Dinner for One? How To Cook Your Way Through Isolation
Ah, the joys of COVID! After recently testing positive for the virus, I was faced with the challenge of isolating completely on my own. My initial thoughts were about how lonely I would be; imagining myself sitting in my dreary basement flat for days on end with nothing to do and no-one to interact with. How I might turn into a vampire without any direct sunlight for almost two weeks.
But I quickly realised – as with anything in life – you can only ever reap what you sow…so I decided to focus on what I like doing most: being in the kitchen! Here are my top tips on how to go about feeding yourself whilst isolating…
Unsplash: @travelwithcm
First things first: take a deep breath!
Have a cuppa and calmly assess what you will be needing for the next ten days in terms of groceries, household items and medication. This is where meal-planning can come in very handy, especially if you’re skint or don’t want to fork out too much money.
I was lucky enough to have done a food shop before I tested positive, but if your fridge is looking bare, then fear not! In this day and age, the number of online food delivery services are overwhelming – and I’m not talking about Deliveroo and UberEats.
I imagine most people’s first port of call would be a delivery from their preferred supermarket, but I would strongly encourage looking into some more environmentally friendly options such as OddBox, Abel and Cole, or if you’re local to Brighton or Sussex, Roots and Hoots.
These independent businesses are conscious about eco-packaging and seek to reduce food waste by delivering fresh, organic fruit and veg and other produce that would otherwise have ended up in the bin. You might be surprised to know that there are also a handful of same-day delivery services that you can order a variety of household items and pain medication from, such as Weezy or Beelivery.
What I found most challenging was cooking for one – where I am used to hosting and cooking for lots of people, it was certainly difficult when it came to portioning. Nonetheless, there are a few approaches to solving this conundrum of cooking too much food, because let’s be real: you want to waste as little as possible!
One of the easiest ways around this is cooking in bulk and freezing individual portions so that they are ready to go whenever you need them – also known as batch cooking. This works especially well with things like curries, soups and stews. Not to mention, when cooking in bulk, the flavours tend to be richer and more intense than when cooking just one individual serving.
My personal favourite batch cook is Bolognese, as it is so easy to throw together regardless of your dietary requirements, and it really is a dish that you can just chuck any old veg into, no matter how past its best it looks. What I particularly appreciate about Bolognese is that it’s so much more than just a Bolognese.
It’s such a versatile dish! Sure, you can have a spag bol and make a lasagne. What about on top of a jacket potato, in stuffed peppers, cottage pie, or even in sandwiches (trust me on this one)?! To go a step further, you can turn it into chilli con/sin carne by adding some beans and spices and serving with wild rice or making into tacos, burritos, enchiladas, you name it!
Unsplash: @paolomandica_
If there are some recipes that you really love and cook regularly, there’s nothing stopping you from making them – they may just require a bit of tweaking. As long as you get the maths right, you can whittle any recipe down to one serving.
For instance, I managed to cook myself a tiny toad-in-the-hole with sweet potato mash and peas without creating leftovers! I used one sweet potato for the mash with some butter, milk, black pepper, and garlic. To create the toad I cut three sausages in half so there were more bite-size pieces, and simply adjusted my batter recipe to use one egg instead of four.
Finally, for those of you that were planning on getting through the ten days with oven chips and beans on toast, please don’t. This could be your chance to change your relationship with food and acquire some cooking skills to impress everyone once your isolation period is up!
Check out HelloFresh to get started. They offer a wide selection of “recipe boxes” to choose from that are delivered straight to your door and have everything you need to cook an amazing meal from scratch. You’d be surprised how much joy cooking for yourself can bring, no matter how advanced you are.
I know we all love a good greasy takeout, but trust me, you’ll want to save that for your worst day of isolation! Not to mention, cooking from scratch certainly passes the time when you’re isolating, and the food always tastes so much better when you’ve made it yourself!
Happy cooking and bon appétit!
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Written by Maisie Gervais
