I thought cooking for one was difficult before!

Let me start off by saying I LOVE MY SLEEVE and it was the best decision I ever made!!!  However, now that I'm 4 months out, I'm really getting tired of eating the same meal over, and over, and over again and still throwing food away.  I've always loved cooking (and eating...I guess that's why I'm here ;) but doing it for one was always a challenge.  Now I feel like its *almost* impossible.  I either need to find a man who likes my food and doesn't mind helping tackle leftovers or rely on all the wonderful tips I'm sure you guys can offer ;)

Have you tried the website world according to egg face...she's got a lot of fantastic recipes, there are also bariatric cook books out...also don't throw out leftovers freeze them..

Also Frisco has a webpage at LapSF.com, Cafe Frisco, where he has posted many delicious recipes you can make in one serving batches. 

Thanks guys! I'm trying to get better about freezing things but I typically end up freezing it for a few months and then putting it right in the trash because it just doesn't look appetizing. :/

LOL - been there, done that!  After I got my lap band more than 7 years ago I started to learn to cook for myself (I'm single too).  Many hours of watching the Food Network and surfing the Internet later, I love to try new cooking techniques or different flavors.  If it's something healthy, I'll halve the recipe and eat on the leftovers for a few days in the fridge.  If it's something sinful, I'll plan on taking it to work for treats or to a neighbor, or just to someone that deserves it.  I'll try one bite of it, then let it go.  If you don't have full control of your cravings, that's not an approach I recommend.

Any recipes you find that work for one serving, I recommend pinning to Pinterest so that you can start your own file.  When I lose inspiration that's where I go - it's like food porn to me!

I'm lucky, in that I live in an RV park during the summer, so I have a lot of 'taste testers" to choose from.  I like to say thank you to the maintenance staff by bringing them breakfast or lunch occasionally.  I grow veggies in a little 4 x 4 raised bed and pockets of ground I can find, and can't wait to start harvesting!  My rhubarb is begging me to end its life in a sinful dessert as we speak!

I may be alone in thinking this, but working for your food to me makes me much more mindful of what it is that I'm putting in my mouth.  Eating food at the peak of its freshness is magical!

I hear you......

That's why when I created Cafe Frisco, I intentionally made it single serving based.

I got so frickin tired of doing so much math to recipes that served 4 or more normies...... that's like 16-32 VSG servings per recipe.

Cafe Frisco at LapSF.com

frisco

Thanks, Frisco! The one perk is this whole process has made me more of an off the cuff cook, as opposed to relying heavily on recipes, which I find is way more fun. The downside is I have a bunch of tried and true recipes that just seem a little bit off when I simply quarter all the ingredient amounts. A little bit off topic but my other food gripe is that I find all my friends wanting to eat whatever I leave on my plate when we go out so I need to find a nice way of saying "I can get 3 more meals out of that appetizer I just ordered so paws off!". End rant.

At any rate, I added your website to my favorites. Thanks again for mentioning!

This I can answer! Ask for a takeaway box to come with your meal and pack up 2/3-3/4 of it before you start eating. I do it all the time so I don't have to sit and look at what has become (to me) a mountain of food.

If the container doesn't come right away I still section off the amount I feel comfortable that I can eat, and mention how much my daughter will enjoy the rest for lunch tomorrow...

Kelly-Anne

I hear ya!  I don't have any good advice for you except that I half recipes all the time and time my cooking to the beginning of the week so I can take it in my lunch for the week and cook something different for dinners.  I was raised in a "Clean Your Plate" family and throwing food away was a sin.  I throw away so much food now...which was hard at first, but oh well! 

Learning to throw food out was really hard. I don't do it as much now, but that's because I've learned to cook differently.

For instance, I'll cook enough veggies for several meals and keep them in the fridge, then serve my 1/4 cupful at mealtime. A toaster oven makes it easy to bake a smaller portion of salmon for supper - the leftovers become salmon salad or chowder the next day. (Fred has issues with leftover dry protein)

A 1-litre crockpot means I can cook a dozen turkey meatballs or a 1-2 chicken breast halves in sauce and have a couple of meals for my hubby and myself instead of being stuck eating them for a week.

We even found a really tiny rice cooker when traveling, so I can cook 1/2 cup of rice at a time. (Fred is not a fan of leftover rice) Yes, I eat rice occasionally, but now my serving is 1-2 tablespoons rather than a cup or more several times a week.

Kelly-Anne