How 'bout them portions?
I seem to be constitutionally incapable of cooking for less than 4 people. My SO and I live alone, and always cook too much food. Not that it's a bad thing, leftovers get frozen or eaten the next day, but it's funny how we both come from a family of 4 and we're both pre-set to cook for 4 +. Do you have a set number of servings that you seem wired for?
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21 Comments:
2 people, which is a real problem when having dinner parties!
greenkitchen at 2:25PM on 03/02/09
There are two of us (plus two pups), but I always cook as if I'm going to feed an army. It comes in handy since I always have food to share, or to freeze for later. It's also a very helpful habit when cooking for dinner parties:-).
I never thought about it this way, but yes, I also come from a family of four, plus, I spent plenty of time at my Gran's who often had at least 6-8 people for dinner.
brooke29 at 2:36PM on 03/02/09
Oh yeah. Grew up in a family of 6, then went on to marry and have 4 kids. Cooking in multiples of 6 is easy - it's cooking for less that's a pain.
We're down to 3 most days now, and it's more work for me to change my default setting for planning, shopping, prepping, etc than it was to cook for twice that.
moibec at 2:43PM on 03/02/09
I seem to almost always cook enough to feed 8 people, at least...though there are only four of us. I always attribute it to my "Italian Mama" syndrome...I want to run through the house tsking everyone and saying Magia, Mangia!
juliebugsmama at 2:46PM on 03/02/09
I used to cook at a church for 20+ kids, so even though i live alone, I always end up cooking TONS of food. It all goes into my freezer.
I think I cook a lot of food because maybe i have this undiscovered fear of a shortage of food.
terabithia at 2:52PM on 03/02/09
Yep. Even when I try cooking for one or two, I end up tossing in some of this, or a handful of that, or add some side I just had to try etc. until I have way more than I planned.
Big family and years of industrial cooking and cooking for men...my brain cannot fathom small amounts! :)
Yay for the freezer!
sadiepix at 2:56PM on 03/02/09
I'm the same- live alone, cook for four. all. the. time. and i'm not a huge fan of leftovers, except for certian things.
valser at 3:12PM on 03/02/09
I tend to cook twice as much as I should, no matter how many people I'm serving. It's the Jewish mom thing (I'm sure much like @juliebugs' Italian Mama thing) where I always end up overserving. Individual servings of pasta on a serving platter. It's sad, really. The only time I don't do it is when I make a concerted effort not to. I'm getting better, but it's still pretty bad. Plus side is that I always have tasty leftovers.
chisai at 3:13PM on 03/02/09
I usually cook for 4-6, even though it's just two of us at my house. But it works out, since I eat 1-1.5 servings and the bf eatw 2-3 servings, and I like to have leftovers to take to work the next day (he works from home and doesn't have to worry about that as much). I just went through a rough month trying to cook for one - I'm no good at it! I've been trying to freeze things to offset that though, and I like having a well-stocked freezer.
joyyy at 3:25PM on 03/02/09
One. Even if I make a huge amount of food, I end up eating it all as one big portion and just feeling really stuffed afterward.
cycorider at 3:25PM on 03/02/09
I always cook for an odd number of people, it seems. Maybe it's my mother's mantra of "one per person and one for the pot," or maybe I just want to make sure there are enough for seconds.
And sometimes I'll cook enough for two meals for the two of us, because I know it's something we'll want the next day.
But inevitably, there's always one serving left. That usually ends up being my lunch for a day or two. Or sometimes we'll have what DH calls a "cowboy supper," where I pull out random leftovers and we mix and match.
dbcurrie at 3:45PM on 03/02/09
when i'm just cooking for myself i tend to overdo it.
however, the portions come out perfectly with practically no leftovers, if i make food for two.
normally there will be leftovers if i try to make food for 3 mouths and over...
but i'm like my mom, so i always pack it up for guests to take home. lol.
gastronomeg at 4:22PM on 03/02/09
I'm good at cooking for one, and I'm good at cooking for 4-6 (or more). But what continues to elude me is cooking for two: I tend to get nervous that the other person will go hungry, and then I make too much--but not enough too much, if that makes sense. I end up with random bits and bobs left over but not whole meals. Annoying.
annatr at 5:10PM on 03/02/09
I live alone and I find it almost impossible to cook for one. I always end up making like 4 or 5 servings and having lots of leftovers which go bad a lot of times. Almost nothing except frozen dinners are made for one person.
Sara
Naturally Recommended
NaturallyRecommended at 5:12PM on 03/02/09
i am an only child and yet i still cook for twice as many people as i mean to. last night i made stir fry for the BF and myself, and after throwing all of the individual components in the wok realized i could have fed an obese family of 4. oops.
megannesta at 5:30PM on 03/02/09
you know when you're in trouble when you cook for 100 people and still have too many leftovers!
there's a gene in there that says, "are you sure that's enough? a little more, a little more...."
no one should go hungry.
pooch at 7:02PM on 03/02/09
I'm a four, but it works since we are two and the leftovers are usually lunch size.
My neighbor works for a Jewish organization at a local college and is in charge of cooking Shabbat dinner every Friday. As a result, he struggles to cook for anything under 50. He just can not function unless it is cooking en masse.
inothernews at 8:23PM on 03/02/09
I've been one of two most of my life - just me and mom growing up, and now just me and husband. Despite this I am incapable of cooking for fewer than 6. It's a little odd, but I just cannot cook for two. I've made this work for me by accepting my overcooking tendency and planning menus that use the leftovers: Saturday night's taco meat was finished in today's dinner empanadas, the extras of which are tomorrow's lunch.
AliceBlue at 8:50PM on 03/02/09
I can sympathize, it's just me and my husband and there is always leftovers to be had but we save a lot of money taking in leftovers for lunch.
I think part of the problem is that most recipes have really wacky portions. Often I try to half a recipe that serves 6 and still end up with 4-5 servings. I notice that Racheal Ray recipes are especially guilty of this issue.
My step father in law is even worse though, he works as a professional caterer/chef and when he cooks there are always enough leftovers to serve an army.
missjess at 9:25PM on 03/02/09
I usually try to cook for two as that would allow me to have leftovers for the next day but sometimes I will go for cooking for 4 only because it is easier with the amounts of food that I am dealing with ie a can of beans rather than a half.
FrostyGhost at 12:59PM on 03/03/09
I'm generally pretty good at creating the number of portions I intend - I can feed one or two without a problem, and when we cook for a larger group, we tend to have just a bit leftover (which is the goal).
The one place where I seem to go haywire is soups/stews/chilis. Because I know they make good leftovers, I start out trying to make more than we need, but the next thing I know, we have 5 quarts of chili because I added just a little more of this or that!
cyberroo at 1:25PM on 03/03/09