After my last blog on meal planning for one, I challenged myself to continue my solitary food preparation. In this post, I’ll show you how you can make meal times more enjoyable, lower your food bill, and maybe even improve your relationship with food.
Is Meal Planning Worthwhile When You’re Single?
In How to Enjoy Cooking for One, I discussed the challenges and rewards of cooking meals for your solo self. I also admitted that cooking a proper meal for myself was something I struggled with. I don’t have an innate love for cooking or baking, and the preparation and cleanup made it feel like a real waste of time.
In creating that post, I set a goal for myself to make meal planning part of my weekly routine.This meal planning for one challenge did three main things for me:
- It made my health and happiness a higher priority.
- It helped me actually enjoy eating.
- It saved me a ton of money.
My relationship with food has changed for the better, and I’m going to show you how.
Meal Planning Makes Health and Happiness a Priority
Because both my lifestyle choices (vegetarianism) and food sensitivities (lactose intolerance) limit my food options, meal planning takes a fair amount of, well, planning.
In the past, I used to content myself with eating ramen noodles (the prepackaged kind) for lunch and dinner because it was fast, simple, filling, and cheap. And while I don’t think processed ramen noodles are as bad—comparatively—as many believe, they don’t nourish my body or spirit.
Coming up with a variety of meals that I can eat, that are healthy, and that won’t completely break the bank is an ongoing challenge for me. But now it’s a challenge I value.
Eating a delicious meal that won’t make me feel physically or emotionally uncomfortable later is a true joy. I actually get excited about my food now. And, because I’ve prepared it for myself, I feel all of the self-love that went into it.
Past Me: Future Lilli is going to love this.
Me in the morning: Gets packed lunch out of fridge. Omg, this is going to be so good.
Me at work: This is the best lunch I love it.
To me, that’s what self-care and self-love looks like.
Meal Planning Helps Me Enjoy Food
Americans tend to have a lot of issues regarding food. Far more than I would even attempt to get into in this post. Suffice to say that food was an ongoing source of frustration for me for most of my adult life. And at first, my meal planning for one only seemed to add to that.
Cooking food for the week takes time and requires grocery store strategizing. But the payoff is that I get to eat Instagram-worthy food every day without funneling my entire paycheck into the local food cart industry.
Since starting my meal planning challenge, my food is:
- Healthy
- Visually appealing
- Well-proportioned
I’d go so far as to say my meal planning for one strategy is helping me develop a downright healthy relationship with food.
Meal Planning for One Is Less Expensive than the Alternative
I work in a major metropolitan area. I rarely have to walk a full city block to find a food vendor. Cafes and restaurants are also plentiful. It’s tempting to take advantage of these mouth-watering and pocket-emptying options. Fortunately for me, my meal planning for one challenge has paid off financially as well as physically and emotionally.
Even though I’m paying more than I would if I ate nothing but ramen noodle packs, my monthly food bill is nothing compared to what it would be if I were eating from the local food carts.
How to Start Your Own Meal Planning for One Challenge
Are you ready to start prepping your own homemade meals for one? Getting started is easy. All you need to do is take advantage of the abundance of resources on the topic. Then, turn your planning into your reality. To do this…
Visit Pinterest
Follow my Cooking for One Pinterest board. This board includes everything that a solo person needs to know about cooking, whether that means meal planning for one or hosting a dinner party for twenty.
Pick a week
Choose a week in the near future when you’ll put all you’ve learned into action. Decide before you go shopping exactly what you’re going to prepare and what ingredients you’ll need to do it.
Go easy on yourself
If things don’t go well the first time (or any time), cut yourself some slack. Eat out when you don’t have a good lunch or dinner prepared. Just because one week goes badly doesn’t mean meal planning isn’t a challenge worth continuing.
You should also check out my previous blog, How to Enjoy Eating Alone. In it, I address some of the awkwardness associated with eating by yourself.
Did this blog give you some new ideas? Would you like to see more posts on the topic of meal planning for one? Let me know in the comments below.
Thanks for sharing ideas!