Before I started living on my own, I always used to hear stories from my friends about how they can barely find time to cook for themselves and how their money was spent on a lot of takeouts. I didn’t really understand how that could happen, I mean how hard is it to cook for one person? Couldn’t they just do it and save money? I also reasoned that this would never be my problem because I love to cook and cooking for myself would be no hardship at all. Well, now that I live alone, I’ve discovered it is not as easy as it looks. Between working all day and coming home at night, most times I am too tired to even think about cooking anything for supper. It’s almost always usually takeout or tea and bread, then sleep. I also discovered that I tended to eat the same thing almost daily and I started to look for ways I could eat well and eat healthily. I’ve come up with ways of making easy meals that make cooking for one a breeze:
1. Plan your meals on weekends
Since you are likely busy during weekdays, it helps to plan your meals in advance over the weekend. This will allow you to know what to buy for the week, and if possible, make the meals over the weekend and store them. This would work really well if you have a refrigerator and the only thing you’d have to do during the week is to take out a meal, heat it and eat.
2. Waru is bae
One thing that is never missing in my house is potatoes and that is because I have discovered their unlimited potential in keeping me fed. Not only can they stay fresh for about 3-5 weeks at room temperature and 3-4 months in the refrigerator, this comfort food is also very easy to prepare in numerous ways.
3. Keep dry food handy
You may not always be able to go to the shop to buy milk or something to cook, and it always helps to have dry food like powdered milk and rice around. Other things you could have include rice which you can use to make these quick and easy recipes, flour, and noodles.
4. Buy in bulk and store
One thing I learned from my mother was that it is always better, and cheaper to buy things in bulk and store them instead of buying things as the needs arise. Try to go to the market at least once a week and buy all the ingredients you need for that week’s meal prep. Even if you don’t have a refrigerator, invest in a few plastic containers to store your excess food.
5. Get creative with leftovers
It is easy to fall into the trap of eating the same thing over and over when you’re cooking for one, but that need not be the case. Whether or not you’re making easy or elaborate meals, you can always find creative ways of turning your leftovers into another meal the next day.
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