How to Cook for One

Cereal again? It can be daunting to cook real meals for just you. With
a little preparation and advance planning, though, you can break away
from ramen and scrambled eggs and truly eat well.

Difficulty:

Moderate

Instructions

1. Break up packages of meat into one-meal portions and freeze.

2. Incorporate semiprepared foods, such as frozen chopped vegetables, minipizza crusts (if there are two in the package, freeze one) or quick-cooking boxes of grains and rice.

3. Free yourself from recipes--they're usually scaled to four or more. Experiment with dishes that rely on a few key ingredients: grilled fish topped with store-bought fruit salsa, or a chicken breast with carmelized onion and a drizzle of balsamic vinegar.

4. Buy individual cans of stock-based soup, such as vegetable or minestrone, and spruce it up by tossing in leftover vegetables (zucchini, bell peppers, onion, tomatoes) and meat.

5. Indulge in easy frozen entre'es from time to time, but pair that chicken pot pie with a green salad or steamed broccoli.

Tips & Warnings

• Reinvent leftovers: Roll up cooked chicken in a tortilla with cheese, avocado and salsa. Or saute' wilting vegetables and leftover meats with cooked rice, soy sauce and a scrambled egg to make "clean out the fridge" fried rice.