You lose the "vitamins" when you cook the vegetables :) Raw, non-cooked vegetables contain the most "vitamins".

For me, I cook in multiple quantities that you can stretch out for a week.

Usually, it's a base soup/stew or sauce that can be modified by adding spices like curry, chili powder, etc.

Beef bourguignon tastes better as it marinates in the fridge after cooking. :p

My grocery can let you buy by the kg so I hope you're not shopping at Costco all the time.

I think what uk1 is saying is that "fresh" veggies may have been picked days, weeks or months ago. I was at Chicago's best farmer's market (only local farmers, no one allowed to sell stuff they bought from wholesalers) on Saturday and one farmer was selling apples. It's May...those apples were picked last fall because there are no local apples ready to be picked in the spring in the Chicago area. My CSA box has included carrots almost every week for the last couple months. The farmer is very transparent in letting us know these carrots have been in cold storage for a while.

thanks chgoeditor

id think it varies though, and again especially in US with frozen brands (OP is US, not elsewhere)

I tried freezing cheese once and although it was edible once thawed, the consistency changed and it could no longer be sliced.

I don't think any of your strictly salad vegetables can be frozen (lettuce, tomatoes, cucumber, sprouts). But I think almost anything you spot in a can will do okay and if you see it in the grocer's freezer, you can freeze it too although some things may need to be cooked before freezing. I freeze fresh onion and celery and bell pepper after washing and chopping and so always have a supply on hand for cooking. You can do that with jalapenos and other peppers as well. I don't know about garlic but BamaVol Jr #1 has got me almost completely converted to the stuff in jars anyway.

Speaking of frozen vegetable, Costco's Kirkland Signature Stir-Fry Vegetable Blend is very good. It contains a variety of premium frozen vegetable and keeps well in the freezer. Its also easy to cook, you can throw in some diced/cubed meats (beef or chicken or pork etc) in the stir-fry before adding in the vegetable, or skip the meats to have a vegetable only stir-fry.

wegmans also has some large bags of frozen, although not in chicago

have experienced some poorly 'mixed' bags of mixed veggies at wegmans and elsewhere

I would say this is not categorically true. If the subject interests you, OP, you should do your own research. Whether vegetables are healthier before or after cooking is a complicated subject, as there are a lot of vegetables, nutrients, and cooking methods to consider. Available vitamin C is more plentiful in several types of vegetables before cooking, for example, but available lycopene is more plentiful in several types of vegetables after cooking. I frankly don't worry about not getting enough vitamin C.

I also can't agree with or really even understand the comment about frozen veg quality varying by brand. In my experience, frozen vegetables are among the most reliably consistent things you can buy in US grocery stores, whether they're national brands such as BirdsEye and Green Giant or generic store brands.

Overall, I am with uk1 on this; frozen vegetables are often fresher and more nutritious than fresh vegetables. I keep several types of frozen vegetables on hand all the time, use them several times a week, and cook them minimally (a few minutes boiling or steaming).

I concur also on keeping frozen fish in the freezer: unadorned fillets, beer-battered pieces, whatever you like.

Chicken doesn't stock very well in the freezer; its liquid bleeds out and doesn't go back into the meat. (You can tell a frozen/defrosted package of chicken pieces in the grocery store from a not-previously-frozen package; the frozen/defrosted one will have pink-tinged water pooling in the corners of the package. In contrast to chicken, beef and pork both freeze well.

I agree also on making and freezing batches of things like ragu bolognese and curry sauce. Many types of sauces and soups freeze well, but potatoes, rice, and pasta aren't as good when defrosted--frozen/defrosted potatoes are mealy; rice and pastas soak up too much liquid and get blown out. Save containers of sauce or soup without these and add potatoes or pasta fresh. The Italian soup paste e fagiole is a good example: the liquid, tomatoes, and beans will all be fine when defrosted, but you're better off not freezing it with pasta (such as ditalini) in it before freezing, but rather adding freshly cooked pasta to smaller servings that you defrost. Chicken, especially chicken breast, can also get tough if frozen in dishes and defrosted. I occasionally make a big pot of a "chicken a la king" sauce (creamy chicken sauce with sherry and vegetables) that I freeze in containers and later add to freshly cooked chicken meat and biscuits.

Same is true for shrimp or other seafood in soups, sauces, gumbos, etc. The shrimp will be tough after freezing and reheating. Just freeze the sauce and add fresh shrimp later.

I grew up in a household of nine and still find it hard to cook for just two, much less one. Another thing I do, which has already been suggested, is make multiple batches to freeze---meatloaf, for example, as someone mentioned. When I make turkey tetrazzini, I make a lot, serve one dish of it, freeze one or two others. I would do much more crockpot cooking (household of nine, remember) and freezing if Mister Mister weren't so dismissive of crockpot-type meals... I do manage to sneak them in on him occasionally, though. If I lived alone, I would probably make something in the crockpot at least once a week -- but then, I think I'd also buy a smaller crockpot than the one I have.

Bread also freezes well, especially if you suck the air out of the bag. I keep croissants and French bread and the like in the freezer. Forget them too long and they'll get freezer-burned, but use them in a timely fashion and they'll defrost quickly and taste as good as new. Freezing bread preserves it longer than refrigerating it does.

When you come home for lunch or are tired after work, you usually don't feel like defrosting something frozen. Two suggestions for this: (1) occasionally take something out of the freezer a day or two in advance of when you think you'll want to eat it, and let it defrost in the fridge. That gives you a chance to check its texture etc. after defrosting and change plans if necessary. (2) keep some pantry things (canned beans, rice, pasta, canned tunna, canned clams, canned salmon, canned diced tomatoes, garlic, onions, potatoes, also jarred sauces for pasta such as tomato, cream, or pesto-based sauces) on hand for quick meals such as linguine with clam sauce, red beans and rice, tuna salad on a croissant, bruschetta, etc. If you like egg salad, hard-boil a few eggs once in a while.

A thing I've been doing lately once a month or so is buying a bag of frozen meatballs, heating/browning them in the oven, and then crumbling them into some defrosted pasta sauce of my own or even, in a pinch, some homemade spaghetti sauce. The cooked meatballs broken up and some olive oil and seasonings, some sauteed onions and garlic, and a can of diced tomatoes mixed in with homemade or storebought sauce makes for a large quantity of meaty, chunky, tasty sauce that freezes well.

A couple of the supermarkets near me have a salad bar, and I just use that as an ingredient bar.

Yesterday, for example, I picked up about a quarter cup of shredded carrots and maybe a couple of tablespoons of chopped onions to add to a saute I was doing. I think it cost under 50 cents, and there was nothing left over to rot.

While it's not the most cost efficient way of shopping for ingredients, I've done this, too, particularly for stir fries, if I need a small amount of an ingredients, or if the ingredient is time consuming to prep from scratch.

So good question. When I google, "Cooking for One", this is one of the recipes that comes up:

Ingredients

2/3 cup Greek yogurt
1/2 English cucumber, seeds scooped out, skin peeled off, and cut into chunky half moons
1/4 cup roughly chopped mint leaves
1 bunch roughly chopped chives (about 1/3 cup), divided
3 tablespoons roughly chopped fresh oregano (divided)
3 medium cloves garlic, minced (about 1 tablespoon)
2 teaspoons fresh juice from 1 lemon
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
14 ounces ground lamb
A drizzle of olive oil
2 warm pitas

Yogurt-Bad in a week
Cucumber - No, won't last a week at best.
The spices? Yes they say fresh but I guess I could get freeze dried.
Lamb - How do you buy 14 ounces of Lamb? Everywhere I look, it is 2-3 pounds. Yes, I could cut it up, but it is difficult with bone in.

So, am I just going to the wrong places?

Brilliant, although I would be too tempted to make a salad and be done with it. Really, it's all about motivation.

You can always get a cookbook of your favorite cuisine and mathematically cut the ingredients (ex. if the recipe serves 6, each ingredient should be 1/6 of required).

It's a guideline to get you started.

Yogurt - get a spoon and eat the rest of it - mix in a little honey/preserves if you like.
Cucumber - buy the smallest you can find and either just eat the rest or use it in a salad.
Fresh herbs - harder
Garlic - keeps for quite awhile, we just have a little cup that we keep in our kitchen towel drawer and it is good for several weeks.
Lamb - why would you buy bone-in lamb? A good supermarket will sell you exactly what you need, already ground.

Greek yogurt won't go bad in a week...trust me. Not withstanding that fact, I'm certain you can by single serving portions of unflavored Greek yogurt at Trader Joe's and other stores.

You said you make salads, so the rest of the cucumber can get thrown in there.

Fresh herbs can be chopped up and frozen.

Whole Foods sells ground lamb in the butcher section. I believe I've also seen it at Mariano's.