I’m a Newly Divorced Empty Nester. What Do I Cook Just for Myself?

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I have been making meals for my family of five for 20+ years. My last child is preparing to leave the house and I am finalizing my divorce. In a few months I will be responsible for feeding only one person—me. I am looking for ways to stay in the kitchen to prepare food for myself. (I take lunch to work five times a week and eat dinner at home six nights a week.) I love veggie-centric, high-flavor dishes. Thoughts, recommendations, resources? —New Era

Let’s start with a round of applause. By my math, that means you’ve cooked over 6,000 dinners for your family. And that’s just dinners! I bow down to you. I hope your children (cough, cough, if they’re reading this) do too.

Let’s tackle lunch first: Since you are beyond proficient at feeding a group, I’d channel that skill toward this tough-to-fit-in meal. Cook a pot of soup—even double the recipe if you have freezer space—and freeze it in pints. (These wide-mouth mason jars are my go-to. Freezer-friendly, microwave-safe, and sturdy enough to survive a ride on NJ Transit. Which is saying something!) I’ve made this lemony red lentil soup many times; you’d never guess it was languishing in my freezer for half a year. I throw in some leafy greens toward the end of cooking (usually pre-washed, pre-cut kale) and skip the garlic topping altogether (it’s fun, but not happening in the office kitchenette). If it’s hot where you are this time of year, a cold soup is more perishable but worth it. Whip up a blender full of this gazpacho at the start of the week and pop it in the fridge. Tote the soup in one container and some chopped veggies in another for sprinkling on top al desko. A treat! And if you tire of soup, make a sturdy salad. Bob’s Chicken and Cabbage Salad has many fans at BA HQ (you could halve it to cover a week’s worth of lunches), as does my colleague Hana Asbrink’s aptly titled Happy Fridge Salad.

For dinner, your description made me chuckle because…did I write this? Veggie-centric, check! High-flavor, check! Our food director Chris Morocco is spectacular at this exact category. In fact, he has a recipe called Big-Flavor Broccoli. Red onion, anchovies, garlic, parm. Serve with some crusty bread and your pick of hummus (store-bought really is fine), Greek yogurt or labneh, or a big blob of burrata, and you have a lovely little supper. (Leftovers can easily morph into another meal. Toss with pasta, spoon over polenta, etc.) Chris’s kale pesto is another banger. He pairs it with whole-wheat spaghetti (love), but it has range. It would be great on soba or udon. Or ditch the noodle and spoon it over roasted vegetables or even scrambled eggs. You can make the full batch and chip away at it for days, or freeze the surplus in portions for weeks to come. And Chris’s salad ramen is a fun, riffable template to zhuzh up a single serving of instant noodles.

My biggest advice is to take advantage of whole foods. These are workhorses for solo cooking. What’s an ingredient your ex or kids hate? Now’s the time! A juicy heirloom tomato, a honking zucchini, one of those cute fairytale eggplants. (Can you tell I’m excited about summer?) Especially at the farmers market, you can buy one or two items, so you’re getting only as much as you need. Then eyeball-down a recipe accordingly. (I never measure these sorts of things and no one has died.) All year I look forward to this zucchini recipe with sour cream and dill. It could effortlessly halve to become a single meal with warm pita, or my pref, some boiled baby potatoes. Come fall, these cottage-cheese-stuffed honeynut squashes could be downsized similarly.

Let me know how it goes in the comments. Wishing you all the best in your new adventure!

Warmly,
Emma

Questions may be lightly edited for clarity, length, and style.