How to Meal Plan When You're Cooking for One

Meal planning when cooking for one is a different ball game — and really, an entirely different sport — than planning for a family.

The only preferences to consider are your own. Ingredients last you much longer, making food waste a bigger concern. It's also harder to stick to a plan when your mood, schedule, and motivation are always changing.

These meal planning strategies are designed to work specifically for the single cook, with fewer leftovers, more variety, and lots of flexibility in mind.

Plan to Use Every Ingredient You Buy

Most meal plans for families begin with the same questions: Will everyone get what they like? Is there enough variety? Is it enough food? Solo cooks tend to ask one question: Will I use up what I buy before it goes bad?

Ingredients are usually sold in larger quantities than single cooks need. Unless you love leftovers, food waste quickly becomes a big issue. Instead, try these steps for a plan with more variety and less waste:

1. Pick an ingredient or two from your fridge or pantry that you need to use up.
2. Think of a dish that uses those ingredients, then add what you don't have to your list.
3. Think about what you'll have leftover from that recipe. What's another dish that uses those ingredients?
4. Repeat steps 1–3 until you have a plan for the week.

Plan for Not-Really-a-Recipe Recipes

Drumming up the motivation to cook more often is especially challenging when cooking for one. Instead of loading your meal plan with complex recipes or just eating popcorn for dinner, give yourself an easy out. Think of a comforting, low-effort dish you love and try to keep those ingredients on hand (veggie fried rice and spaghetti carbonara are my go-tos).

For "can't bear to cook" nights, assemble a single-serve grazing board with veggies, crackers, and your favorite dip.

Plan to Transform Leftovers Again and Again … and Again

A big-batch recipe (or even one that serves a family of four) means many nights of the same leftovers for the solo cook. Instead of eating the same meal again and again, plan for ways to transform it.

A batch of slow cooker barbecue chicken I made on Sunday topped a sweet potato one night, a flatbread pizza the next, then a grain bowl, and a couple of wraps for lunch. Plan to change up your leftovers and you won't get bored easily.

Plan to Make Dishes Other Than Dinner

While dinners are the focus of most meal plans, other meals are often relegated to packaged and pre-made. It is so rewarding though to have something homemade — banana bread, a batch of granola — to enjoy throughout the week.

I love quick breads because they're just sweet enough to serve as a breakfast, snack, or dessert. I also love to bake and now don't need an occasion to do it.

Plan to Change Your Plan

The biggest advantage of cooking for one is that you have no one else to please — your whims rule the day.

Change the order of your meals or make something completely different with what you have. Freeze that big-batch dish for another time. Eat popcorn for dinner if that's what you crave. If you find that you can't stick to a plan for more than a couple nights a week, plan for that too so you don't buy more than you need.

Find meal inspiration with our Cooking for One recipe collection. When you're ready to shop, check out our tips for How to Grocery Shop for One on a Budget.