just one of us so I do this scaling of meals all the the time. Tonight’s dinner was baked potatoes stuffed with sauted Brussels sprouts and bacon. No recipe, and you can make it for one or a crowd. Last night was fried rice - use as many veggies, eggs, and scoops of rice as you like. I often make myself stew for one, since no one else in my family likes soup: sauté veggies, add some flour, add broth and simmer. Drop in cooked meat.

[Anonymous]

Iin addition to some of the aforementioned,
-chicken tortilla soup
-chili
-sweet potato fries or baked sweet potatoes (as sides)

As far as logistics, plan to cook two-three times during the workweek so you don't get bored of the same foods. I usually plan on Fridays when I'm not busy at work, as weekends can get busy with doing stuff.

Pick two cooking nights that are convenient for you. Do your main grocery shopping on Sunday, or even better, on your telework day when stores aren't busy. Cook that night and pack it up into two-three containers depending on the quantity you made.

Depending on your week's mealplan, you may have to hit the grocery store once during the week for fresh meat/fish or vegetables - do that one night on your way home. Then cook on the second planned cooking night and pack again in two-three containers depending on quantity.

If you like to take home-cooked lunches, it gets a little more complicated, but I prefer to cook only two-three times/week max (and generally don't cook on weekends except for brunches).

[Anonymous]

Skip dinner. The big evening meal is a holdover from days of families working on the farm. The average cube dweller doesn't need it. Eat a larger lunch, then just have some fruit and yoghurt or something if you're hungry in the evening. Saves time and money AND calories.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Skip dinner. The big evening meal is a holdover from days of families working on the farm. The average cube dweller doesn't need it. Eat a larger lunch, then just have some fruit and yoghurt or something if you're hungry in the evening. Saves time and money AND calories.

This is what I do. I get free lunch at work, so I eat that plus a salad I bring. I have a snack in the afternoon, and when I get home, maybe toast, or pita with hummus.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Skip dinner. The big evening meal is a holdover from days of families working on the farm. The average cube dweller doesn't need it. Eat a larger lunch, then just have some fruit and yoghurt or something if you're hungry in the evening. Saves time and money AND calories.

This is what I do. I get free lunch at work, so I eat that plus a salad I bring. I have a snack in the afternoon, and when I get home, maybe toast, or pita with hummus.

I didn't think,it was a good idea to eat fruit except in the mornings or at lunch. Is that enough nutrition?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Skip dinner. The big evening meal is a holdover from days of families working on the farm. The average cube dweller doesn't need it. Eat a larger lunch, then just have some fruit and yoghurt or something if you're hungry in the evening. Saves time and money AND calories.

This is what I do. I get free lunch at work, so I eat that plus a salad I bring. I have a snack in the afternoon, and when I get home, maybe toast, or pita with hummus.

I didn't think,it was a good idea to eat fruit except in the mornings or at lunch. Is that enough nutrition?

It’s always a good time to eat fruit. And yes, fruit and yogurt is a fine dinner if that’s what you want to eat. Not every meal needs to be balanced - over the course of a day you should try to eat vegetables, fruit, and protein. But not every meal must have everything.

[Anonymous]

I highly recommend the site Budget Bytes. She has a lot of great, simple recipes that are super easy to follow. A few years ago she did a SNAP challenge which was even fewer ingredients, but still a lot of great meals. Check it out: https://www.budgetbytes.com/2014/10/snap-challenge-final-thoughts/