Single serves

For the young career person or the older retiree, living alone has certain merits. Cooking can and should be one of them, with its reward of helping you to keep fit and interested in life.

It is an easy matter to eat well and enjoy a varied and balanced diet by having a repertoire of good, quick and easy-to-cook recipes on hand. To maintain good health, the daily diet should include these basics: meat, eggs or fish; wholemeal bread and butter or margarine; raw or cooked vegetables and raw or cooked fruit; milk or milk food.

Remember, fad-eating is bad for health. Crash diets, fast and health-food crazes, if taken to the extreme, ruin the balance of our eating, allowing poor health to creep in.

Take the time to serve food attractively if eating alone. If using a tray, set it with care. Use a fresh napkin and individual salt and pepper shakers. Empty commercial sauces into a small dish, even while eating in front of the television – and include a glass of wine, as it is amazing what just one glass does for morale. Fresh herbs give special dash to food. Try growing a few in the window box.

Keep on hand ingredients that cook quickly. Eggs, bacon, onions and cheese, as well as a loaf of sliced bread in the freezer, are basics. There is a lot you can do with canned tomatoes, fish and fruits. Pasta, rice, dried peas, beans and lentils are great staples. Packets of real chicken, beef and vegetable stocks are useful.

The sweet-teeth are easily catered for, either with fresh seasonal fruit or canned fruits.