Cooking for One

First of all, I am a cook. I see myself as a cook. People who eat my food consider me a cook. The love of my life and the person I delighted in cooking for day after day, year after year, is gone. I have tried gamely to adapt to this part of the "whiplash". But I can't say that I have found accommodation as yet. I wish I could puzzle out this part of life alone. I think that each time I open and pour an expired quart of milk down the sink because I think I need to keep it on hand and I don't drink it. I think that each time I find myself eating a pasta dish, quiche, or soup three and four days in a row, giving larger and larger portions to the dogs each day. I think that each time I get wound up cooking up a lot of different dishes so that I use up, for example the raisin bread, milk, eggs that I found aging on various shelves in the fridge and then churn the resultant bread pudding into the garbage disposer because I didn't want or need a two quart casserole of the stuff.
I created a few rules for eating early on this journey. Rule number one: no dependency on junk or fast food meals. That was pretty easy to start. It's not my favorite kind of  food and I had no appetite until about the first of May. Rule number two is to really think out what I buy because I am most likely going to meet the meal on consecutive days and do I really like the idea of that casserole THAT much(!?). Rule number three is to avoid little boxes of leftovers in freezer space being crowded out by still more little freezer boxes of leftovers. Rule number four is to use up some of the food I have on hand each week rather than laying in a new supply no matter how good it looks in the store. We had a nice supply of food in March and I really need to use it up before the canned goods expire..Rule number five is food usage is not linear i.e. one doesn't eat half of two any more (actually much less true) than two didn't eat 40% of 5 (We were a family with 3 children). A whole new math is necessary to live in this kitchen.
Ideas I have tried that have worked out well (or fairly well, beggers can't be. . . . .) are - cooking for a friend who has been ill and not able to cook her usual outstanding style. and eating with her. That's been my most successful idea so far. It uses up food, and provides companionship for both of us.Its failing is doing it on a daily basis isn't too feasible. Cooking lots of fish fillets. They are single portion foods which cook fast and are healthy. Streamlining some favorite menus from our twosome times - I changed a favorite creamed aspergus on toast with hard-cooked eggs into roasted aspergus with soft scrambled eggs on top (which I find I really like better,it takes fewer pans, and I think it is healthier!). Salads work out well, too and with a little creativity can be delicious as a meal. My new favorite one is romaine, pears, dried cranberries, bleu cheese and dijon/oil/lemon dressing and croutons - all the best food groups except ice cream. And as for ice cream - the single serving cartons are self-limiting so one doesn't pig out on a half-gallon of Edy's coffee mocha.
All told no single solutions have emerged but I'm still seeking one..


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