meal for one

greener said:

is there any solution for this?

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Yes. It's called a freezer.

Try 30 days in the fridge ... if you have a death wish. Microwaves with a defrost setting must be a rarity in your part of the world.

So how's that cooking class enrolment going?

Put it in serving size you like, freeze in a baggie, defrost in a bowl of cold water. Takes less than a half hour. No problem. Eat cold in salad or sauté on low to reheat. Or freeze raw , defrost in cold water and cook. Again, no problem.

Or put the frozen steak in the fridge the night before

Everything in life takes time, even defrosting food. Better than getting sick...

Kristin251 said:

Or freeze raw , defrost in cold water and cook. Again, no problem.

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Won't work with the chip

A large part of cooking is timing. If you want to eat a steak tomorrow then get it out of the freezer tonight etc. Also I didn't know they only sold steaks in 2's or 4's. I slow cook whole joints, slice and freeze all the slices then use them when I wish to.

greener said:

hello!

I am alone at home and I find it hard to shop to prepare meal for one

all the steaks and chicken and prepared salads are in more than single portions

is there any solution for this?

I don't want to buy 2 steaks or 4 steaks, because I may want to eat one steak now and the other next week and it won't last in the fridge

thanks!

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If you have Aldi in your neighbourhood...or Asda..they do steaks in single packs..Aldi being cheaper and their steaks are nice..
And as for the chicken..they have smaller portions of chicken pieces, though they still contain enough for two meals. But if you use half and wrap it up again..rest will keep another couple of days in fridge for another meal.
OR..you can cook all in once and put half in fridge where it will keep several days....just warm it up again.
Salads keep after opening few days too...drizzle few drops of water in bag before you fasten the bag up and put it in fridge.
Another option is to go good old fashion butchers and buy just what you need for single cooking session.

A few light-hearted comments here, kindly meant, I'm sure, but there's some good advice there too. I wonder if perhaps you are new to buying/cooking for one and feel a bit confused by it. When I was in that situation many years ago now, it took a while for me to adjust to catering for one instead of two, or several. If that's you, then I can only assure you that with time & experience you will sort out how best to cope. You'll probably have a few mis-haps & find stuff goes off in the fridge occasionally, but that's just life. Still happens to me now sometimes. It's second-nature now - to the point where I have 3 freezers! A bit over-the-top, I know, but they just sort of grew on me - to accommodate home-grown stuff.

The thing that really annoys me is the prices that they charge for small or single items, compared to the larger or family-sized ones. They are never half the price, always 60%-70% of the larger packs. We singles already have to pay over the odds for stuff, and then pay extra again for the low carb, special breads, or alternatives, and wot not. Grrr

So if you think about it, buying the larger packs makes sense, coz then you just split them up when you get home & store individually in the fridge/freezer.

Excuse me while I step off my soapbox ......

Iceland and Morrisons sell individual steaks. There are some really good suggestions on this thread.

Buy Delia's One is Fun . Also all the supermarkets sell chicken which can be cooked from frozen in 250g bags. They also sell frozen salmon in individual bags, which can also be cooked from frozen.

Another thing I do is to batch cook. For example I don't make just one omelette, I keep going until either I run out of eggs or mushrooms or whatever. Freezer bag for each one and possibly a container and into the freezer. Makes the basis of a nice cooked breakfast. Just microwave and add whatever else you have that needs eating. This morning it was mushroom omelette and two high meat content sausages. Whole packs of these sausages also pre-cooked and into a container in the freezer.

It's a hard life.

I haven't mentioned the savings you can make by cooking big. You can buy a couple of slices of gammon in Tesco for about £3 to £5. I buy a whole gammon when it's on cheap offer and get about 12 slices out of it and each slice is chunkier than the prepared variety. Tesco frequently do half price legs of lamb. Cook, dismember and freeze in portion sizes and it, in my opinion is the very best of meats. The cheap shelf often provides me with beef joints which also get the usual treatment.

I also do batches of six chicken curries at a time. These take a time to use up because of the rice issue. I alway cook the rice fresh since it is so simple. I have not yet tried the cauliflower rice.

Sometimes a whole meal is really a case of the microwave going ding.

Had to laugh at the suggestions for batch cooking. I have just spent the weekend cooking and freezing curry and shoulder steak for 24 people. I'm having a huge party of people over 3 days. I will only have to cook rice and pastry on the day. The bin men will get the bowls and forks.

Greener thought you didn't cook? Have you found your local M&S yet?

greener said:

the problem is that I cannot know what appetite I will have next day! I usually decide a couple of hours before the meal!

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OK, I give up then.

lizf4619 said:

Had to laugh at the suggestions for batch cooking. I have just spent the weekend cooking and freezing curry and shoulder steak for 24 people. I'm having a huge party of people over 3 days. I will only have to cook rice and pastry on the day. The bin men will get the bowls and forks.

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You are my kind of cook.