Cooking for just two? Or not cooking? The challenge may be cutting back on those dual temptations for twosomes: takeout and eating out.
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Somehow, the fuss of cooking seems easier to skip if there are only two of you at the table. But the advantages of home-cooked meals are hard to ignore. Better-tasting, often healthier food, for one. Lower cost, for another.
And if cooking for only two, or even one, sometimes seems not worth the trouble, remember this: Pleasing two palates is easier than pleasing more, and you’re more likely to get exactly what you want than your friends in bigger households.
And, of course, there’s the taste of romance in a dinner for two–a spicy possibility not to be overlooked.
A few hints on everyday cooking for two:
– Keep a well-stocked pantry–a good idea in a household of any size. It means less running to the store, quicker meal preparations and less temptation to grab a pizza on the way home.
– Plan ahead, for the same reasons. Planning also helps you use up fresh produce instead of letting it spoil–a problem in small households.
– Control your impulse to buy more produce than you can use up quickly. This may mean sometimes using frozen vegetables when they’ll work well in a recipe.
– Keep the fish counter in mind. You can often buy fish and shellfish in the exact amounts needed for one or two.
– Instead of lamenting the leftovers that seem inevitable in cooking for two, take advantage of them. Use leftover cooked rice in a different recipe the second night. Turn a leftover pasta dish into lunch the next day.
– Find a good cookbook for two or one. Some possibilities: “Healthy Cooking for Two (or just you),” by Frances Price (Rodale, $27.95); “20-Minute Menus,” by Marian Burros (Simon and Schuster, $12); and “The 15-Minute Single Gourmet,” by Paulette Mitchell (Macmillan, $23).