Wednesday, September 2, 2009
Windsor Star
Author: Ted Whipp

Cooking for a crowd can be intimidating, but dinners for just one on a regular basis can be daunting, too.

Star readers regularly ask for advice, tips and inspiration on meal preparation for a single person, whether college student, senior widow or a professional who happens to be single.

Jeff White can relate. A chef and entrepreneur with his meals-to-go business, Just Jeff's Express, 3395 Howard Ave., he hears the comments and questions all the time from single customers and offers them delicious meals that can be a nutritious, homey alternative to takeout.

"Cooking for one is a lot harder than one might think," he assures, offering encouragement and support for the single person facing the prospect of assembling a meal alone.

The preparation and chores alone take almost as much work to cook for one as it does cooking for 10, he explains.

In turn, White says, people can feel overwhelmed. They needn't be, because a little planning and chores like chopping, slicing and dicing can go a long way.

"Marinate the foods you need. Plan a week ahead. Do things once, like chopping a whole onion, using what you need, storing the rest."

Find retailers who offer selection and are willing to provide service, such as Remark Farms and local butchers. Supermarkets, too, are recognizing the market. Metro recently branded its former A&P stores, bringing in new products such as small, special occasion cakes.

Appliances like a slow-cooker by their nature may seem like a device for big dinners. But they come in smaller sizes and still provide the convenience.

Besides, says White, making one large meal in advance can provide servings later in the week.

Mainly, says White, invest in good-quality storage containers easily cleaned and washed to provide convenience in meal planning.

White offers still more tips, tricks. Readers who can offer advice, suggestions and meal preparation work-arounds for the single cook can send them to twhipp@thestar.canwest.com and we'll offer them in coming weeks as they arrive with the food and dining column What's Cooking.

COOKING SINGLE: TIPS AND ADVICE

• Plan: The most important thing is to plan your meals, says White. Write them down once a week.
• Shop: Visit the food store once a week -- most food items will last that long in your fridge or freezer.
• Go big: One menu item of the week should be a bulk item, such as stew or large meal that can provide four to 10 servings which can be individually frozen.
• Specialty store: Buy all your meats and produce once a week, and they will last within a week. Get your chicken breast, pork chop, vegetables, salads etc. Consider, says White, that freshly prepared foods such as chopped fruit or vegetables can be as inexpensive as the raw items due to demand of that product. You can save time for preparation and avoid waste.
• Proper preparation: Don't just prep today's meal tonight. If you have to chop onions for Monday's dinner and fajitas are planned for Wednesday, prepare enough onions for both meals. You've saved time in preparation and washing utensils, too.
• Techniques: Best cooking methods for individual meals are barbecuing, pan-searing and stir-frying and broiling. Barbecue one portion at a time, but add another for stir-frying or using later in the week. Pan-searing and stir-frying provide easy meals with limited cookware involved. Broiling is convenient, especially for fish, chops and chicken breast.
• Research: Cookbooks, websites and even software can help make the work more interesting and entertaining, with more ideas.
• Accept dinner drudgery: "I wish I had a dime every time I heard 'I love to cook but don't have the time,' " says White. Cooking is the easy part, it's everything else like shopping, preparing and cleaning up that adds to the effort. "If we could have everything laid out in front of us and all we had to worry about was cooking it, we'd do it all the time. But someone has to prep it, someone has to shop for it, someone has to clean up after."