A few months ago, my husband was away for a week on a skiing trip. I admit that I quite enjoy a week where it’s just me and the pets. I control the TV narrative. I can stay up late reading in bed. I can get up as early as I want with no one complaining…The occasional week off really works for me…But what I think works the most for me is eating what I want to eat at every meal…
I love food.
I love to cook.
I love trying new recipes.
However…
When I’m by myself, unless I’m meeting up with friends, I could exist on the following:
- Quesadilla- tortilla, cheese, tomato.
- Salad- spring mix, cucumber, tomato and maybe one other seasonal veggie
- Eggs- scrambled with a drop of cheese and mushrooms and dill
- granola (I am currently obsessed with Trader Joe’s cinnamon roll granola) with milk and berries
- fruit- apples, mango, banana, raspberries, blackberries, purple seedless grapes, mandarins, peaches, strawberries are top of the pile
- egg noodles (or any flat noodle pasta) with butter and parmesan and peas and mushrooms
- fresh popped popcorn
If I were to never cook/meal prep for another person, I think I would just rotate these six things. In fact, when my husband was away, these were the things I ate when I ate by myself.
Why?
I guess I like simple foods when it comes right down to it. Fresh from the farmers market or TJ’s- easy to prepare, easy to clean up, and tasty. These simple foods bring me immense joy when I am cooking for myself.
Sure, I LOVE going out to eat and trying things that I would never make at home. Occasionally I’m going to want a slice of really good bread or a chewy ginger molasses cookie. Of course cheeseburger and fries…
But…
For the most part, that list at the top…those are the products which would lease space in my fridge and cabinet…unless I had a craving I don’t know how many other things I would actually buy…
I get that I am someone who is always up for trying new things- that I’m curious by nature and always questioning…
But even with my ache to read and explore and see new and different…I’m really just a simple person at heart, who rarely gets bored because I try to find the extraordinary in the ordinary…
What about you? If you were only responsible for yourself, what would you choose to buy at the market and eat on the regular? Do you need a wide variety of food, or are you OK with the same few foods?
What does your meal planning game look like?
Waking up on the Wrong Side of 50 
I think we’re pretty alike in this regard, LA. I love cooking and trying new recipes, but the times where I’ve been home alone for a week, I pretty much exclusively eaten chicken and seasonal veggies, either baked or sauteed.
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It’s just satisfying!
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Interesting question. I’m the opposite. My husband has been away since March so I’ve had lots of time on my own. He won’t eat much fish, no seafood and only chicken or turkey. So im in my element …. lots of prawns, salmon, trout, beef, lamb etc. But I love cooking … I’ll maybe make something for dinner that I wouldn’t normally make and either start stocking up the freezer or it becomes lunches when I’m on campus.
I agree it is great to have that freedom, but for me, sometimes it involves more rather than less cooking
I’m still not sure when he’ll return, so im making the most of my freedom 😁
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I totally get what you’re saying. If I was really craving something I would go all out too…I’ve been know to make my own pasta when my husbands away and a satisfying sauce
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Bread, cheese, marmalade, apples, tea. No muss, no fuss, and delicious. Could subsist on this forever, and love having a break from extensive shopping and cooking.
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You are speaking my language!!
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Same. Planning meals is my most dreaded duty. I could eat from your list every week. But add soup when it’s cold outside.
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👍👍
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I’m fairly routine in my eating preferences- I eat seasonally and usually incorporate many of the same ingredients but every now and then I’ll have a craving for something like a hot dog, or bacon. That always makes me chuckle since I almost always eat vegetarian! There are truly real perks to living alone for sure when it comes to meals!
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Seasonal stuff is always the best
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Oh good golly, yes — that granola from Trader Joe’s…wow. I like your list, LA, and I find when I’m cooking for myself only, I prefer simple, too. And Deb’s comment made me giggle…I’m mostly a vegetarian, too…but there are weird cravings sometimes for bacon or pepperoni that I can’t resist. 😋
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It’s just nice to have certain favorites that are like old friends easy and always satisiying
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I love that — yes! Old friends. Reliable…no surprises!
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What is it about bacon? 😉
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I wish I knew…I feel such shame. 😉 There’s a breakfast place that I love and they make a spicy cayenne maple syrup coated bacon…and it’s like candy. Spicy, sweet, savory candy. 😋
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Yum!!!!
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It’s the little black dress of food…can be dressed up or down, and is always appropriate
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Yes to this: “…is always appropriate” for sure!
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This is also me. I used to meal plan when my children were younger, but I no longer do. I enjoy eating “snacky” meals. And I enjoy it when my husband travels because it allows me to do those same things. 😊
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👍👍👍👍👍
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I don’t really like to cook much so your list would work for me. Take the peas out of the pasta though. I’m not a fan of peas. I might put in some green beans instead.
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Just as good
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I agree with you on the food. Being alone I would exist fine on simple food and repeating my favorites, no problem!
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💗💗💗
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I’ve blogged in the past about how I get to eat different foods when Tara goes somewhere without me because she is an extremely picky eater. In fact, she’s got a wedding in Nevada in a few weeks that she’ll be attending solo, so I’m already planning out my meals for those five days!
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Oooh….looking forward to hear of your solo culinary adventures
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That’s a good question. Grilled cheese is my current comfort food that I crave. Greens, peas, beans, bananas, eggs with bacon, cauliflower and tomato. Melons, celery, apples and carrots
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Perfect choices!
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I think I’d be fine rotating between just a few foods. But I’m looking forward to trying the Birds Nest recipe you posted this weekend!
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💗💗💗
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My husband had meetings in Palm Springs the other week and I loved having two days to myself. It was a nice break, if you know what I mean. I treated myself to littleneck clams. One of my favorite treats is a bowl of steamed clams and we have one store with fresh, fresh seafood. I also like to make my self salads and ramen.
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I know exactly what you mean!
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😉
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If I were only responsible for myself, I would do as I did in Abu Dhabi, my year away in a hotel apt. I would go to the deli and order a little bit of this, a little bit of that, pickles, olives, cheese, prosciutto. And the next night, hummus, bread, and a new place to try for take out, maybe sushi.
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Perfect!
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When i was single, i made a lot of caseroles ate for both dinner & lunch at work.
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In general though, Jess and I really tend to eat a lot of the same things daily…she does het own thing for lunch, i do leftovers.
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That works
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We added some fresh mushrooms and baked sweet potatoes to our last salad, and they were divine! The mushrooms’ stems were white, not off-white, not dark, they were that fresh and that good: YUM!
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💗awesome!
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My husband eats very plain, boring food. He’s a meat and potatoes guy. Seriously, it’s meat and potatoes and nothing else. If it was just me, I would eat no meat, and no potatoes. I would experiment with vegetarian cooking.
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I find it funny that if my husbands not home I eat no meat, (but I do eat eggs.) and I really like meat, just not cooking it!
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I have never enjoyed cooking. Wish I did, but I just don’t. I could honestly eat a bowl of cereal for dinner or a PB&J. But if money were no object, I’d order takeout from my favorite East Indian restaurant. I figure 3 times a week would provide 3 other days of leftovers. I’d be set.
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That totally works
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I too easily find the extraordinary in the ordinary. And a week off to do your own thing, go at your own pace and eat what you want, sounds like bliss. I think I’d get lazy and do a lot of ordering in. Things like pizza and Indian food. And I’d make lots of spicy bean burritos. All the gluten, because he can’t have any. Yum!
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As I’m a fan of Indian….I totally get that!!
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Himself slowly – but steadily – took over the meal planning, prep and cooking some time ago. These days I don’t even get to produce weekend breakfast. I’ll admit to missing it, especially when I want something other than what he’s produced. Today was the third day he’d prepared a curry. Now, with my background you know I love Indian food. Thing is, his idea of Indian food is not my idea of Indian food, so… But most of the time, I feel very lucky indeed.
When I lived alone, I did tend towards fairly simple fare, with the odd bit of fancy mixed in.
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Having someone else cook is pretty good but I get it
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I wish my husband would go away for a week.
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To answer the question, though, this is why I like solo weekend vacays…I hate negotiating what to eat or someone questioning why I want to eat at the same place we just ate at the night before.
Anywho, if I was at home alone, then I would eat a lot of Indian food. I make a really good chickpea masala that I could eat every flipping day.
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Totally works for me
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👍👍👍
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If you were only responsible for yourself, what would you choose to buy at the market and eat on the regular? Tortillas, shredded cheese, bagels and English muffins, eggs, frozen veggies, canned tuna, snack size packages of just about anything, preferably nonperishable.
Do you need a wide variety of food, or are you OK with the same few foods? Even with the above I still oftentimes self-justify many of my purchases by only buying these when they’re on sale or sometimes at a big box store. If I stumble across something (like egg rolls at Aldi) that looks like it’s a good price, is relatively low calorie and can be easily broken up/down into single serving size, then I buy that. That last bit accounts for most of the variety I might add to my usual fare. Once in a very great while, I might treat myself to a food that I have a yen for, but even then only if it’s on sale. A few months ago, I bought myself a steak. Of course, it was on sale. But then, in order to cook (broil)/eat it, I had to buy myself a new broiler pan. The one I got at Target was not on sale but was the lowest priced one I could find. Even then, I waited probably another month before I got around to cooking and eating the steak.
What does your meal planning game look like? Now that I’m feeding only myself, it’s getting hard to justify even big box purchases. See above.
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