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The Ultimate Meal Planning for One Cookbook: 100+ Easy, Affordable, and Low-Waste (High-Taste!) Recipes Made Just for You
Plan your weekly meals while saving time and money with these 100+ recipes perfect for every solo chef trying to build a delicious, cost-effective, low-waste meal plan.Meal planning for one can feel daunting…especially if you want to avoid tons of leftovers and food waste while still making delicious single-serving meals. The good news is that The Ultimate Meal Planning for One Cookbook is here to help with easy-to-use meal plans and over 100 recipes that are designed for meal planning for one. This book allows you to make over 100 delicious, one-to-two-serving recipes for every meal from breakfast to dinner and everything in between. And, not only will you find tasty recipes designed for one, you’ll also learn to use them to design your own weekly meal plans. Learn how to avoid eating the same old leftovers over and over throughout the week, how to utilize your ingredients as much as possible so nothing goes to waste, and to enjoy delicious versions of your favorite dishes, no matter the occasion. Whether you live alone or are just searching for the perfect meal for yourself, cooking solo need never be boring (or repetitive and wasteful!) again.
207 pages, Kindle Edition
Published June 18, 2024
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
July 10, 2025
I want this book. Great recipes but not enough pictures, good tips on how to plan ahead and it's all for one person.
July 26, 2024
In my unprofessional opinion:
Overall I do like the Ultimate series of cooking for one cookbooks. However, I admit meal planning for me is an elusive task that I have always struggled with. The reason I have difficulty with meal planning is, I seem to be living from day to day because I am not sure what I want the next day.
The book has very little advice on meal planning itself. However there are several meals that are pre planned for the week for you to choose from and each comes with a weekly shopping list.
If you’re looking for many recipes for cooking for one, then this is an excellent book, then I would give the book four stars instead of the three stars I have shown.
As for the title of the book, Affordable, and Low-Waist (High Taste!), I believe the book is good on this point. Again this is a topic that is in my opinion, the greatest of challenges is food waste. The book holds true on this topic. To hold true to this, the recipes do not contain a whole lot fresh fruit and vegetables that does not typically last a full week.
The problem is: What I want from meal planning is, lots of fresh fruit and vegetables in my diet and they rarely last the week without spoiling. Cooking for one and buying the smallest amount of vegetables and fruits that most stores offer is often too much for one person to consume and tend to go bad by the end of the week. My solution is to ditch the weekly plan and go shopping twice a week and buy single items of fruit and vegetables that I will consume only for three to four days. Food items that last longer, I will buy in bulk.
As for me:
For Meal Planning:
I tend to use a reusable notebook called the Rocketbook planner. I typically only plan meals for only three to four days and go shopping twice a week… If you’re looking for more fresh foods in your diet. You might want to ditch the weekly shopping trend and the meal prepping books for the week. I typically try to only cook and bake perhaps three times a week with leftovers the next day, or non cooking days with salads and sandwiches.
For Food Prepping:
If your looking for methods of food preparation or trying to extend the life of your fresh fruits and vegetables, I recommend the book Fridge Love: Organize Your Refrigerator for a Healthier, Happier Life―with 100 Recipes.
For Meal Prepping:
This book “Ultimate Meal Planning for One” is as good as any other cookbook for Meal Preparation and Meal Planning.
Overall I do like the Ultimate series of cooking for one cookbooks. However, I admit meal planning for me is an elusive task that I have always struggled with. The reason I have difficulty with meal planning is, I seem to be living from day to day because I am not sure what I want the next day.
The book has very little advice on meal planning itself. However there are several meals that are pre planned for the week for you to choose from and each comes with a weekly shopping list.
If you’re looking for many recipes for cooking for one, then this is an excellent book, then I would give the book four stars instead of the three stars I have shown.
As for the title of the book, Affordable, and Low-Waist (High Taste!), I believe the book is good on this point. Again this is a topic that is in my opinion, the greatest of challenges is food waste. The book holds true on this topic. To hold true to this, the recipes do not contain a whole lot fresh fruit and vegetables that does not typically last a full week.
The problem is: What I want from meal planning is, lots of fresh fruit and vegetables in my diet and they rarely last the week without spoiling. Cooking for one and buying the smallest amount of vegetables and fruits that most stores offer is often too much for one person to consume and tend to go bad by the end of the week. My solution is to ditch the weekly plan and go shopping twice a week and buy single items of fruit and vegetables that I will consume only for three to four days. Food items that last longer, I will buy in bulk.
As for me:
For Meal Planning:
I tend to use a reusable notebook called the Rocketbook planner. I typically only plan meals for only three to four days and go shopping twice a week… If you’re looking for more fresh foods in your diet. You might want to ditch the weekly shopping trend and the meal prepping books for the week. I typically try to only cook and bake perhaps three times a week with leftovers the next day, or non cooking days with salads and sandwiches.
For Food Prepping:
If your looking for methods of food preparation or trying to extend the life of your fresh fruits and vegetables, I recommend the book Fridge Love: Organize Your Refrigerator for a Healthier, Happier Life―with 100 Recipes.
For Meal Prepping:
This book “Ultimate Meal Planning for One” is as good as any other cookbook for Meal Preparation and Meal Planning.
September 18, 2024
I wanted this cookbook to be better at explaining how to be "low waste" when so many recipes used 1/2 cup of a canned food (such as diced tomatoes or beans) yet provided no further use of that ingredient in one of the meal plans. Only one recipe uses canned cranberry sauce, for example, and no guidance on how to use the rest of the can as part of the meal plan. Since cranberry sauce is not an ingredient used on a regular basis, that seems extremely wasteful.
The shopping lists are huge for a single person as well. Of course, this book assumes that you are making every meal from scratch every day, or planning leftovers. You buy penne one week, use 2 ounces, and then buy a different pasta the next, again not using the whole amount. What's wrong with buying some penne and using it for a couple of weeks?
Sorry, just can't give it more than two stars.
As to the recipes, they're clearly written and some look really good.
The shopping lists are huge for a single person as well. Of course, this book assumes that you are making every meal from scratch every day, or planning leftovers. You buy penne one week, use 2 ounces, and then buy a different pasta the next, again not using the whole amount. What's wrong with buying some penne and using it for a couple of weeks?
Sorry, just can't give it more than two stars.
As to the recipes, they're clearly written and some look really good.
October 30, 2024
Truly one of the worst cookbooks I have ever tried! I found a recipe that didn't include the temperature the oven should be set to!
EVERY SINGLE RECIPE I TRIED TURNED OUT BAD (with the exception of the chocolate chip cookies, but even the cookies turned out inconsistent and required more baking time than listed in the book)! Every recipe turned out significantly undercooked! I refuse to get food poisoning for this bad cookbook.
I would recommend skipping this cookbook (and author - I tried a couple of recipes from one of the author's other cookbooks and they didn't turn out great, but still edible)
EVERY SINGLE RECIPE I TRIED TURNED OUT BAD (with the exception of the chocolate chip cookies, but even the cookies turned out inconsistent and required more baking time than listed in the book)! Every recipe turned out significantly undercooked! I refuse to get food poisoning for this bad cookbook.
I would recommend skipping this cookbook (and author - I tried a couple of recipes from one of the author's other cookbooks and they didn't turn out great, but still edible)
August 26, 2024
I wish this book had more photos! The recipes appear simple and healthy-ish. I think the meal planning element would be useful for some. I was just interested in the recipes for one (or two) and found a few that I copied from the cookbook that I borrowed from my library. This cookbook would be a nice gift for a college student or novice.
July 31, 2024
This is a great book for cooking for one, or two! Recipes are simple and easy to make with affordable ingredients!
February 1, 2026
A great starter for making recipes for 1.
I wish there was more pictures, to visually see some of the food you would like to make, but that is more of a personal preference.
I wish there was more pictures, to visually see some of the food you would like to make, but that is more of a personal preference.
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews