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Menu Planning for One

Menu Planning for One

Dear Friends,

We were answering your questions on Q &A Day this question came up? How do I cook and plan for only me?

This question comes up quite often. The basis of this question is perfectionism and a lack of love for you!

You deserve to have a lovely meal! So don't procrastinate. Eating good food is going to keep you healthy and happy. I grew up cooking for my family of five. I understand what it mean to scale down when cooking. This is why I have learned to plan for leftovers.

Most recipes will feed 4 people. It will say at the bottom of the recipe. If you can do math; you can divide the ingredients in half. This will make the recipe for 2 people or for 1 person with some leftovers for lunch tomorrow.

I usually don't use a cookbook or a recipe. My cooking revolves around a little of this or a dab of that. I call it cooking without a GPS! This is probably the reason I cook too much. I have learned to love this.

When meat is purchased. I divide it to individual portions. So if we buy a big package of chicken thighs; I divide them into packs of 4. I plan for leftovers. You can do the same thing with hamburger by making patties between 2 pieces of waxed paper or freezer paper.

Think about this; Cook once and eat 4 times. If the recipe is for four people then make your own TV Dinners. We have done this with ziplock bags or vacuum seal bags. We really like to do this with soups and chili. These meals come in handy for us when we do not want to cook or we are not that hungry.

So make a pot of stew and eat one night and freeze the rest in individual packages. This will help you to feed yourself well and not spend a lot of time in the kitchen. We like to use a double boiler for reheating soups and stews.

Here is the rules we use for putting these meals in the freezer. Everything has to be labeled and dated! Then place in a bag or on a shelf where you can find them in your freezer. Label the shelf! READY TO EAT! Keep an inventory; this will be your restaurant Menu from your very own freezer.

You can do this!

FlyLady

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