One In The Kitchen is your go to resource for cooking and dining for one!
When it’s just you that you’re cooking for it can feel like the deck is stacked against you.
Recipes always seem to feed 4-6 people.
Groceries are more expensive when you buy the smaller package.
Who wants to clean up all that mess for that fancy dish when it’s just you eating it?
It’s enough to make you want to bake an entire batch of chocolate chip cookies to eat your feelings with – except your flour has gone all mealy because you weren’t able to use up that big bag all by yourself in time.
I guess it’s time to pick up your phone and get takeout delivered because who wants to eat alone in a restaurant?
It doesn’t have to be this way!
Here’s What You’ll Find at One In The Kitchen:
- single serving recipes designed for one (or two) people
- most of the recipes here are made from whole foods with occasional shortcuts – because sometimes I’m tired and I eat ramen noodles from a packet… only I make them “fancy”
- meal planning and meal prepping for one – because sometimes being just a tiny bit organized can make a big difference
- tips for running a kitchen for one: like pantry basics, grocery shopping tips, avoiding food waste, shopping economically and storing food
- the recipes I share are what I cook for myself. I eat all the things but I’m a mostly plant eating omnivore .
I want you to feel comfortable in the kitchen cooking for one.
I want you to always have something delicious close at hand to eat.
I want you to avoid throwing money out the window through wasted food.
Single Person Households Are On The Rise
In 2018, Statistics Canada announced that in the last Canadian census, single person households were the largest percentage of households in the country for the first time ever. There are more single person households than couples or couples with children. Let that sink in for a moment!
That’s a lot of people eating and cooking alone (even if they’re outgoing entertainers who love to feed a crowd once a week!).
Not only that but single people often have a lot less kitchen space and fewer food storage options so prep space, food shopping and food waste can be a challenge.
And yet almost all recipe websites and cookbooks are designed to feed families of at least three! So it’s time us solo cooks and diners had a place of our own because we deserve to have fun in the kitchen and we deserve healthy, delicious food that’s easy and quick to cook!
How This All Came About
I just wanted to avoid doing math.
Back in 2017 I was searching on-line for a single serving chia pudding recipe. All I wanted to know was the ratio of liquid to chia seeds (3:1 if you’re wondering. Here’s that chia pudding recipe.).
There are a million chia pudding recipes on the internet. But, at the time, none of them were single serving size.
So, I had to find another recipe and do the math for myself (I don’t enjoy math). The next time I wanted to make chia pudding, I’d forgotten the ratio. So, I had to do the math all over again. This time, I decided to put the recipe on my own blog so I’d always have it handy. I certainly didn’t think the world needed another chia pudding recipe. But I needed one where I didn’t have to do long division at 11pm at night!
That recipe became the most popular recipe on my blog at the time and I realized I might be on to something here!
I Don’t Live Alone!
Believe it or not, I don’t live alone. But I do live with possibly the fussiest meat and potatoes eater on the planet. Most of the groceries I buy will be eaten by nobody but me, especially if they resemble a vegetable.
5 or 6 times a week I find myself cooking solo. And while I love to cook, some days it’s a real challenge to get the inspiration or the inclination to put the effort in just for myself. That’s when I slap together a peanut butter sandwich or get takeout sushi.
When I started talk to friends about it I realized that this was waaaaay more common that I thought. Not only are there a lot of people living alone and cooking for themselves, there are also so many couples and families who cook entirely separate meals for one or more members for so many reasons:
- food allergies or intolerances
- one is vegetarian or vegan and the others are not
- following a specific diet for health or weight-loss reasons
- athletic training
- or, as in my case, one is a fussy eater and the other is way, way more adventurous.
And So Here We Are
And so here we are. We’re gonna to get ourselves functional, minimal waste pantries, we’re gonna toss a bunch of ingredients together, we’re gonna eat some delicious food and we’re gonna save a bunch of money in the process! Let’s get in the kitchen!