Cooking For One

I am personally a big fan of take out, but unfortunately there is just not a lot of room in my budget for it. So I have taken up cooking. I am definitely not the world's best cook (in fact in grad school, I went through an 8 month period where I didn't use my oven once) but I have learned some simple, tasty, and affordable recipes that get me through the week.

However, cooking for one is not easy. Many cookbook recipes are intended for a family of four which means I will either be eating the same meal for four days straight or a lot of food will go to waste. Last week, I made turkey chili that not only did I eat for the entire week, but also wound up throwing half of it out. Since then, I have started cutting recipes in half, which definitely helps cut back on the leftovers. However, it often leaves left over ingredients (1/2 lb of Turkey, or half a can of crushed tomatoes, to use the chili example again). But, by planning dinners ahead of time, those ingredients can easily be turned into other dishes (such as a turkey bolognese sauce or spaghetti with turkey meatballs and homemade tomato sauce).

Additionally, a friend of mine (the wonderful Maya Z) gave me some very financially savvy cooking advice: Whatever you make for dinner, save some for lunch the next day. Such simple advice but great on so many levels. 1) it saves money and time because you are not making two separate meals for lunch and dinner, or going out to buy lunch at work. 2) it deals with the problem of leftovers (even after the recipes have been halved). and 3) it allows you to to sleep in because you don't have to worry about waking up to make lunch or oversleeping and then having to go buy lunch. Lastly, by saving money here, it allows for a bigger budget to splurge on dinner and/or going out on the weekends.

If eating the same thing for two meals in a row sounds slightly boring, it doesn't have to be. For example, I made spaghetti and turkey meatballs last night so for lunch today, I will put the meatballs on a whole grain baguette for a modified meatball sub. Okay, so it may not sound super exciting but the extra weekend budget and savings at the supermarket make it totally worth it.

Also for a bonus, here is the turkey meatball recipe (works with beef and chicken too).

1 lb lean ground turkey meat
1 large egg
1/2 cup of bread crumbs
1 small onion, diced
1 tablespoon salt
1/2 table spoon pepper
1/2 table spoon Worcestershire sauce

Mix all these ingredients together and fashion into balls about the size that would come out of an ice cream scooper (which you can use to make this a bit easier, if you have one). Place on a nonstick baking sheet evenly spread out.

Heat the oven to 400 degrees and cook for 20-25 minutes or until the center is no longer pink.

This recipe makes about 10 meatballs. It is not halved but easily could be.

Six Months later... a new idea and a new blog

Catch Twenty-Shoe will no longer be dedicated to finding the best online and in store sales, though if I see a good (and irresistible) sale, I will make sure to mention it. Instead, I will be devoting my blog to my adventures and misadventures as a young professional, particularly the complications of living on a budget and all that this entails.

I figured today was a good day to start because I just got paid and then turned around and paid my rent for September. According to Learnvest , at most, 30% of our monthly budget should go to housing. I personally think that 30% does not really take into account realistic rent prices in major cities with the fact that all of us are not investment bankers and lawyers. I can tell you now I am way over budget which means that I am forced to cut back in other areas like shopping, eating out, and travel.

Follow me as I try to make my way on the budget I have come up with for myself (based roughly on the Learnvest budgeting tool).

Wish me luck!