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My partner and I are making the effort to both save money and eat healthier, which means more cooking at home. The problem is, it’s just the two of us. With recipes in most cookbooks and websites ranging for 4-to-6 servings per recipe, this usually means we have a LOT of leftovers. As in “you’d better like this because we’re having it all next week.”We have been halving the recipes we’re eating, but often this doesn’t work — the smaller sizes cook too fast and get scorched. I do know there’s a learning curve for cooking, but we’d like to feed each other something besides canned soup and sandwiches or take-out while we’re learning.
Does anyone have any suggestions for cookbooks/websites that specialize in smaller portions, or any reducing portion size tips you’d like to pass on to a novice? -Gracie
We have a whole tag devoted to cooking for one. But let’s talk about cooking for two! Here are some cookbooks I found…
What are your recommendations? There’s NO WAY Megan’s going to be any help on this one…
While I have NO problem with leftovers (hello lunch!), I’ve found that most recipes from the following cookbook are designed for 2 in mind.
Donna Hay’s Fast, Fresh, Simple I don’t know if you mob have Donna Hay in the states, but she’s quite popular on the Australian cooking scene. Right up there with Jamie Oliver 🙂
I particularly enjoy her Brussels Sprout pasta (something I never thought I’d ever say)
A great book with recipes mostly serving 2 people is “5 ingredients, 10 minutes”. Extremely healthy, not too expensive and really delicious! Even my boyfriend liked those!
As for leftovers – you could always freeze them – add name and date on a sticker so you know whether you’re heating leftovers or going on an archaeological adventure, and you’ll be set.
We often take last night’s leftovers to work as office lunch the next day.
I love not your mothers crockpot cooking for two. I made and enjoyed many of the recipes from it, which is more the I can say for other cookbooks
Better Homes and Gardens has a book out called So Easy Slow Cooker. Most of it is very two person friendly, there are sections for vegetarian/vegetables/desserts as well as the more regular crockpot meat dishes. One word of caution, some of the recipes specify the size of slow cooker to use. Which can mess things up if you have not enough stuff inside for the larger ones (been there, done that!).
I hate leftovers so I usually try to make either a chunk-o-meat that can be reinvented (40 Garlic Clove chicken in the slow cooker is my go-to, because everything is better with garlic) or I make things that can be turned into soup. Which means soup at least once every two weeks all year (if not once a week) and occasionally the soups are a bit interesting. I always have the following in my pantry: some sort of broth-booster (bouillon, real broth, those little jello-like stock things), cans of tomatoes, cans of beans, those little green mung beans, small star pasta, barley. All excellent things to take a meal from proto-soup to real soup.
I have to recommend http://www.wafflehearts.com (it’s my friend’s site and I think it’s awesome!) Almost all of the recipes make 1 or 2 servings, and it’s focused on healthy eating, so that’s two of your requirements already! I’ve made a good few of the recipes and I really like them. The site has a mixture of vegetarian, vegan, and meat and fish dishes, and has everything tagged for people on special diets as well.
My advice: In a two-person household, there is never any reason to make more than a cup of rice.
I use http://emeals.com/. We pay about five dollars a month and they send us weekly dinner menus for two and the accompanying grocery list (they also have apps for your phone now). The best parts are the variety of dinner plans (they have 11 right now) and that on the natural and organic plan we can chose Whole Foods as our store and they’ll base the menu off what’s on sale this week. Yes, I could do this all on my own, but I’m lazy and usually end up making the same 10 meals. This gives me new meals to try and ends up saving money.
I enthusiastically recommend http://www.cautiouslydomestic.com. Though some recipes still serve 4, there are often tips for how to reuse leftovers in other recipes later in the week. The emphasis is on easy meal-planning and cooking on a budget–around $50 per week. Good mix of meat, veg, gf options. And hilarious to boot.
One of my favorite healthy cooking websites is http://www.skinnytaste.com!
It doesn’t necessarily specialize in smaller portions, but I’ve never had much of a problem scaling it down to cook for two. Generally unless it’s being baked in the oven, I don’t pay very close attention the cooking time a recipe calls for. For meat if I can’t tell I just cut it open to check the middle or use a meat thermometer. For other things that won’t kill me if eaten raw, like vegetables, I just eat one to see if it needs a little more time. For rice, quinoa or cous cous, just be sure to keep the water to grain ratio the same and the cook time should stay accurate.
Don’t be afraid to check things too often when you’re just learning- you’ll get the hang of it!
And now for shameless self promotion- I just blogged about my recipe that makes only two cupcakes- not healthy per say, but perfect portion control! http://whitneymakes.wordpress.com/2013/06/27/chocolate-cupcakes-for-two/
All of this sounds like great advice, but why has no one mentioned the simple concept of dividing the recipe? I’ve been cooking for 1-2 for 18 years, and this is what I do. It’s not difficult. If it’s for 6 people, divide it by 3. Eureka! You’ve got a recipe for two! Maybe this won’t be ideal for a whole chicken recipe, but perhaps you could use chicken pieces instead.