Thanks Murphy 224. I now cook for one since I lost my husband (when I cook) - a big adjustment. I miss cooking and eating home cooking, but how do you cook for one and what do you cook?

You could be in my boat and have limited things you can eat so makes deciding a lot easier.

My husband died many years ago. I enjoyed cooking for him because he would eat anything/everything. He would suggest different things. Now I eat breakfast and dinner out most every day. There are a variety of restaurants within a couple of miles of my home and I read a book while eating. Do not miss cooking without someone to appreciate it.

We plan our meals a week in advance. Our menus are heavy on the veggies and a serving of meat usually chicken or fish. Our splurge meal is a nice steak. Spaghetti is a must around here usually twice a month. Tuna casserole is a go to quick dinner to send off with the grandkids to have at home. I made salmon patties last night, with leftovers for an early lunch.

My husband has to eat salt free so everything is made at home. It’s worth the effort to keep him out of the hospital. So many foods are high in salt. He doesn’t dare eat out anymore. I confess we miss going out to dinner.

The only time I make out a "planned menu" is when we are having a planned "event".

Otherwise, I usually have the ingredients for many meals on hand.

Hamburger gravy, mashed potatoes, and some kind of cooked vegetable is frequently fixed when no one took any meat out of the freezer to thaw.

I have a chicken & macaroni hotdish that makes a lot. I get foil pans from Dollar Tree and divide it out in 6 pans. Each is enough for 2 generous helpings so handy to have in the freezer for ourselves or take to someone who could use a meal.

Since my hubby has gone Keto I'm always looking for marked down meat which means shopping every couple of days and making do with what I find. It helps that I am not working and early in the day is my best time to go out and about. The stores want to sell it, he wants it eat it, it's all a win/win. I'm about to go out to the kitchen and cut some seasoned boneless skinless chicken breasts into strips and stir fry it up because that's what I picked up yesterday.

Basically every day/every meal in our house is like an episode of Chopped -- what weird ingredients do we have in what limited amount of time.

Tomorrow will be the last Farmer's Market of the season. Sniff, sad day but will make the most of it.

Seasew, the salt issue would be hard for me! The last couple of years I've had to make major changes in what I eat and I kept flinching and expecting salt to be taken away from me too. I'd be out of luck without things like pickles that are low carb and low calorie.

dill/cucumber pickles - are also gluten free! :rolleyes:

I am - sort of - amused - when I see things like fresh vegetables marked "gluten free"

Food allergies and carb restricted eating keeps my food planning easy. Most of our meals are salad w/ a meat, or eggs w/ greens. Neither one of us have a big appetite so I prepare basically only one meal a day and any other time through the day a boiled egg or a peanut butter celery stick is fine.