How to Make Great Meals for One

Sorry, but T.V. dinners just don't do it for me.

When I get home from a long day at work, the very last thing I want to do is choke down some microwaved chicken nuggets, a starchy paste claiming to be mashed potatoes and some dehydrated carrots.

But living alone, crunched for both time and money, I don't have time to whip up a gourmet meal for four - half of which will end up in the trash can if I fail to eat the leftovers quickly enough.

So what do I do? A number of things, all of which help me create cheap, health-conscious, fast meals that - most importantly - taste good. Here, culled from years of living on my own from college to present, are my tips on cooking for one.

1. Use your freezer. I hate throwing out food, but most food products - from loaves of bread to packages of chicken breasts - come in sizes too large for one person to consume before the product expires.

Instead, I just freeze everything in freezer-safe bags. If I'm freezing something like chicken or beef, which can freeze into hard-to-separate masses, I portion the product into individual servings before I freeze it. Then I just take out a portion and heat it up as needed. Depending on the kind of food, the product will stay good for weeks and sometimes months to come.

Freezers are also a great place for frozen veggies and fruits. I love produce, but, if I buy a bunch of the fresh stuff at the store, I'm stuck eating copious amounts of it all week in a race against decomposition. With frozen, I only have to use what I need, and it tastes just as good as - if not better than - the fresh. Plus, most stores have really good veggie mixes now that include vegetables I would never attempt to skin/chop/prepare on my own.

My favorite way to use frozen fruit is in a yummy breakfast syrup for one. Just heat about a ½ cup of berries - raspberries, blueberries, mixed berries, whatever - with about a tablespoon of maple syrup in a saucepan over medium heat. Stir occasionally until the berries pop and then pour over pancakes, waffles or French toast.