Being a Solo Student Chef
Tips and recipes to cook for one
Robyn Welsh, Staff Writer
Whether you’re new to cooking, looking for new recipe options, or simply can’t figure out how to go from cooking for a large family to cooking for just yourself — don’t fret, here are a couple recipes and some tips and tricks to help.
Fresh Ricotta and Spinach Ravioli
Cooking for yourself can also be a form of self-care and give you some therapeutic alone time. Preparing food and making something delicious for yourself can make you feel awesome and set for the day | Photo by Robyn Welsh
This meal feels like a fancy Italian meal, but for way cheaper. The Olivieri ravioli is about $10 for a bag and can be found in the refrigerated pasta and pasta sauce section of your grocery store. This is a bit pricey for pasta — but one bag will last for about three meals and it is stuffed with cheese and spinach. Just make sure to pop what you don’t use in the fridge!
Ingredients:
- 1½-2 cups of Olivieri ravioli (about 20-25 pieces)
- ½ a cup of spinach
- 1 cup of Classico vodka sauce (or any sauce of your choosing)
- Parmesan cheese
- Bring a small pot of water to a boil
- Salt the water and put in the ravioli
- Let the ravioli cook for about 3-5 minutes
- Add in the spinach into the water during the final two minutes and drain the whole pot into a strainer
- Warm up your sauce for 30 seconds in the microwave
- Put the spinach and ravioli back into the pot and stir in your sauce
- Put in a bowl and sprinkle with parmesan
Enjoy!
Asian Style Stir Fry
The good thing about a stir fry is that you can throw in whatever vegetables you have on hand and substitute any kind of protein in. Also they are quick, easy to make and super tasty.
Pick your protein:
For chicken, chop up one breast and cook it for about 10 minutes until there is no pink and it is beginning to brown slightly. For shrimp you can buy cooked, frozen, tail-less shrimp to be sure that they are cooked properly. These take about five to 10 minutes to warm thoroughly at medium heat. Tofu is also an amazing option if you are unsure about cooking meat. Drain it, cut it up and make sure to marinate it in teriyaki with a bit of pepper, garlic powder, dried basil and sesame oil for an hour or two before cooking. Cook for approximately five minutes or until you reach your desired brownness.
Ingredients:
- About 1 tbsp of olive oil, margarine, or butter for pan
- ¼ cup of red bell pepper
- ½ cup of chopped broccoli
- ¼ cup of onion
- ¼ cup of frozen edamame
- ½ cup of rice or a pack of udon noodles
- ⅛ cup of teriyaki sauce
- 1 tsp garlic powder
- 3 generous tbsp sweet chilli sauce
- Hot sauce to taste (Sriracha)
- Chop up all vegetables
- Put olive oil, margarine, or butter into the pan on medium heat and place in the onions
- Stir until onions are golden brown around edges then add in the protein of your choice
- Once your protein has browned to your liking, add the vegetables and a tiny splash of water (only about two to three tbsps to create steam to cook broccoli) and cover pan
- Cook until vegetables are soft
- Add teriyaki sauce, garlic powder, sweet chilli sauce and hot sauce (depending on how much sauce you like, you might want to add a bit more teriyaki and sweet chilli sauce), stir, and cook for approximately two more minutes.
Serve with noodles or rice and enjoy!
Groceries for one:
What to buy in bulk:
- Most dry things will stay good for a long time
- Pasta, noodles, rice
- Cans of soup for when you don’t feel like cooking
- Granola bars and trail mix
- Easy meals like ramen and mac and cheese (Annie’s white cheddar is super good)
What to buy sparingly:
- Buy a small/medium milk depending on how often you drink it so that it doesn’t spoil
- Rather than buying the value-packs of vegetables, or big bags of fruit, stick to grabbing a few at a time so that they don’t go bad
- Bread and baked goods
- Yogurt! If you don’t eat it often, buy a small tub to save you from having to throw it away
- Fruits and vegetables that last a relatively long time:
- Carrots (start to get dry after two weeks but are usually alright for about a month)
- Apples (stay crisp for about 2 weeks)
- Onions
- Potatoes (not sweet potatoes – eat those within about a week of purchase)
Other Tips:
- If you don’t eat bread or bagels very often, and you think you’ve bought too much, simply freeze, defrost, and toast them when you’re ready to eat
- Eggs don’t go bad very quickly, so if you eat them every morning, consider getting a large carton
- Putting apples in the fridge will keep them crisper longer
- It’s always nice to have freezer meals on hand for days when you want to have a quick meal
- If you have a slow cooker and extra vegetables, throw them into a slow cooker (at a low setting) with a bit of water and a Bouillon flavouring packet/cube, pepper, and garlic powder for an overnight stew and enjoy over rice.
