If you are an empty nester and no longer need to make large family meals or just find yourself home alone, there are many ideas of simple dishes to prepare when it is just you. Not only can you prepare foods from fresh, additive-free ingredients, but you can save money too.

Meals for one do not have to mean a frozen single-serving heated up in the microwave. Made-from-scratch meals can often be prepared in about the same time as it takes to heat a frozen meal in the oven.

If you’re looking for inspiration, cookbook author Kelly Jaggers has you covered with over 100 recipes in her book, The Ultimate Meal Planning for One Cookbook.

This easy-to-follow cookbook and guide is packed with delicious recipes, practical meal-planning tips, and eight sample weekly meal plans. There’s even a suggested shopping list to make your solo cooking journey seamless.

Meal plans are great, Jaggers said, as “a way to ease decision fatigue at the end of a long day, while others plan as a way to prevent food waste and stay on budget.”

Here’s a sneak peek at one day from her meal plans:

Breakfast:  Loaded Avocado Toast with Smoked Salmon

Lunch: Quick Black Bean Soup

Snack: Creamy Ranch Deviled Eggs

Dinner: Garlic Butter Shrimp Pasta or Dine out!

Dessert: Lemon Blueberry Pound Cake

Here are three sample recipes from the book:

LOADED AVOCADO TOAST WITH SMOKED SALMON

Smoked salmon is a beloved accompaniment to creamy avocado, and it keeps fresh for up to 1 week when stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator. When adding this recipe to your weekly meal plan, consider including the Creamy Smoked Salmon Pasta also in the book later in the week for lunch or dinner.

BAKED MACARONI AND CHEESE FOR ONE

This is pure comfort food and can be made with any tube- or spiral-shaped pasta you have in your pantry. If you need a way to use the extra milk from this recipe, add the Crispy Fried Shrimp or Shrimp and Grits from the book to your meal plan!

CRÈME BRÛLÉE

Silky-smooth custard topped with crisp caramelized sugar makes a mouthwatering dessert for one. This is the perfect treat to add to your meal plan when you have extra cream and eggs that need to be used up!

Recipes used with permission from The Ultimate Meal Planning For One Cookbook: 100+ Easy, Affordable, and Low-Waste (High-Taste!) Recipes Made Just for You by Kelly Jaggers. Copyright © 2024 by Simon & Schuster, LLC. Published by Adams Media, an imprint of Simon and Schuster. Photographs by Emily Weeks.