Cooking can be fun, and meal prepping can be valuable. But preparing a "Serves four to six!" recipe for yourself and eating it four to six times over the following week gets monotonous fast. For couples and individuals looking to eat a healthy, home-cooked, varied diet without eating the same six things or throwing away heaps of leftovers, we've got the perfect solution. This comprehensive guide will provide creative shopping and prepping advice, small-batch cooking techniques, great original recipes, and cool tricks for creatively reinventing leftovers. Everything you need to imagine, stock up, prepare, and store meals for one or two people...and make cooking fun again.
“To eat is a necessity, but to eat intelligently is an art.”
Small Portions, Big Challenge • How to shop, prep, and cook intelligently in a family-sized world
Meal Prepping Made Easy • Pantry, refrigerator, freezer: Your triple threat plan to meal prep success
Pantry Management • Stocking up on versatile, long-lasting staples will power your meal-prep magic.
Quick Pantry Recipes • Below are some examples of what you can throw together on a whim—that is, if you have the right pantry staples on hand. From salad dressings to sauces to quick-and-easy meals, complex, time-consuming cooking is a thing of the past. (Each recipe serves two.)
Ingredients Management • Purposeful small-portion cooking starts with being smart about handling excess ingredients.
Food Prep Tips and Tricks • Explore these 13 food prep hacks that will simplify your life thirteenfold.
Getting Creative With Leftovers • No more week-long meal repetition; no more feeling guilty for tossing food
What to Do With Leftover… Fruits & Veggies • New ideas and fresh takes on classics that’ll ensure you never watch produce go bad again
What to Do With Leftover…Meat • Chicken, beef, fish, pork: Creative ways to get leftover meat back in circulation
What to Do With Leftover… Rice, Grains, and Bread • Don’t discard those grains and starches—here’s how to give them a delicious second life.
The Joy of Presentation • When trying to creatively reimagine meals, sometimes a simple tweak can be a hero.
Buying Smarter at the Store • Fearlessly buy in bulk, save more money, and eat well all week long.
Understanding Shelf Life • Know exactly how long each food type will last—and how to extend its useful life
Spread the Love: Veggies • Creative options for bringing produce to bear across all kinds of meals
Spread the Love: Meat • Meat is too expensive to waste; these creative ideas will beef up your game.
Spread the Love: Herbs and Other Kitchen Staples • Smart planning lets you fearlessly enjoy fresh herbs and other extravagances.
Leveraging Your Freezer • Planning gets easier when you can keep a lot more food items safely on hand.
What Can and Can’t Be Safely Frozen • The ultimate guide to properly putting your favorite foods on ice
Feeding a Freezer With Batch Cooking • Tasty foods you can make in bulk to eliminate mealtime stress.
Upping Your Ice Cube Tray Game • Creative ways to leverage this underutilized time-saver
Smart Freezer Management • Preventing freezer burn, best defrosting techniques, and the importance of proper labeling
Delicious Recipes for Two (Or One!) • Great meals—prepared intentionally—to make the next great meal even easier
Creamiest Polenta • Creamy polenta is a delicious base for all kinds of sauces and toppings and is a stand-out gluten-free alternative to pasta night.
Polenta Fries • Crispy, smooth, and dense—polenta fries are excellent smothered with toppings or dipped into sauce or soup.
Oven Roasted Tomatoes •...
