Cooking For Two

Your families grown up and moved away from the nest. All that’s left to cook for is yourself and your spouse. But it just doesn’t seem worth the effort does it? And making small meals can be such a pain. Good news! It doesn’t have to be. Cooking for two can be fun, affordable, and oh so delicious!

Healthy eating is just as important as you age as it was when you were younger. But it seemed like it was so much easier to cook healthy when there was more of you. But it doesn’t have to be and in order to reduce your risk of heart disease, cancer, diabetes, and osteoporosis you should take cooking for two serious. Here are some tips to make cooking for fewer cost effective and nutritious.

When you are grocery shopping buy fresh fruits and vegetables. They are a great addition to a small meal and they are packed with nutrients. Colorful produce is packed with plant chemicals that help prevent diseases and keep you healthy.

Take advantage of buying from the bulk bins. That way you can buy the amount you need and it can sometimes save you money. When buying fruit and vegetables choose small quantities and purchase more often so your produce is always fresh.

You can ask the butcher to split large meat packages into smaller portions. That way you get the better pricing of large quantities and you get small portions that are perfect for two. You can put the rest in your freezer and use over time.

When buying canned goods buy smaller cans. Soups, vegetables, beans, fruit, and almost every other product come in smaller tins. It may cost you a little more but you won’t be throwing away nearly as much so overall it will probably cost you less.

Eggs can be bought in ½ dozen quantities, although eggs last quite some time so buying a dozen is still your best bet. Frozen foods can be purchased in large quantities. Just use what you need then reseal. They’ll last for quite some time in your freezer. Always throw out frozen food that has developed freezer burn.

When making meals get used to using smaller pots and saucepans. Add some small loaf pans and cake pans to your kitchen cookware. A smaller casserole dish is a great investment.

Take advantage of casseroles where you can combine all your ingredients into one dish. It reduces the preparation time and doesn’t seem like such an effort for just two people.

You can make large batches of your favorite foods then split off and freeze either in individual portions or in smaller portions. Lasagna, cabbage rolls, soups, stews, spaghettis sauce, and baking are just a few examples of foods that freeze well.

Another concept that’s become really popular is the exchange program. Friends and neighbors or even other family members can easily participate. You make a regular size dish as do they and then you trade portions with each other. A quick way to have all your meals for a week and everyone just cooks once or twice depending on the group size.

Cooking clubs are also becoming popular. These work using rotation. Monday night you might cook and have the group over for a meal, Tuesday night another member would cook and have everyone over. You proceed through the membership until everyone has had their turn then you start all over again. It’s a great way to socialize too.

But if that sounds like too much socializing some cooking clubs just get together to prepare the weeks meals. So 7 days, 7 different meals are prepared in a portion that is large enough for the group plus spouses. Then the meals are split up and everyone has their meals for the week.

If you’ve got some favorite recipes that are just too large for the two of you, you can easily split them down. Divide in half or even in ¼ and you’ll have the same great taste but smaller quantities.

Cooking for a two doesn’t have to be a chore. It can be a lot of fun and you can still have a nice variety of meal choices. Remember proper nutrition is important to your health so just because there is only two of you don’t stop cooking!

Deon Melchior is the Editor and Publisher of Article Click. For more FREE articles for your ezine and websites visit ArticleClick.com. Article Click is a free content article directory. This means that as a publisher you may reprint the articles that are included in our site, as long as the article is unedited and the author box is included with it's live hyperlinks.