Ever since our family grew up and left home, I have become adept at dividing the ingredients of our family recipes to accommodate our much diminished "family" of 2. Sometimes it is not so easy and there are times when I have wished for more specific help. From the moment I found myself in charge of my local Cookery Group and especially when I became U3A national co-ordinator for Cookery Groups, I have been very conscious that there were few cookery books specialising in recipes for 1- 2 people. A rare exception is Delia Smith's One is fun! Published by Hodder and Stoughton under Coronet Books originally in 1985, the book's ISBN is 0-340-38959-1. For those online, www.bbc.co.uk/food web site has a growing data base of recipes for 2 people. Look also at www.recipes.sainsburys.co.uk and www.uktvfood.co.uk. Type in your request on the Google Search page, you will find a lot more useful web sites. Certainly if you have any special dietary needs the Internet can prove a great help. Recently, I got some good Internet advice for a friend, after typing on the Search line, "calcium+diet."
I have certainly become aware in the last few months of the need among some U3A Cookery Groups for more guidance on cooking for 1-2 people. The motive for the formation of at least 2 new Groups was to cater for those who wanted to learn more about cooking for one. Most of us in the U3A movement are either in 1or 2 two people households. The easy option is to buy most of our main meals from a supermarket where there is plenty of choice of ready-to-eat meals. Many of these products are very good, but the disadvantage is that it is often difficult to check the actual salt, sugar and other additive content. We have no real means of knowing how our health is being affected by mass-produced meals which must contain preservatives, often in unacceptable quantities, to ensure a long storage life. There is a growing awareness that we all need to eat healthily whatever our age. As we get older, we can develop complaints like diabetes and high blood pressure. Concerning the latter, you will find an article on Salt and a Healthy Diet, elsewhere on this web-site. Careful monitoring of our diet is necessary to ensure that we continue to enjoy well into old age, the highest possible quality of life.
A U3A Group is a good way to encourage enthusiasm, determination and our latent creative urge to make something that is maybe "different" sometimes, but which is always enjoyable to eat. The first requirement is to acquire the largest fridge-freezer we can afford and accommodate. The reason is that most of the more interesting meals have to be created with at least two people in mind and we need somewhere to store safely for another occasion what we cannot eat in the first sitting. It is a good idea to save for food storage any small lidded, plastic containers like empty margarine/butter tubs. Have to hand a couple of rolls of different sized plastic bags complete with ties. A 4 compartment Yorkshire pudding tin is also very useful. I've taken to making mini quiches and tarts in these. I still make my family-sized recipe for 4, but I can store more easily what my husband and I do not eat at one go. It is actually very easy to quarter a quiche or tart. Freeze each separately and uncovered before wrapping or boxing. If we do most of our shopping in a supermarket, we shall find that most of the wrapped raw food products are in packs of 2 or 4. I use chicken legs and thighs in a variety of ways. Again, I break open the packet of 4 and freeze what I do not want, each one uncovered and separate from its neighbour in the pack.
One of the exciting challenges facing those of us who cater for 1-2 people is to try to get round the limitations of our situation. For example, we may feel that long, slow cooking is "out" because we need to watch our fuel bill. If we do a stew, say, in the oven, why don't we bake a potato at the same time? . Many of us feel that "at our age" we can't justify buying new kitchen aids like a slow cooker (but why not?). There is a case for going back to a pressure cooker, which was all the rage many years ago and which saved my life many a time when I returned from school to cook for my young family. Pressure cookers really are economical where both time and consumption of fuel are concerned. Moreover, they are wonderfully multi-purpose. A number of my U3A friends have recently invested in a bread-maker and are now enjoying bread they make themselves. To make our cooking more adventurous, we can acquire, if we do not already possess, a heavy duty fry pan, a ridged grill pan, a wok and maybe a Chinese bamboo steamer. A metal expandable steamer, or even a colander over a saucepan of boiling water, steams vegetables, fish and chicken very well too. Incidentally, my grill pan and one of my woks came from Morrison's and cost under a fiver each. They perform equally well on my gas cooker and Aga.
From February 04 until November 04 when our Settle Area U3A Newsletter became too full to include one, I produced a monthly recipe, occasionally vegetarian, specifically with 1-2 people in mind. You will find these Newsletter recipes on this web-site. You are free to copy, use or adapt them. I'm looking into the possibility of putting more recipes directly on to our Settle Area U3A web site. The local Newsletter is limited for space and when space is available, as per January 05, can only include a short recipe. I'll keep you informed via my quarterly U3A Cookery Newsletter. The title would be Recipes for Singles and Doubles, easy to spot on our web site. Meantime, do keep your comments and suggestions coming in. I'll do what I can to help and I enjoy hearing from you as well.