Cooking for One: Tips

The Power 90 Challenge has a very nice meal plan associated with it. Some dishes are simple, others require a little more preparation and additional ingredients. Problem is how to you use all the ingredients cooking for one. So here are some tricks I've learned to reduce the amount of food I waste.

1. When possible buy frozen or freeze


• This works especially well for Meats. Buy the 2.5 lb bag of chicken and the 8 pack of frozen low fat Bubba Burgers (Yup they do exist).


• Repackage in Ziplock vacuum bags. These work just like those infomercial vacuseal systems except they use a hand pump which costs $10 instead of $90. They're great at preventing that funky freezer taste in chicken. When I buy the 2.5 bag of frozen chicken I immediately transfer them the vacuum bags (2 breasts each). Every couple of days, in the evening, I transfer a vacuum bag of 2 breasts from the freezer to the fridge. Next evening they're ready to cook fresh as the day they were frozen. Also since they're in the vacuum bag they'll last longer in the fridge as well.
  


• Also freezing bread makes it last much longer with little affect. Ziploc says that bread will last 3 months in the freezer. Bread out in the open lasts me about a week. I used to only get 2 Burger buns out of an 8 pack before figuring this trick out.
  



2. Buy you're veggies at the salad bar
   


• Buying whole vegetables is really problematic. Are you really going to be able to use that whole head of broccoli before it goes brown? The salad bar is great because you can just get the portion you need for the next meal or two.


• Get multiple containers for multiple meals. You can organize right there with individual containers for individual meals.
  


• Salad bar veggies are already washed and cut.
  


3. Stock up on ingredients with a long shelf life
   


• Cereals, Canned goods, pantry stuff... You're going to be at the super market a lot getting ingredients but you might as well lighten you're weekday shopping by stocking up on stuff that will last on the weekends. Nothing annoys me more than being hungry for breakfast and realizing I'm out of Cheerios.


4. Weigh it don't measure it


• I bought a Salter Digital Scale for about $30, you can see the exact model here.


• Keep your measuring cups clean. You can all your weighing by putting your plate/pan on the scale and using the Tear feature. Put 4oz of chicken on then hit tare now add the 56g of Marinara Sauce (56g = 1/4 cup) etc...


5. Use Snack bags and Sandwich bags to pre-portion food in the fridge.


• Instead of dirtying a plate I use Snack/Sandwich bags to portion cubed chicken or sliced veggies.
  


6. Always have cubed chicken ready to go


• Many of the recipes call for chicken. I keep a bunch of cooked pre-cubed chicken in snack bags in the fridge. It really cuts down on prep time during the week. Just add cubes until you get the portion you want. Heat and eat.