Senior Citizens: If you live alone do you cook every meal individually or do you prepare enough?

Question

for tomorrow and freeze a portion, maybe, for next week?

I am preparing a stew right now, some for this evening and a portion for tomorrow. I don't like potatoes after they have been frozen so there are enough potatoes in for 2 days and the other mixed vegetables and meat for 3 days so a portion without potatoes will be frozen and eaten another day with either fresh potatoes or chips. I was given a pressure cooker for Christmas and this makes some meals very quick to cook; stews in particular. I haven't had one for years until this one but had one for decades when the family was all still living at home.

Answer 1

I cook enough for several meals and freeze some for later. So I may actually cook once or twice a week is all.

Answer 2

I used to cook one big pot of something (soup, stew, chili, etc.) and eat it all week, would put any leftover in tubs in the freezer. But found the freezer getting jammed packed with food to the point you couldn't put anything more into it. Since I don't mark these things (date or what it is in side the tubs), in 6 months it was all a guessing game: "so, how long would you say this chunk of iceberg has been in there and do you think it's still safe to eat now?" and "what is this grey-green stuff anyway and was it supposed to be this color or did it turn this color with time??" Since I found we don't tend to eat the leftovers I put into the freezer--ever--I have stopped doing that and now, when I cook, I cook way smaller portions, just enough to eat at one meal. Or at most, if we don't finish eating it within 3 days, it gets put out for composting (thems the rules). This past fall, I had to purge the freezer of all the stuff in there that I no longer recognized (which was all of it), took out a couple big Hefty bags full of frozen food (to composting) which is a waste. I go food shopping a couple times a week (it gives me somewhere to aim for while I get my exercise since I walk to and from the store which is about 20 blocks away) since I like fresh vegetables, fruits and meats. Plus I cannot eat the way I used to, have to be more careful about what I eat too (health reasons). So I don't do the big cooking anymore.

Answer 3

My daily sandwich costs maybe a dollar and is made up of coleslaw that i make and a slice of ham on bread.

Other days I might heat up some noodles (2 minutes) and pour ragu on it with a slice or two of bread, total time to fix is 4 minutes.

Mac and cheese is the same, heat the noodles and pour on the sauce (2 minutes)

I had a black bean sandwich the other day that was real tasty. Total time to fix 3 minutes.

Today I had lima beans. Total time to fix 2 minutes.



Potatoes can be made in many ways but usually I make the red skinned potatoes into potato chips (they're sweet) or sweet potato chips. But I like making potato salad and will have that for two days.



then I go to subway for a BMT.



when I run out of ideas I get the banquet frozen meals, or a pizza, or a whole chicken already baked from the grocery store.

Answer 4

Both, I might roast a turkey then just eat cold turkey or heated up turkey. I made a tiny turkey last time and boiled the bones so last night I boiled pasta in the broth and added some cooked turkey, had leftovers for breakfast and will freeze the rest of the broth and meat. Most times I just browse for food so might eat an apple or some crackers or a grilled cheese sandwich. I make home made bean and veggie soup every couple of weeks sometimes with chicken so will use turkey broth and turkey meat to make bean soup then eat soup when hungry.



I don't make fixed meals for myself might have a meal at 10-11 and one at 6 then a snack later whatever seems like a good idea. I defrosted the big freezer last week so brought frozen beets in thawed yesterday so later when not full from turkey and pasta I will have a meal of only beets. I bought a 25lb bag of beets once so cooked, peeled, sliced and froze them so I know they are just beets with no salt or anything.

Answer 5

I hate to eat every day the same stuff and to heat a cooked meal from yesterday. You should compose meals you like, about 14 different or more, write it down with all the details such as the ingredients you have to have at home. Try to eat everyday rice or patatoes or spagetti + meat or fish + veggies. These 3 elements are crucial.

NEVER eat factory composed meals which you throw in the microwave. It's very bad for you. Veggies you can get frozen if not available fresh. Eat at least one apple a day (which keeps the doctor way).

Have a glass of red wine every night, I advise Chilean red wine, which has the highest contend of antitoxins.



Drink a cup of coffee in the morning and tea in the afternoon.

Very important don't use any SUGAR and NO SALT, I do this for over 3 years and fully acquainted.

result - no cholesterol - great heart beat - and sexually UP.

Answer 6

I am the queen of leftovers. When I cook, I make enough for at least a couple of days. Sometimes I freeze food but more often than not, end up tossing it out. With just me in the house now, I find that I tend to graze more than eat. I will often make up meals out of strange things....peanut butter crackers and an apple will work. I'm not picky about food. And when I eat out, which is pretty often, I'll always take home the leftovers (mine and your's too if you don't eat it all). You can make a pretty good taco out of a flour tortilla and some fried chicken or steamed vegetables.

Answer 7

I mostly cook each day's meals one at a time on the day. There are some dishes, however, when I consider it impracticable to reduce the menu so I consume each of them over several days: beef and cabbage stew, chili con carne, or sometimes, pancakes and maple syrup at breakfast (the pancake mix lasts for three days). I also bake bread fortnightly, two loaves at a time, freezing the second loaf to be thawed and used for the second week. Otherwise I only use my freezer for newly purchased food that I play to thaw and cook later (e.g. I buy fish from a market stall that only opens on Friday and I freeze immediately all but that day's consumption). I typically cook potatoes or rice, vegetables and a piece of fish all together in my pressure cooker. My younger daughter likes my cooking enough to visit me on her non-working days just early enough for me to be able to double what I intend to cook for lunch..

Answer 8

I don't live alone but it's just the two of us. When I cook I try to make sure there is enough to freeze half of it for another meal somewhere down the road. I have sloppy joes, taco meat, chicken noodle soup, spaghetti sauce, chili, and golombkis in the freezer right now.

Answer 9

I eat a lot of veggies and just love my pinto beans. I cook large pots of pinto and pots of navy beans and freeze them in portion sizes. Most thing I cook will do for several meals and I eat out often. I do like to cook but not big on cleaning up and doing dishes...and I have a dishwasher. Food just tastes so much better when someone else cooks it and it gets set in front of you...especially breakfast....oh and Thanksgiving with turkey and all the goodies.

Answer 10

Not exactly, but neither my husband and I are big eaters, so when I make a meal I usually freeze a lot of stuff. Chicken broth or any kind of gravy and whatever's left over of the meat. It makes for some funny pot luck dishes, especially when I neglect to label the plastic bags, but they're easy to reheat. Like you, I like to put fresh veggies in the frozen goop. Makes pretty good soups. I just bought one of those really nice OXO cookie scoops, and I liked it so much, I ordered another, larger one for shaping meat patties. So I'll make up a whole bunch of sausage patties or meatballs, fry them up and freeze them right along with the drippings. So easy to reheat and eat, or make a nice milk gravy and have sausage gravy with homemade biscuits and eggs.

Answer 11

I don't cook really.

If I have lamb chops that is it with a veggie. I don't cook ahead.

The very idea of heating up something I froze is depressing to me. Maybe not so much if I wasn't alone.

I don't have potatoes and pasta or bread in the house.

I also eat out .

Answer 12

Two years ago I was diagnosed with IBS and given a long list of what not to eat and another of what I might be able to eat.

I was told to only try one item at a time from the second list. Eat it and see what happens and whether or not it upset me I was not to try anything else on the list for a month..... It will take me forever to try everything!

I'm also lactose intolerant and a vegan.... So, you can imagine I am a very fussy eater and planning a menu for the day can be a major operation. But it makes life interesting when living alone. I'm not likely to succumb to the supermarket ready meal.

Answer 13

Both. I always have things in the freezer I have cooked in batches, and 2-3 times a week I will cook from scratch.

Answer 14

My single senior friend loves to cook but she also knows there are times when she doesn't feel well enough to cook so sometimes cooks extras and keeps meals in the freeze for those times.

Answer 15

TV dinners can be microwaved on demand - when you get hungry.



It takes a bit of experimenting to find good ones - some are terrible.