Cooking and Shopping For One

So we all know I have my own place and my only roommate is Brutus. With this comes cooking and shopping for meals for one person. Which is SO stinking hard! I  mean yeah I don't have to take anyone else into consideration for meals, but cooking the right amount is hard. I always have wayyy too much food and get tired of eating the left overs throughout the week. And then I feel like I have wasted food and money.

So I have had to come up with some solutions to this. And if anyone has some tips for how to make cooking for one better, please please please share. But here are a few tips from me on how to make cooking and shopping easier for one person. 

1. Make food you can freeze for later

Crockpot meals, soups, and casseroles are good for this. This tip benefits me in two ways. One I get enough food for a couple meals that week. Two I can freeze the rest of it in individual personal sized containers to eat at later dates. My favorite food to do this with is Chili or Spaghetti sauce. These are great easy meals that I love to have every now and then. Plus they are quick to make. 

2. Buy foods that's don't spoil quickly 

Now I know fruits and veggies spoil kinda fast. So if you buy these, make sure your only buying what you know you will eat. Don't let your mind get bigger than your head. But there are lots of other foods that last for a while. I always buy chicken, even if I freeze it for later use. Protein bars, oatmeal, eggs, snacks, etc. I know most of it is processed but you can find some good staples for you to have. 

3. Change up your meals/snacks

Sometimes I find a meal or snack that I just love. Like oranges recently for example. For a week I ate one to two oranges a day. So the next week I went to the store and bought another bag. I ate one out of that bag. I over ate the oranges and got tired of them. I do this with meals a lot too. The solution? Get on Pinterest and find new meals and snacks. Don't allow yourself to eat something everyday for a week. Or make the same thing every week. Keep changing it up. 

4. Know what you do and do not like to eat

If your pinching your penny's then this tip is for you. Know what you do and do not like to eat. Don't try these crazy recipes and go out and spend all your money on the ingrediants to find out you don't like that meal at all. Big waste of your time and money. And your only left with an empty sad tummy. Instead make meals and food you know you like. This helps me feel as though I am not wasting anything. 

5. Find some friends who like to eat

This has been good for me. I got me some friends who like to eat. Back at Milligan a friend and I would alternate weeks of cooking a meal one night a week for each other. This made cooking a little more worth it. Now I try to invite people over, which honestly doesn't happen very often, to cook for them. And when that friend likes what you like to eat? It's the best of both worlds.