/ck/ - Food & Cooking

>>10912303

Think in terms of leftovers. Even a whole meatloaf can be eaten over the course of a week. Meatloaf with mashed potatoes is a great comfort food but a masterfully made grilled meatloaf sandwich a day later is amazing. If you want to make your own pasta sauce that can be frozen for later, or canned. You can ferment foods too.

I make batch soups and stews that I can heat up and serve with good bread. Tonight I'm making a ground beef dish I can serve with cooked rice throughout the week. You can also buy bulk meat and freeze them into single portions. Or just buy a single item from the butcher fresh that day. You can keep seafood frozen in the freezer as most places that are not legit fresh seafood markets sell unfrozen (buy them frozen unless cooking that day).

Dairy and grains are easy, so sandwich stuffs and cereals for quick meals. Oats with dried fruits, nuts, etc. for quick hot cereals. Pancakes and waffles are easy too. I can eat a full batch on my own with maple syrup, ymmv.

Time is usually the hardest part of the single chef. So if you can't work frequent shopping times consider what you can buy bulk and store that won't suffer from not being eaten right away. Rice is great for that but so is wild rice from Minnesota, order it by online from the farmers (not amazon). You can also get heirloom beans and other items direct to make better meals. My next dish from them is probably going to be Christmas lima beans. Then when you have the time for fresh single items great.

I find the bigger challenge is making sure ingredients get used up. Good bread for example has a few days shelf life. Sometimes you just got to make a sacrifice but even if you can afford it being wasteful seeps out into other areas. So I'm doing my best to use up what I have and learn how to cook more with leftover ingredients.

Tortillas are fucking amazing.