Cooking For One

One of the hardest things to do after Mike died was to cook. I enjoyed cooking and baking for all our married life. Over time, I rarely used a cookbook, preferring to create my own recipes, often inspired by something I liked. After Mike died, my son and I ate out a lot, earning many free burgers at Red Robin. Eventually, I began to return to cooking, but I was used to making family-sized meals. Now I cook and bake in batches.

Because I like fresh fruit and salad, I started getting Rubber Maid containers designed to keep produce fresh for longer. It made a difference in the amount of new food that went bad. It also saved me from having to go to the store frequently. I usually have fresh strawberries, blueberries, and watermelon. Even in the containers, the blueberries would get moldy. Fortunately, I saw that creating layers of blueberries separated by a paper towel would stop the problem. It worked, and it’s no longer a problem. I have salad for lunch every day but don’t like the bagged mixes. Instead, I get red leaf lettuce, tomatoes, red peppers, and zucchini. They each have their own containers, and I like to chop them up daily for the freshest taste.

My cooking workhorse is Comfee’ all-in-one cooker. I primarily use the slow cooker setting, though it also features sautéing, cooking grains, soups, and stews. My original crockpot with ceramic interior broke, and this was the replacement. It has a metal interior that I prefer because of the cooking flexibility, and I can’t break it.

Having cooked for my family for years, it was hard to get used to making small portions. So instead, I began to batch cook in my cooker. My most common thing to make is chicken breasts. I buy the bulk pack at Costco, rinse the breast, and then season it. I usually don’t use recipes, so every batch is different. One thing that I do is add some butter and Better Than Bullion vegetable base to add moisture. Then, I just slow-cook it for four or five hours. Once cooked, I put them in a bowl in the refrigerator to cool before packing them in serving containers and freezing them. Other foods I prepare in the cooker are meatloaf, taco meat, and meatballs with sauce. Like the chicken, I’ll refrigerate them and then freeze portions. I prefer one big mess to a lot of little ones.

I usually take out a frozen portion that will cover two or three meals the night before. Another time saver is getting frozen vegetables that I can steam in a bag. This supplements whatever meat I have prepared. The vegetables usually work for two or three meals as well. Sometimes, I will also make a baked potato or pasta. With all the prep work done ahead of time, I can have a nutritious meal within ten minutes with minimal cleanup.

All of these adjustments I’ve made have become my routine and made mealtime an easy, enjoyable proposition.