Cooking for one
Cooking for one without a fridge full of leftovers
Buy fewer ingredients, use them in more than one way, and freeze portions before they become a chore.
Plan ingredients, not seven separate recipes
A bunch of herbs, a bag of carrots and one loaf of bread can be harder to use than the main ingredient in a meal. Before shopping, choose two or three dishes that share the fresh ingredients. Carrots can go into soup and a crunchy salad; parsley can finish an omelette and a bowl of beans. Frozen vegetables make sense when a whole fresh pack would be too much.
Keep one reliable starch, such as rice or potatoes, and one convenient protein source on hand. Canned beans, eggs and lentils offer different textures without requiring a large shopping list. The aim is variety from a small cupboard, not the same meal every evening.
Make a base, then change the finish
A smooth tomato soup can be served with toast on the first day and a spoonful of cooked beans on the next. Keep cream and fresh herbs out of the stored batch and add them to the portion you reheat. You retain more control over the flavour and can change the finish without starting again.
For a single side salad, whisk 1 tsp vinegar with 2 tsp oil and a small pinch of salt. Dress the leaves only when ready to eat. A small jar is useful for mixing, but there is no need to prepare a full bottle of dressing for one plate.
Scale carefully
Halving a soup or stew is usually straightforward. Baking is less forgiving: changing the depth of a cake or reducing the amount of dough changes the cooking time. Use a smaller pan where appropriate, and look for the recipe’s texture and doneness cues rather than simply halving the timer.
An egg can be beaten and weighed if you need half, but for an everyday dinner it is often easier to choose a recipe that uses a whole egg. Good small-scale cooking removes unnecessary fiddling.
Freeze the extra portion promptly
Do not wait several days to decide whether to freeze a spare serving. Cool it in a shallow container, refrigerate within 1–2 hours, and freeze once chilled. Write down the contents and date. Defrost in the fridge, not on the worktop / counter. Use chilled leftovers within 48 hours and reheat to 165°F (74°C).
Keep bread sliced in the freezer so you can take out only what you need. It is a small habit that makes a soup supper feel complete without leaving half a loaf to go stale.
