How I Cook for One Without Wasting Food

If you want to cook for one without wasting food, the trick isn’t to cook tiny, joyless portions of everything. It’s to use ingredients that can bend in a few directions.

Eggs can turn odds and ends into a proper meal. A tin of beans, chickpeas or tuna can rescue whatever’s left in the fridge. Rice, pasta, noodles and toast can all become easy solo dinners without leaving you with four portions of something you’re sick of by next Wednesday.

I’ve lived alone for most of my life, and I’m fine with the fact that I eat most meals alone, too.

Solo cooking though can be a drag, and it can also be tricky in terms of planning and resourcefulness, so I thought I’d cover a few basic premises of how I cook for one without wasting food in this post.

And to make it more pragmatic, I added three easy meals you can make with ordinary ingredients. 😋

Tip #1: Start with ingredients that do more than one job

The easiest way to waste less food is to stop buying ingredients that only work in one recipe.

Instead, I try to build my everyday meals around flexible basics:

• Eggs
• Rice, pasta, noodles, toast
• Frozen peas, spinach, broccoli or mixed veg
• Tinned tuna, beans, chickpeas or lentils
• Cheese, yoghurt, small portions of dairy products
• Onions, spring onions or cabbage
• Lemons, mustard, vinegar, pickles for flavour

You don’t need the perfect meal plan. You just need ingredients that can become several different meals before they start plotting against you from the back of the fridge or pantry.

Tip #2: Use the “base, protein, veg, flavour” formula

For solo cooking, a simple formula is easier than a strict recipe.

I generally pick one from each group:

Carb base: rice, pasta, noodles, couscous or bread
Protein: eggs, tuna, beans, chickpeas, cheese, yoghurt, leftover chicken or a frozen hamburger patty
Veg: spinach, peas, cabbage, broccoli, tomatoes, mushrooms, peppers, whatever was on sale!
Flavour: mustard, lemon, vinegar, herbs, chilli flakes, soy sauce, pickles

That gives you quick meals without buying a whole new set of ingredients every time.

Rice with egg, peas and soy sauce? Great meal.
Toast with beans, cheese and spring onion? Great meal.
Pasta with tuna, spinach and lemon? Also a great meal. You get the picture!

Tip #3: Don’t cook four portions unless you really want four portions

Batch cooking sounds sensible… until you’re eating the same lentil situation for the fourth day in a row and wondering where your life went wrong. 😅

For one person, smaller batch cooking often works better:

• Cook two portions if you genuinely want some leftovers for lunch tomorrow.
• Freeze extra portions if you do make more.
• When storing, keep toppings separate from bases. This gives you more flexibility.
• Use leftover cooked rice, pasta or veggies in a different meal the next day.
• Buy frozen vegetables for anything you only use in handfuls.

The aim here isn’t zero waste perfection. It’s to avoid having to throw away greens and leftovers that have become icky because you didn’t manage to finish them.

Recipe 1: Egg Fried Rice for One

Serves: 1
Time: 10–15 minutes with pre-cooked rice

This is one of the easiest ways to use leftover cooked rice. It’s quick, filling and doesn’t need much planning.

Ingredients

• 1 cup cooked rice (or use ready rice, it’s genius!)
• 1 egg
• 1 teaspoon oil
• 1 handful frozen peas, spinach, mixed veg or chopped cabbage
• 1 spring onion or a little chopped onion, optional
• 1 teaspoon soy sauce
• Salt and pepper
• Optional: chilli flakes, sesame seeds, leftover chicken, tofu or a squeeze of lemon

Method

1. Heat the oil in a small frying pan over medium heat.
2. Add the onion or spring onion if using, and cook for 1–2 minutes.
3. Add the frozen veg and cook until hot.
4. Push the veg to one side of the pan and crack in the egg.
5. Scramble the egg, then stir it through the vegetables.
6. Add the cooked rice and soy sauce.
7. Stir until everything is hot, then season with salt and pepper.

This is one of my go-to base recipes because you can basically add any small bits you have on hand that need using up: a random carrot, the three lonely mushrooms still hanging out in the crisper, a handful of cabbage, tofu, the last spoonful of frozen peas, whatever!

Recipe 2: Cheesy Broccoli Pasta for One

Serves: 1
Time: 15 minutes

This is a simple one-person pasta dinner that uses a small amount of cheese, a handful of broccoli and a splash of milk. I like this a lot for lunch during the colder months, when I’m working from home. Plus it feels comforting without leaving you with a giant pot of sauce.

Ingredients

• 75–90g bite-sized pasta
• 1 handful broccoli, fresh or frozen
• 1 teaspoon butter or olive oil
• 2–3 tablespoons milk, cream or oat milk
• 1 small handful grated cheese
• Salt and pepper
• Optional: mustard, chilli flakes, peas, spinach or a squeeze of lemon

Method

1. Cook the pasta according to instructions.
2. Add the broccoli for the last 3–4 minutes of cooking.
3. Drain the pasta and broccoli, keeping a splash of the cooking water.
4. Return everything to the warm pan.
5. Add the butter or olive oil, milk and grated cheese.
6. Stir gently until the cheese melts into a light sauce.
7. Add that splash of the cooking water if it looks too thick.
8. Season with salt and pepper. Season to taste with mustard, chilli flakes or lemon.

Recipe 3: Warm Lentils on Toast

Serves: 1
Time: 15–20 minutes

This is a simple, filling meal for the days when you want something warm but don’t want to cook a full dinner from scratch. It uses tinned lentils, a little tomato and a slice or two of toast, so it’s useful when the fridge is looking thin.

Ingredients

• ½ tin lentils, drained
• ½ tin chopped tomatoes, or 2–3 fresh tomatoes, chopped
• 1 teaspoon olive oil or butter
• ½ small onion, finely chopped, optional
• 1 big thick slice of toast or some smaller slices.
• Salt and pepper
• Optional: mustard, grated cheese, yoghurt, chilli flakes, Worcestershire sauce or a splash of vinegar

Method

1. Heat the olive oil or butter in a small pan over medium heat.
2. Add the onion if using, and cook for 3–4 minutes until softened.
3. Add the lentils and tomatoes.
4. Season with salt and pepper.
5. Simmer for 8–10 minutes, stirring now and then, until the mixture thickens slightly.
6. Add mustard, chilli flakes, vinegar or Worcestershire sauce if you want more flavour.
7. Toast the bread.
8. Spoon the warm lentils over the toast, or serve them in a bowl with toast on the side.
9. Add grated cheese or a spoonful of yoghurt if you like.

Variation: If you have spinach, cabbage or frozen peas, you could also stir in a handful near the end of cooking.

Tip #4: Keep a small “rescue shelf” in the cupboard

When you live alone, having a few shelf-stable basics make single-serving cooking much easier.

Good rescue ingredients include:

• Tinned fish
• Tinned beans and chickpeas
• Rice and pasta
• Instant couscous
• Stock cubes
• Oats
• Peanut butter
• Pickles
• Mustard
• Tomato purée
• Crackers and crispbread

These are useful because they don’t demand immediate attention. Fresh ingredients are needy. Tins and jars are patient!

Tip #5: Freeze small portions, not giant blocks

Freezing food helps, but only if you freeze it in portions you’ll use. You don’t want to be defrosting big portions and then freezing them again.

A freezer full of mystery bricks isn’t really helpful, either. Label things if you can. Even a Sharpie and a bit of tape with the date is better than playing the “Is this soup or regret?” roulette when you reach for it in three months.

Putting your faves on repeat makes it easier to cook for one without wasting food

You don’t need a new recipe every night. In fact, cooking for one is easier when you repeat a few flexible meals and change up some of the details.

One week, your fried rice might use peas and egg. Another time, it’s cabbage and leftover sirloin. Your pasta might use tuna today and chickpeas tomorrow. A tomato skillet can use beans, lentils or an egg, depending on what’s on hand.

That’s essentially how I waste less food without turning dinner and meal preps into a spreadsheet.

In the mood for potatoes instead of rice and pasta? Check out these super simple single-serving potato recipes I compiled!