Eating for one, and not that big on veggies :/

Hey, I am on my own and seem to have trouble figuring out what to buy for meals. Everything is in such large portions and im terrible at buying meat and rembering to freeze it or thaw it or whatever.

Also, I want to eat healthier but it's like I live on carbs! Pasta is just so cheap and easy I suppose. I never know what to cook with my meat for a side because i hate cooked vegetables.

Could anyone give me some advice for sides and learning to shop and prepare for meals, at a fairly low price hopefully? hehe Thanks a bunch! :)

Ok. So I completely understand your woes with Money. I am a college student so I money isn't exactly endless.

What I would suggest is buy in bulk and buy raw. It may seem like you are spending a lot of money but you get so many meals out of things.


Sweetpotatoes make great sides and you can mash them, eat them like a regular potato or cook them into things. They are so versatile! Also brown rice, you can make it as a side or use it to hold your main dish (meat, tofu etc.). Also honestly, cereal! I buy boxes of cereal and top them with my favorite fruits bananas (Trader Joes has bananas for 19 cents!). Same goes for granola/oatmeal. I buy a box of it and then I'll buy blueberries or apples and raisins to spice it up.

oh and Wasabi Peas, if you like it spicy! They aren't thaaat expensive and will last you a long time.

I dunno i'm probably not being that helpful because I have a slightly restricted diet (by choice) so... hopefully this is something and other people will give you much better ideas! Good luck:)

Search amazon or barnes & noble for the book, "Healthy Cooking for Two (or just you)".  My husband & love it, because we are trying so hard to keep the portion sizes under control.  The cookbook does the sizing for you:  there are two columns for each recipie, outlining what you need to buy if you're buying for one or two.  Its great! :)

Here's what you do about meat -

As soon as you get it home from the store, cut it up in portion sizes and put it into labeled, small freezer bags.  Freeze the packages flat on a cookie sheet, then when they are frozen solid they will not take up as much room in the freezer.  Ground beef - fry it up, drain off all the fat and pat it with paper towels before freezing in portions.

Side dishes -

Buy some romaine lettuce hearts and as soon as you get them home, wash them, dry them and wrap in paper towels and place in a loose plastic bag in the crisper drawer.  Have a container of cherry tomatoes (also pre washed) ready to put into a salad.

Use frozen vegetables in bags.  A portion cooks fast in the microwave. Put some in a little tomato sauce and nuke it.  Even if you don't like veggies you'll like that.

Make batches of things like chili and freeze portions.

Have fruit ready to eat in the refrigerator.  There's nothing wrong with a piece of fruit as a side dish.

oh! thats very helpful everyone thank you! I totally forgot about cereal, completely slipped my mind haha.

And thanks defrog, i have been looking for a cookbook exactly like that! Now just to wait until payday! woo.

As for the meat freezing, that pretty much solves me problem doesnt it? lol I just need to freeze stuff more i suppose. I'm going to make some chili soon too! that sounds great.

Thanks for the help, keep the advice coming. more is always appreciated :D

I do not like to cook, and (being a school bus driver) the days can be quite long...no energy to cook at night and most days there's no time to find something healthy to eat during the day.  I find that no matter how much I tell myself I'm going to get myself on a better schedule in the mornings, it just doesn't work.

Sooo....I went out and bought a bunch of 'supplies' to get me through the week (watch for sales and stock up!).  In the crisper drawer of my fridge, I keep the following things:

1.  Fat-free pudding cups (chocolate and vanilla)

2.  Sugar-free jello cups

3.  Fat-free Yoplait yogurt (can't get enough of the Super-thick Key Lime Pie flavored one...yum, yum!!)

4.  String cheese (Schneider's is my favorite)

5.  Zip-lock baggies of Organic granola cereal (find a cereal you'd enjoy sprinkled over yogurt...like Grape Nuts?)

On my way rushing out the door in the morning, I throw a freezer pack in my insulated lunch bag, along with a yogurt, 2 string cheeses, a pudding, a jello, and a baggie of granola.  I always eat half of it between routes, and then the other half after routes so I'm not tempted to stop at McDonald's while I'm running errands on my break.  I also keep a box of instant oatmeal to eat at work just in case I didn't have time to grab my 'goodies' on the way out the door that morning.

I know that won't help you with the rest of the day and what to cook, but at least it will get you through breakfast...

Oh, and I almost forgot....have you ever tried dipping red seedless grapes in Fat-free Vanilla Yoplait yogurt??  You don't know what you're missin!!  MMMMMmmmmmmmmmmm!!

Ah, you're asking about what I fondly call "Lazy girl food."  I practically live on PB&J.  I use natural peanut butter, whole grain bread and whole fruit jam.  Yummers.

I'm also a huge fan of cooking for an army and freezing the leftovers.  It works best with soups, stews, chilis, etc. but pasta doesn't fare too badly, nor do other main dishes.  Just remember to undercook any veggies you'll be freezing because they cook more in the microwave.  Also, anything frozen loses some of its flavor, so overspice your stuff by a bit, too.

Pick one day a week (like saturday) and make 2 or three different things and freeze them.  That way, you're not stuck with the same old thing over and over and over (like I am.  I need to work on that).  Prewash your veggies and just throw them into a container when you pack your lunch.  I eat a lot of bagged salads and add dried fruit and some flavorful cheese to them.  I stick it in a small container so it doesn't get all weird by lunch.

I like a nice big salad with my meat.  I actually don't use meat as a main dish very often because I'm lazy and I hate the way it feels when it's raw.  Oh!  A trick my mostly-carniverous roomie used to use: he threw zuccini and other veggies into pasta sauce and kinda cooked it to death.  Then you can't taste the veggies at all.  Of course, youre also not getting all the nutrients out of them, but it's a start.

I hope this helps!

another thing you might try--although this does take some discipline--is to train your tastebuds to start liking veggies. habits, both good and bad, are formed in the same way.

think about smoking as a (bad) habit. hardly anyone is born desiring a cigarrette. the craving for inhaling smoke into your lungs is not innate. what usually happens is this: you see someone who smokes and you think "i want to do that." So you practice holding the cigarrette a certain way, you try inhaling it like the person you are imitating does, and you slowly aquire a habit of smoking until gradually your body *does* genuinely desire a cigarette. you go from wanting to be the sort of person who wants to smoke to genuinely wanting to smoke.

similarly, you can go from wanting to be the sort of person who wants to eat veggies to genuinely wanting to eat veggies. Just start getting in the habit of eating veggies--even though you may not genuinely enjoy them at first--and your body will slowly get used to this habit. you will actually train your body and your tastebuds to desire healthy things. it will take some time, but it will be worth it.

As far as meat goes I don't eat a lot of red meat, mostly chicken. Aldi's has bags of frozen chicken tenderloins that I always keep on hand. I just keep it in the freezer and pull out a couple pieces and microwave them to thaw when I need them. I also eat a lot of soup because it's easy. And I totally agree with the PB&J - very yummy and very easy. And I always have leftovers from stuff I cooked for more than one.

As far as cookbooks go, I have one called "Help! My Apartment Has a Kitchen" which has a lot of really easy stuff in it for mostly 1-2 people so it's pretty perfect. I also have one that I dont use as much called "Help! My Apartment Has a Dining Room" that's more for entertaining and has larger recipes in it.

good luck!