Cooking for one

[cjsmith]

I just realized that one of the reasons I struggle so much with cooking for one is that I'm making completely different stuff than I know how to do.

I make a meatloaf I happen to love and I can do a lasagne I find absolutely scrumptious, but c'mon, raise your hand if you make one-person versions of those! If I have a quarter pound of ground beef it's a BURGER. Conversely, who makes omelets for thirty? I sure haven't.

The feed-a-dormitory or feed-a-family recipes can be broken down into neat little piles of Tupperware, but multiply helpings by desirable variety and I'm out of freezer space. Thus my main storage facility is the freezer aisle at Safeway. Shrinking the recipes, on the other hand, multiplies the labor and prep time and also increases waste (ingredients are much more perishable before they get frozen as meals). No wonder a restaurant is such an easy choice for me.

What's your favorite thing to make for one person? Preferably quick. (Bonus points for no leftover ingredients.)

Comments

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

Cool! Five or eight more people and we've got it. :-)

I aim to get better at the "scrambled eggs with" concept. That's an easy enough way to get a bit of protein, and eggs keep a lot better in the fridge than meats do.

[quasigeostrophy.livejournal.com]

I just scramble the eggs in a bowl with a fork and tear up the cheese by hand and mix it in before dumping it all in the frying pan.

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

I usually add the cheese a bit later, but then I probably like my eggs on the "well-done" side. Mmmmmmmm, cheese.

Do you know I'd never had scrambled eggs with cheese until I moved to Georgia and went to Waffle House for the first time? I'd had cheese omelets, but just scrambling it in I'd never seen before.

[quasigeostrophy.livejournal.com]

I picked it up watching my mom over the years. And mine are well-done too - no runny eggs for me.

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

DEFINITELY not runny. Not even wobbly. I want rubber. :-)

[quasigeostrophy.livejournal.com]

I have it from personal experience shopping with you that you like leather, but I didn't know about the rubber. ;-)

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

I'm sure my taste in meat well-done-ness has made some folks mention leather. I learned when I was in France to order my steaks "carbonized". The cook always sneered, but I got them done all the way through!

[quasigeostrophy.livejournal.com]

I like my meat not to "moo" when I cut into it, and no pink. I'm not big on large amounts of carbon on the outside, but I'll take that over the alternative.

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

You can guess how much black-and-flaky I actually got when asking a Frenchman to carbonize it. Ze-rooo! :-)

[wooddragon.livejournal.com]

My daddy makes me a 'tiger' omelet. It's an omelet with cheddar cheese 'stripes' on top. Yay, Daddy!