Cooking is one of life’s greatest pleasures. Or so it seems until you live by yourself. Preparing healthy meals can be tough when cooking for just one person. Many recipes are geared towards feeding a family of four and up. Limited ingredients, recipes that never seem to turn out right, and the feeling of having to eat the same frozen dinner repeatedly can make turning for unhealthier options much easier.
Finding recipes that are easy to cook, don’t require a ton of ingredients, and have great nutritional value isn’t always straightforward, but once you figure it out, it changes everything. Plus, choosing home-cooked dinners helps to keep the waistline trim too!
Here are easy tips on how to cook healthy dinners for one person.
Make the Most of Leftovers
Whenever you cook, try to make extra so that you always have pre-made food in your refrigerator. That way, when you want something healthy to eat but don’t want to cook, you can just heat up some tasty leftovers. This is also great if meal planning isn’t really your thing.
Practice Meal Prep
Meal prepping is an efficient way to ensure that you are able to take advantage of pre-made healthy meals, whether it’s for lunch or dinner time. If meal prep is something brand-new for you, start small. Do things like chopping a bunch of veggies for easy salads and gatherieng ingredients for smoothies once the weekend rolls around.
Prioritize Your Grocery Shopping List
When grocery shopping, add items into your cart that are valuable sources of protein, such as hard-boiled eggs, canned fish or chicken breasts and frozen vegetables instead of processed foods (such as frozen pizza) with minimal nutritional value.
Try Different Recipes
Getting tired of eating the same type of dishes on week nights? Try different recipes online in your old cookbooks or online – there are plenty of resources with healthy recipes catered towards one-person meals!
[RECIPE] THAI FLATBREADS
Serves: 4
4 large gluten-free flatbreads
Sauce:
- 3/4 cup healthy dressing to choosing
- 1 tablespoon wheat-free tamari
- 1 clove garlic, minced
- 1/2 teaspoon ginger powder
- Sea salt and black pepper, to taste
Toppings:
- 2 15-ounce BPA-free black beans, drained and rinsed
- 1 cup grape tomatoes, halved
- 2 cups shredded purple cabbage
- 2 cups mung bean sprouts
- 1/4 cup each of fresh mint leaves, cilantro, and basil, roughly chopped
- 2 tablespoons Sriracha (optional)
For an omnivore option, substitute skillet pork or beef for the beans.
Directions:
- Warm the flatbreads if desired, then set them aside to keep warm.
- Whisk all sauce ingredients together in a small mixing bowl.
- Spread sauce evenly over the flatbreads.
- Divide toppings between the flatbreads. Slice into 4 to 6 pieces each and enjoy.
To Your Health,
Patti
