Why Cooking for One Sucks (And How to Make it Less Lonely)
Let’s be honest: cooking when you live by yourself is kind of lame. You make all this food and have no one to share it with, meaning sometimes you eat too much, or are faced with eating the same thing, forever. There’s no one around to help you clean up the mess in your kitchen, after you put all this effort into preparing the meal and are exhausted. And when you make something really delicious, no one really cares.
I speak from experience: as a budget-savvy lady who lives by herself, I have no choice but to whip up meals at home and eat them for days. But luckily, I’ve learned how to make the best of being a solo chef. Here are some of my favorite ways to honor my love of cooking while living alone:
Make old leftovers new again
Don’t just meal prep for the week — meal prep for the next few months. The best way to do that? Use your freezer. When you make a big batch of something like tomato sauce, set aside some servings in your freezer and enjoy them a few months later. I like to freeze soups, meat from roasted chicken, even ingredients I can never use up on my own before they go bad, like chipotle peppers in adobe sauce and chunks of sliced ginger. It’s the best feeling a few months later when I’m prowling around my kitchen, trying to resist ordering takeout, and I find…
