Hey everyone!
Time for another Sunday food prep post!
This week I made Flourless Oatmeal Berry Muffins (recipe and a special surprise tomorrow!), homemade pesto, chopped cucumber for salads, washed and spin dried romaine lettuce, kale washed and rubbed with olive oil, rinsed chickpeas, defrosted turkey meat for turkey pot pie, 5 bags of zucchini noodles for lunches, and of course hard boiled eggs.
The menu: This week, we’re having turkey pot pie for dinner for three nights, then we’re having chicken (for Nick) and salmon (for me) with mashed potatoes and green beans for two nights. Salads every night. I’m making myself zucchini noodles with pesto and chickpeas for lunch. All about eating clean lately. Pretty soon it will be swimsuit season!
6 Tips for Cooking For Two
It can be super hard to cook for two people. This was one of the biggest obstacles I had to climb when I moved in with my boyfriend! Food goes bad too quickly and sometimes we can’t eat things fast enough before they spoil. It seems like all recipes and packages of food are built for a family of 4-6. With some planning this can be easier.
1. Plan your meals at the beginning of every week. I like to plan on Sundays and then go to the grocery store after. We choose two meals that sound good and then eat it for a couple days in a row. Any leftovers are saved for lunch or dinner the next day.
2. Cook large batches of brown rice, quinoa, beans, chicken, etc and freeze in one-cup portion. Take out and add to recipes or eat with dinner. Frozen fruits and veggies are a perfectly healthy way to add variety to your diet and won’t spoil like fresh would. Make sure to read the labels, as sometimes frozen veggies come with a high sodium sauce.
3. Avoid bulk bags of fresh produce, such as apples or baby carrots. It’s not a good deal if you can’t eat them fast enough!
4. Eat the foods that spoil the quickest at the beginning of the week, like spinach and berries. Save the less-perishable foods such as sweet potatoes for later in the week.
5. The self serve bulk bins can be a good deal if you’re buying for two. You can buy however much dried fruit and grains you need. I like to buy pumpkin seeds and brown rice from the bulk bins.
6. Buy meat in bulk. Separate chicken breasts and turkey patties into individual freezer bags and freeze. This makes it easy to have small portions of meat on hand to cook quickly.
What are you cooking this week? Are you used to cooking for two?
Hi! I’m Emily, Registered Dietitian Nutritionist and self-taught intuitive chef. I firmly believe that cooking is the simplest and most important step we can take to improve our minds and bodies and build healthier communities. Join me and let’s bring food back to the kitchen!