Food Bank Article: Cooking for One
Cooking for one or two people can be just as challenging as cooking for a large group. Some of the barriers to finding simple, healthy meals can be cost, food waste, and difficulty reducing a recipe. Making a menu for the week can help reduce food waste. You can plan on having ‘planned-overs,’ leftovers or a leftover product that you are repurposing in a different way. Make sure to immediately chill any leftovers to decrease risk of foodborne illness.
Packaging food, such as meats, into meal size portions and freezing can be a great way to buy food on sale but not cook it all at one time. Use smaller pots and pans to cook with, they will be easier to handle, cook faster, and make more appropriate meal sizes. Try reducing your recipes in half, simply use half of all the ingredients in your recipe to make smaller portions.
Planning ahead can save money, time, and energy as well as provide a variety of meals full of different healthy options. Making simple foods early in the week can help you plan your meals for the week. You can cook chicken that can be used in soups, salads, casseroles, pasta, or in rice all week. Using minimal spices allows a food to be used in many ways. Cooking for one or two can be easy and healthy with a few easy steps you can save time and money!
The Food Bank has also shared this recipe for Berry Farina.
Healthy Recipe Videos
The Food Bank of Central & Eastern North Carolina has put together a series of healthy recipe videos that are available to watch on YouTube.com HERE.
About the Food Bank of Central & Eastern North Carolina: The Food Bank of Central & Eastern North Carolina is a nonprofit organization that has provided food for people at risk of hunger in 34 counties in central and eastern North Carolina for 40 years. The Food Bank serves a network of more than 900 partner agencies such as soup kitchens, food pantries, shelters, and programs for children and adults through warehouses in Durham, Greenville, New Bern, Raleigh, the Sandhills (Southern Pines), and Wilmington.
The Food Bank not only feeds those who are hungry; but also works to benefit community health. That’s why, in 2016, the Food Bank launched a Community Health & Engagement Department. With two nutritionists on staff, the Food Bank shares recipes, healthy tips, and other resources for partner agencies and neighbors in need. The on-site teaching kitchen in Raleigh offers cooking demonstrations and nutrition education to highlight easy, quick, and low-cost recipes using healthful foods like whole grains, fresh produce, low fat dairy, and lean meats.
Monthly Articles from the Food Bank
The Food Bank of Central & Eastern North Carolina shares regular articles about nutrition and health education so we know what to look for when we head to the grocery store and plan our healthy meals. Following are some of the articles they have recently provided to the WRAL Smart Shopper page.
