Fractions & Cooking for Two

Spinach and Artichoke Tortellini

The proverbial “hot dinner on the table” is now a part of my daily routine.  With our recent move from an urban to a rural area, we’ve decided to abandon our nightly restaurant habit for cost-efficient home cookin’.  And given my love for cooking, it’s not at all a burden.  I’m happy that our new situation allows me the time to watch my cooking shows, carefully plan the weekly menu, and save a significant amount of money in the process.

Most recipes I find are meant for families, yielding 4-8 servings or more.  My family consists of two adults and one cat, and none of us are very diligent at eating leftovers.  Call me spoiled, but I don’t like eating the same thing three days in a row.  The seemingly obvious solution is to just cut the ingredients down, such that the recipe yields two servings.

I have encountered a few problems with this approach. Let it be known that not all ingredients can be reasonably divided.  For example, I have not yet mastered the ability to mix in 1/3 of an egg.  I refuse to use only two burger buns, of a bag of six.  Try using only ¼ cup of heavy cream and watching the rest of the container taunt you from the refrigerator until you finally throw it away weeks later.

Some ingredients are so minuscule that I opt out of including them at all.  If the original recipe calls for 1/2 teaspoon of something to yield 6 servings, I would need to cut that down to 1/6 teaspoon of something to yield 2 servings.  I don’t know about you, but I’m not about to buy a whole jar of something for a measly 1/6 teaspoon.  For the same reason, I rarely garnish anything unless that same ingredient is used elsewhere in a larger quantity.

I’ve found two ways to overcome these obstacles.  Number one- Go ahead with the larger servings and freeze the leftovers for another week. This prevents the leftovers dilemma, and makes life easier down the road.  Number two- Get creative and use what you have on hand instead of buying obscure ingredients.  Part of being a successful cook is learning what and when to substitute ingredients, and that comes in handy when you are trying to utilize items already in your pantry. Plus it’s a more efficient way to do your shopping and spend your money, knowing that all of the ingredients will be used before they expire.