Living alone or with someone has its advantages and disadvantages. For students, living within dorms or have a roommate, it’s definitely a challenge, especially when you and your roommate have different tastes in design, the way things are done, and of course, food. Definitely, the easiest choice is to do takeouts. Not only does it avoid the pile of dirty dishes, it also removes the responsibility of cooking and leftovers can be eaten for later or the next day.
On the other hand, living alone can also pose a challenge because you should understand grocery shopping, food preparation, food serving, and food waste. You can still choose the easiest route, which is ordering takeouts, but that would be too expensive for one person. Cooking for yourself is the best choice.
To make things easier for students, we have tips that will make to easier to cook for one person, while learning more about minimising food waste and expenses on a weekly basis.
Learn How to Plan Meals
There’s a big difference when cooking for multiple people and for one. When cooking for many people or living with other people in the house, there are more grocery shopping duties and food quantity. You will not worry about food waste because there are many people who will eat food in your house. On the other hand, cooking for one person needs specific quantity compared to family-sized meals. If you don’t know how to plan out your meals, then it will be hard to eat every single food you bought at the grocery store last Sunday.
Here are some tips on planning:
- Buy ingredients that can be used on different recipes
- Plan on buying only a few varieties of vegetables and fruits
- Buy small amounts of produce enough for one or two recipes before buying new ones
- Learn to scale down recipes for one person
As a student, learning how to budget your money is essential. So, if you’re going to cook for yourself, one of the best ways to maximise your groceries is to buy ingredients that can be used on multiple recipes. Not only will this lessen the food wastage, but also your expenses.
Know what varieties of ingredients and fruits can be used on your meals to prevent overspending. Aside from this, learning how to scale down a recipe perfect for one person helps in identifying the number of ingredients you will need to buy for the week.
You can use a conversion chart to help you reduce the size of recipes. Or, you can use your mobile device’s conversion apps as a tool to convert huge servings into small portions. With these you can efficiently scale down recipes, helping you to cook for one or two persons. If you’re having a hard time cooking for one person, you can cook for two persons and enjoy the next meal on the next day.
Search for Easy Recipes
Since you’re still new, it’s advisable to search for easy recipes that your ability can do on a regular basis. Basic recipes that you can cling to on the first weeks of your home cooking sessions are sandwiches, omelettes, quesadillas, fried food, or even fried rice. After understanding a number of basic recipes, you can now take on other meals, such as pasta and more.
Aside from cooking the recipe over and over again, you can try different seasonings to add another depth of flavour to your omelette or even steak. Remember, seasonings are your friends. Seasonings help lift your “boring food” into something. However, seasonings are not your only option of adding flavour. You can use spices, sauces, and marinades to make ingredients too.
Imagine cooking a fried egg on a daily basis. But, when you add different spices, seasonings, or spices on every other day of the week, then you’ll get to taste different additional flavours of the same meal. Learning to become creative with these ingredients will help avoid getting bored of eating the same flavour every day.
Slow Cookers are a Great Help
As a student, there are hectic days when exams or project deadlines are drawing near. This is where a slow cooker comes in. As a student, you can already place ingredients in the morning and let the slow cooker do the job of cooking your food while you are at school or work. And as you get home, you already have a delicious meal waiting to welcome you home.
There are many types of slow cookers, among of these types are the ones that offer various functions, such as slow cooking and even hot pot meals.
Slow cookers come in different sizes. There are the standard ones that are perfect to cook large servings or a whole family or even a party. But, since you are cooking for yourself, you can get a smaller version. Buying a smaller version of a slow cooker will help you visualise how much is a serving for one or two people.
Learn How to Cook
It’s true that you can learn how to cook at home, but if you want to also make a career out of your passion, one option is to go to school. Start your culinary journey through commercial cookery courses at MCIE and learn from famous chefs on how to create gastronomic masterpieces and mouth watering treats.
For enquiries, contact MCIE today: Call: 1300 737 004 from Monday to Friday at 9:00 am to 5:00 pm or Email: email info@mcie.edu.au or visit the Contact Us Page: https://www.mcie.edu.au/contact/
