Cooking for One Without Making Enough Food for a Small Army

Every recipe I find online serves 4-6 people. I live alone. Do the math - I’m either eating the same meal all week or throwing away half of what I make. Neither option is great, and honestly, both are kind of depressing.

I spent years either cooking too much food, not cooking at all, or making sad “meals” that were just cheese and crackers. Then I figured out how to actually cook for one without it being weird, wasteful, or boring.

Here’s what I learned about feeding yourself when you’re the only person at the table.

The Mindset Shift: You’re Worth Real Food

First, get over the idea that cooking for one isn’t worth it. I used to think cooking a “real” meal was only worth the effort if I was feeding other people. Cooking just for me felt excessive or silly.

That’s nonsense. You deserve actual food, not just whatever’s fastest or requires the least cleanup. Cooking for yourself is self-care, not sad.

Once I started treating myself like someone worth cooking for, everything changed. I started actually enjoying meals instead of just consuming calories.

The Scaling Problem: Math is Hard When You’re Hungry

Most recipes serve 4-6 people, and halving or quartering them gets weird fast. What’s half of 1⅓ cups? What do I do with ⅔ of an egg? This is why I failed math.

Here’s my solution: I don’t halve recipes. Instead, I do one of three things: 1. Make the full recipe and freeze portions for later 2. Make the full recipe and plan to transform leftovers into different meals 3. Cook from a rough idea instead of a strict recipe

Option three has been revolutionary. Once you understand basic cooking techniques, you can just eyeball portions and throw things together without following exact measurements. Need one serving of pasta? Handful of dry pasta, some sauce, done. Stir-fry for one? Whatever vegetables are in your fridge and protein that fits in a small pan.

The Shopping Strategy: Buy Less, Shop More

This goes against conventional wisdom, but buying huge quantities at warehouse stores is terrible for cooking for one. I cannot eat 5 pounds of chicken before it goes bad, no matter how optimistic I am when I’m shopping.

Instead, I buy smaller amounts more frequently: - Individual chicken breasts instead of family packs - Smaller bags of vegetables - Single servings at the salad bar instead of buying whole vegetables - Frozen vegetables in bags so I can use just what I need - Eggs by the half-dozen - Small containers of everything instead of bulk

Yes, the per-unit price is higher. But I’m not throwing away half of it, so my actual cost is lower. Plus, I get variety instead of eating the same protein for two weeks.

The Tools That Actually Help

You don’t need a kitchen full of equipment, but a few specific things make cooking for one way easier:

Small pans: An 8-inch skillet is perfect for one portion. Most recipes assume you’re using a 12-inch pan, which makes single servings cook weird.

Small pots: A 2-quart pot is ideal for soup, pasta, or rice for one. My giant stockpot sits unused while I use my small pot constantly.

Good storage containers: I invested in a set of small glass containers with lids. They make leftovers less depressing and actually get used.

Kitchen scale: When halving or quartering recipes, weighing ingredients is way easier than doing fraction math with measuring cups.

Meals That Actually Work for One

Some dishes are naturally better for solo cooking than others. I’ve learned which ones to embrace and which ones to avoid:

Great for one: - Stir-fries (cooks fast, uses whatever vegetables you have) - Pasta (easy to make one portion) - Eggs any style (breakfast for dinner is legitimate) - Grain bowls (throw everything in a bowl and call it a meal) - Simple proteins with roasted vegetables - Soup (makes enough for a few days but stores well)

Terrible for one: - Complicated recipes with 15 ingredients you’ll use once - Baking (most baked goods serve many and don’t freeze well) - Dishes that require specialty ingredients in large quantities - Anything that takes three hours to make

The Leftover Strategy

When I do cook more than one serving, I plan for those leftovers to become different meals. This is key - if I’m eating identical leftovers more than two days in a row, I’ll get bored and waste the rest.

Examples: - Roasted chicken becomes chicken salad, quesadillas, or gets added to pasta - Roasted vegetables become frittata filling or grain bowl toppings - Rice becomes fried rice the next day - Cooked ground beef becomes tacos, then taco salad, then gets frozen

The transformation keeps things interesting, and I’m not eating the same meal five times in a row.

The “Components” Method

Instead of cooking complete meals and reheating them, I cook components that I can mix and match throughout the week:

• A protein (grilled chicken, cooked ground beef, hardboiled eggs)
• A grain (rice, quinoa, pasta)
• Vegetables (whatever’s in season, roasted or fresh)
• A sauce or two

Then I assemble different combinations: - Monday: Rice bowl with chicken and teriyaki sauce - Tuesday: Pasta with vegetables and pesto - Wednesday: Salad with chicken and vinaigrette - Thursday: Grain bowl with different vegetables

Same components, different meals. Less boring, less waste, less cooking every single night.

The Freezer is Your Friend

Cooking for one doesn’t mean cooking every single night. I cook a few times a week and freeze portions for later.

Things that freeze perfectly: - Soups and stews (in single-serving containers) - Cooked grains - Sauces - Cooked proteins - Breakfast burritos - Muffins - Cookie dough (portioned out before baking)

Future me is always grateful when present me stocks the freezer. Frozen homemade food is infinitely better than takeout or frozen dinners, and it’s already portioned correctly.

Quick One-Person Meals I Actually Make

10-Minute Pasta: Boil pasta, drain, toss with butter, garlic, frozen peas, parmesan. Done.

Lazy Fried Rice: Day-old rice, egg, frozen vegetables, soy sauce, whatever else is in the fridge. Seven minutes.

Sheet Pan Dinner: Chicken breast, chopped vegetables, olive oil, seasoning. Everything on one pan, 25 minutes in the oven.

Egg Scramble: Eggs, cheese, whatever vegetables need to be used, toast on the side.

Grain Bowl: Cooked quinoa, canned beans, salsa, avocado, cheese. No cooking required.

Adult Lunchable: Cheese, crackers, vegetables, hummus, maybe some sliced meat. Who says this isn’t a meal?

The Social Aspect

Cooking for one can feel lonely, I won’t lie. I combat this by: - Calling a friend while I cook - Putting on music or a podcast - Occasionally inviting someone over to share the meal (then it’s not for one!) - Taking a photo of meals I’m proud of (sounds silly, but it makes me care more)

Also, sometimes I just don’t cook. Eating out or getting takeout is fine. Cooking for one doesn’t mean you have to cook every single meal. It just means when you do cook, it works for your life instead of fighting against it.

The Money Reality

People assume cooking for one is expensive because you can’t buy in bulk. But here’s the math: - Eating out for one: $12-20 per meal - Frozen dinners: $4-8 per meal - Cooking at home: $3-6 per meal, even without bulk buying

I spend less money cooking for myself than I did when I was constantly ordering takeout because “cooking wasn’t worth it for just me.”

Plus, I feel better. Restaurant food every night gets old fast, and I know exactly what’s going into my food when I make it myself.

The Permission to Be Imperfect

Some nights, dinner is scrambled eggs. Some nights, it’s cheese and crackers. Some nights, it’s leftovers eaten standing up at the counter.

That’s fine. The goal isn’t Instagram-worthy meals every night. The goal is feeding yourself in a way that’s sustainable, affordable, and doesn’t make you feel sad.

Cooking for one is a skill, and like any skill, it gets easier with practice. Start small. Make simple things. Don’t worry about getting it perfect.

You’re worth the effort of real food, even if the only person eating it is you. Remember that, and cooking for one becomes less of a chore and more of an act of basic self-care. Which is exactly what it should be.