The majority of recipes feed groups of four to six people, making it hard to find dishes that simply serve two. However, if you are a newlywed cooking for your husband or wife, you will need to learn how to cook smaller servings. While it's easy to cut a recipe in half, there are many other tricks that make cooking for two easy as pie. To check out my tips on how to cook in small quantities, read more.
- Instead of purchasing bulk meats, order poultry, pork, beef, and seafood from the butcher or fish monger. Order the exact amount necessary to serve two.
- If the recipe is for a large dish like lasagna, make it in individual containers. Consume two portions and freeze the rest for later.
- Get creative with leftovers! Turn roast chicken into chicken salad or a topping for pizza. Use new flavors to make certain dishes seem more exciting and exotic.
- Although it can be tempting to buy large quantities of food, because often bigger equals cheaper, when shopping for two it's best to purchase smaller quantities. Buy only what you will consume to ensure that no food goes to waste.
- Prolong the life of produce by washing and storing properly.
- Invite your partner to join you in the kitchen; cooking should be fun!
- Just because you are making a smaller amount, don't cut back on quality or presentation. Food should always look beautiful and be delicious.
Do you cook for two? What is your secret for making smaller meals?
Belstaff
Velvet
Net-a-Porter
Although there is only two of us, I always cook WAY more. It's great having leftovers for lunch the next day or another dinner when we are in a rush.
1Great tips, Party. I personally like to halve my recipes (the ones that serve 4 to 6, or more) — that way, I don't spend as much on ingredients, and extra food doesn't get wasted.
2Thanks, Party! I'm getting married next month, and I am used to making 6-8 person portions (in a 5 person household, bad of me, but the leftover are nice!) So, I don't know HOW to cook in small portion unless I am grilling single pieces or something.
3We fight over leftovers, I wake up 1st so I get to take them to work for lunch the next day
4I cook for 4-6 even though I live alone...I portion it out and freeze it in individual ziplock containers with a date and what is inside...then voila! dinner for 3 weeks lmao
5I agree, 4-6 portions are perfect for 2 people, (dinner + no extra time or $ for next day lunch) I'm worried that once the family starts growing I won't have such envious lunches at work!
6My advice- be creative and do something a little bit different every time and if you're like me, you'll look forward to lunch all morning long!
Been cooking for 2 for 25 years and we love leftovers and I do purposely cook extra for the freezer. When we go camping I have food ready to go or just easy dinners later on when it's too hot to cook.
Love the suggestions though.
7we freeze everything and save it for a night where we might need a break from slaving over a stove!
8thanks for the suggestions!!
9I like having leftovers too! See previous post about bringing your lunch to work!!
10My bf and I still buy meat in bulk (or take homekill meat for free from mum and dads!!) and when we get it home we put it into single portions in snaplock bags to freeze so that we only defrost what we need
11I like cooking in bulk, this way there are less dishes and less hours in front of a hot stove. Cook six servings, that's good for the two of us for two meals. Besides we have guests on sometimes on the weekends, so any cooking then gets eaten up pretty fast.
12I disagree with asking for less meat instead of buying bulk. It's more cost-efficient to still buy bulk and just freeze it into smaller portions so you can defrost as necessary.
What helps me in cooking for two is thinking of it as two meals -- the second being leftovers.
13Our grocery store just expanded and it has been nice. There is a salad bar and that is awesome when there is only the two of us, I can buy 2 chicken breasts from the meat dept. and then make a big salad, there is no prep for the salad and we can have all the veggies we want and I don't have to worry about throwing away half a cucumber.
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