Thread: Single Hotrodder's food

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So as I am setting here tonight eating some of the brownies I baked two nights ago, it dawns on me. Why, oh why, doesn' some smart individual make servings of food that a single person can cook and not have to freeze half of it or eat it for days until it's done? Garrrrr, I make pasta and half to freeze most of it. Make muffins and have to eat them three days in a row. Make anything in a mix or in a recipe and a single individual is eating it until it's coming out his ears. That's no way for a Hotrodder to live. Hotdogs and hamburger can't sustain life for ever. SOMEBODY figure recipes and mixes, etc in single person's perview, please. Just my latest whine.

Brilliant!

well you for got taco,s .. like the BELL . i got the runs from the border

I like to cook, and also like leftovers, so I make a big batch of whatever I am making and have it to eat for a few days. Just last night I made a double batch of rice pilaff, and now I don't have to mess around cooking for a while. I do the same thing with chili or stuffed peppers, etc.

Just this past Xmas my Son Don got me a small crockpot, because I was still cooking as if it were for a family of four. Now I can make smaller batches if I want to, but I still use the big one more.

Don

Duane, you're just gonna have to learn how to split recipes for smaller batches. As for cookies, several companies make pre-made cookies that you just use what you need. 10 minutes in the oven and you got 1 or 24 excellent chocolate chip cookies. I don't usually like leftovers (except lasagna) so I usually try to keep the amount cooked to a reasonable level. It isn't always easy but with practice it can be done.

I got friends who cook up a storm on Sunday, freeze it, then thaw and re-heat for a week. Works for them, but not for me.

What did you put in the brownies?
You could be needing double servings shortly

All I can think of is individual TV dinners - but must are BAD!!

If you're into it -

Cook large batches and freeze individual servings.

Spaghetti Sauce
Chili
Beef Tips w gravy
Red Beans
Individually frozen burgers (great with leftover rice)
Stewed Chicken

That'll hold an individual for a few weeks - with an occasional burger or pizza.

When I was in school and the wife worked, we did that for 4 and saved lots of time.

Heck, what more do you need but a couple of boxes of cereal, a half gallon of milk and a bag or two of some kind of chips. Also a case of a favorite brewski. When my wife travels on business, this is my usual menu plus at least one meal at the local Italian joint for a stromboli or calzone .

I do agree that being a single is a mighty big PITA as far as serving sizes. I know that during the few years that I was single, there was an awful lot of waste if for no other reason but that I got tired of eating chicken/pasta/meatloaf/chili or whatever more then a couple of nights back to back. Even freezing some of it didn't work - it often took too long to thaw, especially after my social life resumed - then it got heaved as "mystery" food either because the label came off or it didn't have one to begin with Learning to cook for one is tough also because the markets seem to package for a family of 4 or more - and what do you do with the extra? Back to the freezer to become, guess what, more "mystery" food.

There is really no easy solution except to learn to cook smaller portions, freeze (or trash??) the rest for another day.

Originally Posted by Itoldyouso

Just this past Xmas my Son Don got me a small crockpot

I'm with Don on this one, Duane. For a few years after my employer (a now defunct airline) went down the tube I fed my family by being an itinerant construction worker. I Learned fast that a man can exist on peanut butter and sardines for only so long. A pipefitter buddy I worked with told me "Fool! Get a crock pot". I did.

You can drop in a little roast (maybe a little cornish game hen on Sunday) with a potato and whatever seasonings grab you, and plug 'er in. That'll take you ten minutes maybe, then grab the lunchbox and hit the door.

They even give you a cook book with the crock pot.

Then, maybe ten hours later (it's just about impossible to over-cook in one of those things) you drag your weary hiney through the door and a great aroma hits you in the nose. DINNER IS SERVED! You might even want to invite a lady over.

But be advised ...... be sure to plug the pot in before you go. Raw beef or chicken isn't too good. In that case you then go and open another can of sardines.

Good luck!


Jim

Jim I do most ofl that. I have a small crock pot and a great stove. Just seems that I end up like Dave with stuff in the freezer growing strange fuzz. I hate eating the same thing two or three days in a row. Oh, well, I guess I'll just have to learn to cut back on my portions. So far I haven't forgotten to plug the crock pot in. But there is always the first time for everything.

Duane - another option is to head on over to your favorite big box book store (Borders, Barnes and Noble, etc) and head for the cook book aisle. Then check out cook books featuring "cooking for one or two people". I am sure they got them, cause they got everything else. If you don't have a store nearby, go to one of the online stores, like Amazon.com, etc. They got'em. As well as QVC.com (they also have all kinds of neat kitchen toys). Just remember though, STAY OUT of the car magazine aisle, especially the one with hot rod magazines.

A crock pot, a fry pan and a counter top oven are really all a single guy needs along with a coffee maker if you are a lover of that brew. A bread machine can help with a taste change. That nice big fancy oven is great too, if you have friends and relatives over but while I was single, I had 2 kids in college plus a bunch of bills that my ex very kindly left me and the fact that the stove oven is an energy hog($$$) led me to use only small cookers that heated up quickly. I have a tendency to look at food labels as well as my son was (is?) allergic to artificial colors and flavors and years of doing that has me trained and my wife (current) has taken up the crusade as a well. But I'm not a fanatic - as can easily be seen by my dunlap

Originally Posted by mopar34

Duane - another option is to head on over to your favorite big box book store (Borders, Barnes and Noble, etc) and head for the cook book aisle. Then check out cook books featuring "cooking for one or two people". I am sure they got them, cause they got everything else. If you don't have a store nearby, go to one of the online stores, like Amazon.com, etc. They got'em. As well as QVC.com (they also have all kinds of neat kitchen toys). Just remember though, STAY OUT of the car magazine aisle, especially the one with hot rod magazines.

RATHER THAN CHECK THE BOOK STORE,I WOULD SUGGEST LOOKING FOR A GOOD LOOKING COOK.DUANE MUST BE FELLING BETTER.

Don In Austin

Duane, to go back to your original point, the food industry has responded to more and more people being single, with small portion packages of food. Things like "soup for one" etc. The problem is you pay almost as much for these little packages as the big ones.

I usually did the cooking in our family because of the hours my ex wife worked, plus I like to cook. Now that I am alone I have learned to recycle food, so that if I make a roast one day and have left overs, I make a pot roast the next. And, as I mentioned before, I love leftovers as most food like chili and stew improves overnight in the fridge......the flavors have a chance to blend together.

I've also found out that the old adage "two can live as cheaply as one" is BS. When I have been with a lady my food bills were a lot higher because of having to make something different every night, or going out to eat a lot. That "wining and dining" doesn't come cheap. (more money for car parts now )

Don

Thank god for my sisters, they moved in with me after my first heart attack because they didn't think I was eating right. Now the only time I cook single is when their out of town for work. I use the crock pot to cook stews or one of my leftover meals like I cook hot dogs on the grille, the whole package, eat 2 or 3 then put the rest in the freezer, next I take 2 hot dogs and cut potatoes, onion, left over vegs (corn, peas, green beans ) throw in the crock pot cook low with chicken broth or beef broth. Any stew leftover goes into the freezer for another night. Now I'm hungry with all this food talk LOL
Brad

Originally Posted by Don Dalton

RATHER THAN CHECK THE BOOK STORE,I WOULD SUGGEST LOOKING FOR A GOOD LOOKING COOK.DUANE MUST BE FELLING BETTER.

Don In Austin

Actual, Don, this whole medical thing is making me fiesty.