I’d moderately swimsuit up and be put out on the sector for the Huskers recreation in opposition to Georgia Southern subsequent Saturday than eat one other turkey sandwich.
Drama apart, I’m uninterested in consuming the identical meals repeatedly, and plenty of of my mates agree that they really feel annoyed as nicely. I get pleasure from cooking, and there are such a lot of recipes that I wish to strive, however I all the time find yourself shopping for far more meals than I would like for a single particular person.
Residing off campus with no meal plan, I’ve needed to cook dinner for a single particular person for the primary time. Earlier than, I’d cook dinner for my household and have leftovers that might be gone the subsequent day. Now I’m both consuming sandwiches for the day or leftover packing containers of rice that I purchased final semester whereas making an attempt to make use of up my eating {dollars}.
Whereas grocery procuring final week, I had an epiphany: Grocery shops ought to provide extra choices for single servings. It might appear simple to simply make a single serving of a meal from no matter meals you’ve, however this implies having to make use of up what’s left of that meals which might take a very long time to eat up.
The most important situation with grocery procuring is that almost all meals are available giant portions. For instance, I wished to make a batch of rooster tortilla soup. Once I normally make it, I would like a can of three completely different substances, usually serving six to eight folks. To make a smaller batch, I would want lower than half a can; in flip, I would want to both use the remainder within the can or waste it. Offering smaller choices would permit an individual to cook dinner for themself and stop waste.
Shopping for meat additionally makes cooking for a single particular person tough. Most packaged meat on the grocery retailer comes with two rooster breasts, a pound of floor beef, and so on. Personally, that is extra meals than I would like. Once I wished to make soup, I solely wanted half a breast for myself. I might have used a complete one, however then the recipe could be off, and it might find yourself being shredded rooster with soupy sauce.
Clearly, a meat counter means that you can decide your personal quantity of meat, however having meat out on show would not all the time sound interesting. Additionally, from what I’ve seen at Hy-Vee, the meat they serve is already seasoned, so you do not get to season your meat primarily based in your recipe. It might sound choosy to seek out so many critiques on what grocery shops must be doing, however I wish to eat what I would like.
Cooking for myself means tryingAA issues I’ve by no means tried earlier than or experimenting with what meals I like. To stop waste, you’ll be able to search for completely different recipes that use among the identical substances, but should you don’t just like the meal it finally ends up being wasted anyway.
Having parts bigger than a single serving means having to decide to it. I as soon as tried pumpkin curry soup from Complete Meals, and I used to be so excited to strive it. Nonetheless, it wasn’t for me, and I nonetheless had a complete container left. If there have been smaller choices, not solely would customers be getting a style, they would not be including to meals waste.
There are shops, corresponding to Dealer Joe’s, which have singular choices for meals, however the shops aren’t large and haven’t got a number of selection, making getting every part in your grocery record laborious. Do not get me unsuitable; there are a number of choices from Dealer Joe’s which are excellent for one particular person, corresponding to their salads, frozen meals, and produce part. Nonetheless, their restricted choices for sure gadgets makes it tough to solely grocery store there.
I am not saying that grocery shops suck and there may be nothing for one particular person to make. As a substitute, I’m specializing in how laborious it may be for somebody to cook dinner for themselves with out repeatedly consuming the identical meals or losing meals as a result of it goes unhealthy.
Relating to cooking, maybe making meals must develop into a two-person curiosity, which means each the cook dinner and the grocery retailer. Grocery shops ought to present meals which are smaller and might produce much less waste. After counting on a eating plan that serves buffet-style meals or quick meals choices, it is laborious to seek out what to make with out cooking sufficient for the entire soccer staff.
Alexis Goeman is a sophomore journalism and ADPR main. Attain her at alexisgoeman@dailynebraksan.com.
