Easy Cooking Recipes

[bmagda]

Hi All!

This forum is awesome. I've posted a couple times here and have loved all the responses!

I was wondering if you guys could assist with easy cooking recipes for one person. I hear frozen food is hard to come by so any ideas would be appreciated for how one American girl can eat.

Many thanks! I await your responses!

 

[bmagda]

One American girl can eat in BsAs.***

 

[MizzMarr]

Do you have a fridge/freezer? If so, you don't have to worry too much about the portions and can make extra to freeze (like spaghetti/pizza sauce) for future meals or eat the next day for lunch/dinner.

I did a quick search on the web and found a few of the following websites:
http://www.foodnetwork.com/quick-and-easy/cooking-for-one-tips-and-recipes/index.html
http://www.healthyalberta.com/HealthyEating/761.htm
http://homecooking.about.com/od/cookingforone1/Cooking_For_One_Or_Two_Recipes.htm
http://www.goodtoknow.co.uk/recipes/Dinner-for-one


Also, make friends and invite them over! Good luck and have fun.

 

[Ries]

It really depends on where you live, but in most neighborhoods, there are tons of places that do the cooking for you, and you just buy it to take out.

In my neighborhood, within about three blocks in any direction, I can get roasted chickens, salads, fries, empanadas, fresh pasta and a dozen different sauces, sandwiches, milanesas, tartas, a million different desserts, or, if I am really lazy, I can go to a place called Lo de las Chicas, and they have, cooked, and ready to go, casseroles, vegetables, meat and vegetable pies, meat main dishes, salads, entire meals, homecooked that day, buy as little or as much as you want.

There are places like this in most neighborhoods- you just need a toaster oven or a microwave, and you can get by for months without cooking a thing.

While a lot of people on this forum like to complain about the food, starving to death is highly unlikely.

(here is a recipe that is even easier than Kraft Macaroni and cheese- go to La Juvenil, buy enough pasta from about 20 different choices to satisfy you. buy a portion of one of the yummy sauces. boil water. put the pasta in til it floats. put sauce on. eat.)
http://www.la-juvenil.com.ar/index.php
I have to walk a block and a half for this.

Oh- and virtually every neighborhood meat market sells pre-pounded, pre-breaded chicken milanesas- cheap, fast, good. Fry em up.

 

[Kayem]

There's a lot of simple things you can make (especially if you're like me and don't care about variety). I cook for two but I can give you a couple of tips on what things I like to always have on-hand... especially because we can't go to the grocery store everyday. Unfortunately, I can't give you exact proportions for all the ingredients because I just eyeball or taste test. =/ But I will list what I use.

• Garlic/onions/potatoes are all a must. I must admit, I'm addicted to garlic and raw onions. Not exactly the best thing for your breath.
• Milanesas are easy to make and obtain. Most carnicerías have them premade if you don't want to go through the trouble of preparing them yourself. You can buy a kilo and store them in the freezer as long as you like. They're also versatile. You can have it as-is, cut-up on a salad, or as a sandwich. I make them with eggs, garlic, parsley, salt and pepper. You can use breading and/or flour. You can change up the taste using different breading.
• Mash potatoes. I like to add garlic and parsley instead of using loads of butter and salt.
• Pasta. I normally make an extra serving to have for lunch or as a snack. The first thing you'll probably notice or have noticed is there aren't 75 different premade sauces like in the US (Prego comes to mind). I make the sauce with plain tomato sauce, garlic, 1/2 yellow onion, oregano, salt, pepper, sugar (to kill the acidity), and red pepper flakes. But you can have lots of fun with it and add ground beef or red pepper. I have a lot of fun customizing my sauce.
• I'd stock up on frozen or canned vegetables. They're always nice to have as a side or mix into your meal.
• Not exactly healthy but probably my favorite desert to make is crepe. It's super simple and you can store them easily in the fridge to have whenever. Egg(s), salt, sugar, vanilla extract, melted butter, flour and milk of the same proportion. You cook them in the same manner you would a pancake but swirl the batter around to evenly spread it out. I eat them with dulce de leche.
• Rice. I like to mix beans, chopped carrot, onion, and my spices very depending on what flavor I want to achieve. You can never go wrong having chicken flavor cubes on hand. The only problem with rice is you can't store it very long without it totally losing its flavor.
• I like Knorr's quick soup. But I worn you, it's high in sodium. It's similar to top ramen except without noddles.. but that's an idea, just add noddles. They also sell premade sauces and flavor cubes.
• Chicken soup. Soup is probably the only thing that will taste better overtime. You can buy a chicken or whatever parts you want, add onion, garlic, salt, pepper, flavor cubes, chopped green onion and whatever spices or fresh herbs you prefer.
• Ham and cheese. Another two things you probably can't go wrong with. Argentina has a huge variety of cheese to choose from.
• You can also buy premade pizza crust. I don't care for them, personally. Just buy a premade sauce, reuse your tomato sauce or buy a premade one... and add some mozzarella cheese.

I can go on and on but those are all simple recipes with a lot of common ingredients. You might also try allrecipes.com. Before I moved here, I rarely prepared my own food... part laziness/part the abundance of frozen foods offered in the US. I also lived in South Beach so it was was often cheaper to eat out rather than buy groceries. Sad but true. Once you get into preparing your own food, you won't miss US (aside from maybe a couple of snack foods). Argentina has a way better selection of fresh foods.

Hope this helps.

 

[BWalker]

If i'm not cooking curries i'm usually on http://www.buenosairesdelivery.com/

 

[starlucia]

Yes, frozen food is hard to come by, BUT it's a moot point because fresh food is everywhere (literally, there are at least 2 verdulerias on almost every street block.)

What I do is keep a pantry stocked with dry staples -- lentils, brown rice, quinoa, whole-wheat pasta, spices, olive oil. Then I stop at the verduleria and just buy whatever produce sounds appealing that day. Basil is gloriously cheap in BA, so I make a lot of pasta with fresh basil and tomatoes, or I chop up veggies like carrots, onions, arugula, etc, and mix them into a quinoa or rice salad. Butternut squash is insanely cheap and easy, so I do a lot of baked squash, or simple bean and veggie soups with a grilled cheese and tomato sandwich. Omelettes, stir-fries, kitchen-sink salads... don't worry, as long as you have a pot and a couple of good knives, cooking for one is very easy in BA

 

[headclick]

once you have spices, oils (nut, olive veg...) soya sauce (if you like oriental cooking get oyster sauce too), rice, lentils etc all you ever need is one or two veg or potatoes and then your meat (also optional)....
also whenever shopping always buy garlic and a chunk of ginger & an onion They stay fresh for long and are commonly used.....
also depending on whether you have a window or outdoor space, get a little basil or parsley plant... (you'll save in the long run)
always try and have an extra tin or 2 of Tomatoes, chickpeas, kidney beans or similar & sweetcorn in the cupboard
with these tins, some rice, cumin, paprika, corriander, turmeric & an onion you can make several indian or mexican dishes

Also picking up a pouch of Thai Red & Green curry pastes from barrio chino is a great idea... i've had three or 3 of each and i'm not even a quarter into the packet... also pick up coconut milk while you're there its way more expensive in the rest of town i've found...

if you've an ipod or iphone, i recommend getting the BBC One Pot Cooking App...

everythings really easy and all done in one pot, and most are suitable for freezing. Most recipes are for 4 people, so just half it and then you've enough for dinner and then lunch the next day...

actually all the bbc apps are really good, theres a Quick one and a Healthy one too....

also Allrecipes(.com or .co.uk) has some good recipes although theres thousands so its a little harder to navigate.....
.... but you can always rely on the beeb... if you don't have the app try
http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/
just enter ingredients you have and it'll suggest something...

most importantly, experiment, these days i try and think of something i've never cooked and give it a go....

exploits lately include:

Chicken Korma, Chicken Jalfrezi, Veggie biriyani, aloo jeera (not a TV station) chorizo & chickpea soup, Indian chickpea & veg soup, Italian beef stew, Thai beef stirfry, Vietnamese veggie hotpot, cauliflower & potato curry, inside out Chicken Kiev, Falafel Burgers, Ginger & lime chicken with sweet potato mash
moroccan chickpea soup and em, steak & chips...

 

[irina]

http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/

She puts pictures up of every single step so it is literally idiot proof. Some of the recipes are impossible when she uses ingredients only found in the states but most are easy to do here! She has saved me a million times.

 

[elhombresinnombre]

Pascualina. http://estilodevida.elpais.com.uy/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/pascualina.jpg

You can make the pastry shells or buy them ready-made in any supermarket or chino. I prefer the hojaldre myself but YMMV. There are dozens of variations on the filling but I generally use a bunch of Swiss Chard (acelga, which is cheap and abundant from any verduleria) cooked, drained, squeezed dry and chopped very fine.

For a standard size pascualina, mix the acelga, about 100g flour and 100g cheese, with pepper and nutmeg to taste, then mix in four beaten eggs so the whole lot is a firm, textured paste. Spread it in the lower half of the pastry shell and break at least one, maybe up to four or more eggs into indentations that you make in the mix. Put on the pastry top, prick a few vent holes and put it in the oven for about forty minutes. Serve hot or cold. Some people like to sprinkle sugar on top before baking.