Stocking your cupboard, fridge and freezer for one

If your kitchen always holds a few long-life basics, you can make a decent meal even the day before you shop. Living alone, the trick is plenty of cupboard and freezer food and only a little fresh food at a time.

The store cupboard

• Starches: rice, pasta, noodles, oats, couscous or bulgur, and a few wraps or flatbreads (freeze them).
• Tins and jars: chopped tomatoes, chickpeas, beans, lentils, tuna or sardines, sweetcorn, tomato purée.
• Dried: red lentils (they cook in about 20 minutes and do not need soaking), stock cubes (check they are halal if that matters to you), dried herbs and spices.
• Love Food Hate Waste notes that tinned tomatoes, lentils and beans can make a quick store-cupboard meal.
• Once opened, keep dried food in sealed containers, and write the date on the lid. For a starter spice shelf, see the Kitchen Skills module.

Set the fridge up properly

• The FSA says your fridge should be between 0 and 5°C; check it with a fridge thermometer about once a week.
• Love Food Hate Waste reports that the average UK fridge is set at least 2°C too warm, and that the right temperature can keep food fresh for three days longer.
• Store raw meat, poultry and fish on the bottom shelf, in their packaging or a clean sealed container, so they cannot drip onto other food (FSA).
• Cool cooked food and put it in the fridge within one to two hours (FSA). Splitting it into smaller containers helps it cool faster.
• Apples, berries and citrus last longer in the fridge; bananas belong in the fruit bowl because they make other fruit ripen too quickly (Love Food Hate Waste).

The freezer: your best friend when you live alone

• Keep it at around minus 18°C (FSA). Bacteria cannot grow on frozen food, so it will not deteriorate in safety terms (GOV.UK), though quality slowly drops.
• FSA quality guide: frozen meat is best eaten within 2 to 3 months; baked goods, fruit and vegetables within 3 to 4 months.
• Freezer basics for one: frozen mixed vegetables, frozen spinach, frozen berries, sliced bread (toast it from frozen), single portions of raw chicken or mince, and portions of your own cooked meals.
• Label everything with what it is and the date frozen (GOV.UK). 'Brown stew' means nothing six weeks later.

Freezing in single portions: step by step

• On the day you buy a big pack of chicken or mince, divide it into single portions (for example 125 to 150 g) in sealed freezer bags or containers.
• Press out the air, flatten bags so they freeze and defrost faster, label them and freeze them the same day.
• You can freeze food right up until midnight on its use-by date (FSA).
• Defrost in the fridge, not on the counter, so it does not get too warm (FSA). Put it in the fridge the night before.
• Use fully defrosted food within 24 hours (FSA).

Fresh food: little and often

• Buy fresh salad, soft fruit, milk and bread for 3 or 4 days at a time rather than a whole week, unless you know exactly when you will use them.
• Long-lasting fresh basics: onions, garlic, carrots, potatoes, cabbage, lemons, apples and eggs.
• Keep an 'eat me first' spot at the front of the fridge for anything that needs using soon (Love Food Hate Waste).
• In a GCC summer, chilled and frozen shopping warms quickly in a car or on the walk home. Use a cool bag and unpack cold food first.