[femi94ce]

If you're single, I bet it looks something like:

Fridge: beer, leftover pizza, moldy something in a plastic tub.
Freezer: 1/2 tub of ice cream, ice cubes
Pantry: package of Kraft Mac & Cheese, Top Ramen

Nothing's more depressing than cooking for one. I can rarely be bothered when I am alone. Funny thing happens, though. My mood starts to slump, my waistline starts to expand and my trading goes to pot. It's like when I don't care enough to make sure my body is running well, then my body shuts down the emotional and mental resources I need to trade.*

I hate grocery shopping and I hate meal planning. But I can't just throw something together if there's nothing to throw together. If I have a list of things I regularly cook with, then grocery shopping becomes less of a chore, and more of an autopilot kind of exercise.

Also, if I cook for myself the same amount as I would cook for many - then I have meals for the next 2 - 4 days. Cook once, freeze many.

Here's a list of things I try to always have on hand. When I have these, I can always throw something good together in a few minutes.

FRIDGE:

Eggs
Butter
White wine
Half and half (keeps better than milk believe it or not)
Bacon bits (I cook a pound of turkey bacon strips crisp in the microwave and crumble, but you can buy the regular kind in bulk at Sam's Club or Costco)
1/3 less fat cream cheese (hate the no-fat stuff, this tastes as good as the full fat with fewer calories)
Large flour tortillas
Salad vegetables

I am lucky my husband does all the cold prep. I despise vegetables and chopping them. If I am by myself I will buy a bag of the premix and a bag of baby spinach and a bag of shredded carrots and mix them together, then just throw a handful in a bowl with salad dressing.

Try using baby spinach instead of iceberg lettuce - it's mild and crunchy and has some actual nutritional value. If you're like me you remember spinach as being strongly earth flavored and gritty and yucky. Baby spinach will not hit you in the face with any of that. It plays nice with all the other vegetables.

Easy thing to remember about vegetables: the darker the color the better it is for you. A salad made from several dark colors isn't too hard to throw together - but I still resist doing that. I wouldn't blame you if you did either.


CONDIMENTS:

Ketchup
Honey
Dijon mustard
Salad Dressing
Breakfast Syrup
Corn Syrup
Maggi
Worcestershire Sauce
Balsamic vinegar
Wine vinegar
Malt vinegar (can you tell I like vinegar?)
Tabasco Sauce
Peanut Butter
Nutella
Sugar
Salt

FREEZER:

Shredded Mozzarella Cheese (believe it or not, cheese freezes great. If you freeze a block of natural cheese, though, it will crumble apart when it thaws, so I only freeze cheese for cooking)
Parmesan Cheese
Boneless Chicken thighs (cheaper than breasts)
Ground Turkey (or beef)
Salmon (wild)
Shrimp
White fish (haddock or farm raised catfish)
Andouille sausage (spicy cajun kind. I use the chicken ones, but any will do - instead of hot dogs)
Precooked pasta and rice

You can probably do without most of these, but if I had to narrow it down to 4 items I would say stock the cheese, sausage, pasta/rice, chicken. Most recipes I use can sub out any of the seafood with chicken.

A note about catfish: it's one of those fish that I actually do want farm raised. Catfish are bottom feeders in freshwater systems, and God knows what's in our fresh water systems. I want a catfish where the bottom content is monitored.

PANTRY:

Aluminum foil
Plastic Wrap
Cheapo Throw-away Storage Tubs in small medium and large (thank God for these, they're so cheap and they dishwash on the top rack. I've had one set for almost 2 years, and I don't feel guilty when something gets forgotten and I can just throw away the whole container)

Olive oil
Peanut oil
2 - 4 cans of diced tomatoes
2 - 4 cans of red kidney beans
2 packs of Knorr leek and potato soup mix (use as dry ingredients, never as soup)
pasta
rice
grits
flour
chicken bouillon powder or cubes
Cooking onions
Garlic
Potatoes

SPICES:

Granulated garlic
Dried onion flakes
Dried basil
Ground oregano
Ground cayenne pepper
Ground chili pepper
Whole black peppercorns
Hot curry powder
Mild curry powder
Turmeric
Sweet paprika
Ground thyme
White pepper
Ground cinnamon
Ground ginger
Ground nutmeg
Lemon pepper

Flavor is one of the key pleasures of life. Food that has rich flavor isn't hard to make, and extra flavor can always be added to frozen prepared or fast food if I have the ingredients to hand.

Oddly enough, of all the things in the lists above, the spices will probably set you back more than anything else. I buy in bulk wherever I can. Ground oregano might as well be made of gold. I use ground, not flakes, because it takes so much less to do the same job. Cheaper in the long run.

Anyway - if you can keep those basics around, and not too many perishables in the fridge, then you will have the basics for a good tasting, quick meal with a salad just about any day.

Enjoy feeding yourself!
FF



*Exception: when I'm on a liquid fast, like this week. I plan this very carefully so that I don't short out my system.