Planning is the key to success. Taking the extra time to decide what you want to cook, noting what ingredients you have and need, and thinking about how much to buy will save you time, money, and stress. At first it can be hard to gauge how much food you need to buy and how long what you cook will last. Cooking for one can be a challenge because you need to learn how to scale back recipes and think about how much food you need for the whole week. Planning out what I want to cook also ensures that I won’t get too sick of what I’m eating.
Cooking in college and living out of a minifridge means redundancy– eating a lot of the same foods and ingredients in different ways throughout the week. Picking out a recipe that you are craving will help you not get bored of your food. Using some creativity while planning also allows you to stretch your dollar and get more out of what you buy. Meal planning gets easier over time. These tips have helped me along the way:
- Look at serving sizes. It can be hard to measure how much of things like pasta and rice you need to cook in order to get enough servings and to not cook too many servings. I consult the nutrition labels to see how much of something is considered one serving and how many servings come in the package. That way I know how many bags or boxes I need to buy and how much I should cook at one time to get as many servings as I need.
- Write out your list. Yes, I mean physically write out your list. You might think that you can go to the grocery store for a couple things and just remember what you need. This never works for me and I either end up forgetting something or buying things I didn’t need. Writing a list (either on a piece of paper or on your phone) helps you stick to what only what you need and know you will use, which will save you money. It will also save you time at the grocery store so that you can go directly to what you need, rather than wandering up and down the aisles and thinking about what you want to buy as you go.
- Set numbers before you shop. When you get to the grocery store it’s really easy to get overwhelmed and go overboard. My instinct is always to get too much of something “just in case.” When I do this I usually end up wasting money and food when I can’t finish it all. To prevent this, I try to think about the quantity of things I need to buy before I go to the grocery store. That way I’m not trying to get the shopping done while also thinking about how much I need of everything. Write down how much of something you need on your list.
- Find a recipe you are excited about. Finding a meal you are excited to cook will prevent you from walking aimlessly around the grocery store trying to decide what to buy and getting bored of what you eat during the week. Look at other food blogs, think about food you ate a restaurants that you loved, recall some of your favorite meals you ate at home, watch Chef’s Table on Netflix (I swear you will want to become a professional chef after watching this show). Feeling excited and inspired by what you’re cooking will make you feel that much more rewarded and satisfied.
- Consider your space. Before you shop and cook, you should think about how you will be able to store what you buy and make. I am limited to the space under my bed, a shelf, and my minifridge. You might be working with a fridge you share with roommates and one cabinet, or somewhere in between. Consider how much food you will actually be able to save in whatever space you have. This also means that you might need to adjust what recipes you make. I try to cook things that can be stored in just one or two storage containers like a big bowl of chili and a smaller container of rice to go with it. I can leave things like avocados and bananas on my shelf and keep a larger store of food like canned beans and rice in the space under my bed. This should also keep you from buying too much food or cooking too much.
- Get creative. To get the most out of your groceries and time, take some time think about how you can stretch the ingredients you have. You might be surprised at how many things you can make with just a few ingredients that you already have or that you are buying for a different recipe. Don’t be afraid to try new foods, make something up, or adapt recipes. Not buying every specific ingredient for every recipe will save you money.
- Check what you already have. If you keep up with having a small stock of food, you shouldn’t need to go on full grocery shopping trips every week. If you have the staples like rice, beans, pasta, or canned tomatoes, you will save time and money at the grocery store. Keeping track of your inventory will prevent you from buying things you already have.