Buy the amount you need
The supermarket is packaged for a family of four, but several counters will sell you less. The butcher and the fish counter sell by the piece, so ask for one pork chop or a single six-ounce fillet. The salad bar is an expensive way to buy lunch and a cheap way to buy a quarter cup of sliced peppers or a handful of spinach for one recipe. Bulk bins let you buy half a cup of lentils instead of a two-pound bag.
Break down the family pack
Sometimes the big pack of chicken thighs really is the better price. Deal with it the day you bring it home.
- Keep out what you will cook in the next day or two.
- Wrap the rest in single portions, pressing out the air, and put them in a freezer bag.
- Flatten the bag so the portions freeze quickly and thaw evenly.
- Write the contents and the date on the bag before it goes into the freezer.
Bread gets the same treatment. Freeze the loaf sliced and toast slices straight from frozen.
Cook once, eat three ways
Eating the same chili four nights running is how people give up on cooking. Cook a plain component instead and change its direction. Roasted chicken thighs with rice and a vegetable on Monday become tacos on Tuesday and fried rice on Wednesday. Plan overlapping ingredients as well, so the bunch of cilantro or the can of coconut milk appears in two meals that week rather than one.
Scale the recipe down
Most savory recipes halve without trouble. The arithmetic gets easier if you remember that a tablespoon is three teaspoons and a quarter cup is four tablespoons. For half an egg, beat a whole one and use about two tablespoons. Use a smaller pan when you cut a recipe, because a thin layer of food in a big skillet scorches, and start checking for doneness well before the stated time. An eight-inch skillet, a two-quart saucepan and a quarter sheet pan are the right tools for one.
Save the odd ends
Spoon leftover tomato paste onto a lined plate a tablespoon at a time, freeze the blobs and bag them. Freeze leftover stock, wine and coconut milk in an ice cube tray. Fresh ginger keeps for months in the freezer and grates easily while frozen.
Tip Stock ingredients that forgive neglect. Eggs, cabbage, carrots, frozen peas, frozen spinach and a wedge of hard cheese all last for weeks and turn into dinner on short notice.
