Things Single People Eat

As I’ve already covered, I am no Martha Stewart. My mom had to come decorate my past two apartments because I just didn’t care to. I had all the stuff, I just didn’t want to physically put it on the walls. So my mom did it for me. Seriously. Everything would still be in boxes if it weren’t for her. I love her.

Anyway, back to Martha Stewart. That woman can cook. So can Pioneer Woman. I cannot.

Actually that’s not true. I can cook when I try. However, that takes a whole lot of effort. First, it involves grocery shopping. I’m not a fan of shopping in general and fighting the Wicker Park crowd at Jewel on any given week night doesn’t rank high on my to-do list.

Secondly, it’s time consuming. When I get home from work, all I want to do is lay down. Seriously. I want my brain to shut off. I usually give myself half an hour to let the dog out, lay around, take a power nap…whatever. The last thing I want to do is whip up a four course meal...or even put a pot on the stove.

Thirdly, I’m not the best at following directions. I own cookbooks…plenty of them. But to me, they’re more like guidelines. This does not work well the majority of the time…especially when baking. It’s a disaster, actually. Something that looks delicious and should be tasty comes out drastically different than planned. And I get mad. Not at myself…at the recipe…because it lied to me.

Finally, the grocery store does not make it easy to cook for one person. I’m not going to eat a pound of ground beef by myself. Nor am I going to eat an entire can of veggies. The list goes on and on. It’s frustrating and because I’m tired (see two paragraphs up), the last thing I want is to be frustrated while trying to cook dinner.

So, you’re probably wondering what I actually EAT for dinner? Well, let me tell you. This is a list of things I’ve had for dinner in the past month (not including all the times I’ve eaten dinner out):

- Cereal
- A smoothie (super yummy and filling…especially after running)
- Instant brown rice with a can of tuna a drizzle of olive oil and salt/pepper
- Cereal
- Couscous with tuna & edamame
- Easy Mac
- Cereal
- PB&J Sandwich
- A glass of water
- Cereal
- Yogurt with cereal & frozen berries mixed in
- Pasta

First off, don’t judge me.

Secondly, I should explain that dinner has never been my biggest meal of the day. I worked in hotels where they feed you all sorts of free food and then you don’t have to cook dinner. (Side note: unlimited free food WILL cause you to gain weight.) So, at my new, perfect job, they don’t feed us free food. And it makes me (and my waistline) happy.

At first, I had delusions of grandeur. “I’m going to bring my lunch every day! Sandwiches and salads are in my future!” This lasted for a week. I then discovered the amazingness that is frozen, single serving meals. Hello, Lean Cuisine & Smart Ones? I’m a fan. I love you. Just 5 or less minutes and I have a yummy, easy meal sitting in front of me. And I’m not over-eating! How did I not know this world existed!?

So there you go. That’s how this working, single girl eats.

It’s a wonder I’m still single…seriously.


PS. …pray for my future husband…I hope he likes cereal.