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How do empty nesters deal with over cooking?

So, kids are gone, ex and I are no longer together (hence ex i guess lol) and I still find I over cook, I try to use less but it seems if I cook much more than a box of macaroni its too much. Sure I save leftovers, but one can only eat so much leftovers.

How have you dealt with over cooking? Or maybe I’m the only one?

JackiesFridge ,
@JackiesFridge@lemmy.world avatar

Like many people have said: freezer.

We have a box of quart-sizes freezer zip bags. Whenever you make food, immediately separate half of what you made and freeze it. You can always thaw it later when you don’t have time or energy to prepare food.

Dairy tends not to freeze well. Most other foods do. You can freeze pasta, rice, and bread easily, so make a bunch to mix in to future dishes, and if you can’t get through a full loaf of bread before it spoils, freeze half the loaf as soon as you bring it home.

There are a lot of meal prep tips websites, and it sounds like you are inadvertently meal-prepping. See what tips they have for storing food.

itsdavetho ,

Have more kids

RBWells ,

I will be watching this!

But did have to scale up and down several times as my family grew and then shrank and now we are at 4 people in the house, no more bulk buying.

I will say the freezer is your friend, and cook like my grown kids who don’t have kids yet (or ever). Bowls. Rice bowls, noodle bowls. Make what you want but keep the parts separate, basically, then combine the leftover stuff with new stuff throughout the week. Use sauces and spices to change the flavor of the foods. Rice cooker will hold cooked rice for several days if you cover it with a damp paper towel and keep it damp, or noodles are quick, buy the package that has them in little serving sized nests or bundles.

And if you can, have dinner parties sometimes, invite people over and cook the way you enjoy, for others.

Markus29 ,

I use a meal planning app (Mealime), just fill in the amount of people/servings. Pick a few recipes and you have your grocery list for the week. We eat with 2, so I just set my serving size at 4 people and eat the leftovers every other day.

hinterlufer ,

Have you also found that their serving sizes are way too small or is it just us?

Markus29 ,

For some meals yes, but most of the time the serving sizes are fine. I use the filtering options so I get more calories from proteins, maybe my recipes are more filling?

Eideen ,
@Eideen@lemmy.world avatar

Most dishes that I make is for 3 to 4 days, the is a lower limited on some food I what size and when it is cheapest.

Like a basic taco (Norwegian style)

  • Large tortillas 6-8 per pack
  • Icebergsalat, normal size is 0,5kg.
  • small cheese, 0,5kg
  • Ground beef 0,4-0,6kg
  • Corn box
  • Pepper bell
  • spicy for Ground beef
  • onion
salton ,

I would consider Norwegian taco night to be really similar to white American taco night. I can make some pretty authentic street tacos but this culturally adapted taco meal still hits hard.

FuglyDuck ,
@FuglyDuck@lemmy.world avatar

I suggest finding recipes you like that can either be used as leftovers- roast chicken into chicken sandwiches; or things that can be mostly prepared ahead of time and frozen or held and cooked in portions- lasagna, for example.

0xD ,

Either plan to cook ahead or learn how much you want in a single portion and measure your ingredients.

Liempong_Pagong ,

Share it with your closest most friendliest neighbor. Put it in a takeaway container and share them some.

AA5B ,

I’m having the same issue: ex left a couple years ago but I still had a couple teens to feed. Now both kids are away so it’s just me, and I have no idea how to cook

First battle is to continue cooking. Most of my motivation was to feed them either stuff they liked or new foods for them to try, and that motivation is gone.

Portions. I wasn’t thinking and bought a gyro platter at Costco. I guess that’s my dinners for the week. The guy at Costco was trying to sell me on the executive membership based on how much I’ve spent this year: nope, maybe I shouldn’t even keep the membership

Before Family, I had been in a habit of going to a farmers market, then making a big salad, big pasta salad, and big fruit salad for the week. Just add protein and you have a meal. That might be a good idea to return to

Mothra ,
@Mothra@mander.xyz avatar

Pay attention to what you eat over a week. Remember you can freeze a lot of food either before and after cooking if you realise you are not going to eat it before it spoils. Buy less.

I’m not an empty nester, just living alone.

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