shredding cheddarShredding cheddar
macaroniMaking macaroni

Weekly Meal Prep for one Person.

Ready to run your kitchen like a well oiled bread machine, so you're never too busy to cook or bake from scratch?  Planning weekly prep can help!

Use O.f.O.'s Tasklist Builder and Kitchen Time Tracker to put weekly meal plans into action as conveniently as possible, so nothing goes to waste.  

The O.f.O. method for organizing meal prep for one person was designed to simplify kitchen time management, so good homemade food stays within easy reach anytime.

What's the most practical approach to getting it all done?

Intentional leftovers are lovely, but who wants to shop in bulk, then toil in the kitchen for hours, all for the "convenience" of subsisting on a diet of batch cooked/frozen food?

Batch cooking for one vs. single serving cooking on the run.

Single serving cooking is worth it, but preparing too many small recipes from scratch may prove time prohibitive and tiresome.  Fresh food is the best, but refrigerating batch-cooked food for too long can result in bacteria growth. 

To eat well efficiently, busy singles must strike a balance.  That's why the O.f.O. planner was designed for offsetting each week's kitchen workload with a conservative rotation of homemade freezer meals and preps.  

A structured timeline for flexible tasking.

whitegrateShredding Parm
  • Recurring weekly targets for meal planning, shopping, task consolidation, and section 1 & 2 completions are all managed on the Kitchen Time Tracker page.
  • Prep ahead tasks, finishing touch tasks, and single serving recipe repeats are all managed on the Tasklist Builder page.  
  • Prep-ahead tasks can be matched across recipes (like shredding Parm for garlic bread, creamy mushroom sauce, and salad) with colorful transparent washi, task stickers, or gifs.  There are lots to choose from!
  • Planning to shop on schedule is the key to hitting recipe prep targets at a pleasant, casual pace.

Here's how to use O.f.O. for planning and tracking weekly meal prep for one person: 

Meal prep for one 101.

Some recipes are more practically prepped task by task, while others are best knocked out in one session.  Instead of attacking the meal plan recipe by recipe, use the Tasklist Builder and Time Tracker to consolidate tasks and track workflow.  

Here are five steps for organizing weekly prep:

  1. Set up two recurring weekly progress targets on the Seven Day Kitchen Time Tracker; Section 1 completion near midweek, and Section 2 completion near week's end.  
  2. Code matching prep-ahead tasks with washi, stickers, or gifs on the Tasklist Builder after each weekly shop. 
  3. Check off prep-ahead tasks, finishing touch tasks, and recipe repeats on the Tasklist Builder throughout each week.  
  4. Log kitchen "work" time on the Kitchen Time Tracker throughout each week.  Confirm completion of sections 1 & 2 on the Tracker with section check-off washi.  Use food, task, and character stickers and gifs to make tracking progress more fun!
  5. Use the Try & Buy and Delicious Thoughts notepads and image boards to capture ideas on staples to stock, faster tasking tools, or whatever inspires creativity in the kitchen. 

Seven steps for seven days of meal prep for one person:

Once shopping is done, create an ordered checklist of recipe prep tasks, then track your progress throughout the week.  Here's how:

  1. Fill the Tasklist Builder's "How Many Times?" fields with the number of planned completions for each recipe.  Track single serving repeats like cereals or sandwiches with "Recipe Repeats" checkboxes throughout each week.  
  2. Refer to the week's earmarked recipes to fill in fields for key prep-ahead tasks and finishing-touch tasks.    
  3. Verify accuracy by reviewing each recipe's ingredient list and instructions while cross-referencing the tasklist.
  4. Code all matching tasks with washi, stickers, or gifs.
  5. Check boxes on the Tasklist Builder as tasks and recipes are completed.
  6. Log prep sessions in the Kitchen Time Tracker along the way.
  7. Fill in "Leftover Perishables" fields on the Tasklist Builder, then adjust leftovers notes as scraps are utilized.  At week's end, migrate remaining "Leftover Perishables" notes to the Mix & Match Scratch Pad, located on the Plan & Shop page.

Use O.f.O's Tasklist Builder and Kitchen Time Tracker to organize and track tasks, so you always have a starting point for recipe prep, and a detailed overview of your time management in the kitchen.        

You've got this!

Each weekly plan consists of just four-nine recipes.  Some may be broken into tasks, others may be completed in one session, and the easiest "recipes" may be as simple as plating charcuterie.  

Go about it like gig work.

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Working from an ordered task list makes weekly meal prep for one person more manageable, because short sessions of kitchen-time are easy to knock out on the fly.   

Starting prep within one day of shopping is best, but putting in just five or ten minutes of kitchen-time adds up to faster, easier prep throughout the week.

Keeping track is easy.

In addition to a tasklist builder and time tracker, the O.f.O. planner includes two versions of meal trackers to choose from; one with auto-adding fields for macros and one without.  Meal trackers may alternatively be used as planners.

Break the chains.

Eating out is good fun and take-out can be tempting, but living on so-so restaurant food from day to day is a drain.  When you've had too much of a sorta good thing, it's time to break free from corporate food chains.

Your unique food-lifestyle is what you make it.  Here's to taking yourself seriously in the kitchen and living well!