I followed a recipe to make soup tonight. It came from a bariatric cookbook so I wasn't really thinking about quantity being an issue. At least not until I was done and went to dish out a serving. This recipe said it made 8 cups of soup. I was able to eat 1/4 cup. At the current rate, that means I will be eating this soup until the sun explodes.

Did anyone else struggle with cooking early on? It feels like such a waste of time to make a single, tiny serving, and yet, between difficulties eating reheated/dried out food and being overwhelmed by accidentally making 32 servings of soup, I really wish food would just magically appear on tiny plates in my kitchen.

Oh yes. Food for weeks. I still cook more than I need but I do it on purpose now because I love having leftovers. Simply freeze the leftovers/excess for easy meals on another day. Just bag it up in appropriate serving sizes. (I love zip lock bags.) My freezer is filled with single serves of soups, bolognese, savoury mince, steak, chops, savoury egg muffins, … chicken, beef, lamb & pork. Don’t feel like cooking? Just defrost a meal & all I have to cook or prep are vegetables or salad if needed. Bonus you only have to cook dinner from scratch a couple of times a week.

Found it very useful for work lunches too. Popped one of my frozen meals in my bag & reheated it at work. Easy.

Still on liquids here but was scoping out a split pea soup recipe to make for purées - fingers crossed starting on Monday! The recipe said it makes a gallon of soup. The visual of me scooping 1/4 C out of the gallon of soup did make me laugh. Yes, bariatric cookbook too but I really like the book so am not complaining. Will definitely cut that one down… ?. And freeze some.

Yes, I have run out of containers to store it all in and no point buying more as also running out of room in my freezer ? I take such small portions it takes ages to go through what I cook or buy, I got a small (150g) bag of salad the other day and that so far as done two meals and I will get at least a third if not fourth meal out of it. My eyes are still bigger than my stomach when it comes to judging portion sizes.

Currently on rotation I have; spicy bean stew, carrot & lentil soup, bolognese, lasagna soup, lentil soup, peanut butter chicken and a couple of other 'surprises' as I don't remember what they are until I defrost them ?. The great thing is that as I made them all at least I know the ingredients and that they are suitable for my after the surgery.

Tomorrow or Tuesday, when I have a few more containers ready, I am going to make a chicken soup.

I get a monthly food allowance as part of my salary and I am finding it hard to spend the money as need to buy so little now.

Edited March 24, 20242 yr by FifiLux

I was lucky because I cook for four people so I usually ended up with some leftovers that I froze and/or ate next day, but not huge quantities. I did find some frozen tiny meals months later in the freezer though and was amazed by how little they were - those were the days!

17 hours ago, NickelChip said:

I will be eating this soup until the sun explodes.

Hahahaa! Just buy yourself a box of small Ziplock freezer bags. I am not a big spend hours in the kitchen cooking kind of person so making extra ensures many hours saved. My dinner tonight is from something I froze at Christmas. Quick and easy peasy.

19 hours ago, NickelChip said:

I followed a recipe to make Soup tonight. It came from a bariatric cookbook so I wasn't really thinking about quantity being an issue. At least not until I was done and went to dish out a serving. This recipe said it made 8 cups of soup. I was able to eat 1/4 cup. At the current rate, that means I will be eating this soup until the sun explodes.

Did anyone else struggle with cooking early on? It feels like such a waste of time to make a single, tiny serving, and yet, between difficulties eating reheated/dried out food and being overwhelmed by accidentally making 32 servings of soup, I really wish food would just magically appear on tiny plates in my kitchen.

Try souper cubes to freeze the excess.

I try to make half of the recipe or if I think its something my family will like I will just do that for dinner for all of us. I can usually doctor theirs up to be more of their liking

Oh yes. If I’m lucky i can offload some food to others, but I live alone so it’s mostly just me myself and I. I tend to eat the same thing for dinner for almost a week. Even 1lb of ground meat is several meals.

I purchased the W&P Cup silicone cubes for freezing (found them cheaper than Souper cubes). They are phenomenal. They have various sizes but I have the 6 cube tray that holds up to 1 cup each cube. I like that they have measurement lines inside so you have different options for smaller portions. I have used them for soups, chilis, stew and even “pasta” (palmini noodles). Once it’s frozen solid, I just pop them out and place them in freezer bags and label. Makes it easy to have measured out meals that can be popped in the microwave.

I hate food waste, but it’s impossible to finish things fast enough. Fresh vegetables i have a love hate relationship for that very reason. I have been trying to cut and prep and freeze some things or plan my meals around what i have on hand, but even then it’s so hard. I’m about to purchase a vacuum sealer food saver to better seal freezer portions.

Oh yes, must be even more tricky for people cooking for one. We all hate waste. Freezers are our friends.