Some Advice Please

[SpursFan1902]

Since I will now have to do all of my own cooking, any suggestions for a solitary cooker? What kinds of recipes lend themselves better to being halved or quartered? I am a mediocre chef at best, but I can follow a recipe as long as it is not too tricky.

All suggestions greatly appreciated!

[SquareEyes]

I often have to prepare quick & easy meals for myself, as I often get home after the rest of the family has eaten.

Some of my faves are combination of cold stuff, straight from the fridge, but tasty & healthy (apart from the beer ;) .

I like to play with combinations of smoked salmon (I find sockeye is best), maybe a slice of peppered smoked mackerel, perhaps some hot spicy sausage (like ciorizo etc.), a variety of toasted black & brine-pickled green olives, some rolled & sliced sections of wafer-thin hams (such as German Schwarzwald, Italian proscuttio crudo or speck etc.) and a few small chunks of cheese (I usually use a combination of a blue cheese and something creamy like a Brie).

I lay a combination of these, in whatever proportion takes my fancy at the time, separately, in bite-sized chunks on a plate and serve with a bowl of cherry toms, green salad (sometimes with Parmesan shavings), dressed with extra virgin, balsamic and a lot of freshly-ground black pepper.

The beauty of this combination is it's very PC friendly! You can rush off during a chat, whip it up in 5 mins, and be back on-line, nibbling away with a cocktail-stick & fork for the rest of the evening ;)

[luke]

i think you'll be alright spurs, i don't think i've come across a recipe that i've not been able to downsize on the ingredients to make meals for one. plus you can always freeze stuff depending on what you're cooking - i'm just doing a monster sized pot of mince, onions, carrots and tomatoes that i'll freeze in 3 or 4 individual portions to make cottage pie. its always handy freezing stuff like that, shepherds pie, chilli etc, for a quick easy meal when you can't be bothered to cook.

the only thing really with cooking for one is being smart with ingredients, i mean theres no point buying a bag of carrots if you're only going to use one in the week! so like i've used carrots this week in a stir fry, a carrot cake, coleslaw and shepherds pie. i hate wasting food so i'm always thinking of what i can get out of ingredients. you don't wanna buy stuff, use a couple and let the rest go off.

i was just thinking today that they should sell half loaves of bread, and you should be able to pick up eggs individually - the minimum you can get is 6! fine if you're a couple or a family, but 6 eggs is a lot for one in a week!

[eefanincan]

We have a steamer from Black and Decker that has three trays..... you can use all or some. Do meat on one, vegetables on another, rice on another, etc. Quite easy to prepare stuff in advance and just put it together when you get home from work/school. Basically, you just add water and set the timer --- this would let you have a shower, do homework, or whatever while supper is cooking --- you don't have to stand over the stove.
You can make as little or as much as you like and you can use lots of fresh ingredients.

The other thing we use a fair bit is a crockpot and there's loads of books and recipes on line. You can make a big pot of soup or chili or stew and freeze some servings to have another night with a fresh salad or something. (let me know if you get on and I'll pass along the name of my favourite cookbook).

We like these options because you aren't tied to the stove the whole time and can get stuff done while supper is cooking.

[SpursFan1902]

Thanks for all the great advice. I do have a crock pot, but not a steamer...not one like that anyway. I am going to do some poking around for it, eefan.

Since all of you mentioned freezing, what to you put things in to freeze them? Just normal zipper type bags, sealers, plastic containers...

Can you tell I have NO idea what I am doing?

[SquareEyes]

A freezer

(you can slap me with that frozen fish now)

[luke]

yeah, you can get resealable freezer bags, or better are the plastic containers

[eefanincan]

Freezer bags are ok for things like muffins, etc. but the plastic containers are nicer if you are freezing meals that you want to reheat later --- it's just more convenient to take them out of the freezer and pop them in the microwave.

If you want to reheat stuff in the oven/toaster oven, you could always invest in a few single size pieces of corning ware--- they are transferrable from fridge to freezer to oven and you can also get some reusable plastic lids. Environmentally friendly too. You can hit some great sales at a Corningware Outlet (I know they have some in Florida, just not sure where).

[SpursFan1902]

[SpursFan1902]

I think I have some of those corningware pieces with the lids. I found them at a charity shop, but didn't even think of using them in the freezer! Duh!

I made my own dinner tonight and portioned it just right because there were no left overs. I may get the hang of this yet!

[SpursFan1902]

Well 18 months after my cook moved to Germany and I think I am fairing pretty well. One thing I invested in was a rice cooker. I ALWAYS mess up the rice....too sticky, burned, not cooked all the way....always a disaster! Now with the rice cooker, it always comes out perfect. I made my own stir fry last night, just using some pork and whatever veg I had in the fridge and it came out pretty good. If there was anything I could have done better would have been to use more seasoning...it turned out kinda bland, but other than that not to shabby.

Uphill battle, but getting there!

[faceless]

if you get some soy sauce, teriyaki marinade, garlic powder and 5 spice powder mixed in a bowl, then leave the meat in it for a while beforehand, it will take in so much flavour.

then when you cook the meat, the juices from it will be all mixed up and spread onto the veg... delicious

[SpursFan1902]

Face, what is 5 spice....and before you type something smart, by that I mean what 5 spices are in 5 spice or is that the spices name..5 spice? And I mean that with all due respect, Mr. Faceless Sir..

[faceless]

I'm sure you can find it in your local supermarket - try for yourself to taste...

[luke]

over here they sell it as chinese 5 spice, its great with duck and pork. its usually got star anise, fennel, ginger, cassia and cloves - plus garlic and pepper and stuff. this is the one i usually get

for some easy stir frys you should get some stir fry sauces as well, you can get them in little packets for individual meals, buts its better to buy the bottles then they last - oyster, hoisin, sweet chilli etc.

with the meat, do like faceless said, marinade it - a few hours in the fridge, or even overnight - the longer the more flavour.

theres a tv show called chings kitchen i think, thats great for picking up ideas and techniques. its cos of that show i bought a wok!

the internet is great for getting recipe ideas as well, and if you come up with something really tasty post it up

i have a couple of recipes in a cook book i'll look out for you, theres a chicken and mushroom with oyster sauce that was nice and easy from what i remember.

theres a link faceless posted sometime ago for a great egg fried rice as well