Cooking for one has a special kind of frustration. Recipes serve four. Supermarkets sell cabbages the size of a small moon. And somehow it’s you against a fridge full of good intentions.
Before Rowena and I moved in together, my strategy was to eat the same pasta four nights running and then give up and get takeaway. I don’t recommend it. Here’s a better way.
Cook once, eat twice (on purpose)
The single best trick for one person: plan every dinner to become a second meal.
- Sunday’s roast chicken becomes Monday’s wrap
- Tuesday’s chilli becomes Wednesday’s loaded potato
- Thursday’s stir-fry becomes Friday’s lunch
That’s half the week’s cooking gone, and nothing sits in the fridge long enough to become a science experiment.
Freeze single portions
Cook a full recipe, eat one serve tonight, keep one for tomorrow and freeze the rest in single portions. In a few weeks you’ll have your own freezer menu: four or five different meals, ready to go, each exactly one serve.
Label everything with the name and date. “Brown stew, probably” is not a label.
Shop in sizes you’ll actually use
- Buy loose veg, not bags, so you get three carrots instead of a kilo
- Choose versatile ingredients that work in several meals: spinach, capsicum, tinned tomatoes, eggs
- Plan the big items across the week. If you buy a cabbage, give it three jobs: coleslaw, stir-fry and soup
- Keep a freezer stash of frozen veg, bread and grated cheese, for nights when the fridge is bare
A simple week for one
| Day | Dinner | Tomorrow’s lunch |
|---|---|---|
| Mon | Roast chicken thighs and veg | Chicken wrap |
| Tue | Chilli con carne (full batch) | Chilli on rice |
| Wed | Stir-fry with the rest of the veg | Stir-fry |
| Thu | Freezer meal | Leftovers |
| Fri | Omelette with whatever’s left | Out for lunch |
Freeze the remaining chilli in single portions for next week.
Make it something you look forward to
Cooking for one can be a pleasure: you choose exactly what you like, with no negotiation. Try one new recipe a week, set the table properly once in a while, and put on a podcast. It’s dinner, not a chore.
Where My Tomte helps
My Tomte plans leftovers into the week from the start, tracks what’s in your freezer so you actually eat it, and writes a shopping list in pack sizes you’ll use. The Solo & Couple plan is $11.99 a year, which is roughly the cost of the cabbage.
