Newsletter # 12 – Cooking for one

by · July 4, 2025

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Cooking for one

You would think cooking for just yourself would be easier and cheaper. Unfortunately it is not the case. There are two main reasons for this.

Firstly the recipes we use are generally for two or more people.

Secondly, when we purchase food we have fewer options available for single diners. Supermarkets will offer a far better price per kilo for pre-packaged fruit and vegetables, while canned goods are generally too much of a single ingredient for a single portion recipe.

Invariably, purchasing in larger quantities can lead to monotony. What to do. Here a few ideas.

  • Take a little time to plan your menus for the week.
  • Select recipes which give you flexibility with the main ingredient. For example mince beef (still the cheapest way of purchasing beef) could be made into meatballs, bolognaise or Shepherd’s pie. Those three dishes can also be made with other types of mince
  • Some of your recipes will have to be freeze stable. By that I mean food that can be frozen and be reconstituted with minimal loss of quality or flavour. Lasagne and casseroles are good examples while thawed grilled meats (by themselves) are poor.
  • Incorporate your vegetables into rice, pasta or noodles to serve with your main course. Alternatively do a medley of roast vegetables, bouillon vegetables or stir fry vegetables
  • If you prefer fresh, buy fresh. Alternatively there are very good individually frozen fish portions available. Barramundi, salmon and green prawns come to mind.
  • Consider cutting up a whole fresh chicken into its various parts and freezing certain portions for later use. Chicken breast fillet, done this way is superior to store bought fillets plus the overall cost will be cheaper.

 

Our second recipe today is an example of “Bricolage”. You may remember I used that term in the first newsletter with the recipe for Chicken Marengo. Basically it is an original recipe based on whatever ingredients you have on hand. At home I call it my “clean out the fridge recipe” and it uses up accumulated bits and pieces. But first let’s have a look at the recipe using minced beef.

Meatloaf Mignon

This recipe will give you three good size portions. For variety you could make one or two portions into meat loaf mignon and then turn the balance into meatballs to serve later in the week with spaghetti.
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Course: Main Course
Ingredients Method Notes

Ingredients
  

  • 20 ml olive oil
  • 100 g mix of onion/carrot/celery finely chopped
  • 250 g lean beef mince
  • One egg
  • 70 g coarse breadcrumb
  • 80 ml milk
  • 1/8 tsp paprika
  • 1/8 tsp thyme
  • 1/8 tsp chopped chilli
  • ¼ tsp onion powder
  • A few drops of Worcestershire sauce.
  • Salt and pepper to taste.
  • 3 x 35g approx rind less streaky bacon – 15cm-17cm long

Method
 

  1. In a saucepan sweat the onion mix in the oil and butter on a low heat about 3 minutes. Cool to room temperature
  2. In a small bowl soak the breadcrumbs with the milk
  3. In a separate mixing bowl place all other ingredients, except bacon. Mix by hand.
  4. Add the breadcrumbs to the meat mix. Mix really well.
  5. Cover and refrigerate the meat mix
  6. On a clean board, split the bacon length wise
  7. Form a cross with two strips of bacon.
  8. Divide the meat into three even portions. Form the in your hands in large balls.
  9. Place the meatball on top of the bacon and wrap the bacon around the meat.
  10. Repeat with the other two portions. Cover and refrigerate until needed
Cooking:
  1. Set oven or air fryer to 180c
  2. Place the three mignons in a small lightly greased baking dish and into the oven
  3. Cook for 15 mins before turning down to 150c for a further 20 minutes
  4. I served this with a Diane sauce. Mushroom sauce would also be suitable.

Notes

Assuming you are using fresh mince extra portions can be frozen in their uncooked state

Vegetable Parcel

So what do to when you have ingredients leftover? No I am not talking about “leftovers” I am referring to uncooked ingredients. It can be relatively easy as long as you follow two rules: The ingredients have to be useable i.e. still within their use-by date. The ingredients have to be compatible. It works best when you have a variety of ingredients – don’t overload with a single ingredient Apart from those suggestions it really is down to personal taste. This recipe made use of some filo pasty and an array of raw vegetables from the fridge as well as some cooked rice and mashed potato both of which were actual leftovers. It could be likened to a pasty without meat.
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Course: Main Course
Ingredients Method

Ingredients
  

  • Olive oil
  • Garlic optional
  • Brown onion
  • Red onion
  • Sweet potato
  • Pumpkin
  • Carrot
  • Green beans
  • Corn
  • Cauliflower
  • Broccoli
  • Red Capsicum
  • Cooked rice
  • Spring onion
  • Vegetable seasoning Vegeta
  • Salt and Pepper
  • Filo pastry
  • Melted butter
Ingredients (sauce):
  • Tomato blanched and skinned.
  • Bottled pizza sauce

Method
 

  1. Prepare all the vegetables (washing and peeling) and cut into 4mm cubes.
  2. Line the prepared vegetables in the order presented above
  3. Heat a little oil in your frypan and sweat the onions for about 5 minutes
  4. Progressively add the other ingredients with the ones requiring the least amount of cooking added last.
  5. I micro waved the rice and potato to heat them before adding them to the mix
  6. Combine everything well and adjust the seasoning.
  7. Transfer the finished mix to a bowl and refrigerate
  8. Prepare the sauce by mixing all the ingredients and blending. Heat the sauce gently on the stove top or in the microwave oven.
Assembling the parcels:
  1. The number of sheets of pastry you will need depends on the amount of filling. Generally I use no more than three but most of the time I use two sheets
  2. Follow the instructions on the packet of filo pastry.
  3. Place one sheet of pastry on your clean bench top
  4. Brush the surface of the pastry with melted butter
  5. Add a third sheet and brush with butter if you like*
  6. Cover with a second sheet of pastry. Brush a little butter on the end of the pastry furthest from you
  7. About 10 cm from the end of the pastry closest to you place two ice cream scoops of chilled vegetable filling.
  8. Roll the pastry over the mix and turn in the pastry sides. Continue rolling (not too tight) until you have a neat parcel.
  9. Brush the parcel with butter all over
  10. Place the parcel on a baking tray (the join of the pastry down first)
  11. Prick a couple of holes in the top of the pastry
  12. Bake at 170c – 180c for 25 minutes or until golden brown.
  13. Serve with a tomato cream sauce

 

 

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