The new season of “The Bear” is just around the corner, and one of the memorable scenes from the previous season begins with Ayo Edebiri’s character, chef Sidney Adam, cracking some eggs into a bowl. She then enters a meditative state of bliss as she makes the perfect omelet. Watching her nudge a golden disc over a row of creamy cheese brings to mind the sandwich scene in the 2004 film “Spanglish.” Adam Sandler plays a chef alone in his home kitchen after a long night at a restaurant, letting Sandler slide. A fried egg topped with bacon and tomato on thick sliced toast.
What they all have in common is how well they capture the culinary ecstasy of creating the perfect single-serve meal in a quiet kitchen. In that moment, all your senses are focused on creating this small, simple, beautiful thing.
It only works when cooking for one person.
This is not to say that the experience is always like that. If you’ve been cooking just for yourself for years, you’re already living this reality. But if you’re not used to cooking alone, from a crowded college dorm or a packed family home, preparing a meal for one person can seem more difficult than cooking for a crew member. Please know that there is.
Clancy Miller celebrated the joys of cooking alone in his 2016 book Cooking Solo: The Fun of Cooking for Yourself, but at some point during the pandemic he became burnt out in the kitchen and turned to takeout. .
“Eventually, I went back to cooking a little bit for myself,” she said. “But it was more basic.” Although she still believes in “doing everything for yourself,” she now thinks about how to simplify the dishes she makes regularly. is prioritized.
The key to cooking well is choosing the right recipe. These tips will help you navigate what works for you.
Think about what you like.
It may seem obvious, but there’s a lot of buzz on social media about eating only meat and surviving on snacks. If you consider what you really want and stock up on those ingredients, you may be less tempted to order it.
“When I think about what I’m going to eat in a week, what makes me happy?” Miller suggested asking yourself, “What’s so easy?”
The second question is important. Whatever you make should be worth your time, energy, and money. If you’re craving french fries or elaborate, haute cuisine, it’s better to go outside. Most recipes are reasonable, even for something as fancy as steak or scallops.
Think about how many times a week you can eat the same dish for simple daily nutrition. Do you eat oatmeal for breakfast all week? Do you only have one quesadilla for dinner? Would you eat it again if stuffed with mushrooms?
Stock up as much as you can, and otherwise enjoy a trip to a small store.
Create a shopping list based on the above and choose the appropriate quantity of each item. Unless you already cook your own three meals a day, or know you will, stick to buying small amounts of groceries, especially fresh produce. If you still have leftover food that is starting to spoil, cook it right away to extend its life and avoid wasting it. (You can also stir-fry with lettuce!)
Generally, the larger the package of food, the cheaper the price per ounce, so it’s worth purchasing if possible. Grocery items like pasta, rice, canned goods, spices, and vinegar will last for a long time, and frozen foods like shrimp and peas will also last a long time, so you can buy them in bulk. If you know you want yogurt every morning, choose a large tub instead of a small cup.
Shopping for fresh produce multiple times a week doesn’t have to feel like a chore. Miller considers going to the grocery store a “yay!” I got out of the house and that’s the excuse I need to get out of the house. ” She buys produce, including meat and herbs, and can bring life to pantry ingredients like grains. In this tuna salad, canned fish is given a fresher flavor by adding cucumber and dill, making it the perfect accompaniment to salad greens for a quick and light meal.
Let’s review “meal preparation”.
It’s hard to know what this word means, but it sounds like a more stressful obligation than making a meal from start to finish or ordering delivery. To help you cook without having to plan, try making dishes that span multiple meals.
One option you may already be practicing is to prepare recipes for 4 or more servings when you have time. However, if you know you’re going to get tired of the same thing by the third day, divide the dish into smaller portions and freeze them.
If you’re not into bulk cooking, try putting together some easy recipes that you can enjoy again in different dishes. If you buy a half chicken instead of a whole chicken, you can get white and dark meat without having to eat it for a week. For this curry roast chicken recipe, you can boil the leftovers with coconut milk for a stew, or chop everything up and mix it with mayonnaise for a chicken salad sandwich.
Cook a great meal for one person.
Miller got to cooking most ambitiously and creatively when hosting dinner parties, but she’s also returning to cooking for herself as well.
“I fundamentally believe that we should be as generous to ourselves as we are to others,” she said. “You deserve luxuries. You deserve nice things too, like a big breakfast.”
In this category, the hot sandwich with melted egg ranks high. If eaten immediately after stacking, the cheese will be melty, the eggs will be runny, and the bread will be crunchy yet soft. This meeting of whole eggs and grilled cheese extends the enjoyment of a fork-and-knife meal, eaten slowly while sipping coffee. It’s also a satisfying dinner with a cold beer. It captures the spirit that Henry David Thoreau describes at the beginning of the chapter on loneliness in Walden.
Cooking for one person may seem like a chore, but cooking your own favorite dishes will make you so much happier.
