The healthy singleton plate

Depending how you look at it, cooking for one can be a total pain or it can be a gift from the food gods.

On the up side you can make whatever you want. Just think; no one telling you they really hate what you just made and are there any other choices tonight? Which always goes over like a lead balloon at my house; I may be a lot of things, but a short order cook I'm not.

The downside?

You can end up eating an entire carton of artery clogging Haagen Dazs for supper. Been there, done that one, but depending on what life is dishing out that week, maybe not such a downside.

Many years ago when my ex-husband and I first split up and my young son went off to Daddy's for the weekend there was many a Friday night that M&M's and a bag of popcorn became my dinner of choice. I felt like a little kid whose parents had left them to their own devices, sneaking treats instead of sitting down to a prepared dinner of lean protein, complex carbs, and some colourful veggies. It was the health equivalent of running buck naked with scissors.

Most people tend to neglect themselves and their eating habits when it's just them at dinner time. It took years before I realized that I was important enough to cook for; to serve Dinner for One.

Me and my GE freezer became best friends. I'd make extra chili, spaghetti sauce, soup, and casseroles and freeze individual servings for weekends alone.

I discovered washing lettuce, spinning dry, wrapping in paper towels, and storing in a plastic bag in the fridge made solo salads easier to prepare and reduced the dreaded slime action of wet greens in the veggie drawer; de-sliming your crisper is not a fun Friday night activity. I like to chop up some romaine, cucumber, green onion, toss in thawed frozen peas, and sprinkle on drained and rinsed canned chickpeas, add a heart healthy salad dressing and dinner's ready. Change it up and add ¼ cup (60 mL) walnuts which is a meat alternate, or some canned salmon, or one of those mini tins of tuna.*

Dinners a la uno don't have to complicated or time consuming. Case in point: there's always my World Famous Grilled French Toast PB Sandwich Recipe which I appropriated then manipulated from the Peanut Bureau. Make a regular peanut butter sandwich on whole grain whole wheat bread, add some slices of banana. Whisk up an omega-3 egg with about ¼ cup (60 mL) skim or low fat soy milk and about ¼ tsp. (2 mL) ground cinnamon. Dip the sandwich in so that both sides of the bread are coated with the egg mixture. Heat up a frying pan on medium heat, add a little canola oil. Place the sandwich into the frying pan and cook both sides till golden brown. Serve on a plate, pour on a tiny bit of maple syrup, and sit down at the table with cutlery, no eating over the sink or in front of the TV; which will make it feel more like dinner and less like a snack.

When it comes to fruits and veggies if buying a variety ends up rotting in the crisper of your fridge either buy smaller quantities or try buying fruit or veggie trays, yes they are more expensive but you may end up saving money in the long run because of less waste.

Steer clear of the frozen main meal aisle unless you are willing to read a lot of labels. Most of them are too high in sodium. Check out the sodium and if it's fewer than 500 mg per serving then it's on the best that's there list. And good luck to you on that little foraging adventure.

I'm a big fan of microwaved potatoes with beans over top. Check out my previous blog: The lowly spud for that recipe idea.

Try making a pot of chili on day one. Day two spoon heated over a baked potato, day three make nachos with sodium reduced trans fat free 100% corn chips, low fat sour cream, and fresh salsa from the deli department. Serve them all with a salad and you are good to go.

Don't forget eggs. Scrambled, poached, hard cooked they are a natural for solo dinners. Check out www.eggs.ca for more recipe ideas.

Fresh or frozen fish may in fact be the perfect fast singleton food. Buy individual frozen fillets, take a serving out of the freezer and place in the fridge for the next day. Steam, poach, or broil and it will be ready in about 5-10 minutes depending on the thickness. Serve with frozen or fresh veggies.

Make a pot of brown rice once a week and then create recipes using the leftover cooked rice; for my recipe for Sensationally Simple Stir Fried Rice click on As Seen on BT April 25, 2008. For singletons cut the recipe in half and you have dinner one night and lunch the next day.

I agree that cooking for one is challenging, but with some planning ahead of time you can pull it off. Remember you're worth it.


*According to Health Canada adults should limit their intake of fresh, frozen, or canned albacore tuna to no more than one meal per week. Pregnant women, women of child-bearing age and young children should be especially careful and limit their intake to no more than one meal a month.

It is important to note that this limiting advice does not apply to canned tuna. Canned tuna is subject to inspection and enforcement of the 0.5 ppm guideline. The use of smaller, younger tuna in the canning process makes it possible for mercury levels in canned tuna to fall within the 0.5 ppm guideline. Smaller, younger fish have not accumulated higher levels of this contaminant.
http://www.hc-sc.gc.ca/ahc-asc/media/advisories-avis/_2002/2002_41_e.html

The better choice is canned salmon chock full of those amazing omega-3's.