After my last blog on meal planning for one, I challenged myself to continue my solitary food preparation. In this post, I’ll show you how you can make meal times more enjoyable, lower your food bill, and maybe even improve your relationship with food.

Is Meal Planning Worthwhile When You’re Single?

In How to Enjoy Cooking for One, I discussed the challenges and rewards of cooking meals for your solo self. I also admitted that cooking a proper meal for myself was something I struggled with. I don’t have an innate love for cooking or baking, and the preparation and cleanup made it feel like a real waste of time.

In creating that post, I set a goal for myself to make meal planning part of my weekly routine.This meal planning for one challenge did three main things for me:

1. It made my health and happiness a higher priority.
2. It helped me actually enjoy eating.
3. It saved me a ton of money.

My relationship with food has changed for the better, and I’m going to show you how.

Meal Planning Makes Health and Happiness a Priority

Because both my lifestyle choices (vegetarianism) and food sensitivities (lactose intolerance) limit my food options, meal planning takes a fair amount of, well, planning.

In the past, I used to content myself with eating ramen noodles (the prepackaged kind) for lunch and dinner because it was fast, simple, filling, and cheap. And while I don’t think processed ramen noodles are as bad—comparatively—as many believe, they don’t nourish my body or spirit.

Coming up with a variety of meals that I can eat, that are healthy, and that won’t completely break the bank is an ongoing challenge for me. But now it’s a challenge I value.

Eating a delicious meal that won’t make me feel physically or emotionally uncomfortable later is a true joy. I actually get excited about my food now. And, because I’ve prepared it for myself, I feel all of the self-love that went into it.

Past Me: “I am going to love this tomorrow morning.”
Me in the morning: Gets packed lunch out of fridge. “Omg, this is going to be so good.”
Me at work: “This is the best lunch I love it.”

To me, that’s what self-care and self-love looks like.

Meal Planning Helps Me Enjoy Food

Americans tend to have a lot of issues regarding food. Far more than I would even attempt to get into in this post. Suffice to say that food was an ongoing source of frustration for me for most of my adult life. And at first, my meal planning for one only seemed to add to that.

Cooking food for the week takes time and requires grocery store strategizing. But the payoff is that I get to eat Instagram-worthy food every day without funneling my entire paycheck into the local food cart industry.

Since starting my meal planning challenge, my food is:

• Healthy
• Visually appealing
• Well-proportioned

I’d go so far as to say my meal planning for one strategy is helping me develop a downright healthy relationship with food.

Meal Planning for One Is Less Expensive than the Alternative

I work in a major metropolitan area. I rarely have to walk a full city block to find a food vendor. Cafes and restaurants are also plentiful. It’s tempting to take advantage of these mouth-watering and pocket-emptying options. Fortunately for me, my meal planning for one challenge has paid off financially as well as physically and emotionally.

Even though I’m paying more than I would if I ate nothing but ramen noodle packs, my monthly food bill is nothing compared to what it would be if I were eating from the local food carts.

How to Start Your Own Meal Planning for One Challenge

Are you ready to start prepping your own homemade meals for one? Getting started is easy. All you need to do is take advantage of the abundance of resources on the topic. Then, turn your planning into your reality. To do this…

Visit Pinterest

Follow my Cooking for One Pinterest board. This board includes everything that a solo person needs to know about cooking, whether that means meal planning for one or hosting a dinner party for twenty.

Pick a week

Choose a week in the near future when you’ll put all you’ve learned into action. Decide before you go shopping exactly what you’re going to prepare and what ingredients you’ll need to do it.

Go easy on yourself

If things don’t go well the first time (or any time), cut yourself some slack. Eat out when you don’t have a good lunch or dinner prepared. Just because one week goes badly doesn’t mean meal planning isn’t a challenge worth continuing.

You should also check out my previous blog, How to Enjoy Eating Alone. In it, I address some of the awkwardness associated with eating by yourself.

Did this blog give you some new ideas? Would you like to see more posts on the topic of meal planning for one? Let me know in the comments below.

Images provided by Kaboompics

I’ve written previously about dining solo and cooking for one, but recently I came across an important, related issue I’ve never addressed: the fuss.

The Drawbacks of Cooking for One

In his book Going Solo, Eric Klinenberg recounts the story of a single-by-choice woman named Ella. One of Ella’s greatest challenges in feeling content on her own was cooking. Klinenberg writes, “Though Ella has always liked cooking, at first it wasn’t easy to do without company. The elaborate process of planning, shopping, preparing, cooking, and eating felt strange and wasteful when she did it all solo.”

Because this issue isn’t uncommon, I’ve written about a few tips to help solo women enjoy cooking for one. And I take these tips to heart. But somewhere along the lines, I started shirking it off. It just got… tiresome. And kind of pointless.

Klineneberg goes on:

“Ella shared the sentiment that some nay-saying singles conveyed to the food writer and author Judith Jones: ‘I like to cook for others, to give my friends pleasure. Why would I want to go to all that trouble just for me?’ Gradually, however, Ella recognized that cooking for one required cultivating a special talent: the will and capacity to use her time, money, and creative energy to fulfill her own needs.”

The Necessity of Cooking for One

I won’t lie, I have a hard time with cooking. It’s not something I intrinsically enjoy. With two jobs, time is often an issue as well. However, with a rather restricted diet, eating prepared food every day simply isn’t an option. So to avoid monotony, breaking the bank, and consuming a boat load of preservatives, I buy the raw ingredients and cook my meals at home.

To make sure my evenings aren’t devoted entirely to cooking and cleaning, I normally spend part of my day off once per week cooking my meals for the next 5 days. I pull out all the pots, go through all the food preparation, cook, package it for lunches and dinners, and then clean up. It sometimes feels like it takes more time than is necessary, but it’s healthier than buying pre-packaged sides and a heck of a lot cheaper than buying vegan meals. So I do it.

Lately, however, it’s become a lot more of a necessary chore than an enjoyable, fun experience. Again, part of this is because cooking isn’t really my thing, but part of it goes back to what Ella said. For instance, I used to make a lovely eggplant parmigiana for myself. So tasty, so healthy, so vegetarian (veggie cheese, you know). It was the perfect treat. But when I realized how much time it took to produce just a few meals, I stopped. Time is money, after all. And I did not have some 90 minutes to devote to baking eggplant.

The Fuss in Cooking for One

After reading Ella’s revelation, however, I began to rethink it. If I were cooking for someone else on a regular basis, would I feed the same diet of carrots and potatoes every week, just because it was the most time efficient, diet-inclusive food I could make? No. They’d be getting some parmigiana. So why wasn’t I?

Honestly, I just didn’t feel like I was worth the fuss.

That’s not easy to admit, especially since I like to think of myself as a very modern spinster who practices good self-care. But it was the truth. I wasn’t making time for myself the way I’d make time for anyone else. In fact, I wasn’t even preparing loving food for myself the way I do when I have family or friends over. I just tossed those potatoes in the oven and spent the next twenty minutes resenting the clean up.

Meanwhile, my co-worker prepares a full breakfast and full dinner for her spouse and child every day, while balancing a 40+ hour per week job and going to the gym. She makes time for it because she recognizes the importance of it. And if she could make time to cook two full meals from scratch every day for her family, surely I could find it in me to cook a set of decent meals once per week for myself.

I think I’m worth that much fuss.

The Joy of Cooking for One

The tips in How to Enjoy Eating Alone are relevant and very helpful to this issue, but I realize now that without the right mindset, they’re hollow. No amount of planning, preparation, or presentation is going to justify the time and effort involved in cooking for one unless you feel like you’re worth it.

For me, there’s one simple trick that gets me in the right frame of mind every time. When I get ready to cook my meals for the week, I pretend – just for a few moments – that I’m getting ready to feed a friend for the week. I imagine my best friend is staying with me for the next five days, and I’m preparing her food in advance. It’s incredibly easy to get excited about scrubbing potatoes when envisioning the fun that I’ll have serving a warm meal of roasted veggies marinated in olive oil and sprinkled with rosemary to my dearest friend in the world.

Then, when I’m already smiling at the thought, I just remind myself that, oh yeah – that friend is me. And I am going to feel delighted when I come home to a home-cooked meal made especially for my tired, hungry, hard-working self.

But… Isn’t that a bit much? A bit silly? A bit too self-absorbed?

If this idea makes you feel awkward or self-conscious, or makes you worried that you’ll turn into a total self-absorbed jerk if you show yourself that much care and love, consider this:

The Buddha said, “You can search throughout the entire universe for someone who is more deserving of your love and affection than you, and you will not find that person anywhere. You, as much as anyone else in the universe, deserve your love and affection.” The least you can do is serve yourself a meal prepared with genuine love.

And listen, if cooking really isn’t your thing, then spend some time planning out your shopping list and making sure you buy ready-made meals that you like and will nourish your body. And for heaven’s sake, once it comes out of the microwave, put your food on a plate and make it pretty. You’re worth the fuss of washing a plate, aren’t you?

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For women who live alone (especially those who work from home or don’t care much for cooking), meal times can be neglected or non-existent. If eating solo starts to feel lonesome, or if eating itself has turned into something of a necessary evil, this post is for you.

So how can you enjoy eating alone?

Take Your Time

First and foremost, set aside a few moments to eat. I’m definitely guilty of balancing a microwaved meal at my computer, but this is not the time to multi-task. If you eat while distracted, you don’t notice the taste and texture of your food the way you can when you’re focused on it. That means you enjoy it less (which can lead to eating more). Beyond that, it also contributes to unnecessary weight gain. Eating only needs to take ten minutes out of your day, so give your health the time it deserves.

Eat Something Tasty

It’s difficult to enjoy any meal, especially a solitary one, when you don’t like the food. Part of self care is eating food that both you and your body love, so make sure whatever you grab is something delicious. If you’re not sure how to fit a scrumptious meal for one into your day, check out How to Enjoy Cooking for One.

Presentation is Everything

One of the reasons meals eaten around a dinner table so enjoyable is because the food is well-presented. As I mentioned earlier, I’m definitely guilty of eating right out of the freezer tray, but it’s important to take the time to pop it on a plate.

Clear Out the Clutter

While you’re at it, try to make sure you’re eating in a pleasant area. If you can barely fit your food in between towers of books and unopened mail on the kitchen table, that’s not exactly an upscale atmosphere. Whether you’re sitting at a dining room table or a comfy couch, make sure you’re eating in a peaceful environment.

Listen to Music

I know I just got done telling you to cut out the distractions, but music can be an exception. If you’re the type to get restless and antsy without anything to occupy your mind, some background music usually helps. Just turn on a favorite song to help keep your mind from wandering away from your meal.

Putting it All Together

Each of these small changes will only add a few minutes to your day, but the results will be amazing! Pausing to eat a delicious, well-presented meal in a distraction-free environment will do wonders for your mental and physical states. Moreover, what was once a dull or rushed 5 minute meal can become one of the most enjoyable parts of your day.

 

Have you tried implementing these changes? Let us know in the comments below how it worked for you.

Want to see more great tips about cooking for one? Follow my Pinterest board:

Whether you love to cook or you’ve never even used your stove top, cooking for one can be a challenge. This guide will show you can you can enjoy cooking for one no matter what your dining preferences are.

If you really enjoy preparing a good meal, you may be annoyed by how difficult it is to scale your dinner down to prevent a ton of waste, or it can even leave you with a lonely feeling to do all that work for a single plate.

If you (like me) like to grab something fast and simple, you’ve probably already realized that you’re either going to be eating a lot of super-processed food or spending a small fortune on healthy individual meals.

Fortunately, there are several ways you can make cooking for yourself an enjoyable experience.

Be Prepared

Meal planning is key to having a pleasant single dining experience. Take one or two days a week (preferably a day when you don’t have to work) and make your meals for the week. If you’re an amateur chef, you can make these as elaborate as you like without worrying about wasting extra ingredients. And if you want to do the bare minimum amount of prep work, there are a multitude of quick and easy freezer recipes (see below) to help you out.

How to Cook and Package Single Serving Freezer meals from Once A Month Meals

11 Easy Single-Serve Dinner Recipes from PureWow

Prepare What You Love

One of the very best things about being single is that you get to make all of your own decisions, and that includes eating whatever you want. Don’t settle for the perfectly portioned meal of acceptable nutritional value you found in the “meals for singles” section at Target. If what you really want is a tomato mozzarella panini, toast one up and enjoy! If you like it, there’s a single-serving or meal-prep recipe out there for it.

Wrap It Up Nice

Nothing sours a delicious defrosted meal like the dull aftertaste of freezer burn. Safeguard your hard work by keeping your meals in refrigerator- and freezer-safe containers. Make sure they’re microwave and dishwasher safe so reheating and cleanup are a breeze.

 

Just following these simple steps can take your cooking experience from annoying-at-best to absolutely appetizing. And if you’d like to follow up an positive cooking experience with a positive dining experience, check out How to Enjoy Eating Alone.

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