Hey guys! I recently moved to start a graduate program and I am now busier than ever and living alone. Needless to say, cooking has become a really daunting task. Even when I do have time for cooking, I have trouble figuring out how to cook for one person who eats half or less of what an average person eats. Any guidance from veterans or people in a similar situation?

I cook for one, not a veteran, but I've spent my fair share of time alone, or needed lunches etc. I prep on Sunday typically, after grocery shopping, portion everything into ziploc bags or tiny tupperware, and then organize on a single shelf in the fridge. Even snacks I portion (typically hard boiled eggs, they smell like farts but I love the taste). Its a lot of vegetables, and it is just very easy to grab and go as opposed to a bunch of whole vegetables sitting in my fridge going bad because it was easier to grab something else. Oh! You know what, I've seen some pinterest 'bariatric recipes' that would be great to cook and portion down for one Best of luck!

I cook for one every day. I don't eat leftovers and I cook all my meals fresh. I don't meal prep, I hate leftovers and I am not going to punish myself with them. Plus I just won't eat them anyway.

I keep it simple and cook a piece of protein. Grilled, baked or pan fried. I buy my meat usually a pound or 2 at a time, fresh, with the exception of my grass fed beef which is frozen and some seafood.

I eat raw veggies mostly, baby spinach. I buy a bag or 2 when I buy my meat, I try to eat a bag a day.

I don't make recipes, a waste of time and money. When I do make recipes it is something like pizza that I don't mind eating more than once, or cream cheese pancakes, which are a serving for one anyway,

After surgery, I found that softer foods such as chili and soups went down much easier than harder foods such as steak and chicken. So that is what I primarily relied on. I put a few recipes of high protein home made chili and soups at the end of the following article. Generally I would make up a pot, store it in the refrigerator and eat a little bit each day. I like the chili so much that for a while I would eat it for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Anyways if you are supper busy, then this may be an approach that you may use to minimize the time for food preparation.

http://www.breadandbutterscience.com/Surgery.pdf

I don't enjoy cooking. I also want to minimize my time spent food shopping. But i've learned the hard way that I am much more successful on weeks that I cook vs weeks that I wing it.

Leftovers are my new friends! I make 2 or 3 different vegetables on the weekend and that is enough to last me the rest of the week. Then at dinner, I just need to make a quick protein. Dinner leftovers are then tomorrow's lunch.

Frozen shrimp and scallops take only a few minutes to defrost and cook. I also made and froze some foods for quick grabs - like "quiche" made with almond flour crust, a batch of baked falafel, and some soups.

I've been single a long time and like to cook, but almost any "normal" recipe makes enough for many servings, so I portion the food into plastic containers and stick it in the freezer. I'll probably do the same thing post-surgically, except that the portions will be much smaller! But I'm already thinking in terms of buying breasts of chicken and cutting them into 3- or 4-ounce portions before freezing them; ditto ground turkey, etc.

Good luck!

12 hours ago, James Marusek said:

After surgery, I found that softer foods such as chili and Soups went down much easier than harder foods such as steak and chicken. So that is what I primarily relied on. I put a few recipes of high Protein home made chili and soups at the end of the following article. Generally I would make up a pot, store it in the refrigerator and eat a little bit each day. I like the chili so much that for a while I would eat it for Breakfast, lunch and dinner. Anyways if you are supper busy, then this may be an approach that you may use to minimize the time for food preparation.

http://www.breadandbutterscience.com/Surgery.pdf

Wow this is fantastic- thanks for the recipes! Also you are a great writer and I enjoyed your story.

Wow, I got so much wonderful feedback! Thanks to all of you for your suggestions