Cooking for one, healthy and minimal ingredients?

You don't need a lot of ingredients to do stir fry's; just a few basics like soy sauce and some spices but fresh herbs really can make all the difference. These can be wrapped inside a damp piece of kitchen roll wrapped inside a plastic bag and will keep in the fridge for a week or so or if you have a garden you could grow them near to the kitchen perhaps. garlic and ginger are also handy to have around.

I think it's a matter of trial and error; only you know what you like and so over time you can build up a repertoire to go with what you're doing and how the mood takes you.

Meals cooked in foil parcels are also quick, convenient and can be prepared in advance; these can be fish, poultry or just vegetables. You can sprinkle over some oil, lemon juice, seasoning, herbs etc to your liking.

One pot recipes are also quick, healthy and easy enough to prepare or meals cooked in the oven in an ovenproof dish; you can use chicken on a bed of vegetables of your choice and sprinkle over some oil, seasoning and herbs and/or spices to taste. These can be cooked in about 30 to 60 minutes in the oven.

Beef and broccoli stir fry could be done by thinly slicing some beef and marinating it in some soy sauce, ginger and garlic first. Stir fry the beef on a high heat; take the meat out and keep warm and then stir fry some chopped onions and when they're softened add the beef slices back to the pan along with some thinly sliced broccoli and stir fry on a high heat. The sauce is up to you but a little stock or wine added now and reduced quickly would be nice.

I would look up the book "The Pleasures of Cooking for One" by Judith Jones, all the recipes in it are for one person meals

A recipe from there is (this is taken right out of the book): Penne with Tuna, Plum Tomatoes, and Black Olives

Salt

2–3 ounces penne, according to appetite (fusilli or small shells are good, too)

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 small onion or fat shallot, sliced thin

1 garlic clove, peeled and sliced thin

2 or 3 ripe plum tomatoes, cut into rough chunks

A splash of white wine

2½–3 ounces canned tuna in olive oil*

10 Italian or Greek black olives, pitted and quartered

A generous handful of chopped fresh Italian parsley

* This would be ½ can of an Italian 150-gram canned tuna in olive oil. Use the other half for a sandwich or a salad. If you can find small cans, by all means stock them. The important thing is that the tuna be preserved in olive oil.

Bring a large pot of water with a tablespoon of salt to a boil. When it is boiling vigorously, drop in the pasta and stir it around.

Heat the oil in a medium skillet, and sauté the onion or shallot 3–4 minutes, until limp. Add the garlic slices and tomatoes and sauté another minute. Splash in the wine and cook down. Break up the tuna, and drop chunky flakes into the pan. Stir in the olives. Add at least ¼ cup of the pasta water to thin the sauce. When the pasta is done al dente (taste to be sure), transfer it with a big spider to the pan with the sauce, and stir it around, cooking the two together a minute. Add salt if needed, and more pasta water if the sauce is too dry. Spoon the pasta and sauce into a warm shallow bowl, and scatter parsley on top.

basic sauces such as alfredo work great for the beef/broccoli stir fry or just a basic soy sauce work great. buy it in the smallest bottle pre made that you can get and use it for several different recipes.

I am still in the process of reducing football team size recipes to empty nest size recipes. And this is for the past 20 years!! I over cook a lot.

http://www.bettycrocker.com/ has a lot of good recipes for 1 or 2 and even more more for 4, that can be cut down to half or for 1

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I'm single and like to cook healthy and easy meals that aren't boxed and boring. Here's what I do...I keep a big bag of pre-cut and pre-washed vegetables (broccoli, carrots, and cauliflower for example) and microwave a handful in a covered bowl with a little bit of water, butter and salt or-even better, chicken bullion for better flavor. I have on hand like a bag of individually packaged tilapia in the freezer.

Last night I pan-fried in canola oil two pieces of tilapia, dipped in simple Italian bread crumbs, garlic powder, salt, pepper, etc.., microwaved vegetables as previously described, placed it all on a bed of rice and squeezed a little lemon on top...and today I ate the leftovers for lunch! Its pretty easy and quick. Just start experimenting with what you like..

Good Luck!!

These are great as a snack, healthy and super easy to make! https://youtu.be/JbUXg6m1VlM