One of the first questions people ask me when I tell them I live with roommates is “What do you do about food?” It’s kind of a joke in my apartment because of how often we get asked this. The question is often followed up with the suggestion, “Why don’t you do a rotation?? Everyone cooks one night…” as if they are the very first person to hit on this idea! Regrettably, this doesn’t work for us. We each have our own system, so…
How do you shop and cook for one?
Meal plan on Sunday (or Monday) so you know what you need to buy at the grocery store and you’re not overbuying produce that will go bad or underbuying ingredients so you’re hungry. Meal planning helps you avoid throwing out leftovers as much as possible, too. On Sunday I plan for about four suppers and four lunches. (If I was really organized, I would plan for breakfasts too — hey, I used to do that). I also try to plan for snacks/fruit.
Make foods that can be prepared one portion at a time, i.e. wraps, eggs, salad.
Ask at the meat counter of your grocery store for them to package one or two pieces of chicken or fish for you, you don’t have to buy a pack of four pieces.
Freeze portions — this works well for soup, chicken, and meat.
Make scaled down recipes or regular-sized recipes in smaller portions (i.e. use 6″ quiche crusts).
If you don’t mind repetition, eat the same dish over a few nights. This is actually really convenient, especially when you’re busy.
Accept that you will probably end up throwing out some food despite your best planning and that’s somewhat unavoidable.
Some examples of meals that are either easy to scale, make individual portions of, or store:
Breakfast – whole-wheat banana muffins, yogurt + blueberries, soft-boiled eggs + toasted mini pita
Lunch – salmon + roasted veg, soup + tuna quiche, lasagna ratatouille + ricotta cheese (Table for Two), soup + grilled cheese
Supper – arayes + Israeli salad, maple dijon chicken + broccoli, pepper steak + rice, deli wrap + coleslaw
I’m enjoying this informative series of posts! I would like to hear more about what it’s like living 24/7 with friends and what you do if arguments happen or feelings get hurt.
Do you share common pantry ingredients, eggs, milk?
These are greeeeat questions!
Living with roommates is amazing practice for marriage 🙂 (I’m guessing). Yes, we’ve dealt with our share of complex interpersonal situations, as well as zillions of run-of-the-mill daily interactions. We’ve all had to accept/learn to live with each other’s habits, quirks, and preferences in order to make living together possible. Speaking for myself here, I’ve had to work on becoming more observant of other people’s needs and stating my own. And it’s not always easy but it’s worth it because overall this living situation is really great for each of us.
We share some items – mostly spices, and ingredients we originally bought for Shabbos food (but actually not eggs or milk).