Table for One

I have been living alone for quite some time. And when one lives solo, it could be very tempting to just either open a can, or a restaurant door to dine. I must admit, I have done both alternately. But for the past five years or so, I have developed a system (or maybe it's an instinct) of storing food items for easy-to-assemble meals. Here are my top 10 must-haves for solo-dwellers who prefer home-cooked meals over tin-canned or to-go fares:

1. a bag of pre-washed lettuce
2. a pack of Village Gourmet soft tortilla
3. ground chicken from the Magnolia chicken station, pre-boiled and stored in the fridge
4. McRaff pesto mini loaves
5. Clara Ole salad dressing (these come in Ranch, Thousand Island, Asian, and Honey Mustard flavors)
6. a pack of frozen veggies (peas, carrots and corn)
7. 6 pieces each of vanilla or pesto chicken fingers from the Magnolia chicken station
8. uncooked pasta (fusilli, penne, macaroni, spaghetti) - I get mine from the market where I buy 250 grams of each kind. Some supermarkets have them in retail, too.
9. 100 grams of dried mango chips, or any dried or fresh fruits
10. McCormick Herb and Garlic pasta seasoning

If I have these, I'll have enough to eat for a week, give or take. Of course, staples like rice, cooking oil, condiments, spices and garlic, onions and tomatoes are a given. But if one wants to have decent meals for each day of the week, having these in your fridge could be your ticket. You can mix and match, like pasta with chicken, or a healthy chicken wrap, or chicken with steamed veggies, a nice pasta salad with crisp chicken slices on top, pasta primavera, pasta soup with pesto bread... the list could go on and on!

The secret is for one to be imaginative. Think about the meals you enjoyed at fastfood joints or nice restaurants and try to re-create them using the ingredients you have at hand. Fancy a KFC Go-go sandwich? How about a pasta and chicken dinner like what you had at Italianni's the other night? How about that nice, healthy salad you ate at Conti's? You may not get the exact taste given the limited resources you have, but hey! It's your chance to do some experimenting!

So, are you ready to stop restaurant-hopping and start improvising?