You’re probably familiar with the term “investment cooking”.  It often shows up on Pinterest as “make a month’s worth of meals in an hour” or some similar tag line.  This works great — if you’re trying to get dinner on the table every night for your family of six.  But when you’re just cooking for one or two people, you can easily fall into a very nasty trap:  you end up eating the same thing.  Every night.  For days.

It’s no wonder senior citizens can get tempted to eat out every night of the week.

So how do you solve this problem?  Can you feed yourself without over cooking, over eating, getting bored or resorting to eating out every night?

Yes.
Prepping a meal for myself rarely takes more more than ten minutes.
Most of the time it takes me less than five minutes.

When most of ‘the experts’ talk about investment cooking, they talk about stocking your pantry, fridge and freezer.  But when you’re cooking for just one or two people, your fridge will probably end up on the lowest end of your kitchen storage solutions.  Mostly because things just don’t stay fresh in the fridge all that long, so there’s not a lot of things that you can store in there for extended periods of time.  My fridge usually ends up collecting my leftovers, single-serving drinks, and open condiment bottles (one of the few things that can and should be stored in the fridge for extended periods).  If you looked only in my fridge, you might assume that I didn’t cook.

Not so.  If you properly stock your pantry and freezer you should always be able to feed yourself without having to go out to eat (unless, of course, you really, really want to go out to eat).

A Level One shopping list
BREAKFAST

• Eggs 
  
• Greek Yogurt  
  Okay, so there are two things that you can buy and keep in your fridge for extended periods of time.  Although I am really getting into making your own yogurt (which I will discuss at length eventually — it’s super easy if you have the right equipment in your kitchen), I think it’s perfectly fine to keep containers of flavored yogurt as a quick and easy high protein breakfast.  And eggs are a quick way to pull together a simple meal at any time of the day (although I mostly eat them for breakfast).
  
• Cereal
  I know, I know — granola is the typical mix-in for greek yogurt.  However, granola is really high in sugar and calories for something that has such a tiny serving size.  Look at the label:  the serving size on most granolas is somewhere between 1/4 and 1/3rd of a cup.  There are all sorts of healthy cereals out there that you can use to add that texture and crunch to your quickie yogurt breakfast.  Personally, I’m a big fan of the Nature’s Path line, but feel free to pick up any healthy cereal you like.

LUNCH AND DINNER

• Frozen dinners and canned soups/meals:  Okay, I will admit that I like to keep a couple of these on hand for emergencies.  But as I’ve found better and better cooking techniques that allow me to have a fresh meal for myself whenever I want it, I rely on these meals less and less.  However, getting to this point does take some time to have your investment cooking pay off, so if it’s a choice between a frozen meal and hitting the drive thru — you will be better off with the frozen meal 99% of the time.  And a frozen entree is still much less than 1/3rd the cost of eating out for the same meal.

• Frozen and canned vegetables:  One of the biggest knocks against frozen and canned meals is their lack of fruits and vegetables.  And it is a legitimate concern.  You will never be able to be totally healthy unless you have a large quantity of fruits and vegetables in your diet.  The default recommendation is that you get five servings of fruits and vegetables daily.  Most frozen entrees don’t even have one serving of vegetables — and a lot of them don’t have any.  This is the one thing where you should consider stocking up to be your first priority.  I usually estimate one box of frozen vegetables (or one small can of the canned if I can get them) for myself (two servings) and a small steamer bag (or a 16 oz can of the canned) if I’m cooking for me and my husband (the steamer bags are usually 3-4 servings).  It’s a great way to stretch some of those smaller ‘healthy’ frozen entrees (or canned pasta meals) since most of them are more sauce than actual food.
  
• Why not fresh vegetables?  There’s one big reason why I choose frozen and canned vegetables over fresh:  they keep.  Fresh fruits and vegetables will only last for a few days in your fridge, so if you overbuy (which you probably will), then you’re stuck with a large quantity of one item that you just have to use up or else you’re throwing money away.  And there is nothing quite as discouraging as throwing away massive quantities of food.  I would consider fresh fruits and vegetables to be a ‘stage three’ item:  until you’re much more confident with your cooking and meal planning skills, stick to the canned and freezer aisles.
  
• Frozen vegetable side dishes:  These little bags/boxes are the perfect half-step between living on frozen entrees and actually cooking for yourself.  These are boxes where a starch (like spaetzle, barley or red potatoes) is paired with a vegetable and sauce.  All you need to do is add a protein to the contents of the box and cook it according to the package directions to have a complete meal that will start to help you feel like you are actually taking care of yourself.
  
• Canned chicken/turkey/tuna/beans:  These are great to have on hand, although the sodium content can be borderline insane.  (And personally I’m not a fan of canned tuna.  Feels like I’m cooking for a cat.) Drain the water or oil from the can (and rinse that slimy canning liquid from beans) before using it in whatever you’re making.
  
• Frozen shrimp or meatballs: These are not cheap.  But they are both super quick cooking and incredibly versatile proteins that will keep for months in your freezer.  So when you swallow hard at the sight of the price tag on that bag of frozen shrimp at the store, just remind yourself how much money you’re saving by not eating out and put the bag in your cart.
  
• Imitation crab meat:  You might look at these little packages in the seafood section and be tempted to turn your nose up at them, thinking they they’re some sort of cheap ‘fake food’.  They’re actually made out of something called surimi, which is a paste made from whitefish that is cooked thin, rolled into a log and sliced into various sizes.  Think of it like a seafood sausage:  yes, it’s hyper-processed.  But it is a quick cooking protein that keeps really well in the freezer and it’s a cheaper protein option than shrimp and other shellfish.  Look for sales (these things come up on sale all the time) and throw a bunch of them in your freezer when they’re at their cheapest.  Speaking of which…
  
• Smoked sausage/kielbasa:  These are really tasty heat-and-eat proteins (since they’re smoked), but I know I don’t do well with splitting a package of sausage up into portions that can be eaten over time (a regular package of smoked sausage is 4-6 servings).  If you can find the cocktail smoked sausages (or pre-sliced smoked sausage) then by all means swap them out for any of the other protein options I’ve suggested here.
  
• Couscous:  If you haven’t heard of this wonderful little grain product and you’re trying to figure out how to cook for yourself, then you are missing out!  Couscous is made from durum wheat semolina (similar to pasta) that is broken up into these tiny little grains that cook almost as soon as they’re hit with boiling water.
  
  Here are the cooking instructions for one serving of plain, quick-cooking couscous: Mix a couple of pinches of salt (to taste) into 1/3 cup of couscous.  Add 1/2 cup of boiling water.  Let it sit for 5 minutes.  That’s it.  Couscous is the foundation grain in a recipe I’ve posted called “The Easiest Meal You’ll Ever Make”.  It is my number one go-to starch if I can’t think of anything else to cook for myself and it is the one starch I try to always keep on hand.  It can usually be found in the same aisle as the rice.
  
• Ready rice or pasta:  these are containers of pre-cooked and sometimes pre-flavored rice/pasta that have been vacuum sealed and ‘preserved’ for shelf-stable storage. It’s an okay starch in a pinch, but they’re ridiculously expensive when you look at what you’re getting for the price.  If you want to keep a couple of packages on hand, though, assume that one of those ‘cups’ is a serving for one person and one of those bags serves 2.  Otherwise, stick with the couscous.
  
• Pre-cooked rice and pasta: one of my favorite grocery innovations of the past ten years are the vacuum sealed packages of rice (both flavored and unflavored) and pasta that you can keep in the pantry for the base to a quick dinner at any time. There are pouch versions of just about any rice variety you can think of (and cups for those who are cooking for just themselves), while Barilla has an equivalent in pasta called “Ready Pasta”. It is definitely far more expensive than buying the dry stuff and cooking it yourself, but if you’re reguarly cooking for only yourself or just two people, these are a must-have staple to keep in your pantry.
  
• Salad dressings:  Although I’m trying to get away from using pre-bottled salad dressings (they’re loaded with preservatives), having a couple of bottles on hand is a quick and easy way to dress up the flavor of a dish.  I would buy three bottles to start:  Italian, an Asian-style vinaigrette and a fruity vinaigrette such as raspberry (it goes great with chicken and couscous).
  
• Salsa and/or spaghetti sauce:  Eventually we’ll get you away from this stuff in stage three (really!), but for now these can do a lot to add some flavor to a basic couscous-and-protein (or pouch pasta and protein) meal.  Salsa, in particular, is a great bulk pickup since 1/2 cup of a good chunky salsa counts as a vegetable serving.
  
• Bread, Peanut Butter and Jelly or cold cuts:  In case you need to brown bag sandwiches because your office doesn’t have a microwave.
  
• Breyer’s snack size ice cream cups or another ice cream novelty:  The number one issue most people have with just getting a plain old half-gallon of ice cream is portion control:  most people will serve themselves at least double the recommended 1/2 cup serving size. (And save pints of Haagen-Daaz and Ben & Jerry’s for post-breakup emotional eating, okay?) Even though they’re considerably more expensive than buying that half gallon of ice cream, buying ice cream cups and single-serve novelties are an easy way to have a nice little self-controllable treat.  I particularly like the Friendly’s sundae cups (when I can find them) because they feel super decadent without having a hyper-decadent calorie count.

If you keep the items from this shopping list on hand (and maybe post that couscous stir-fry recipe on your refrigerator), then you should have everything that you need to feed yourself from your own kitchen for at least a few days.  

So your mission, should you choose to accept it:  cook for yourself for three days out of this week:  One day of frozen entrees, one day where you add an easy-cook protein to a frozen vegetable side dish, and one day where you make a stir-fry (with couscous or pre-cooked rice).

Up for the challenge?  I’d love to hear how it turned out!  Let me know in the comments below.